TO ARMS! TO ARMS! Your Country calls you to the Field. Letterpress broadside. [Cincinnati, Ohio?]: N.p., [October 1861]. Signed in type by Recruiting Officer Lieut. C.B. Young. 19 x 14 1/4 in.

A striking and rare Civil War recruitment broadside urging men to enlist in Lieut. C.B. Yount's company in the 54th Ohio Infantry Regiment, forming part of Piatt's Zouave Brigade at Camp Dennison near Cincinnati, Ohio. The bold headline, "TO ARMS! TO ARMS!", reflects the urgency and patriotic fervor of Union recruitment efforts during the early years of the Civil War. Below the call to action, an engraving of a spread-winged American eagle clutching arrows and an olive branch is flanked by a banner reading: "The Union Forever." 

The broadside offers a compelling incentive structure, advertising pay ranging from $13 to $22 per month, along with a $100 bounty to be paid "at the expiration of service." Notably, it assures potential recruits that "pay will commence and rations and clothing will be furnished on enlisting," addressing one of the practical concerns of would-be soldiers.

Piatt's Zouave Brigade was organized by Abram Sanders Piatt, who used his own funds to outfit soldiers in the flamboyant and colorful Zouave uniforms inspired by Berber warriors and the French Army light infantry regiments. Known for their distinctive short open jackets, baggy trousers, and fezzes or turbans, these exotic and theatrical uniforms were decorative and also part of a broader strategy to attract volunteers through esprit de corps and visual appeal. Piatt, a wealthy Ohio newspaper editor and future Union general, was one of several commanders who used the romantic image of the Zouave to galvanize enlistment during the early enthusiasm of the war.

The 54th Ohio Infantry is best remembered for its distinctive, early-war uniforms and for being a hard-fought regiment that saw action at the Battle of Shiloh. 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Broadsides, Ephemera, Printing, Posters, Handbills, Documents, Newspapers]