“These Fishers of Men”: The Discourse of Recruitment in the Civil War North

Abstract

During the American Civil War, the military forces of the United States required an inordinate number of volunteers to fill the ranks. Historians to date have emphasized the self-motivation of the men who enlisted for duty in the Union armed forces, and as a result, have overlooked how recruiters utilized communications media to entice their service. This thesis examines the use of propaganda to promote enlistment in the Union military during the American Civil War. Throughout the conflict, political figures, military leaders, printers and publishers, prominent citizens, members of voluntary societies dedicated to recruiting, and other self-declared patriots produced thousands of documents and oratories imploring men to join the armed forces. In doing so, these individuals engaged in intentional acts of propaganda. The styles and forms taken by their efforts, however, more clearly reflect the communications culture of the antebellum era than the iconic propaganda campaigns of twentieth-century conflicts. The multiplicity of arguments recruiters made in favour of volunteering indicates that to them, their intended outcome—filling the ranks—was more important than the reasons they provided for doing so.