[philman_36]

They enlisted voluntarily in large numbers though.

Be truthful, the threat of conscription and the draft prompted many to volunteer.

A man could hire a substitute who would serve in his place, or he could simply pay $300 to get out of the obligation.

Dividing the rich and the poor even way back then.
Poor boys fighting a rich man's war.

[Bull Snipe]

In the Confederacy, you could pay a fee and avoid the draft. Also in the Confederacy, if you owned 20 slaves you got to watch the Civil War from the comfort of your veranda.
If you didn’t on a slave or less than 20 of them you got to see the Civil War in places like the Hornets Nest, Malvern Hill, Cemetery Ridge, Vicksburg. A higher percentage of the Confederate Army were drafted than in the Union Army.