Did Conscription help or hurt the Confederacy?

leftyhunter

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Has we know the CSA was so short of manpower that by April 16 1862 it had to resort to concription to fill its dwindling ranks. The Union would have a draft which meant not all eligible men would have to enlist one year later.
I will argue that conscription hurt the CSA more then helped of course feel free to argue differently. Gen. Kirby Smith CSA estimated that by the end of April 1862 has many has 7k young men from East Tn fled to Ky where they then joined the Union Army to avoid the CSA conscription. Very few men from East Tn joined the Union Army prior to the Conscription act. See p.122 Licolnites and Rebels A divided town in America Robert McKenzie Oxford Univ Press.
Leftyhunter
 
Simply put CS conscription officers could grab anyone they wished... Except slaveowners, politicians and school teachers.

The US had a lot more restrictions since they weren't using conscription but a draft. That took a good bit of the corruption out of the process. It wasn't willy Nilly up to a conscription officers but in the hands of elected or officials appointed by elected officials.
Fair point but in at least Georgia the Georgia State Militia was exempt. Yes they did tangle with Sherman a bit but overall their casualties were light since they tended to run away. Other states may of given Militia exemptions not real sure.
The Union did give a $300 exemption for hiring a substitute. The City of New York did in fact after the draft riots pay for exemptions for those who did not want to be drafted. A few other municipalities did as well.
No doubt the conscription or draft was not popular. On the other hand young men from the non border states did not engage in widespread guerrilla warfare against the Union nor was there widespread defection to the Confederate Army.
Leftyhunter
 
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… And some of the best militaries in the world are conscripted, I'd say look no further then the Israeli military which requires compulsory service, its showed it can hold its own multiple times. the US drafted 10 million in WW2 out of 49 million registered, I'd say our conscriptees did well too
I'm not too sure how well he did, but my father was one among the number. Fortunately for him he had flat feet which kept him out of the infantry - instead he somehow got what must've been a very cushy job indeed, developing photographs at some base in England for the then-Army Air Corps!
 
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I'm not too sure how well he did, but my father was one among the number. Fortunately for him he had flat feet which kept him out of the infantry - instead he somehow got what must've been a very cushy job indeed, developing photographs at some base in England for the then-Army Air Corps!
My dad was too, I joke he just got a free Caribbean cruise. He was drafted in 44 to US navy, went to school at great lakes then Norfolk, was assigned to brand new Essex aircraft carrier the USS Tarawa, they were in the Caribbean on a shake down cruise then mustered out as the war ended
 
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My dad was too, I joke he just got a free Caribbean cruise. He was drafted in 44 to US navy, went to school at great lakes then Norfolk, was assigned to brand new Essex aircraft carrier the USS Tarawa, they were in the Caribbean on a shake down cruise before going the pacific when the war ended.

The USS Tarawa was still around and in the Caribbean as late as the summer of 1957, I remember seeing her at Guantanamo Bay.
 
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My dad was too, I joke he just got a free Caribbean cruise. He was drafted in 44 to US navy, went to school at great lakes then Norfolk, was assigned to brand new Essex aircraft carrier the USS Tarawa, they were in the Caribbean on a shake down cruise before going the pacific when the war ended.
Mine had a longer period of service: Drafted sometime in 1942 he was first sent to the USAAF base Wendover Field on the Utah-Nevada border for basic training where he was joined by my mother who was hired as a parachute rigger. They were able to live together in base housing since he was a married NCO. (Shades of the Old Army of the Frontier West!) He was finally shipped out to England while she remained at Wendover. Much later in the 1970's I took a vacation and actually drove across the Utah Bonneville Salt Flats to Wendover, by then almost deserted, where I easily found the abandoned building that had been where parachutes had once been hung and packed!
 
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Its wiki page says it was one the few Essex's never modernized, and retained the classic WW2 carrier look throughout its career

The USS Tarawa had been reclassified as a support carrier [CVS] when I saw her in 1957. She was with the USS Intrepid who still had the CVA designation [attack carrier]. I was on the USS Corregidor TCVU 58. The Corregidor had been a World War CVE [support carrier] but was too small for then modern planes when I was on her and was used to carry planes to European Nato countries.
 
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Quite frankly, I don't see how that is a difference from being drafted, if chosen they don't have a choice.

