I’m interested in information about the Civil War, specifically family life in the North early in the war. I realize any war has its supporters and detractors. Did well-to-do families in the North try to prevent their sons from joining the war effort? Was there a draft in the North and if so, was there a way a family could “buy” a son out of it? If you could point me to some relevant books or articles on these issues, I would greatly appreciate it.
There was a draft in the North, but you could buy your way out of it by either paying a fee (I think it was $300) or sending someone to serve in your place. Most books on the Civil War discuss this, and if you’re researching the Civil War, the best source is Shelby Foote’s history.
In fact, the Union draft during the Civil War was the first conscription in the U.S.
–Cliffy
Here’s a website on Civil War conscription: http://www.civilwarhome.com/conscription.htm
Here’s another specifically on paid exemptions:
http://www.nara.gov/publications/prologue/meier.html
There were also draft riots in the North that turned into ugly race riots (New York and Baltimore). Shelby Foote’s history, as mentioned above addressed the issue of the draft in the North quiet well. The South also had conscription.
Also, you can rent Ken Burns’ PBS series on the war which provides a really nice overview of the conflict.
Conscription was not started in the Northern States until mid-1863. Up until then volunteers had filled the Union ranks, although volunteering was stimulated by the threat of a draft. In some States, Iowa for instance, there never was a significant draft because volunteers filled the State’s quota. Some States and towns did pay substantial bonuses and bounties to encourage enlistment.
According to Bruce Canton’s (sp?) books, especially “Stillness at Appomattox,” the bonus enlistees and draftees were not quality soldiers and were resented by the veterans who had enlisted in 1861 and 1862 without compulsion or bounty. The suggestion of a bounty was enough to cause resentment. The 24th Michigan was enlisted in and around Detroit and joined the Iron Brigade where is was regarded as not quite up to snuff because the citizens of Wayne County had set up a fund for the relief of the soldiers’ families. The 24th was one of the best fighting regiments in the Army of the Potomac and was shot to pieces on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, along with the rest of the brigade.
The conscription law allowed two ways out. You could induce someone to go in your place which took care of it forever, or for $300 you could buy an exemption from that particular call up. Grover Cleveland, later President of the US twice, hired a substitute.
The Confederacy resorted to the draft early. The first thing the Rebels did was conscript the soldiers who had already enlisted for a one year term. The term of induction was “for the duration.”
The Confederate draft had some loop holes. For instance if you owned 10 or more slaves you were exempt from the draft. This exemption was to make sure that the slaves who were producing the food, cotton and tobacco that the South depended on for economic survival were kept at work and kept under supervision.
The loopholes in both the Northern and Southern drafts led to soldiers on both sides to observe that it was a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.