[ought-six]

"The rebels were backwards, dishonorable bums, every one of them. I was just reading last night about how Robert E. Lee, supposedly so unwilling to see Virginia coerced by the federal government, was very willling to see men coerced into the service of the insurgency. He supported the conscription act of 1862."

Leave it up to a hate-filled liberal like you to slander your betters. Speaking of a draft: Your precious North had a draft, as well. Oh, but that is not a coercion; it is only when the South did it that you criticize the act.

[Grand Old Partisan]

The North did not have a draft -- the United States Government did, and it began much later rebel conscription. At least a third of rebel soldiers were conscripts, as compared to 6% of United States troops. And, people were free not to volunteer in US-held territory, while the rebels coerced into enlisting many more than the one-third or so calssified as consacripts. And, the CSA extended the enlistments of rebel troops past their terms of enlistment, making them all conscripts. In contrast, when most Union three-years enlistments ended in summer 1864, three-quarters of them voluntarily re-enlisted for the duration.