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To: Tallguy
Go rent "Gangs of New York". Part of the backdrop is the NYC draft riots during which immigrants lynched freed black men. After mid-1863 the Union came to rely on the Draft to replace manpower (also Black Volunteers). It was VERY unpopular, and a factor that might have been responsible for a Lincoln defeat in 1864.

Sure. And all Five Point hookers looked like Cameron Diaz, too.

The Northern draft was a failure and didn't provide more than 5 or 6 precent of the Union army. Conscripts made up almost a third of the confederate army by the end, and one can make the case that the percentage should be close to 100% since in 1862 Davis extended all enlistments for the duration of the war. Lincoln never did that, and the Union army could have melted away in 1864 and 1865 as enlistments ran out. The fact that it didn't says a lot about those fighting for the Northern cause. Start to finish, the Union army was overwhelmingly a volunteer outfit.

67 posted on 07/15/2008 3:22:20 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur
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To: Non-Sequitur
The Northern draft was a failure and didn't provide more than 5 or 6 precent of the Union army.

Where did you get 5 or 6 percent? I found the following reference:

Civil War Conscription

"Under the Union draft act men faced the possibility of conscription in July 1863 and in Mar., July, and Dec. 1864. Draft riots ensued, notably in New York in 1863. Of the 249,259 18-to-35-year-old men whose names were drawn, only about 6% served, the rest paying commutation or hiring a substitute."

A quarter million men were raised on the Union side due to the Draft. Some were draftees, most were so-called "substitutes", and undoubtedly some never reported. A quarter million men that you wouldn't have had without the Draft. Considerably more than 6 percent of the total standing force of the combined Union Armies at any given instant in 1864/5 wouldn't you agree?

Sure. And all Five Point hookers looked like Cameron Diaz, too.

Cute. Do you have any hard stats, or are you just blowing smoke?

77 posted on 07/15/2008 5:47:53 PM PDT by Tallguy (Tagline is offline till something better comes along...)
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To: Non-Sequitur

From Wiki:

“The United States first employed national conscription during the American Civil War. The vast majority of troops were volunteers, however: of the 2,100,000 Union soldiers, about 2% were draftees, and another 6% were paid substitutes.

If you consider the combined total of 8% (draftees & paid substitutes) of a 2.1 million combined force over the entire war, the total percentage of draft-related serviceman was pretty high of the force serving over the last year of the War. Again, the established force of the combined armies at any given instant would have been lower, much lower, than the 2.1 million total that served.


79 posted on 07/15/2008 6:13:00 PM PDT by Tallguy (Tagline is offline till something better comes along...)
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