Lincoln's 90-Day Volunteers 1861: From Fort Sumter to First Bull Run, Book 489 (Men-at-Arms) by Ron Field
English | July 23rd, 2013 | ISBN: 178096918X | 48 pages | EPUB | 10.59 MB
On April 15th 1861, the day after the fall of Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 volunteers to enlist for three months' service to defend the Union. This 90-day period proved entirely unrealistic and was followed by further, and much more extensive, mobilizations. Despite this, for the first few months the defence of the Capitol depended heavily on a hastily gathered, but extremely loyal, army of militiamen and volunteers. Mostly inexperienced, poorly trained, weakly officered, and provided with motley uniforms, equipment and weapons, they bought the Union time during the vital first months.