Existing comment:
Civil War Union Draft Wheel, About 1863:
State officials in the North placed papers with the names of men eligible for the Union army into the wooden wheel. Then they spun the wheel, pulled papers from the hole, and wrote the names on a list of draftees to be called for service.
The scope and brutality of the Civil War quickly strained the military resources of North and South. The Confederacy instituted a draft in April 1862; the Union followed in March 1863. Both hoped that a draft would relieve manpower shortages and encourage voluntary enlistment.
This was the first time the United States established general compulsory military service and many considered it an infringement on individual liberty. Critics also charged class discrimination, as the North and South draft laws provided ways for propertied men to avoid the army. In all the Union conscripted about 46,000 soldiers, the Confederacy drafted about 82,000. |