The massive influx of the state volunteer soldiers of both sides during the Civil War has oftentimes overshadowed that core of professionals, the regular U.S. Army. This article will briefly examine the Regulars and their role in the war. It will tend to concentrate on the U.S. Infantry, but both the artillery and the cavalry of the Regulars will be touched upon. Federalized units, such as the Colored Troops and the Veteran Reserve Corps, are not covered as they are not professional troop types. For wargamers of the Union Army, the Regulars are well worth modeling and provide an interesting elite variant to the Iron and Irish Brigades. No longer need the situation arise where every Union player brings to the table his 'unique' Iron Brigade. It is also intriguing to remember that the regiments of the Iron Brigade copied their uniforms from the full dress of the Regulars. A discussion of the actual uniforms worn is included at the end of the article. Before the war began, the grand total of the U.S. Army was 16,215 men, of which 1,080 were officers. These troops were organized into 198 companies (batteries and troops), most of which were scattered throughout posts in the west, deployed against the Indian. After the Southern states seceded, 313 of the 1,080 officers resigned and headed south. This number isn't that bad considering that 460 of the army's officers were from southern states. As for the Regular Anny enlisted men, out of 15,135, amazingly only 26 are known to have deserted to the Confederacy. It was this fact which caused Lincoln to believe that the plain people of the country understood that the war was a "people's contest". Regulars When hostilities commenced, the next problem confronting the U.S. government was how best to utilize the Regulars in the conflict. One proposal was to divide the officers and men of the Regular Army among the new state volunteer formations and use them as instructors. The general in chief of the an7ny, however, old Winfield Scott, would not have this. He insisted that the Regulars be kept together as a solid, though small, block of professionals and should be used as a model for the rest of the army. President Lincoln agreed with Scott's advice. Although this decision has been debated ever since, it was probably the correct one, for the Regulars proved their worth on many a battlefield and did provide an excellent role model for the volunteers. The saying, "We're as good as the Regulars," was one of the highest compliments that volunteers could pay themselves. Another volunteer, after seeing a regiment of Regulars, may have said it best when he wrote: "Oh, father, how splendidly the Regulars drill; it is perfectly sickening and disgusting to get back here and see our regiment and officers manoeuver, after seeing those West Pointers and those veterans of eighteen years' service go through guard mounting I am only glad I saw, for now I know I am a better soldier after seeing them perform." As Bell Wiley has pointed out, how much more amazed must the volunteers have been after seeing the Regulars in combat. As it turned out, however, during the war the Regular Army did loan out officers and men to the states to assist in training their troops, although very few volunteer units ever came close to the discipline and proficiency in drill of the Regulars. This lack of discipline can be seen in the wastefulness of the volunteers, who threw away any clothing or equipment they did not feel like carrying at the moment, regardless of the need later on. The state units also relaxed the harsh punishments of the Regulars, abolishing flogging, for example, early on. At times though, the prejudices that volunteers and Regulars felt toward one another did get in the way of progress. The Regulars felt that disdain toward the state troops that all professionals feel toward the novice, while the volunteers' opinion alternated between thinking the Regulars were snobs and believing them to be social inferiors (i.e. men who can't get a 'decent' job in peacetime). INFANTRY In 1861, there were ten regiments of U.S. Infantry, numbered 1 to 10. They were organized as single battalions of 10 companies, although fewer companies might be present at times. During the beginning months of the war, nine new regiments were added, numbered 11 through 19. These units were organized a little differently than the first ten, however. Each new regiment had two or three battalions of eight companies each and was assigned a geographic region in which to recruit. As the conflict progressed, though, recruiting became difficult, most men preferring the looser discipline and higher bounties of the volunteers. As an example, at Murfreesboro, the brigade of Regulars consisted of five battalions, but did not tiumber more than 1,600 men. At Gettysburg, only two battalions out of ten had at least eight companies, and both Regular brigades together probably did not number more than 2,200 men. Nevertheless, in almost every battle in which they were engaged, the Regulars proved their eliteness and were often kept in reserve as a sort of 'Old Guard'. At First Bull Run, where only a single battalion of U.S.Infantry was present, the Regulars kept order throughout the engagement and helped to cover the army's retreat. At Gaines Mill, the two brigades of