Both are conscription, just with different methods of selection:
  • In a draft, it is the luck of the draw: if your number doesn't come up, you don't serve and can go about your life without a care. If called, you are subject to military orders and law. (Exceptions may apply as specified by the law.)
  • In a conscription such as the Confederacy declared, you are technically already in the military subject to military orders and law. At any time, your local conscription authority can simply change your status to active and order you to report to the instruction camp for training and assignment. (Exceptions may apply as specified by the law.)
The second is actually more liable to lead to favoritism or abuse. Example: the local conscription agent needs 100 men from the county to meet his quota. The national government doesn't care who they are as long as they are the right age and can carry a rifle. The local agent can pick and choose who he sends -- and who stays. Does he pick you, or your neighbor, and why?

Both systems are subject to manipulation, of course; what system invented by governments is not?

Straight conscription systems are usually found where it is necessary to raise large forces from relatively small population bases. Example:during the run-up to WWI, France passed universal conscription (supposedly with an exception only for medical reasons) so that all young men would be conscripted for 2 years, followed by service requirements in the Reserves. Struggling to keep up with the larger and faster growing German population, they increased this to a 3 year service requirement in 1913. This was done in peacetime and about 86% of the 18 year olds actually served (amazing how many exceptions could be found, eh?)
 
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the draft is conscription..... conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people into national service......whether 1% or 90% is called up its still conscription. And confederacy had exceptions as well to conscription from based on occupation to allowing substitutes

Fortunately we have never been required to call up all of a certain age range......but we do require all of a certain age range to register so its available if it ever is required. That's why they are registered.....

And some of the best militaries in the world are conscripted, I'd say look no further then the Israeli military which requires compulsory service, its showed it can hold its own multiple times. the US drafted 10 million in WW2 out of 49 million registered, I'd say our conscriptees did well too
Actually the Israeli conscription has some serious issues which I can discuss in a PM thread I have already established. The experiences of the WW2 draftee's was rather different from that of the Confederate Army.
Each war is very different from another war. I don't mind compare and contrast but not on this thread. Those who wish to compare and contrast should set up a PM thread and invite whoever they want.
Leftyhunter
 
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You are quite welcome. Such mastery of the emoji deserves recognition.
Thanks again, I learn the skill from one of your cronies.
He knows the difference full well but wishes to ignore it. It's been explained to him many times. Nothing Cash or I can say will be acceptable to him or his cronies.

It's not so much that as it is that my reponses to you and your cronies would be unacceptable to the moderators.
 
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Has we know the CSA was so short of manpower that by April 16 1862 it had to resort to concription to fill its dwindling ranks. The Union would have a draft which meant not all eligible men would have to enlist one year later.
I will argue that conscription hurt the CSA more then helped of course feel free to argue differently. Gen. Kirby Smith CSA estimated that by the end of April 1862 has many has 7k young men from East Tn fled to Ky where they then joined the Union Army to avoid the CSA conscription. Very few men from East Tn joined the Union Army prior to the Conscription act. See p.122 Licolnites and Rebels A divided town in America Robert McKenzie Oxford Univ Press.
Leftyhunter
Is there any history of draft riots in any major Confederate city as there was in the North in protest to the draft? In the North one could pay for another to serve in their place ,did the Con, have this ? Git paid desert and repeat! The North had immigrants to fill their billings ,Irish and Germans were the main source.The Con, did not have this source or at least not to the amount of the Union,The draft in the South came late in the war when the sources had already been sacrificed ,One can not be hurt when there is no further way to be harmed .Desertions were a more critical problem then the draft,
 
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Is there any history of draft riots in any major Confederate city as there was in the North in protest to the draft? In the North one could pay for another to serve in their place ,did the Con, have this ? Git paid desert and repeat! The North had immigrants to fill their billings ,Irish and Germans were the main source.The Con, did not have this source or at least not to the amount of the Union,The draft in the South came late in the war when the sources had already been sacrificed ,One can not be hurt when there is no further way to be harmed .Desertions were a more critical problem then the draft,
Actually the Confederacy enacted conscription in April of 1862.
No there were no draft riots but in this thread there are examples of deserters and conscription evaders fighting back. A huge motivation of Unionist guerrillas was Confederate conscription. Lots of examples in my thread " Union vs Confederate guerrillas".
The Confederacy did conscript immigrants they just had less then the Union to conscript.
The Confederacy had the 20 Negro Rule which is rather similar to hiring a substitute.
Leftyhunter
 
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