Professions in the war

[David Ireland]

Other than farmer, what was the most common profession of men in the Civil War? Who were some of the most prominent lawyers who fought, besides Holmes (not yet a lawyer) and Mosby?

 

[American87]

Other than farmer, what was the most common profession of men in the Civil War? Who were some of the most prominent lawyers who fought, besides Holmes (not yet a lawyer) and Mosby?

Jubal Anderson Early was a lawyer, Lee's Bad Old Man though he was.

According to Wikipedia he practiced inheritance, slave, and divorce cases, so he seems to have practiced civil law.

 

[GwilymT]

Other than farmer, what was the most common profession of men in the Civil War? Who were some of the most prominent lawyers who fought, besides Holmes (not yet a lawyer) and Mosby?

Rutherford B. Hayes was an attorney prior to the war. He practiced criminal law and defended runaways against the Fugitive Slave Act.

 

[DBF]

While doing some family research I discovered this interesting fact giving a glimpse of a little corner of occupations from south-eastern Connecticut.

According to the book "The Story of the Twenty-first Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, During the Civil War. 1861-1865"; the following history and description is given of Company G - - -

"Company ' G ' was recruited by J. F. Brown, 42; E. P. Packer, 22; I. D. Kenyon, 21, and two others. From North Stonington there came 65 men, from Voluntown 22, from Griswold 6. There were 82 Americans. The average age was 26 1/10. Thirty-eight were married. There were 54 farmers, 9 laborers, 6 mechanics, 4 clerks, and 9 others of various calling."

If you are looking for lawyers - check out the Harvard Regiment or the Boston Brahmin. One of its members eventually sat on the highest court in the land.

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-boston-brahmin.179379/#post-2330826

 

[1SGDan]

Eli Libby, Union artilleryman, was a pharmacist and after the war founded one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in America

 

[GwilymT]

While doing some family research I discovered this interesting fact giving a glimpse of a little corner of occupations from south-eastern Connecticut.

According to the book "The Story of the Twenty-first Regiment, Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, During the Civil War. 1861-1865"; the following history and description is given of Company G - - -

"Company ' G ' was recruited by J. F. Brown, 42; E. P. Packer, 22; I. D. Kenyon, 21, and two others. From North Stonington there came 65 men, from Voluntown 22, from Griswold 6. There were 82 Americans. The average age was 26 1/10. Thirty-eight were married. There were 54 farmers, 9 laborers, 6 mechanics, 4 clerks, and 9 others of various calling."

If you are looking for lawyers - check out the Harvard Regiment or the Boston Brahmin. One of its members eventually sat on the highest court in the land.

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-boston-brahmin.179379/#post-2330826

That illustrious jurist didn't attend law school until after the war but he was the first to come to mind. He enlisted right out of Harvard prior to taking up law.

 

[Cavalier]

If we are looking for the most prominent after farmer, I would say laborer.

John

 

[Zack]

Life of Johnny Reb by Bell Wiley - examined 9,000 soldiers
--- 5,600 farmers
--- 474 students
--- 472 laborers
--- 321 clerks
--- 318 mechanics
--- 222 carpenters
--- 138 merchants
--- 116 blacksmiths
--- 48 overseers
--- 39 printers
--- 36 masons
--- 35 tailors
--- 31 millers
--- 31 engineers
--- 23 coopers
--- 21 bakers

Life of Billy Yank by Bell Wiley - examined 14,000 Yanks
--- 7,000 farmers
--- 1,400 laborers
--- 610 carpenters
--- 374 shoemakers
--- 367 clerks
--- 325 blacksmiths
--- 200 painters
--- 173 soldiers
--- 183 mechanics
--- 178 sailors
--- 155 machinists
--- 143 masons
--- 126 printers
--- 99 teamsters
--- 97 teachers

 

[Zack]

Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson

Union Soldiers based on US Sanitary Commission Sample
Farmers and Farm Laborers - 47.5%
Skilled Laborers - 25.1%
Unskilled laborers - 15.9%
White-Collar and Commercial - 5.1%
Professional - 3.2%
Miscellaneous and unknown - 3.2%

All Males (From 1860 Census)
Farmers and Farm Laborers - 42.9%
Skilled Laborers - 24.9%
Unskilled laborers - 16.7%
White-Collar and Commercial - 10%
Professional - 3.5%
Miscellaneous and unknown - 2.0%

He concludes (page 608) - "From this table it might appear that the white-collar class was the most under-represented group in the army. But this appearance is deceptive, for the median age of soldiers at enlistment was 23.5 years while the occupational data for the census were for all adult males. Two-fifths of the soldiers were twenty-one or younger. Studies of nineteenth-century occupational mobility have shown that 10 percent or more of young men who started as laborers subsequently moved up the occupational ladder. If one could control for the age of soldiers, it seems likely that the only category significantly under-represented would be unskilled workers."

