Conscript Camp?

[Anna Elizabeth Henry]

I've been researching my great-grandfather's foster family as they raised him from the time he was boy till he was eighteen. In Fold3 I found a strange letter under his name - assuming I have the correct Robert Boyd since there seems to be some confusion over who's who as its denoted in the letter.

I have two questions - one what's the purpose of this letter to clarify who he was by the War Department in 1935? Second - what's the reference about him being a "conscript in Camp Lee, Virginia" mean exactly? Was it some kind of prison camp? I've never come across the use of a conscript in reference to a place called Camp Lee.

Hopefully the below is legible enough for folks to read & any input would be helpful, thanks!

 

[Mark Roth]

It reads to me as he hired a substitute to replace him in the regiment, went home for a period of time, and then was drafted back into the service. I believe that the Confederate Congress amended the draft law(s) at some point in 1863 to eliminate substitution and require drafted men to serve personally.

If I am right, he was drafted after a period as a civilian and ordered to report to Camp Lee before being sent off to Company A.

Of course the report also seems to open up the possibility that another person named Robert Boyd was drafted and subsequently reported to Camp Lee in January of 1864. (FWIW, I considered that possibility--Robert Boyd doesn't really sound like it would be an entirely unique name-that it was someone else with the same name before rereading that it specifically stated "A man of that name was enrolled..."

In short, Robert Boyd was drafted and appeared for duty. It happened to a lot of people; on both sides.

 

[Anna Elizabeth Henry]

It reads to me as he hired a substitute to replace him in the regiment, went home for a period of time, and then was drafted back into the service. I believe that the Confederate Congress amended the draft law(s) at some point in 1863 to eliminate substitution and require drafted men to serve personally.

If I am right, he was drafted after a period as a civilian and ordered to report to Camp Lee before being sent off to Company A.

Of course the report also seems to open up the possibility that another person named Robert Boyd was drafted and subsequently reported to Camp Lee in January of 1864. (FWIW, I considered that possibility--Robert Boyd doesn't really sound like it would be an entirely unique name-that it was someone else with the same name before rereading that it specifically stated "A man of that name was enrolled..."

In short, Robert Boyd was drafted and appeared for duty. It happened to a lot of people; on both sides.

Interesting, hmm...the family did have money, so they could've paid for a substitute to serve. I'll have to do some more digging around about Robert Boyd and see if any other paperwork turns up on him. Assuming of course I find the correct Boyd - obviously it could be a common enough name.

Thanks for your help and insight - it's much appreciated!

 

[Mark Roth]

Camp Lee was set up for training newly enlisted and then as a location for newly conscripted men to report for duty. The site is currently used for the Redskins training camp. (SOURCE)

 

[Anna Elizabeth Henry]

Sort of ironic its still a training facility for something not quite as violent as war, but dangerous nonetheless!

 

[Yankeedave]

is there a difference between conscripted and drafted?

 

[Anna Elizabeth Henry]

is there a difference between conscripted and drafted?

Well according to my dictionary app - conscript means to draft for military or naval service. Meaning two - to compel into service. The thesaurus gives draftee as a synonym.

Guess it's one in the same then. Though I will say conscript sounds so much more unsavory to me.

 

[Yankeedave]

splitting hairs i guess. as lee made for antietam he had a large group of conscripts. as he crossed the potomac he had the conscripts sent west into the lower (north end) of the valley. i dont know this for fact, but i suspect the captured harpers ferry garrison supplied many.

 

[alan polk]

Isn't a "draft"more like a "lottery" among eligible citizens, whereas "conscription" means that "everyone" within the eligible group of folks must report to service?

 

[Yankeedave]

I was thinking the same thing. altho for a man drafted or conscripted i wonder if the difference mattered little as the effect was the same.

 

[Reb]

Isn't a "draft"more like a "lottery" among eligible citizens, whereas "conscription" means that "everyone" within the eligible group of folks must report to service?

