Seth Adams
Professor Osborne
History 204
5 December 2010
Success of the Civil War Conscription in Cumberland County, PA
In the American Civil War, there was a high demand for soldiers. Like other American
conflicts, this War utilized conscription in order to boost the numbers of each nation’s ranks. A
great risk lies in conscription, considering that many of these men may not want to place their
lives on the line for their nation. Surely some of them will feel the desire to desert, or slouch
through their training. A number of poor soldiers in your military could prove to be disastrous.
The question remains, how many soldiers could one expect to leave or be killed in action? In
order to answer this question, one must first examine the draft process throughout the Civil War.
In the Union, the draft essentially boiled down to a state by state basis; with each state and
subsequently county, having quotas for soldiers. If a County was unable to fill their quota with
volunteers, they were forced to hold a draft1. Cumberland County in Pennsylvania was one of
those counties. Unable to fill their quota, Cumberland County drafted a total of seventy four
people throughout the course of the war2. How successful was this small portion of the Union
draft? This study will look to determine the value of the Cumberland County conscription,
through the analysis of the individuals who were drafted.
With America torn into two separate nations, the fate of the Union depended on raising a
large enough army to defeat the Confederates. Following the early stages of the conflict it
1
"Official Civil War Records," 1891, Series III, vol. 2. Accessed November 10, 2010,
http://www.etymonline.com/cw/draft.htm.
2
“The Draft,” Valley Star, June 4, 1864. Accessed October 26, 2010,
http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/military/nvsglean01.txt
became apparent that the Confederacy was stronger than anticipated, so a nation-wide
conscription was called to order. In November of 1862 a bill was enacted requiring all states to
establish a draft to be enacted in 1863. States were ordered to direct their own conscriptions, with
the responsibility of filling a quota3. This draft has been held under scrutiny in recent years for
playing favorites. If a man was drafted, he had ways of avoiding combat. If you could afford a
two hundred dollar payment to the government, one was able to buy their way out of the draft.
The other alternative was to find a man to replace you in that draft. Like the previous solution, if
one could afford to pay someone to fight for you, you could avoid fighting4. This caused serious
concerns among the general public. Outrage developed over the situation, seeing as a large
portion of Americans were unable to afford such financial burdens. Tensions rose even further as
large numbers of immigrants were also being selected for the draft. The widespread feeling was
that this was a rich man’s war, and the upper echelon was using the lives of immigrants as a
means of settling their political differences5. Tensions eventually boiled over in New York City,
where riots broke out over the draft, making headlines across the nation6.
With negative feelings surrounding the draft, it leads one to believe that this draft would
turn into an unsuccessful one. This would mean that a larger percentage of these soldiers would
desert than from the average rate across the Union. Also, one could expect these soldiers to
perform at a below average rate, indicated by a higher casualty rate than the Union average.
3
Adjutant General’s Office. Order No. 17, 1862. (Concord), http://infotrac.galegroup.com
Anbinder, Tyler. “Which Poor Man’s Fight? Immigrants and the Federal Conscription of 1863,” Civil War
History 52, no. 4 (December 2006): 334-374, http://proquest.umi.com.
5
Anbinder, Tyler. “Which Poor Man’s Fight? Immigrants and the Federal Conscription of 1863,” Civil War
History 52, no. 4 (December 2006): 334-374, http://proquest.umi.com.
4
6
Boston Daily Advertiser, “Fearful Riot in New York,” July 14, 1863. http://infotrac.galegroup.com
Throughout the course of the war, there were an estimated 200,000 deserters in the Union7. With
an estimated total of 2,778,304 serving in the armed forces8, the desertion rate lies at
approximately seven percent. Using the same figure of soldiers serving in the Union, one can
determine that the casualty rate for the Union lies at thirteen percent, with 360,222 killed or
missing in action9. In addition, a total of 162,535 men were drafted by the Union10. These rates
can then be used to properly assess the Cumberland County draft, and whether or not they were
an aid or a hindrance to the Union forces. After the responsibility of the draft was passed down
onto counties, it was further broken down into the townships. With the general quota given to the
county, it was then reassigned to townships to round up soldiers.
