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Title
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Trading Gray for Blue: Ex-Confederates Hold the Upper Missouri For the Union
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Description
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Confederate prisoners of war were allowed to enlist in the Union Army. Troops were needed along the Upper Missouri to protect forts and make peace with the Indians. The First U.S. Volunteer Infantry Regiment was sent and were called "Galvanized Yankees". The men were sent to Fort Rice in Dakota Territory on the Upper Missouri and reached there on October 17, 1864. Issues they were involved in included Native relations, Indian trade, emigrant aid and military intelligence gathering. "Despite their short tenure on the Upper Missouri, the First U.S. Volunteers left an important legacy. From their suffering and needless deaths, the Army eventually learned to supply western garrisons months in advance with fruits and vegetables and buffalo clothing for the severe winters. Dialogue was opened with Yanktonai and eastern Teton leaders who could foresee having to share their country with Euro-Americans. Native American annuities were protected from illegal graft, and illegal trade was curtailed. Northwestern commerce and emigration was protected and encouraged. More important than the insight they shed on the nature of civil war, Native-Euro-American relations and frontier development, the U.S. Volunteers provide a vivid picture of the rebirth of the United States after the Civil War. On the Upper Missouri, the First U.S. Volunteers demonstrated that Northerners and Southerners could live peaceable and work together toward common goals."
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Date
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2005
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Object Type
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Magazine Article
