Enticements like the following ad in the Vicksburg Herald newspaper might have played a role in recruitment. Caps, italics and spacing are roughly like that of the ad, which was reported in the April 4, 1865, Galveston Daily News.
RECRUITS FOR MASSACHUSETTS QUOTA
$625.00 Bounty
$425.00 CASH DOWN
The same bounty and pay to
WHITE OR COLORED RECRUITS.
All get sixteen dollars per month.
Choose your own Regiment or Company.
Liberal pay to agents for bringing recruits to me.
Lieut. Col. E. C. Kinsley,
Ass’t Provost Marshall of Massachusetts for the District of Mississippi
Headquarters at Vicksburg – Office on Washington Street near Clay, over Col. Saunders & Co.’s store.
The bounty was equivalent to 39 months of pay and was probably a big incentive for newly freed slaves in Mississippi, who doubtless didn't have great prospects for earning much money otherwise. Good luck on your dissertation.
Many thanks!