ENROLMENT AND DRAFT. 



363 



certained ; but while volunteering was going on 

 simultaneously in several towns and districts 

 of a State, it was found difficult, if not impos- 

 sible to equalize tbe draft, at any one time, 

 among tbe respective districts or towns of 

 tbat State. Thus very great complaints arose 

 of inequality among towns and districts for 

 which the act itself furnished no remedy, nor 

 was it in the power of the Government to re- 

 move the difficulty. In New York the com- 

 plaints were most serious. (See NEW TOEK for 

 correspondence of Gov. Seymour and his ob- 

 jections.) 



The enrolment was not completed in all the 

 States. So far as it had been made it showed 

 the number of men between eighteen and for- 

 ty-five not in the military service, but liable 

 to military duty, in the opinion of the enrolling 

 officers, to be 3,113,305. In making this en- 

 rolment, students in colleges or schools, teach- 

 ers, apprentices, sailors, traders, travelling 

 merchants and the like, were enrolled at their 

 legal residence, their temporary absence from 

 which was considered as not forming a cause 

 for exemption. All persons thus enrolled 

 were, by the provisions of the act, subject for 

 two years after July first succeeding the en- 

 rolment, to be called into the military service. 



For making the draft, one fifth the number 

 of men enrolled in the first class was adopted 

 as the quota of a district. The main object 

 now was to apportion the number among 

 the States, so that those previously furnished 

 and those to be furnished would make a given 

 part of their available men, and not a given 

 part of their population ; and a sufficient per- 

 centage was called for to make a given number. 

 In consequence of thus basing the calls for 

 men, those States which contained more fe- 

 males than males were really charged with a 

 greater quota than those in which there was 

 an excess of males. Some of the Western 

 States with quotas nearly the same as some of 

 the Eastern, not only furnished their quotas 

 and a large excess besides, but had a larger 

 proportion of males left than Eastern States 

 which had not entirely filled their quotas and 

 were therefore deficient. This deficiency was 

 not probably from unwillingness to answer the 

 call, but from a want of men, while the excess 

 was attributable, in some degree, to the sur- 

 plus of men. Thus the States to which the 

 largest credits were to be given really had a 

 larger proportion of men remaining than those 

 to which a deficiency was charged. 



From the lists, as prepared by the enrolling 

 officer, one fifth of the first class was to make 

 the quota. The boards were required to ap- 

 portion this quota among the towns and wards 

 forming sub-districts, and in making the draft of 

 the number of men required, fifty per cent, in 

 addition was ordered to be drawn. Each name 

 of the first class in the sub-district was written 

 upon a separate slip of paper, and placed in a 

 wheel, or circular box, which was then made to 

 revolve, and the name taken out and registered. 



This was continued until the number of names 

 required had been drawn. The public proceed- 

 ings were then closed. By an order of the pro- 

 vost-marshal-general, dated July 17th, it was 

 declared that "men became soldiers in the ser- 

 vice of the United States by the fact of their 

 names having been drawn in the draft." Any 

 subsequent notification served upon them was 

 decided to be merely an announcement of the 

 fact, and an order to report for duty. The fol- 

 lowing opinion of the Solicitor of the War De- 

 partment, Mr. Whiting, was also published by 

 the provost-marshal-general, for the informa- 

 tion of all concerned : 



When a person has been drafted, in pursuance of 

 the Enrolment Act of March 3d, 1863, notice of such 

 draft must be served within ten days thereafter, by a 

 written or printed notice, to be served on him person- 

 ally, or by leaving a copy at his last place of residence, 

 requiring him to appear at a designated rendezvous to 

 report for duty. Any person failing to report for duty 

 after notice left at his last place of residence or served 

 on him personally without furnishing a substitute or 

 paying $300, is pronounced by law tolae a deserter, he 

 may be arrested and held for trial by court-martial and 

 sentenced to death. If a person after being drafted, 

 and before receiving the notice deserts, it may still be 

 served by leaving it at his last place of residence, and 

 if he does not appear in accordance with the notice or 

 furnish the substitute or pay the $300, he will be in law 

 a deserter, and must be punished accordingly. There 

 is no way or manner in which a person once enrolled 

 can escape his public duties, when drafted, whether 

 present or absent, whether he changes his residence or 

 absconds, the rights of the United States' against him 

 are secured, ana it is only by performance of his duty 

 to the country that he will escape liability to be treated 

 as a criminal. 



A reward of ten dollars was also offered to 

 any person for the apprehension and delivery of 

 any deserter. The guard necessarily employed 

 for the purpose were allowed $1.50 per day and 

 their expenses. 



In addition to the causes of exemption from 

 service stated above, there were others for which 

 an enrolled person would be discharged. By 

 paying $300 any person enrolled and drafted 

 would be exempt from further liability under 

 that draft ; or by furnishing an acceptable sub- 

 stitute to take his place in the draft, or by hav- 

 ing such physical disability as would disqualify 

 him for military service. In regard to exemp- 

 tions of the latter class the following instruc- 

 tions were issued to pi ovosJr marshals : 



The following diseases and infirmities are among 

 those which disqualify for military service, and for 

 which only drafted men are to be " rejected as physi- 

 cally or mentally unfit for the service, viz. : 



1. Manifest imbecility or insanity. 



2. Epilepsy. For this disability, the statement of 

 the drafted man is insufficient, and the fact must be 

 established by the duly attested affidavit of a physician 

 of good standing who has attended him in a convulsion. 



3. Paralysis, general, or of one limb, or chorea; their 

 existence to be adequately determined. 



4. Acute or organic diseases of the brain or spinal 

 cord ; of the heart or lungs ; of tbe stomach or intes- 

 tines ; of the liver or spleen ; of the kidneys or bladder, 

 sufficient to have impaired the general health, or so 

 well marked as to leave no reasonable doubt of the 

 man's incapacity for military service. 



5. Confirmed consumption ; cancer ; aneurism of the 

 large arteries. 



