Galvanized Yankees at Rock Island Prison-- Part 2: 3,000 of Them from Rock Island

Joining the Union proved to be a popular option for Confederates at the Rock Island Prison Camp in Illinois. Several hundred of these "Galvanized Yankees" from Rock Island were refused after enlisting in the Union Army because of medical reasons.  Those men were just released and sent home.  That was one way to get out of prison.

Since the Galvanized Yankees were now considered  enlisted men instead of prisoners, they received better rations of food and clothing.  And, they were allowed to receive gifts of tobacco  and food from relatives in the South as they awaited assignments to units out West.

Of the  more than 12,000 Confederate prisoners who passed through the Rock Island Barracks during the Civil War,  only forty-one escaped in traditional wats.  But another  three thousand escaped by stepping up to the Union recruiting office and becoming those "Galvanized Yankees."  

Of interest, Union regiments stationed of the western frontier called these new Union soldiers ""White-Washed Rebels."

One Way of Escaping.  --Old Secesh