ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



21 



1862, when the army of the Potomac left its 

 lines in front of Washington, to the close of 



1863, not less than a hundred thousand men in 

 it had been killed and wounded. The causes 

 and rate of the depletion in this and other 

 military departments will be found treated 

 under the heads of HYGIENE OF THE ARMY and 

 SANITARY COMMISSION. 



In view of the serious loss of disciplined 

 troops which would be caused by the return 

 home of the 2 years', 12 months' and 9 months' 

 regiments, comprising an aggregate of about 

 65,000 men,. whose terms of enlistment would 

 expire during the summer and autumn of 1863, 

 the Government early in the year took meas- 

 ures to obtain the passage of an Enrolment 

 and Conscription Act, authorizing the President 

 to recruit the army, when necessary, by draft- 

 ing from the able-bodied male citizens of the 

 country between the ages of twenty and forty- 

 five. The measure was unpopular in many 

 parts of the country, though few, if any, 

 among the party in favor of carrying on the 

 war objected to it upon principle, as a final 

 and peremptory means of providing men. 

 They, however, preferred volunteering as more 

 effective and more in accordance with repub- 

 lican institutions. In reply to these objections 

 it was urged that volunteering under the last 

 call had proceeded slowly, that the bounties 

 demanded were excessive, and that the quota 

 of many States, even under the inducement of 

 heavy bounties, had not been filled. These 

 reasons being deemed conclusive, the conscrip- 

 tion act became a law on March 3d ; in the suc- 

 ceeding May and June the enrolment was effect- 

 ed in most of the States, and early in the former 

 month a draft of 300,000 men was ordered, 

 the conscription commencing in the several 

 districts into which the country was divided 

 by the provost marshal-general and his assist- 

 ants, as soon as the enrolment was completed 

 and the quota in each assigned. For the oper- 

 ations of the conscription act, see ENROLMENT. 

 On December 1st, 1863, the draft had resulted, 

 in twelve States in which it was enforced, in 

 adding about 50,000 men to the army, and in 

 the accumulation of a fund of $10,518,000, de- 

 rived from commutations under what is known 

 as the "Three Hundred Dollar clause" of the 

 act, which was reserved for the procurement 

 of recruits by bounties. 



On June 15th, under apprehensions of an 

 invasion of Pennsylvania and other Northern 

 States, the President issued a proclamation, 

 calling for 100,000 militia to be mustered into 

 the United States service for six months unless 

 sooner discharged, viz. : from Maryland, 10,000; 

 from Pennsylvania, 50,000 ; from Ohio, 30,000; 

 and from West Virginia, 10,000 ; and directing 

 that these States should be respectively credit- 

 ed under the Enrolment Act for the militia ser- 

 vice rendered under the proclamation. The 

 governor of New York also received a requi- 

 sition for 20,000 men. The latter call was 

 obeyed with commendable promptitude, and 



very nearly to the extent required by the Pres- 

 ident; but from. the States most immediately 

 affected by the invasion of Gen. Lee, the num- 

 ber of men thus obtained was proportionately 

 less. The speedy retirement of the Confeder- 

 ates after the battle of Gettysburg rendered 

 the services of these troops useless, and by 

 August 1st they were nearly all disbanded. 



It having become apparent to the Govern- 

 ment, during the progress of the draft, that the 

 act of March 3d was insufficient to supply the 

 army with recruits, the President issued a call 

 on October 15th for 300,000 volunteers, to be 

 enlisted by the governors of the different 

 States "for the various companies and regi- 

 ments in the field from their respective States." 

 The volunteers thus enlisted were declared en- 

 titled to advance pay, premium, and bounty, as 

 previously established by Government for en- 

 listed troops ; and, together with all other vol- 

 unteers not previously credited, were to be 

 credited on and deducted from the quotas es- 

 tablished for the draft. Should any State fail 

 to raise the quota assigned to it by the War 

 Department under this call, then a draft for 

 the deficiency was to be made on the State or 

 its districts on January 5th, 1864. Nothing in 

 the proclamation was to interfere with existing 

 orders, or any subsequently to be issued, for 

 the draft then in progress or where it had not 

 commenced ; and it was stated-that in the as- 

 signment of quotas of States and districts due 

 regard would be had for the men previously 

 furnished, whether by volunteering or drafts 

 ing. 



This call differed in several particulars from 

 any previously made, and indicated the adop- 

 tion of a wiser policy in reference to reen- 

 forcing the army. In the first place the troops 

 were ordered to be raised six months or more 

 before the expiration of the terms of any of the 

 three years' men, and not, as previously, when 

 there was imperative need of their services, 

 either to repel invasions, to save the menaced 

 capital, or to fill the places of those whose 

 term of enlistment was about to expire. They 

 were to be incorporated into the various or- 

 ganizations in the field, and not formed into 

 new regiments or companies. And lastly, the 

 people were called upon to decide under which 

 system, volunteering or the draft, they would 

 replenish the wasted battalions of the army, 

 thus relieving the Government from the odium 

 which, in the opinion of many, its enforcement 

 of the conscription had brought upon it. 



But although the call was made several 

 months in advance of the withdrawal of the 

 enlisted men of 1861, it came none too soon 

 for the needs of the country. Estimating the 

 strength of the army at 650,000 men, on Jan. 

 1st, 1863, we have to deduct from that number 

 10,000 two years' and 55,000 to 60,000 nine 

 months' men, whose terms expired previous to 

 October ; and if from the remainder we make 

 a further deduction of 25 per cent, for losses 

 of every description, which is the ascertained 



