If you scan through the Official Records, you'll find several interesting comments about the U.S. Volunteer Infantry regiments recruited in the Union POW camps.

With the draw down of troops from the frontier at the beginning of the war, the Indian nations saw the situation as their last, best hope to extricate themselves from domination by white soldiers and settlers. Uprisings sprang up in several areas of the west, to which the Government responded by sending Colorado and Kansas volunteer regiments to quell the disturbances. However, these notoriously undisciplined regiments caused more trouble than they solved. So, six regiments of "Galvanized Yankees" were organized for frontier service.

When the first of these regiments was sent to the west, in response to the calls for help from the territorial governors, the Government was almost apologetic about sending ex-Confederate soldiers -- some letters are almost cautionary in nature, as if the Government was saying, "Caution! These are former Rebs."

However, and this is where the Official Records get interesting, as soon as the first "galvanized" regiment got into the territories, the generals and governors began praising the ex-Confederates for their discipline and professionalism. It should be remembered that most of the men were veterans of two or more years of nearly continual combat, and were seasoned, well-disciplined troops. The contrast between these "galvanized" troops and the Colorado and Kansas troops was stark, indeed.

The Government was trying to cut deals with the Indian nations, but massacres and other atrocities committed by the Colorado and Kansas troops made that goal difficult, to say the least. When the ex-Confederates were introduced to the area, the atrocities ended and the disciplined, orderly conduct of the Galvanized Yankees were instrumental in calming things down on the plains.

A very interesting facet of the Civil War.