I was watching Glory this afternoon and my interest was piqued so I began reading more about Colonel Robert Shaw. Wikipedia had listed as him joining in May of 1961 as a second lieutenant. His officer rank seemed to rise rapidly becoming a major in March of 1863 and colonel in April of 1863.
Was this sort of rank increase typical during the Civil War? Maybe the ranks were structured much differently than currently?
Thanks!
Nope the exact same rank structure existed as does today.
But a few things to note:
Obviously casualties played a MAJOR role in how fast soemone was promoted, officers died in battle at a higher rate than enlisted, they were obvious targets and usually placed in harms way just by doing their jobs.
Both armies, but in particular the Union's were expanding rapidly through the course of the war. As more units were formed there were all of a sudden open and junior officers with experience would be slotted in to fill the posts.
It was possible too for an officer to hold multiple ranks at any one time, through the process of Brevet promotions and the existence of both the Regular Army(the existing formations before the war) and the United States Volunteers (all the states and volunteer units). Essentially a pre-war officer may have been a Major in the Regular Army. But then is appointed the Col of a Mass Infantry regiment. Then a few months later he does such a good job that he gets a brevet promotion (means he gets the promotion but no pay or seniority increase and after the war it goes away) to Brigadier General to lead a brigade. Now towards the end of the war he also gets a Regular Army Brevet to Lt Col as a recognition for doing a good job. So come the end of the war he goes back to just being a Major of the Regular Army but is currently a Brigadier General, United States Volunteers.