If you had an ancestor in the Union Army in the Civil War, do you know if he was drafted

or enlisted?

So did my Confederate ancestor.

My wife had ancestors who fought on both sides. They were officers.

My family's military service record:

Enlisted in the Revolutionary Army - 2 years of service
Drafted - the Civil War Union Army
Drafted - WWI (One Great Grandfather
Drafted - WWII (Two Great Grandfathers)
Drafted - Korea (Two Uncles)
Drafted - Vietnam Era - (My uncle was in Vietnam, but my Dad was never "boots on the ground" there)
Enlisted - Afghanistan (one cousin)

Generally, in my family, we don't make the military a way of life, but, if called, they have served. I have one cousin who is career Army and my Dad seriously considered a long term career in the Navy, but ended up only serving for 4 or 5 years.

Why do you ask?

I guess some young men thought it would be an adventure. And I found out a few years ago that a lot of the Union Army were immigrants, esp. from Ireland.

With Confederates it was different; they were invaded. That would be some motivation to enlist. Of course I realize many of them were drafted. I had at least 2 ancestors (probably more that I don't know of) in the Confederate Army and I have no idea whether they were drafted or enlisted. They both made it through the war alive, I know that.

... were not what most of the Irish lads dreamed about. My guess is that free food and housing and clothing sounded pretty good to a lot of them.

And they had NO idea what they were getting themselves into. Offered cash and citizenship, of course. See Scorsese's Gangs of New York for a little info on that.

My CW Union doctor used to scare the bejesus out of family members with stories of field surgeries he performed, many times without the benefit of pain meds.

countries invaded by the Yankee.

"Freedom fighters."

Just like the idiots at the bagger parties.

The Confederate ancestors all enlisted, as far as I can tell.

Have you looked at Footnote.com? Fantastic collection of primary source material from that period (and other periods, of course - but very strong on Civil War records).

http://www.footnote.com/

I found some records I didn't even know existed.

I found my gggrandfather's name in his regiment. There are some documents there relating to him being detained as a prisoner for threatening to kill another soldier. Interesting stuff. He must have been acquitted because he survived until his 90s. lol. From everything I've found about this ancestor it sounds like he was crazy.

I found out one of my ancestors fought in the civil war and his horse was valued at $100. How cool is that.

Some volunteered. One that I know of did not want to go.

The records show that my Confederates enlisted also. But, I wonder if they had no choice.

Prior to the Civil War, the South was not too kind to anyone suspected of being against the status quo - in the backwoods, hills, "hollars", and countryside, small southern communities were usually lead by a settling "Big Family"; if they or any other major player in the community decided that your family were abolitionist or even just sympathizers to those against slavery, you and your family could suffer. If you went against the status quo, at best, your family could not get help when you needed it, and at worst (your daddy was suspected of being slave-stealing, abolitionist scum), your family could be burned off their property and several of the adult menfolk hanged. So, if the majority of the community decided "we're all goin', boys" - you went too, whether you had a stake in the Confederacy or not.
As for a poverty draft, in many backwoods or country communities, it was easy to run a "muster" of all the young "extra" men (younger sons, "dirt farmers", transients, the unemployed, renters or immigrants) and tell them they were enlisting for food, warm clothes that could almost fit, safe shelter and a chance at pay and a clean slate, if they had a poor reputation.
And like today, most unemployed, rudderless young men with little or no future in front of them would jump at that.

Unless they were like what is reputed to be some of my US family at the time, and felt gun running for both sides made for a fuller family coffer.

Haele

I know my relatives weren't land owners. So more than likely he was "poverty drafted". Thanks for the info. :)

That said, I'm sure there are any number of on-line sources that could at least direct you in the right direction.

I am getting ready to sign up and look up the ancestors in my family and my husband's family that were the right age. We already know that there are three Confederate and three Union soldiers, then there are another half dozen the right ages that we don't know about.

I know you can get the muster roles and pension records, but I don't know about draft information. But right now is a good time to try to find out!

First Kansas Calvary (Union)

In the North, where the supply of men was greater, the draft was delayed a little longer, but by March 1863, it was necessary. The Northern system was as maligned as that of the South as substitutes could be "hired" for $300 and exemptions to selection could also be bought. The ages of conscriptees was set at 20 to 45. In New York, the governor, Horatio Seymour, unilaterally declared the draft unconstitutional. Opposition led to draft riots in New York City, and New York regiments had to be recalled from the field to quell the unrest. The Governor, seeing the result of his opposition, finally urged New Yorkers to participate in the draft.

http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_drft.html

My maternal great grandfather enlisted when my grandmother was pregnant. While he was serving the Union, 2 young sons and his father-in-law died within a week of each other (typhoid, I think).

we had family fighting on both sides. The one's who fought for the Confederacy enlisted, but my German ancestors on my father's side were drafted into the Union Army, could hardly speak English and one died from his wounds a year after the war ended. My family has a tangled history with the James and Younger Gangs in Missouri, and Cole Younger is buried in Lees Summit, where my daughter and mother still live.

(on my mother's side) were drafted into the Union Army.

My father's ancestors fought for the Confederacy, and all were volunteers (there were a heap of 'em, too).

Were experiencing the wonders of the Edo Period of Japan.

Career officer.

Gen. George Meade (thank goodness I look nothing like him...)

There's a small town not too far from me named after Gen Meade.

Link: http://www.cityoffortmeade.com/history/

I did not know that... thanks for heads-up!

I wonder if I can get a key to the city or a reserved parking lot. :evilgrin:

It's so small you could miss it if you blink.


