Another Civil War: Labor, Capital, and the State in the Anthracite Regions of Pennsylvania, 1840-1868

5. Opposition to Conscription in the Coal Regions 1862-63

5 Opposition to Conscription in the Coal Regions 1862-63 During the summer of 1862 Abraham Lincoln endorsed the theory that only total war-war waged to destroy the structure of southern society-would resurrect the Union. His decision to draft an Emancipation Proclamation that July clarified his conviction. "These enemies must understand," he explained to August Belmont, "that they cannot experiment ten years trying to destroy the government and if they fail ... come back into the Union unhurt."} The revolutionary consequences of total war, however, would not be confined to the South: Lincoln's strategy for a Union victory required northern compliance with Republican war aims and a central government strong enough to enforce that compliance. The reluctant response to Lincoln'sJuly call for three hundred thousand recruits underscored the fragile basis of northern support for the war. "We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more," a New York editor boldly promised, but his countrymen were slow to pick up the refrain. By midJuly it was already clear that volunteers would not reman the Union army. The Republican administration designed a solution that, it believed, would solve the twofold dilemma of raising men and enforcing compliance: those states failing to meet assigned quotas through volunteering would conscript the difference .2 In theory conscription offered an equitable, democratic, and certain means ofattaining recruits. At the same time, it promised 95 96 ANOTHER CIVIL WAR to forge the nationalism necessary to pursue total war. The idea of conscription, on the one hand, would teach citizens their duty to the state. Its enforcement, on the other, would demonstrate the state's authority to raise an army. In practice, conscription would force citizens to realize that, in times of war, the requirements of the state superseded local, individual interests. Thus conscription, as Orestes Brownson explained, asserted not only national unity and authority but also "the duty of the citizen to defend his country when called upon."3 Individuals liable to the draft in 1862, however, were less interested in the theory of conscription than they were in its practical implications. In states like Pennsylvania, where conservative Democrats wielded significant influence, the idea of conscription threatened long-cherished notions of popular sovereignty and personal autonomy that even war had not displaced. Potential draftees, especially those unable to purchase substitutes , viewed conscription in practical and provincial terms. "The draft will make misery in many families," Isaac B. Tyson, a small mill owner, explained to Governor Curtin. Complaining that his daughter-in-law "will get out of her mind" should his son be conscripted, he added that he relied on his other son to help him run the mill. "If I must lose him," he pleaded, "I am broke up." John Schenk, a Cumberland County farmer, voiced similar fears. Although he supported the idea of conscription, he suggested the law be amended to ensure that at least one man per farm be retained. "I have nabours [that are] subject to draft and are left alone," he wrote. "One man has had two hands [who] both left and went to the army. Now," he wondered, "if he whare to be drafted how would [the] crop be put out?" An anonymous writer from Reading agreed that the law ignored the farmers' special concerns. "Now please listen to me," he wrote to the governor. "There are hundreds here who are willing to go without being drafted. They just want a little more time for to finish their work first, then they will go wherever you want them to go." Taking his criticism one step further, this "sincere friend" cautioned the governor against hasty action. "Everywhere they have provided themselves with ammunition, guns, and rifles," he warned, "and they dare any number to come and draft them before they have their work finished."4 Opposition to Conscription 97 Supporters of conscription fully expected conservative Democrats to oppose the measure, but they also expected the law itself to force recalcitrant communities to comply. "There are hundreds of able-bodied Irishmen at the Broad Top Coal Region ," a Huntington Township postmaster reported, "who are unwilling to enlist in defense of our country.... I therefore hope, that you will make a heavy draft in this township." The Republican editor of the Mauch Chunk Gazette agreed that conscription - "a just and right measure" - would "compel townships and counties which have not been willing to do their share of the work ... to...