In the instance of Cumberland County, PA, there were four declared townships in the
draft. Southampton Township, Hopewell Township, Mifflin Township and Frankford Township
were all assigned quotas. Southampton raised two hundred and forty six soldiers, but were forced
to draft eighteen. Hopewell mustered ninety seven soldiers, and drafted nine. Mifflin enrolled
one hundred and fifty eight men, while drafting twenty one. Frankford enrolled one hundred and
sixty eight men while drafting twenty six men11. In the end, a total of seventy four men were
drafted in Cumberland County.
These seventy four men were all called to serve their nation in the line of duty. In
Cumberland County, they made up roughly ten percent of the seven hundred and thirty eight men
Randall and Donald. “The Civil War and Reconstruction,” [New York: W.W Norton & Company Inc. 2001].
Accessed November 12, 2010, http://www.civilwarhome.com/civilwararmies.htm.
8
Long, E.B. “The Civil War Day by Day,”[N.Y: Doubleday. 1971]. Accessed November 12, 2010,
http://www.civilwarhome.com/civilwararmies.htm
9
Long, E.B. “The Civil War Day by Day,”[N.Y: Doubleday. 1971]. Accessed November 12, 2010,
http://www.civilwarhome.com/civilwararmies.htm
10
Long, E.B. “The Civil War Day by Day,”[N.Y: Doubleday. 1971]. Accessed November 12, 2010,
http://www.civilwarhome.com/civilwararmies.htm
11
“The Draft,” Valley Star, June 4, 1864. Accessed October 26, 2010,
http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/military/nvsglean01.txt
7
who served. With so much of the army invested in the draft, it becomes apparent that these men
would go on to play an important role in the war. If ten percent of the fighting force is ineffective
and deserts at higher rates, an army could become crippled. Of all the Townships, Hopewell’s
drafted men were the most effective in combat. Service records12, post Civil War census data13,
soldiers’ pension records14, as well as Bates’ Pennsylvanian Civil war soldier registry15 were
accessed in order to track down the fates of these men, and the results were rather surprising.
Eight of the nine men drafted were located, and all eight survived through the war. This was the
smallest township draft class, with merely half as many soldiers drafted as the next township,
Southampton. Within this draft class, thirteen of the eighteen soldiers were able to be tracked
down using the same resources, in addition to a database containing the records of Civil War
Widows’ pensions16. Twelve of the drafted men survived the conflict, with one man paying the
ultimate price for his country. Mifflin Township was forced to draft twenty one men in order to
meet quota, and the same resources were utilized to find the fates of sixteen of these men. Much
like Southampton Township, one man met his demise at the hands of the Confederates, with the
rest of the men surviving the conflict. Finally, records were located for nineteen of the twenty six
men drafted in Frankfurt Township. Again, the results were surprising, as a low number of men
met their ends on the battlefield, two, and one man deserted from the armed services. Yet again,
12
U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
Accessed November 10 2010. http://www.ancestry.com
13
1880; Census Place: Leatherwood, Henry, Virginia; Records of the Bureau of the Census. National Archives,
Washington, D.C. Accessed November 12 2010. http://www.ancestry.com
14
“Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900,” digital images, Accessed
November 28 2010. http://www.footnote.com
15
Bates, Samuel P. “History of Pennsylvania volunteers, 1861-5,” [Harrisburg: Singerly, 1869-1871]. Accessed
November 21 2010. http://quod.lib.umich.edu
16
“Civil War "Widows' Pension" Applications and Records,” digital images. Accessed November 28 2010.
http://www.footnote.com
low numbers were posted in the casualty and desertion categories. Figure one demonstrates the
striking difference in the amount of soldiers killed and deserted in Cumberland County.
