While doing genealogical research I found a Swedish ancestor (seen here in 1890 census with service record) who used multiple aliases during his service in the Civil War. Looking into this further I found a few uncited articles saying that it was common for Scandinavian immigrants to use aliases and re-enlist during that war.
He is listed as literate in all census records 1880 and later, and these names are different enough that they seem to be bigger than transcription errors or mis-heard errors when he signed up.
My question is, why was this common? Were they going after signing bonuses? Was it a cultural thing?
Thanks in advance for any insight you can share.
There were bounties and signing bonuses at various phases of the Civil War, yes. In particular, rich men could hire a substitute so that they could stay out of combat. The painter Albert Bierstadt, for example, paid $300 to a substitute, a pretty hefty price at the time. Your ancestor very well could have taken a bounty, either as a substitute or directly from the government, deserted (or waited for his term of enlistment to expire), and done it again.