:thumbsup: :hi: :thumbsup:


Nice little town though.

during the Wilderness Campaign. His brother was killed riding (for the Confederacy) with General William "Grumble" Jones at Brandy Station. Both men enlisted.

Took a bullet in the hip somewhere in Tennessee, was mustered out, and came back to farm in Indiana.

then joined the Union. BECAUSE they didn't issue him, shoes, clothes food or money. He got a pension from the Union Army.

by the Confederate army. My great-grandfather, who was born in 1854 and died in 1950, used to tell stories about their lives back then.He was there when the officers came for his father. I wish I had listened better as he really had some tales to tell. He said the family never saw him again after he was conscripted and taken to Knoxville, TN. A cousin of mine said he was told our gg tried to escape and stole a horse. He was hanged for that. I bet that happened a lot. I forget how many children he had still at home.

Even if people were drafted it may show just enlistment papers.

I found my ggggrandfather's enlistment card on ancestry. com. My family is black. He was part of a colored Union regiment near Memphis.

The draft worked differently during the Civil War. The federal government sent each of the states a "quota" of the number of men they were expected to send, and each state was permitted to gather its men using whatever methods it saw best. Most states simply passed the quota requirements on to the counties, requiring each to provide a certain number of people. If they did not do so, state draft agents would be sent in to pull people off the street and force them into service.

The choice that most northerners faced was simple: Enlist on your own and choose where you want to go (and choosing a well trained company often meant survival in those days), or hide and hope that your county isn't visited by draft agents, who will send you anywhere there's a need (including all-draftee companies with no training and poor supplies, who were often slaughtered on the battlefield). Enlisting, for most, wasn't a matter of choice. They knew they were going one way or the other, and understood that enlisting greatly improved their odds of survival.

My family tree has both.

who fought in the Civil War ultimately became the commander of the Union Army so I don't think he was drafted..

who were in the Confederate army (sigh..)and I am hoping to find out more info on both of them. They were both privates - 1 from Tennessee and the other from Georgia - but I have no idea if they volunteered or not.

He was needed, obviously.

Not sure if she was a doctor, but she knew how to use a saw.

My Great Great Grandfather enlisted. He was a Commissary Sergeant for the Union. I still have the letters he wrote home from the war as well as his discharge papers and a photo of him in uniform.

...because "that was a cause to join the army and help lick the South".

His words, not mine.

in the Union Army, My great grandfather was in the 150th Pennsylvania Volunteer 2nd Regiment, Bucktails Brigade. My great grand uncle was killed in action near Petersburg VA in Feb '65.

being from Georgia at the time he joined the Union Army so as to help in freeing the slaves. This was even though his father, (my great grandfather) was a slave owner. Many of the Slaves freed from my family took my family name. I'm proud of those facts.

(as some others here have posted, having g-grandfathers in one or the other army) and I thought that made me sound like I must be as old as the hills (I'm close to 60).

Needless to say I never met my granddad. as he died in 1910. I have a sister born in '50 and a brother in '52. All total there were 13 of us kids who made it to adulthood, 8 of us still going strong. We have our grand dads discharge papers from the civil war in a safe deposit box.

during the Civil War (they wouldn't arrive in the US until the 1910s).

Civil War:
Great Grandfather enlisted (9th Michigan-took sick after Chickamauga and invalided out)
His brother enlisted (24th Michigan-Iron Brigade, KIA-Wilderness)

World War II
Father-called up from reserves with ROTC commission served in Pacific with 169th Infantry
Uncle-enlisted in Navy and served on destroyer in Pacific
Uncle-enlisted in Army and served as combat engineer in Europe
(my grandmother did some heavy duty praying during the war)

Vietnam
Me on active duty with ROTC commission, two tours

Cold War
Nephew in Navy as Finance Clerk

Gulf War I, 1998 Christmas missile attacks on Iraq, Bosnia, Iraq invasion
Son-in-law enlisted in Navy as Hospital Corpsman

Now
Granddaughter enlisted in Air Force and on active duty as recruiter

Nobody ever drafted (a great-grandfather in Sweden did get conscripted for service along with his year group)

Both managed to make it through the war alive. One made it through Gettysburg whole (26th NC regiment).

all of them enlisted, and all of them died. President Lincoln gave some Missouri land to the widow of the father after they all died. So when you hear of tales of Lincoln writing letters, giving assistance to grieving Civil War widows...yes, it really happened.

He joined in 1864 at the age of 46; he lived in Clayton County, Georgia, in the direct path of Sherman's march (so I can't much say I blame him, given the circumstances).

heard the song "We're Tenting Tonight" and thought it was a camp-out for some precursor to the Boy Scouts.

He (great great grandfather) was an officer in the Royal Navy. At the time, the Royal Navy had far more officers than ships to place them on - and if you weren't assigned to a ship you collected only 10% of pay. He came to the US, and was commissioned as an officer in the US Navy just before the Civil War. He was at the battle of the Monitor and the Virginia (Merrimac). I have copies of his commissioning papers signed by Lincoln, and his citizenship certificate signed by Johnson. After the war he resigned his commission and joined the Revenue Service (Coast Guard), and was captain of a Revenue Cutter for several years. After that, he retired to Minnesota and became a farmer.

Every single one of my ancestors, at the time the nation was founded, was already living in Louisiana with the exception of the man who had my surname. All of them lived in Louisiana within 40 miles of each other during the Civil War, and to my knowledge, none of them fought in the war. Only one branch of my family had the financial capacity to own slaves... they owned the 7 Oaks Plantation in Westwego, Louisiana, which is now some sort of chemical depot in the bend of the river.