Camp Fair Oaks' Short Life

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In the novella, THE ENLISTMENT, Frankie learns that her beau Patrick and her sister Lydia’s husband are going to Flemington to enlist in the Army. It is early August of 1862.

When Frankie protests, Patrick tells her, “I don’t want to go. I want to stay here with you. But this is something I need to do. Edgar and I will be going down to Flemington to enlist at Camp Fair Oaks. If all goes well, they’ll accept us and we’ll join the Fifteenth New Jersey Volunteers. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it’s got to be.”

By 1862, the Union regiments who had originally been sent to fight the war with the Confederate States of America, had been decimated by exhaustion, illness, injury, and death. In response, the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, reopened recruiting offices. In July, the President put out a call for more volunteers to serve a 3-year enlistment. (This was before the Enrollment Act – or Civil War Military Draft Act - of 3 March 1863.)

Five complete regiments were supposed to come from New Jersey. The state had only provided one regiment previously. How would they supposed to raise up four more? Part of the answer was to de-centralize the recruitment effort by creating military districts.

In my story, Frankie and her family live in the town of Blaineton – based on the real town of Belvidere. So, it’s only natural for me to suggest that, like Belvidere, Blaineton) is located in Warren County, part of a military district that also included Morris, Somerset, Sussex, and Hunterdon Counties. The district was raising men to serve in the Fifteenth Regiment, also known as the Fifteenth New Jersey Volunteers.

The plan was for recruits to come to an induction center organized as a military camp, sign up, be given his $2 premium, a month’s pay (about $13), and a uniform, and sent immediately into training. It was a clever tactic, as it did not give inductees a chance to change their mind.

One way to fire young recruits up was to hold “War Meetings” in various towns, which appealed to the young listeners’ patriotism. Well-to-do citizens also would donate money to entice potential recruits. In addition to local bounties, a new soldier would also receive a $100 Federal bounty once the regiment was mustered in. In addition, the families married men or men with widowed mothers received $6 per month, and single men received $2 per month.

Is it any wonder that in THE ENLISTMENT new recruit Bill Crenshaw’s reason for joining the Army was because they “paid real good money to sign up and good pay after. Now I’m able to help my family and make some money of my own.” There is however, another reason that money will help: Bill is a woman masquerading as a man who wants to help her family. She knows she can earn more doing this “man’s work” than she could doing “woman’s work.” But that’s another story for another time!

In a short time, the Fifteenth Regiment was complete, with 925 officers and men. The regiment was mustered in on 25 August 1862 and left for Washington on 27 August.


SOURCE MATERIAL:
Bilby, J. G. (1993). Three Rousing Cheers: A Hihstory of the Fifteenth New Jersey from Flemington to Appomattox. Hightstown, NJ: Longstreet House.

Line Officers of the New Jersey Fifteenth, 1864
FindAGrave.com
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/13064221/15th-new_jersey_infantry-monument#
​Photo added to Find A Grave site by Gregory Speciale