Conscription Acts

[atlantis]

The conscription acts how would you rate their effectiveness. Or were they counter productive. There were several acts US/CS, rate them from most effective too least.

 

[Lubliner]

The confederacy was constantly finding faults in the conscription laws. Whether for loopholes keeping men out, or actual hardships, or for existing workloads to keep the infrastructure established, there was always questions arising, especially by Governors and heads of Military Departments. Florida had reasons of manpower cited by Governor Milton, and keeping products available. Alabama later in the war was in turmoil due to discrepancies involving the upkeep of State Militia being conscripted into the CSA. The acts themselves are so full of legal jargon I have a difficulty understanding the entire gist of the laws. It was an evil that was necessary, and without real remedy. Many after serving the initial year of duty wanted to stay closer to home. The law kept changing to fill the ranks. This all reduced morale, so counter-productive I would say.
Lubliner.

 

[jackt62]

Conscription in the north was mainly used as a weapon to coerce states to meet their enlistment quotas by offering better inducements to volunteers, such as additional bounties. If I recall correctly, the actual number of Union soldiers who ended up being drafted was only about 15 percent. Given the Confederacy's dire need for manpower, the south was more aggressive in tracking down eligible men for service. General Gideon Powell, disgraced after fleeing Ft. Donelson, was eventually appointed to head the Volunteer and Conscription Bureau, a position in which he gained positive reviews for conscripting large numbers of soldiers in the western theater.

 

[Lubliner]

Conscription in the north was mainly used as a weapon to coerce states to meet their enlistment quotas by offering better inducements to volunteers, such as additional bounties. If I recall correctly, the actual number of Union soldiers who ended up being drafted was only about 15 percent. Given the Confederacy's dire need for manpower, the south was more aggressive in tracking down eligible men for service. General Gideon Powell, disgraced after fleeing Ft. Donelson, was eventually appointed to head the Volunteer and Conscription Bureau, a position in which he gained positive reviews for conscripting large numbers of soldiers in the western theater.

General Gideon Johnson Pillow, just a gentle nudge up above.
Lubliner.

 

[uaskme]

In the first National draft levy in 1863, only one grafted man in thirty went into uniform: in Massachusetts the ratio came to one in forty, in Maryland one in fifty, and in Connecticut one in sixty-three. Lincoln's Mercenaries by Marvel.

 

[Miles Krisman]

The confederacy was constantly finding faults in the conscription laws. Whether for loopholes keeping men out, or actual hardships, or for existing workloads to keep the infrastructure established, there was always questions arising, especially by Governors and heads of Military Departments. Florida had reasons of manpower cited by Governor Milton, and keeping products available. Alabama later in the war was in turmoil due to discrepancies involving the upkeep of State Militia being conscripted into the CSA. The acts themselves are so full of legal jargon I have a difficulty understanding the entire gist of the laws. It was an evil that was necessary, and without real remedy. Many after serving the initial year of duty wanted to stay closer to home. The law kept changing to fill the ranks. This all reduced morale, so counter-productive I would say.
Lubliner.

This is what one Alabama soldier had to say about conscription:

"I have no respect of a government that is guilty of such bad faith" one Alabamian complained. Some thought the Congress had taken the law into its own hands unjustly; if volunteers were kept on for two more years, they said, what was to prevent the lawmakers from keeping them on for ten more years. With conscription, they warned, "all patriotism is dead, and the Confederacy will be dead sooner or later." Changing the rules in this way was seen very much as a betrayal.

 

[Bruce Vail]

It's a complicated problem to evaluate the effectiveness of the draft laws. The Confederate draft laws were clearly ineffective in that they failed to fill the ranks of the Confederate armed forces in the way that was needed. By the same token, the Union draft laws clearly were effective in that regard. Of course, the large disparity in the manpower pool between the two sides will have had an influence.

Neither side was effective in making coscription fair and equitable.

 

[Bruce Vail]

Conscription in the north was mainly used as a weapon to coerce states to meet their enlistment quotas by offering better inducements to volunteers, such as additional bounties. If I recall correctly, the actual number of Union soldiers who ended up being drafted was only about 15 percent. Given the Confederacy's dire need for manpower, the south was more aggressive in tracking down eligible men for service. General Gideon Powell, disgraced after fleeing Ft. Donelson, was eventually appointed to head the Volunteer and Conscription Bureau, a position in which he gained positive reviews for conscripting large numbers of soldiers in the western theater.

Conscription on both sides was more aimed at spurring enlistments than in actually forcing men into uniform.

 

[jackt62]

I believe the saying "rich man's war, and poor man's fight" was originally expressed by southern conscripts.

 

[John Hartwell]

Only about 5-6% of the Union armies were composed of draftees or substitutes. Some states were not subject to the draft because they had an excess of volunteers.

In the 1863 draft (by far the largest), of all the names drawn, 30% were found to be ineligible "on account of physical disability." Another 30% were found to be exempt for some other reason ("alienage, unsuitableness of age, non-residents, &c"). Of the remaining 40% "held to service," about half paid the $300 commutation; of the half remaining, "about one third have gone in person, and two-thirds have furnished substitutes."

Results of the First Federal Draft, July 1863 | Civil War Potpourri

In October 1863, Provost-Marshall General James B.Fry sent to Secretary Stanton the following interesting analysis of the first round of Federal conscription:

civilwartalk.com

 

[Bruce Vail]

Only about 5-6% of the Union armies were composed of draftees or substitutes. Some states were not subject to the draft because they had an excess of volunteers.

In the 1863 draft (by far the largest), of all the names drawn, 30% were found to be ineligible "on account of physical disability." Another 30% were found to be exempt for some other reason ("alienage, unsuitableness of age, non-residents, &c"). Of the remaining 40% "held to service," about half paid the $300 commutation; of the half remaining, "about one third have gone in person, and two-thirds have furnished substitutes."

Results of the First Federal Draft, July 1863 | Civil War Potpourri

In October 1863, Provost-Marshall General James B.Fry sent to Secretary Stanton the following interesting analysis of the first round of Federal conscription:

civilwartalk.com

My great great grandfather Charles Hubert Vail was drafted in Westchester County NY in that first 1863 draft. He never served, though, because he was exempted as the principal breadwinner (farmer) for his widowed mother.

 

[Bruce Vail]

In the first National draft levy in 1863, only one grafted man in thirty went into uniform: in Massachusetts the ratio came to one in forty, in Maryland one in fifty, and in Connecticut one in sixty-three. Lincoln's Mercenaries by Marvel.

Interesting little-konwn fact about the NY draft riots is that they acheived the anti-draft aims of many rioters. No one was drafted and forced to serve in NY City in 1863.