Confederate Soldiers
Planters, farmers, and farm laborers - 61.5%
Skilled Laborers - 14.1%
Unskilled Laborers - 8.5%
White-Collar and commercial - 7%
Profesional - 5.2%
Miscellaneous and Unknown - 3.7%

All White Males (From 1860 Census)
Planters, farmers, and farm laborers - 57.5%
Skilled Laborers - 15.7%
Unskilled Laborers - 12.7%
White-Collar and commercial - 8.3%
Profesional - 5%
Miscellaneous and Unknown - .8%

He concludes (page 614-615) - "From this sample it appears that, adjusted for age, both skilled and unskilled laborers were under-represented in the Confederate army while business and professional classes may have been over-represented. The most important categories in this rural society, however, were farmers and planters. Unfortunately, neither the census nor the regimental muster rolls consistently distinguished between these two classes, so it is impossible to tell whether 'planters' were under-represented. The only study of this question found that in three piedmont counties of Georgia the average wealth of men who did not serve in the army was about 20 percent greater than those who did. The pattern indicated by this limited sample may have been counterbalanced for the Confederacy as a whole by the greater tendency of men from its poorest upcountry regions to skedaddle, desert, or otherwise avoid Confederate service."

 

[Zack]

As for lawyers...

According to this website - https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2017/05/armed-forces-day-u-s-military-leaders-who-also-were-lawyers/

"Many members of the bar played prominent roles in the Civil War. Professor Bernard J. Hibbitts estimates that at least 20,000 lawyers served in the Union Army. There is no credible estimate for the number of lawyers who served in the Confederate forces, but a number of individuals with legal training rose to high command in the Confederacy. Both armies had over 100 generals who had professional backgrounds at the bar."

Examples:
-- Henry Halleck practiced law starting in 1851
-- William Tecumseh Sherman was briefly a very incompetent lawyer in 1858
-- Raphael Semmes passed the bar in 1835 and practiced law intermittently from then until the Civil War
-- Benjamin Butler was a prominent criminal defense lawyer before the war
-- Jubal Early as mentioned was admitted to the bar in 1840
-- Future President and Civil War veteran Benjamin Harrison began practicing law in 1854
-- Future President and Civil War veteran Rutherford B Hayes opened a law office in 1850
-- Future President and Civil War veteran James A Garfield was admitted to the bar in 1861
-- Carl Schurz began practicing law in Milwaukee in 1858
-- John S Mosby as mentioned was a lawyer before the war
-- Lew Wallace started practicing law in 1849
-- Edward Bragg started practicing law in 1848
-- John Logan started practicing law in the 1850s

The list goes on.

 

[Biscoitos]

Life of Johnny Reb by Bell Wiley - examined 9,000 soldiers
--- 5,600 farmers
--- 474 students
--- 472 laborers
--- 321 clerks
--- 318 mechanics
--- 222 carpenters
--- 138 merchants
--- 116 blacksmiths
--- 48 overseers
--- 39 printers
--- 36 masons
--- 35 tailors
--- 31 millers
--- 31 engineers
--- 23 coopers
--- 21 bakers

Life of Billy Yank by Bell Wiley - examined 14,000 Yanks
--- 7,000 farmers
--- 1,400 laborers
--- 610 carpenters
--- 374 shoemakers
--- 367 clerks
--- 325 blacksmiths
--- 200 painters
--- 173 soldiers
--- 183 mechanics
--- 178 sailors
--- 155 machinists
--- 143 masons
--- 126 printers
--- 99 teamsters
--- 97 teachers

Printers. I wonder how made had their skills as printers utilized by the armies?
Anyone know of specific examples?

 

[jackt62]

Printers. I wonder how made had their skills as printers utilized by the armies?
Anyone know of specific examples?

Well, the AotP had to print thousands of paroles for the ANV at Appomattox. There were probably other examples in which federal forms, regulations, etc. were printed in the field that must have used the skills of professional soldier printers.

 

[Biscoitos]

Well, the AotP had to print thousands of paroles for the ANV at Appomattox. There were probably other examples in which federal forms, regulations, etc. were printed in the field that must have used the skills of professional soldier printers.

Also at Vicksburg and I assume at Port Hudson and other places. Were local presses "requistioned?"
Not to mention that general and special orders in the field were not always handwritten, but peinted.
Did any regiments ever have "camp newspapers" printed? I would suspect so.

 

[jackt62]

Were local presses "requistioned?"

I read somewhere that smaller presses for use in the field were often part of the main army's supplies.

 

[JeffFromSyracuse]

Geography obviously influences occupation. For example, the 48th PA and all of their coal miners, who put their skills to use at Petersburg.

 

[American87]

Printers. I wonder how made had their skills as printers utilized by the armies?
Anyone know of specific examples?

Yes.

 

[Copperhead-mi]

Printers. I wonder how made had their skills as printers utilized by the armies?
Anyone know of specific examples?

Civil War Field Printing
https://americanhistory.si.edu/civilwar-field-printing/introduction

 

[Zack]

Civil War Field Printing
https://americanhistory.si.edu/civilwar-field-printing/introduction

Would a soldier enlist specifically for this job or would it be a secondary duty to being a soldier?

 

[Copperhead-mi]

Would a soldier enlist specifically for this job or would it be a secondary duty to being a soldier?

According to the article on page 2:
"'Every Man His Own Printer!' advertised the makers of the Lowe and Adams presses. Easy to use, these presses inspired military and amateur printers during and after the Civil War to make use of portable presses to print military orders, receipts, billheads, and other documents."

 

[PrivateBrooke]

I believe that G. Moxley Sorrel(of General Longstreet's staff) was a bank teller in Savannah before the war.