Fate of Soldiers Drafted in Cumberland
County, PA During the Civil War
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Survived
Died
Deserted
Figure One: Results of research on drafted soldiers in Cumberland County, PA during the
Civil War.
The amount of men finding ways to make the best of their situation far surpasses the
amount of men who were killed or deserted. In this small scale analysis, it becomes apparent that
the soldiers drafted out of Cumberland County were not a hindrance to the Union as a whole.
This can be proved using the percentages previously mentioned. As shown in Figure two,
Percent of Soldiers
Fates of Civil War Soldiers
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Union
Cumberland County Draftees
Survived
Died
Deserted
Figure Two- Percent of soldiers’ ultimate fates during the Civil War
the Cumberland County conscripted soldiers fared slightly better than the rest of the Union. With
this surprising result, it leads one to question why the results turned out the way they did. To
make better sense of how this could have happened, one must make sense of the way the military
was formed for the Civil War.
During this time period, the military was structured in a much more state oriented
fashion. The United States military at that time was formed by state militias. A state militia is run
by regions in the state organizing small groups of volunteers into local companies, which are
then merged into much larger, statewide regiments. These state regiments were then sent into
combat with other state regiments, formed in a similar fashion with local companies making
relatively local regiments17. What this does is create a combat situation in which the men
surrounding you also came from the same region or even town as you did. This creates an
environment in which there is some peer pressure to remain within the armed forces. If the men
17
Boatner, Mark M. “The Civil War Dictionary,” [Vintage, 1991]. Accessed November 12, 2010,
http://www.civilwarhome.com/civilwararmies.htm
in your company wake up the next morning and find your tent empty, they have the ability to do
something about it. Letters can be written to people in your hometown detailing your cowardice,
making the return to home difficult. If you abandon your post, the word will be spread and could
possibly bring shame upon your house for acts of cowardice. The combination of the state militia
with the pressure of being conscripted can also make desertion difficult. Already, one has had
their name printed in the paper for all of those in town to read. One nearly expects desertion out
of draftees, so those reading your name could potentially expect you to desert and may be
watching for it, thus making it more difficult to desert. With respect to the casualty figures, there
can be a variety of explanations. One such explanation is sheer luck. The Cumberland draft class
could simply have lucked out in their regiment placement, and saw less combat time than the rest
of the Union forces. One explanation could be the fact that these soldiers did not enter the armed
services willingly. These men could simply have made the best of their situation, and attempted
to make sure that they exited this situation by absorbing as much knowledge as they could from
their training, and sought to ensure their survival. A final explanation lies within the Union’s
forgiveness of some of the deserters in the service. Randall and Donald explain that in order to
receive a pension for serving in the Civil War, a man had to be Honorably Discharged. They also
go on to discuss that not all of the deserters were punished for their actions, and large numbers of
them had received pensions anyways18. Seeing as a number of soldiers were located using their
pension records, it is possible that a larger number of these soldiers had indeed walked off, but
received their payments anyways, creating false data. However, the Cumberland County draftee
percentages are not too far off from the entirety of the Union army percentages, meaning that
Randall and Donald. “The Civil War and Reconstruction,” [New York: W.W Norton & Company Inc. 2001].
Accessed November 12, 2010, http://www.civilwarhome.com/civilwararmies.htm
18
these discrepancies are to be noted, but may not possibly change the data in such a fashion to
deny the success of the Cumberland County draft.
When a nation decides to conscript soldiers, they must take into account the risks that
come along with forcing individuals to fight in a cause they do not believe in. While in
conscripted service, there is an expectation that the draftees will desert more frequently, as well
as perform poorly in combat. In the instance of the Civil War, the United States was forced to
introduce a draft, with the hopes that each state would fill out their quotas for the draft.
Pennsylvania was not exempt from this, and ordered its counties to organize drafts.
Unexpectedly, Cumberland County produced a quality group of draftees. Not only did a lower
than average percentage of their troops desert from the Union, they also suffered a lower
percentage of casualties as well, making the Union conscription in Cumberland County,
Pennsylvania a success.