The Role of the Community in Civil War Desertion

THE ROLE OF THE COMMUNITY IN CIVIL WAR DESERTION Judith Lee Hallock Communities, like individuals, have personalities, and theirresponseto crises reflect their peculiar characteristics. During the Civil War, Northern communities played an important role in supplying the Union armies with soldiers. Townships met their obligations in various ways, from sponsoring rallies that aroused the patriotic fervor of their own young men to hiring substitutes from as far away as Europe. The American Civil War was a transitional war in manyways, including the manner in which armies were recruited. From its earliest days, military service was handled locally, and initially Abraham Lincoln followed tradition by calling upon the states' militia. At thewar's outset the federal government was feeble, secession having left it tottering, while the state governmentswere stable, financially sound, andalready inpossession of military organizations.1 When the president issued a call for men, the secretary of war notified the governors of their quotas, which were then apportioned throughout the states. On 4 August 1862, however , Lincoln issued a call for the draft of 300,000 men, the first instance of the federal government assuming military draft prerogatives in the United States. The protests made by the governors did not question the president's authority to order a draft, which at least one source contends was of "dubious legality,"2 but rather the quotas and time allowed for the recruitment. This executive draft of 1862 was relatively ineffective; its "chief contribution . . . was that it affirmed without serious constitutional opposition the principle of a compulsive Federal draft of manpower for military purposes."3 On 3 March 1863 Congress passed the Draft Act, firmly establishing the principle "that every citizen owes the Nation the obligation to defend it and that the Federal Government can impose that obligation directly on the citizen without mediation of the states."4 Only about 6 percent of the Union soldiers were obtained directly 1 Fred Albert Shannon, The Organization and Administration of the Union Army 1861-1865 (Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1965), 1:22. 2 Marvin A. Kreidberg and Merton G. Henry, History of Military Mobilization in the United States Army 1775-1945 (Washington, D.C.: Dept. of the Army, 1955), p. 104. 3 Ibid., p. 104. 4 Ibid., p. 108. 124CIVIL WAR HISTORY through the draft, yet it probably increased the number of volunteers because the draftee was peculiarly stigmatized. Fred A. Shannon believes that the "coercive power of the draft was more moral than statutory and seems to have exerted its direct influence more upon the state and local governments and patriotic organizations than upon the people direct."5 State and local officials, independent clubs, and recruiting officers "alternated between describing the ignominies and horrors of drafting and advertising the bounties they were willing to offer volunteers."8 Neither drafting nor bribery was necessary at the war's outset. Enthusiasm was high. Men marched off to fight in a blaze of excitement, and many were apprehensive that peace would be proclaimed before they had the opportunity to fire a weapon at the enemy. So manymen volunteered that individuals and organized units alike were turned away by the state and federal governments. Besides the patriotic fervor and holiday spirit, the regional economies aided in the procurement of volunteers. Jobs were scarce and many young men were unemployed. Volunteers, believing the war would be over quickly, considered soldiering as a short-term occupation— something to tide them over for the next few months. In December 1861 Edwin F. Worthington wrote to his mother, "I could find nothing to do anywhere so ... I went to New York and enlisted."7 Another young man, Phinias E. Johnson, informed his cousin that he had no work and no immediate prospects for employment.8 Within a few months, Johnson 's uncle explained, "He enlisted ... in a fit of dejection and discouragement at not being successful in getting steady work or a proper remuneration."9 Both of these young men died before a year passed. As the war continued volunteers became scarce. The surplus labor supply had been absorbed by the army and by the increased demands of farms and factories. Potential volunteers, weighing their earning capacity in civil life with the...