PATRIOTS, COME FORWARD! THE UNDERSIGNED, BY THE ADVICE AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF NUMEROUS FRIENDS IS ENROLLING A COMPANY OF YOUNG MEN OF GOOD MORAL CHARACTER.[caption title and first lines of text].

[Civil War]: [127th New York Infantry]:

Published by [New York. August 1862].

About this Item

A rare Civil War recruiting broadside seeking to raise troops for Company A in the 127th New York Infantry, also known as the "Monitors," in response to Lincoln's July 1, 1862, call for additional volunteers. Organized by members of the 7th regiment of the New York State Militia (the "Blue-Bloods") who had served in the first year of the war, recruitment for Company A began in early August, following a July 28th meeting which gave the regiment its nickname. The regiment, they declared, was "to be composed of young men of good moral character, each of whom was expected to exert a 'monitorial' restraining influence over the others, that the demoralizing influences of camp and army life might thereby be minimized" (McGrath, p.6). William Howland, who signs this broadside in type and served as commander of Company A, was a Sabbath School teacher at the Thirteenth Street Presbyterian Church where that meeting was held, and recruited several members of his congregation in addition to printing the present broadside and running newspaper advertisements. The broadside reads in part: "The company is now rapidly filling up under the auspices of several of the most prominent and energetic of our citizens, and bids fair to equal in the character of its men.any company yet enrolled. The members pledge themselves to avoid, so far as possible, the prominent sources of immorality and discord usually connected with camp life, and when they become soldiers not to forget their obligations as gentlemen.Recruits can be mustered in at once, and go into quarters in one of the most beautiful locations on Staten Island." The appeal of the "Monitors" for a more genteel sort of soldier, combined with patriotic exhortations to "rather be a Volunteer than a drafted man," found an eager audience; the company's quota was filled within ten days. The regiment served through the entire remainder of the war, seeing minor action at Suffolk, the pursuit of Lee following Gettysburg, and the second battle of Fort Sumter, and sustaining much heavier casualties at Honey Hill and Tullifinney River in 1864. They mustered out of service on June 30, 1865. Franklin McGrath's 1898 history of the 127th New York prints a recreation of this broadside, but with different typography. OCLC records only two copies, at the New-York Historical Society and the Library Company of Philadelphia. A rare broadside advertising the formation of notable regiment. OCLC 82883232. Franklin McGrath, The History of the 127th New York Volunteers, "Monitors," in the War for the Preservation of the Union September 8th, 1862, June 30th, 1865 (N.p., 1898). Light tanning and soiling, a few closed tears, neatly repaired on verso. Very good.

Seller Inventory # 63031

Bibliographic Details

• Title: PATRIOTS, COME FORWARD! THE UNDERSIGNED, BY THE ADVICE AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF NUMEROUS FRIENDS IS ENROLLING A COMPANY OF YOUNG MEN OF GOOD MORAL CHARACTER.[caption title and first lines of text].
• Publisher: [New York. August 1862].