Regulars held the right of the Union line and caused severe casualties among the attacking Confederates. At Second Bull Run, the Regulars formed the final Union defensive line on Henry Hill, holding it until dark, allowing those retreating units to escape. In the west, the Regular brigade made a name for itself at Murfreesboro by advancing into a cedar thicket to cover some retreating volunteers and -lost nearly 600 men in the process, double the casualty rate of the rest of the army for that day. These are just a few of the exploits of the U.S. Infantry during the war. The larger organizations of the Regulars remained fairly constant throughout the conflict. In the Army of the Potomac, the Regulars composed two brigades in the 2nd Division, V Corps. In the Army of the Cumberland, they consisted of one brigade in the 1st Division, XIV Corps. In the east, one man should be mentioned who was thoroughly connected with the Regulars from war's start until Grant's reorganization of the army in the spring of 1864. That man was George Sykes. George Sykes He commanded the U.S. Infantry at First Bull Run and, until the spring of 1862, he commanded the lone brigade of Regulars at Washington. Thereafter, he took charge of the 2nd Division, V Corps, with its two Regular brigades and led it until just prior to Gettysburg, when he took command of V Corps. Though not a great commander, any study of the Regulars in the Army of the Potomac must recognize Sykes' close association with them. ARTILLERY It has been generally agreed upon that man for man and gun for gun Union artillery was superior to the Confederates. One reason, of course, was the higher quality fuses, shells,and powder of the Union. But another important reason was the presence of the Regular Army artillery. As far -as casualties are concerned, these units lost even fewer than the infantry. As such, there was a strong, central core of professionalism in this branch and Regular artillerymen were quite numerous, especially in the Army of the Potomac, where each infantry division was likely to have at least one Regular battery attached. Another advantage gained by having the Regulars was that by close association with them the volunteer companies learned their jobs more efficiently. At the start of the war, there were four regiments of U.S. Artillery (numbered I through 4), each composed of 12 batteries. Very soon afterwards, an additional regiment, the fifth, was raised, increasing the total number of Regular batteries to about sixty. CAVALRY Before the war, there existed five regiments of U.S.Cavalry: the 1st and 2nd Dragoons, the Mounted Rifles, and the 1St and 2nd Cavalry. Each regiment was organized into 5 squadrons of two troops (companies). In 1861, the 3rd Cavalry was raised and an additional squadron was added to each regiment. Shortly thereafter, they were all redesignated as the 1st through 6th U.S. Cavalry. The final change came in 1863, when the squadron was eliminated, regiments now being composed of battalions of four troops each. It is probably safe to say that these regiments provided the only effective cavalry for the Union at the beginning of the war. But this help was considerably diminished by the fact that many of the men were scattered throughout the west and many of the cavalry's best officers went south. This branch of service was probably the hardest hit by southern resignations. Nevertheless, the Regulars in the cavalry also provided a useful role model for the hundreds of volunteer regiments raised during the war. The U.S. Cavalry gained the in respect of both sides for such gallant acts as the charge of the 5th U.S. at Gaines Mill, although in this instance their gallantry proved futile. UNIFORMS The study of photographs has revealed that although the Regulars may have worn their dress uniforms for parade, on campaign they did not look too much different than volunteers, though a bit tidier. Kepis and fatigue coats seem to have been favored by the enlisted infantrymen, while officers wore the long frock coats with various headgear (black slouch hats and kepis). Most pictures of Regular officers of all branches show that they seem to have preferred dark blue trousers over light blue ones. As for the enlisted men of the cavalry and artillery, they are most often seen wearing the regulation shell jacket with kepis. One important point that is obvious from these photographs is the neatness and uniformity of dress of the Regular units as compared to that of the volunteers. SOURCES Boatner, Mark M., THE CIVIL WAR DICTIONARY, New York, 1959 Coddington, Edwin B., THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN, New York, 1968 Davis, William C.(ed.), THE IMAGE OF WAR: 1861-1865, Garden City, N.Y., 1984 Miller, Francis T., PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR, New York, 1957 Weigley, Russell F., HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY, New York, 1967 Wiley, Bell I., THE LIFE OF BILLY YANK, Baton Rouge, 1971 Many other campaign histories that contained bits and pieces of information on the Regulars were consulted. Back to The Zouave Vol IV No. 1 Table of Contents Back to The Zouave List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1990 The American Civil War Society This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com