It is a little known piece of trivia that while Abraham Lincoln was not eligible for conscription, due to age and position as Commander-in-Chief, he still paid a substitute to serve in the army in his place. The soldier, a gentleman named John Summerfield Staples from Stroudsburg, PA, became the President's "representative recruit". He was enlisted in the 176th Pennsylvania Volunteers, survived the war, and is buried in Stroudsburg Cemetery, under a regulation GI headstone.