So, I received another fun package this weekend. This one included a packet of military records that Kathy, the genealogist from the Andrew County Historical Society and Museum, printed out for me from fold3 - another “add on” subscription service available through Ancestry.com. I have never subscribed to it, but when she told me she had found some relevant military records for my GGG Grandfather James Calaway Hale, I was happy to send a check and have her print them out!
With excitement, I discovered the records included another letter James wrote, this one to Union Gen. Clinton B. Fisk in Jan 1865. Fisk has originally been Colonel of James's regiment, the 33rd Missouri Volunteer Infantry, when he first joined up in 1862. Now, Fisk was in St. Louis. In the letter, James explains a bit of his history - so I learned some dates I didn’t know for certain before (such as that he enlisted on August 14, 1862, in St. Joseph, Missouri, and left his home in Andrew County on August 30 to join his regiment in St. Louis, where he was mustered into service on September 5, 1862). He also expressed his hope that Gen. Fisk might be able to offer some additional financial help to his family, who were struggling financially without him at home.
There were also many of his “Company Muster Roll” cards, showing his status by month and year as to whether he was “present” or “absent” in his regiment. The cards confirm when he first got sick and had to stay behind in Helena, Arkansas, while his regiment went south; specify the date he left his regiment to head north to St. Louis; and clarify when he arrived at the General Hospital in Benton Barracks.
Most importantly, the records informed me of an important detail I had previously not known: James was not just a patient sitting around the hospital for two years. He was officially transferred to the Invalid Corps in July 1863, and he was stationed at Marine Hospital in St. Louis with assigned duties. He was NOT waiting to be well enough to rejoin his old regiment. He had a new regiment.
James was transferred on July 29, 1863, to the 13th Company, 2nd Battalion, of the Invalid Corps, which was created in April 1863 “to make suitable use in a military or semi-military capacity of soldiers who had been rendered unfit for active field service on account of wounds or disease contracted in line of duty, but who were still fit for garrison or other light duty, and were, in the opinion of their commanding officers, meritorious and deserving."
These were men who had lost limbs or eyes, suffered from rheumatism (as did James) or epilepsy, were experiencing other chronic illnesses or diseases, or were traumatized by what we now call PTSD. Soldiers were, by this time, in short supply - and wounded and ill soldiers who previously would have likely been granted a medical discharge were needed to serve guard duty, do supply runs, escort and watch over prisoners of war, assist with clerical work, march in parades, and help with cooking and cleaning - thus freeing up other able-bodied soldiers for the front lines.
According to a poster seeking men to join the Invalid Corp: “Only those faithful soldiers who, from wounds or the hardships of war, are no longer fit for active field duty will be received in this Corps of Honor. Enlistments will be for three years, unless sooner discharged. Pay and allowances same as for officers and men of the United States infantry; except that no premiums or bounties for enlistment will be allowed. This will not invalidate any pensions or bounties which may be due for previous services.”
The poster also described the uniforms adopted for both officers and enlisted men in the corps. James would have been issued a “jacket, of sky-blue kersey, with dark-blue trimmings, cut like the cavalry jacket, to come well down on the shoulders. Trowsers, present regulation of sky-blue. Forage Cap, present regulation.” Those who were “most efficient and able-bodied" were armed with muskets and placed in the First Battalion. Those, like James. “of the next degree of efficiency, including those who have lost a hand, or an arm; and the least effective, including those who have lost a foot or a leg,” were armed with swords and placed in the Second or Third Battalion.
As a member of this new corps, James began staying in a house near the Marine Hospital, also known as “The Marine.” James was extremely impressed with the Marine, which he described in one of his letters as “almost the best building in the city,” heaping praise on its indoor plumbing. In his letters, he describes some of the jobs he was given, which included guard duty, sweeping, and helping with cooking.
According to the above poster, the duties of the Invalid Corps were “chiefly to act as provost guards and garrisons for cities; guards for hospitals and other public buildings, and as clerks, orderlies, etc. If found necessary, they may be assigned to forts, etc.”
In March 1864, the Invalid Corps was renamed the Veteran Reserve Corps. Partially, this was to boost morale as the same initials - "I.C." - were used to stamp "Inspected-Condemned" on condemned property. Another important reason, however, was that many men in the corps - tired of being called "cripples" and "shirkers" - had complained about the negative connotation in the name. Their frustration was likely exacerbated by a song that became popular in 1863 titled "The Invalid Corps," with lyrics as follows:
The Invalid Corps
By Frank Wilder
I wanted much to go to war,
And went to be examined;
The surgeon looked me o'er and o'er,
My back and chest he hammered.
Said he, "You're not the man for me,
Your lungs Are much affected,
And likewise both your eyes are cock'd,
And otherwise defected."
CHORUS
So, now I'm with the Invalids,
And cannot go and fight, sir!
The doctor told me so, you know,
Of course it must be right, sir!
While I was there a host of chaps
For reasons were exempted,
Old "pursy", he was laid aside,
To pass he had attempted.
The doctor said, "I do not like
Your corporosity, sir!
You'll "breed a famine" in the camp
Wherever you might be, sir!"
CHORUS
There came a fellow, mighty tall,
A "knock-kneed overgrowner",
The Doctor said, "I ain't got time
To take and look you over."
Next came along a little chap,
Who was 'bout two foot nothing,
The Doctor said, "You'd better go
And tell your marm you're coming!"
CHORUS
Some had the ticerdolerreou*,
Some what they call "brown critters",
And some were "lank and lazy" too,
Some were too "fond of bitters".
Some had "cork legs" and some "one eye",
With backs deformed and crooked,
I'll bet you'd laugh'd till you had cried,
To see how "cute" they looked.
* Likely a reference to Tic Douloureux - a “severe, stabbing pain to one side of the face” https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/tic-douloureux
The Veteran Reserve Corps celebrated their greatest success in July 1864, when Confederate Gen. Jubal Early arrived with an army of 15,000 at the gates of Washington, D.C. Almost every able-bodied Union soldier had gone south with Gen. Ulysses S. Grant as part of his campaign to take Petersburg, Virginia. The only ones left to defend the city - and the President - were clerks, government officials, and the Invalid Corps.
In the synopsis for her documentary film titled The Invalid Corps, which tells the story of the role these soldiers played in the Battle of Fort Stevens, filmmaker Day Al-Mohamed explains: "Made up of men injured in battle or by disease, these 'hopeless cripples' will hold out for a desperate 24 hours until Union General Grant can send reinforcements. With Abraham Lincoln himself on the ramparts of Fort Stevens, they cannot afford to fail. The story of the Invalid Corps offers a poignant perspective allowing us to reassess what we know, or rather what we think we know, about civil war history, disability, sacrifice, and honorable service" (https://www.dayalmohamed.com/invalid-corps).
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