Substitute Volunteer Ancestor

[rbortega]

Did anybody have an ancestor or relative who served as a Union Army substitute volunteer during the Civil War? My 3rd Great Uncle John S. Pence served as a substitute for someone named Malon B. Lowery. John served in the 59th Illinois Infantry from October, 1864 to June, 1865 and was wounded in action at the Battle of Nashville.

 

[lupaglupa]

We recently had a thread about this - figuring who was a substitute (and who got a substitute) isn't all that easy!

 

[LynneG]

My ancestor David Gutshall is listed as a substitute, but what exactly does that mean?

 

[Fairfield]

The Enrollment Act (1863) made provision for a draftee ("principal") to hire someone ("substitute") to fight in his place. Substitutes were paid ~$300.

 

[LynneG]

The Enrollment Act (1863) made provision for a draftee ("principal") to hire someone ("substitute") to fight in his place. Substitutes were paid ~$300.

Thank you for explaining that. When I saw it, I sort of thought that's what it meant but wasn't sure.

 

[Fairfield]

Thank you for explaining that. When I saw it, I sort of thought that's what it meant but wasn't sure.

Should have made clearer: the payment was a private arrangement between the principal and the substitute--the principal (not the government) paid.

 

[pamc153PA]

My gggg-uncle was a substitute in the 153rd PVI in 1862. He was 18 when he joined, and it seems he substituted for a relative of one of the owners at a coke mine that was part of Bethlehem Steel, where he worked. His family was very poor, and his father was disabled and couldn't work. I haven't been able to find out how much he got as a substitute, but $300 would have been an amazing amount to his family, and any amount would help.

Unfortunately, joining as a substitute cost him his life. He was mortally wounded on Barlow's Knoll on July 1, and died on July 27, 1863 in hospital in Harrisburg.

 

[Story]

Don't know if this was mentioned in previous threads on the topic but there were some guys who'd enlist (often under fake names) as substitutes (or even before the draft, during the bonus period), take the first payment and then desert only to rinse-lather-and-repeat. Sometimes you can find them on the post-war list of deserters published in 1865.

 

[Fairfield]

Don't know if this was mentioned in previous threads on the topic but there were some guys who'd enlist (often under fake names) as substitutes (or even before the draft, during the bonus period), take the first payment and then desert only to rinse-lather-and-repeat. Sometimes you can find them on the post-war list of deserters published in 1865.

Bounty jumpers were a major problem. One of the men I researched signed up twice--and deserted twice. He had done the same thing previously in a southern Maine town. Then he went to Vermont where he signed up and deserted again. After that, I couldn't trace him but I suspect that he changed his name and continued collecting bonuses this way.

 

[Story]

Bounty jumpers were a major problem. One of the men I researched signed up twice--and deserted twice. He had done the same thing previously in a southern Maine town. Then he went to Vermont where he signed up and deserted again. After that, I couldn't trace him but I suspect that he changed his name and continued collecting bonuses this way.

Truth be told, a generic bounty jumper's tale would make for a good movie script in the right hands.

For the peanut gallery's instant gratification

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/bounty-jumpers-con-men-paid-to-enlist-then-desert.html

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14664650500314497?journalCode=fanc20