I believe you're right with a caveat. I would just change the word "everyone" to "anybody". If the powers that be, came rolling through your neck of the woods looking for able bodied men, anyone who fit their needs was subject to conscription. Anybody who got caught was conscripted. The Confederate Conscription Act of February 1864 was for ALL men between the age of 17 and 50.

 

[Suzanne A]

Didn't draft lotteries start with Viet Nam? Otherwise, you were registered for the Draft and it was up the local Draft Board or in the CW the local federal official in charge of the draft in that district to determine whom to call up.

If the Robert Boyd of the last paragraph is your Robert Boyd, records at 6th Headquarters Army Corps show that he signed something to accept terms of parole May 14, 1865 after Lee had surrendered in April. This type of parole is different from parole offered in a POW exchange. Here it is sort of the equivalent to a discharge from the Union Army at the end of the War, a parole from the Union is what the Confederates received rather than a discharge from service from the Confederacy -- there was no longer a Confederate organization to issue discharges to its soldiers at that time and the Union insisted on the soldiers accepting terms before releasing them with parole papers - I don't know for sure, but there were probably some in the Confederate Army whom they would not choose to parole, but preferred to imprison or prosecute.

 

[Suzanne A]

As to why this letter was written, there are two possibilities, one is that it was written in response to any inquiry about his service record from a relative, or two there was an issue possibly about a pension, was he or a widow still alive in 1935? Issues about pensions available to Confederate veterans and widows were prevalent in the 20th Century. Some of the Confederate states started offering them as the veterans grew old and I believe that the federal government also offered some limited pensions to Confederate veterans as well, but very late in the process.

 

[John Hartwell]

Didn't draft lotteries start with Viet Nam? Otherwise, you were registered for the Draft and it was up the local Draft Board or in the CW the local federal official in charge of the draft in that district to determine whom to call up.

And those local officials chose who would go essentially by pulling names out of a hat (or some such container). So, it was, after all, a 'lottery' of sorts, though I don't recollect that the term was used at the time.

 

[Mark Roth]

Expired Image Removed

Civil War draft wheel on display at the Smithsonian. Names of eligible men were put in and the names pulled out where the men obligated to serve.

It wasn't called a lottery to my understanding, but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

 

[ErnieMac]

The Confederacy did not have a draft, that was a Federal invention. Southern men who met military service requirements (age, health, etc.) either volunteered or were subject to conscription - hence the term conscript.

 

[Suzanne A]

That is a Union draft wheel in the Smithsonian.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/main?edan_q=Civil+War+draft+wheel&op=Search

If you enlarge the little tag at the center it says:

"Civil War Draft Wheel
[accession info I can't read]
The names of men eligible for
the draft were written on slips of
paper and dropped into this wheel.
An official pulled out names to
fill the ranks of the Union Army."

Do we have any reason to believe this wheel/lottery procedure was followed in all Union draft precincts? I wish we knew where the wheel originated. And wheel or no wheel, I'm sure politics and other preferences played a part, maybe after the number came up or before.
Just call me cynical. I grew up in the Viet Nam draft era, pre-lottery.

 

[CheathamHill]

Funny seeing this thread. About an hour or so ago I was using Maprika (if you don't have that app GET IT! It is your gateway to the past!!!) and passed a Confed Conscription Camp in Atlanta. I had to text @Chattahooch33 bc I hadn't seen that before.
The blue dot was me. Again, download maprika if you all don't have it!

 

[Chattahooch33]

Maprika could have its own thread.

 

[alan polk]

Funny seeing this thread. About an hour or so ago I was using Maprika (if you don't have that app GET IT! It is your gateway to the past!!!) and passed a Confed Conscription Camp in Atlanta. I had to text @Chattahooch33 bc I hadn't seen that before.
The blue dot was me. Again, download maprika if you all don't have it!

I took your advice and got it. How are you accessing historical maps as pictured in your post above? It looks cool, but I'm wondering whether I'm smart enough to operate the thing!