Induction Officer

[JPK Huson 1863]

This is awful can NOT remember if this was posted previously? Hopefully there are new members who will say " No, of course not " and everyone else can pretend.

I'm guessing the giveaway here would be the item in front of this fellow? And did his occupation make him exempt from field duty- was he in fact an officer IN the military? This handy thing looks very portable, so would have to think it's the item lugged from town to town, recruiting soldiers.

He doesn't look to be a very jovial kind of fellow, does he?

 

[John Hartwell]

Looks to me like his right hand is on a crank that would rotate that box (pivoted at the corners). Perhaps he could be the one who draws the names of draftees from the box ... thus [Bingo!] you're "Inducted?"

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[Cumpston1862]

I have never seen this image before. Is this man identified as an "induction officer"?

Could be James Kenmore introducing the washing machine!

 

[28thNewYork]

The Library of Congress has this image tagged as a military uniform. I'm surmising that if it is, it may be like the early chaplain uniforms, which bore no special insignia and were merely of a military style. The jacket is similar to an officer's shell jacket. I'll defer at this point to those with much more knowledge of uniforming.

 

[AndyHall]

It's a lottery, and the prize is an all-expense-paid waking tour through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

 

[Frederick14Va]

Could be James Kenmore introducing the washing machine!

Hmmm a sock washer?....

 

[Frederick14Va]

It's a lottery, and the prize is an all-expense-paid waking tour through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

Second Place winner gets snow ski trip to Maryes Heights

 

[alexjack]

Were draftees selected randomly?

 

[Dave Wilma]

It's a lottery, and the prize is an all-expense-paid waking tour through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

And free medical and burial. "All you can eat" came in later wars.

 

[28thNewYork]

Here's a link to a very good description of how the multiple drafts actually effected one State (and a locale) during the ACW:

http://www.pchswi.org/archives/misc/cwdraft.html

 

[ole]

Were draftees selected randomly?

Yes, they were. Which is why my hackles rise when conscription is applied to Union troops.

True, it is a form of conscription when "your number is up", but real conscription was practiced in the CSA -- "when we want you, we'll come get you."

A small number of draftees served in the Federal forces. Much of the Confederate forces were conscripted.

 

[ole]

It's a lottery, and the prize is an all-expense-paid waking tour through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

I realize that was a tongue-in-cheek remark, but Sherman's hand-picked marchers included few, if any, draftees. Almost all were three-year veterans and tough as nails.

Some condemn Sherman for taking the best units and leaving the rest for Thomas.

 

[28thNewYork]

Were draftees selected randomly?

Yes, they were. Which is why my hackles rise when conscription is applied to Union troops.

True, it is a form of conscription when "your number is up", but real conscription was practiced in the CSA -- "when we want you, we'll come get you."

A small number of draftees served in the Federal forces. Much of the Confederate forces were conscripted.

A point that is well illustrated in the link I posted. Very (very) few of those draftees in the North actually saw service, although there were some who "volunteered".

 

[ole]

A point that is well illustrated in the link I posted. Very (very) few of those draftees in the North actually saw service, although there were some who "volunteered".

It seems like there was a stigma attached to being drafted -- enough, at least, to encourage volunteering. Of course, bounties offered didn't hurt. (But fostered the paying job of bounty jumpers and substitutes.)

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

I don't know, think I'd save a special place in Heck for the folks who made money from selling human flesh another way- providing substitutes to go get shot at in place of the person whose number was up. I guess if it was between the 2 main principles, fine- it's that middle-man who gives me the willies. I'm sure those types slept very well at night- but they shouldn't- which also gives me the creeps.