[Non-Sequitur]

Here is a link to a site that mentions that only 6% of the quarter-million men drafted actually served. "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War" puts the number of white Union soldiers at about 2.5 million (with another 200,000 black troops) so the 15,000 to 20,000 Union draftees made up less that 1% of all Union soldiers.

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.

[Grand Old Partisan]

"John Summerfield Staples"

beyond fascinating!

[hobbes1]

Wow...Pretty Cool....

[ought-six]

Ah, as I suspected. The cowardly Yankees paid others to serve in their place. Some things never change.