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- Aug 27, 2011
- Location
- Central Massachusetts
I've been puzzled by the great importance often given the Northern draft in supplying men for the army.
In Massachusetts, for instance, the impact of the draft was slight. The state provided 159,165 men (26,000 of them to the Navy) plus about 7,000 in units from other states. In the 1863 drafts, just over 30,000 names were drawn, of whom 22,400 were held to be exempt; 2,300 provided substitutes, and 3,600 paid the $300 commutation. Only 2,720 were assigned to regiments at the front, and another 224 served provost guard duty within the state.
And all of those men were drafted before 1 January 1864. Soon after the 1863 drafts were effected, a change in the act allowed communities that had exceeded their quotas in previous calls to receive credit for them in future calls -- if that ruling had been in effect from the start, there would have been no draft in Massachusetts at all. "The state ... filled all subsequent calls without resort to a draft." By the end of the war the state had exceeded its quota by 13,083. (figures from Schouler, Mass. in the War, 1868).
So, adding those who served with the number of substitutes, the draft supplied just under 4,600 of over 159,000 men from Massachusetts.
State-by-state, just how many men did the draft actually supply? Was it really a significant percentage of the total?
jno
In Massachusetts, for instance, the impact of the draft was slight. The state provided 159,165 men (26,000 of them to the Navy) plus about 7,000 in units from other states. In the 1863 drafts, just over 30,000 names were drawn, of whom 22,400 were held to be exempt; 2,300 provided substitutes, and 3,600 paid the $300 commutation. Only 2,720 were assigned to regiments at the front, and another 224 served provost guard duty within the state.
And all of those men were drafted before 1 January 1864. Soon after the 1863 drafts were effected, a change in the act allowed communities that had exceeded their quotas in previous calls to receive credit for them in future calls -- if that ruling had been in effect from the start, there would have been no draft in Massachusetts at all. "The state ... filled all subsequent calls without resort to a draft." By the end of the war the state had exceeded its quota by 13,083. (figures from Schouler, Mass. in the War, 1868).
So, adding those who served with the number of substitutes, the draft supplied just under 4,600 of over 159,000 men from Massachusetts.
State-by-state, just how many men did the draft actually supply? Was it really a significant percentage of the total?
jno
Bringing the