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[288] added 25,000 men to the regular army, and thus made up the total of 42,000 men fixed by the law of July 29th. But it was so difficult to obtain recruits that in December, 1861, when the enlistment of volunteers had reached the figure of 640,637 men, this army had not yet enrolled under its banners more than 20,334 men, not quite one-half the number prescribed by law. The small number of enlistments in the regular army was due, first of all, to the fact that these enlistments were for a definite period, while the volunteers were to be discharged at the end of the war, and everybody believed that it could not last three years; then to the retention of two dollars per month from the pay of the regular soldier, while the volunteer drew his compensation in full, and the States granted him additional bounties and secured a pension to his family; and, finally, to the spirit of comradeship which influenced the organization of volunteer companies, whilst the reputation for severe discipline which the regular army had gained kept many young men aloof from it.

This army was not only compelled to play an insignificant part in the new forces of the republic, but the elements of which it was composed were another cause of weakness. Out of its 20,000 soldiers more than half, collected with so much difficulty, were entirely raw, and their instruction was the more difficult because the most intelligent, the strongest, and the most disinterested men were immediately prevented from joining their ranks. In consequence of the prejudices above mentioned, the proportion of new comers was even larger among the officers than among the soldiers. The drafts which the volunteers had made upon the personnel of the regular army had diminished their number even more than this defection. Twenty-two superior officers had thus left their respective commands to become generals, and officers of inferior grade had likewise been called to fill positions of trust elsewhere—so that out of the eleven new regiments there were eight whose nominal colonels exercised other commands as generals of volunteers, while the greatest part of their officers had received no military education whatever. In fact, the vacancies had been so numerous that the West Point Academy, already reduced by the withdrawal of the Southern cadets, was not able to fill them, and it was found necessary to distribute the lower

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December, 1861 AD (1)
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