II. enlisting.
Hardly had the “Three months men” reached the field before it was discovered that a mistake had been made in not calling out a larger number of troops, and for longer service;--it took a long time to realize what a gigantic rebellion we had on our hands. So on the 3d of May President Lincon issued a call for United States volunteers to serve three years, unless sooner discharged. At once thousands of loyal men sprang to arms — so large a number, in fact, that many regiments raised were refused until later. The methods by which these regiments were raised were various. In 1861 a common way was for some one who had been in the regular army, or perhaps who had been prominent in the militia, to take the initiative and circulate an enlistment paper for signatures. His chances were pretty good for obtaining a commission as its captain, for his active interest, and men who had been prominent in assisting him, if they were popular, would secure the lieutenancies. On the return of the “Three months” troops many of the companies immediately re-enlisted in a body for three years, sometimes under their old officers. A large“O, did you see him in the street dressed up in army blue,
When drums and trumpets into town their storm of music threw--
A louder tune than all the winds could muster in the air,
The Rebel winds that tried so hard our flag in strips to tear?
”
