NEWS OF 150 YEARS AGO
July/August 1861
From The Missouri Democrat, Friday, July 19, 1861.
The Engineer Regiment of the West.
Major General Fremont has specially authorized the raising of an Engineer Regiment from the States of Missouri, Iowa and Illinois, to act as a corps of Sappers and Miners, and to serve during the war. The work of organizing the regiment is well assigned to J. W. Bissell, Esq., Assistant Adjutant General of the United States Reserve Corps. That gentleman’s known qualifications as an engineer and a man of energy, are ample guarantee for the success of the enterprise. He has already raised a battalion of three companies, consisting of mechanics and picked men, who will at once be mustered into service. The preference in the regiment will doubtless be given to this battalion. Special inducements are offered to all wishing to join these companies. Applications may be made at the recruiting office opened at the Denison House, corner of Sixth and Market streets.
A fourth company of this regiment will be sworn in at the Marine Hospital on Saturday.
Below is the published official call for the regiment:
ST. LOUIS, July 14, 1861.
The undersigned has been specially authorized by Major-General Fremont to raise in the States of Missouri, Iowa and Illinois, a regiment of Sappers and Miners, to be called “The Engineer Regiment of the West,” and to serve during the war.
Each company, as soon as full, will be mustered into service at the most convenient point, and from thence sent to the St. Louis Arsenal for instruction.
It is expected that the regiment will be employed most of the time on extra duty, and, at such times, each mechanic and artificer will receive 40 cents a day, and each laborer 25 cents a day extra pay, thus making the pay about double that of ordinary soldiers.
None but Mechanics, Artificers, and Laborers accustomed to work with mechanics, will be received.
For further information apply by letter, or otherwise, to
J. W. BISSELL,
Assistant Adjutant General, U. S. R. C.,
St. Louis, MO.
