Posted on 10/02/2007 1:10:01 PM PDT by BGHater
Good. Thank you. I appreciate the clarification.
Steve Newton’s “Lost for the Cause” does a thorough breakdown of the Confederate draft (to the extent the surviving figures allow), and finds that the number of draftees was always much less than the number of volunteers. Best estimates have the total number of Confederate soldiers at around 1 million, and many joined up prior to the institution of the draft. The head of the Confederate Conscription Bureau, General Preston, estimated that about 1/3 of the army additions after April 1862 were draftees.
By way of comparison, Union conscription provided only 6 to 8 percent of all Union soldiers and the North never resorted to extending enlistments. The Union army could have faded away almost completely in the summer of 1864 when the 3 year enlistments ran out, and the fact that it didn't is a testament to the dedication of the Union soldier.
4/1861: “It is becoming too evident, that so far as a vicious,...demoralized administration possesses power, the hideous horrors of civil war are about to be forced upon the country…the popular sentiment is everywhere peaceful, and the time cannot be distant when the shameful manner in which Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet are sacrificing the welfare of the land and betraying its most sacred interests, will call forth an outbreak of indignation before which even the Republican fanaticism and intolerance will tremble.”
If I may add a clarification, it has been said:
“However, since in April 1862 the confederate government also forcibly extended the enlistments of all the current soldiers for the duration of the war one could say that a much higher percentage of the confederate army than that were there because they had to be.”
Is that a true conclusion? Not really. Truthfully, the Union had their own Draft Act, which also forced northerners into conscription in July 1863, and March, July, and December of 1864.
The United States War Department data shows that of the 249,259 18 to 35 year old men whose names were drawn for the draft, only about 6% served. The rest evaded by paying commutation or hiring a substitute. (Confederate legislation banned substitution in 1863).
There does not appear to be a case for a “testament to the dedication of the Union soldier” since 94% of the Union draftees refused to serve.
I may be a neo-Lincolnist and I may be an imbecile, but I'm not a neo-Lincolnite imbecile. Imbecility and asmiration of Lincoln do not go together.
4/1861: “It is becoming too evident, that so far as a vicious,...demoralized administration possesses power, the hideous horrors of civil war are about to be forced upon the country…the popular sentiment is everywhere peaceful, and the time cannot be distant when the shameful manner in which Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet are sacrificing the welfare of the land and betraying its most sacred interests, will call forth an outbreak of indignation before which even the Republican fanaticism and intolerance will tremble.”
There was no Civil War when the secessions started. The rebs forced the Civil War. The rebs did not trust the Constitution. Lincoln made it clear he would abide by the Constitution. In unison with notthern Democrats and more moderate Republicans, the hotheads could have stopped any strong action. It was just that the rebs wanted it all and wanted it all their way. Compromise and acceptance of the fact that you can't always get all you want are characteristics required of the mature public that democratic republics must have. The rebs of 1860 demonstrated that they did not have that civic maturity.
Oh, you know how those hifalutin’ city slickers in Nashville and Memphis have always looked down on us lowly hillbillies. *wink*
Sorry that “ painfully awkward archaisms” and “ abysmal grammar” bother you Miss Grundee.
^_^
Nonanswer.
You made a broad baseless statement against all southerners not just the Brazilian Southerners and I replied to that slander.
No, I didn't. Are you unable to read who authored which post you're responding to?
4/8/1861 On this date, The New York Herald published the following:
“Secrecy is only the defense of the weak, and is always calculated to arouse suspicion.
“It is, therefore, a bad sign when we find the administration of this country hiding its designs, as the ostrich hides his head, in the face of proceedings that are the theme of universal comment and anxious speculation from Florida to Maine.
“We find the government chartering and dispatching transports laden with troops and stores, and equipping the entire naval force at its command with the utmost haste, and without letting the public know the purpose or destination for which they are intended.
“To the ominous and painful uncertainly occasioned by these warlike movements, we have added an increased distrust of the administration, consequent on the surmise that there is trouble, almost amounting to a split, in the Cabinet.”
Very rare, indeed.
But the Union never usurped state control over their own militia by extending enlistments. Union regiments were raised by the states for a set period, and once those enlistments were up the regiments were allowed to go home. The soldiers were encouraged to re-enlist, and fortunately a high percentage did, but if they didn't then they went home. Confederate soldiers had no such option.
The United States War Department data shows that of the 249,259 18 to 35 year old men whose names were drawn for the draft, only about 6% served. The rest evaded by paying commutation or hiring a substitute. (Confederate legislation banned substitution in 1863).
Confederate legislation also eventually drafted boys as young as 17 and men as old as 50, so even with removing the substitute laws they seem to have had problems enticing people into the ranks.
There does not appear to be a case for a “testament to the dedication of the Union soldier” since 94% of the Union draftees refused to serve.
The testament was, had you bothered to read it, the fact that when the Union soldiers had a chance to go home after their enlistment was up the overwhelming majority chose to stay. Unlike the confederate soldier, the didn't have to have the government forcibly extend their enlistment. One of the reasons why, unlike the confederate army, the U.S. didn't need to draft 50 year old men to keep the ranks populated.
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