I’ve been doing some genealogical research in some local papers. I found a draft list from The Valley Register of Middletown Maryland from May 20, 1864. I was just skimming the list to see what names I may know, when at the bottom there was a note saying *“Slave &Free Colored”. List of draftees
I can see six that are listed as being slaves, and four as being free. I had never heard of slaves being drafted on the Union side, and even looking things up on Google most references are about the Confederacy.
What did slaves do for the Union when they were drafted? How were they kept from running off the second anyone’s back was turned? Were they granted freedom before the end of the war?
I looked up Sandy Johnson, left side most of the way down in the Middletown District, and his Find a Grave seems to be here. The article doesn’t say anything about being drafted or being in the war at all.
I’m not sure if these papers are online as I have personal copies so I can’t proved a full paper to view.
I know that in a few Border states, slavery was still legal- altho not common- one such state was Maryland. Slaveowners might bring one along as a servant. But as for being drafted?
The first link brings up the list of draftees, it lists a few slaves which is what caught my eye. I looked at the next newspaper and it listed more drafted people, but then just lists the name and (colored) after the name. Doesn’t say free or slave.
Yes, Frederick County Maryland. There were slaves in the county, I believe the split was close to 50/50 free and slave. I can see drafting freed people, but I have never heard of slaves being drafted before.
This is the conscription statute enacted by Congress and signed into law by President Lincoln on March 3, 1864.
Section 24 deals with the enrollment of “able-bodied male colored persons between the ages of twenty and forty-five”.
; and when a slave of a loyal master shall be drafted and mustered into the service of the United States, his master shall have a certificate thereof; and thereupon such slave shall be free ; and the bounty of one hundred dollars, now payable by law for each drafted man, shall be paid to the person to whom such drafted person was owing ser-
vice or labor at the time of his muster into the service of the United
States . The Secretary of War shall appoint a commission in each of the slave States represented in Congress, charged to award to each loyal per-
son to whom a colored volunteer may owe service a just compensation, not
exceeding three hundred dollars, for each such colored volunteer, .payable
out of the fund derived from commutations, and every such colored volunteer on being mustered into the service shall be free . And in all cases
where men of color have been heretofore enlisted or have volunteered in
the military service of. the United States, all the provisions of this act, so
far as the payment of bounty and compensation are provided, shall be
equally applicable as to those who may be hereafter recruited . But men of color, drafted or enlisted, or who may volunteer into the military service, while they shall be credited on the quotas of the several states or subdivisions of states, wherein they are respectively drafted, enlisted,
or shall volunteer, shall not be assigned as state troops, but shall be mus-
tered into regiments or companies as United States colored troops .
So yes, the Union drafted slaves (and free blacks) in the last year or so of the Civil War. Those slaves were given their freedom and their holders (if loyal to the Union) compensated up to $400. Free blacks got the then-standard federal bounty of $100, and may have been eligible for state or local bounties as well.
My initial thought was that slaveholders in Maryland, knowing that the tide was against them and that an abolition constitution was the likely outcome of the 1864 statewide constitutional convention, may have accepted a fee to allow a willing slave to be drafted as a substitute - but the Enrollment Act indeed provided for their conscription directly.
Thanks for finding that. I doubt I would have stumbled upon it. Never would have thought that slaves would have been drafted and it was interesting to run across randomly.
Evern the 1863 draft statute did mention a possible way for slaves to be enrolled in the union army.
The draft had very few exceptions, so the master was not automatically excused from the draft. .Anyone could pay $300 to avoid draft, so it might be that the master would even ask the slave to volunteer ,so that the master could use up their savings on avoiding draft rather than feeding slaves, while the war was on and it was difficult to run business to earn income.
Anyway the 1863 draft applied to anyone who declared they wish to be citizens and I wonder if that applied to volunteer slaves ? Could the slave approach the draft people and declare their intent to become citizens, and get drafted ?
If so, its a bit unclear, would they get citizenship by this ? Did “declare their intent” really mean, “agree that it was a deal that being drafted meant citizenship”. The 1864 draft statute make sthis explicit, right, I wonder if it was implied by the 1863 statute ? “declaring intent” and then the governemnt accepting it, seems rather "yeah well we will work out tte details later but we are sure it will happen ". Heads of agreement, MOU.. ?
And did the 1864 draft law result in backdating of the same terms to cover any slave and slave owner who was enrolled,enlisted,draftee or volunteer , before it was enacted ? It was always possible an escapee from slavery in union states deceitfully enlisted right ? They just had to declare they were free once enrolled the ordinary civilian authorities couldnt touch them, the army would have to want to find escaped UNION slaves hiding in their ranks, they wouldnt be looking hard would they ? How could you find them ? You could think any of the escaped slaves who said they were from the south were really from the union … what evidence were you needing.. if you said you were escapee from the south.. that was enough ? The 1864 draft would fix that up, right ?If your slaves were enlisted you could claim the compensation.