From
the time of the draft of 1863, to the conclusion of the war, the
Northern States, counties, cities and towns paid over $286 million out
in bounty money for recruits; the Northern government itself paid out
more than $300 million – and with substitute fees paid the total of all
would be at least $750 million. This would have paid for the
emancipation of every slave several times over, and saved the lives of a
million Americans. As Lincoln would accept any recruits to fill his
quotas, State agents swarmed into occupied Southern territories to seize
slaves for their regiments, and to count toward their quota of troops.
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
Enlistment Bounties and Half-Starved Lawyers
“At
the outbreak of the war, New York had four million people, and during
the course of the war it furnished the equivalent of 400,000 three-year
enlistments to the armed forces. This represented about seventeen per
cent of the total Northern enlistment and was in proportion to the state
population. Before the war ended, 40,000 New Yorker’s gave their
lives to the enterprise. It is interesting to keep in mind that thirty
per cent of New York enlistees were foreign-born: 40,000 came from
Ireland, 41,000 from Germany, over 12,000 from England, 12,000 were
Canadian, 3600 from France, 2000 from Wales, and 2000 from Switzerland.
On top of this, 5000 Negroes were in New York regiments.”
In the
conscription activity of 1863, the Republican-organ Oswego [New York]
Times emphasized the material benefits which would accrue to those
possessing the "lucky draft numbers." A US Bounty of $102, State Bounty
of $100, City Bounty of $300 (if offered as the Mayor suggested); Total
of $502.00. Then one year at $13. per month, one year’s service
totaling $156. “$658 or almost $2. per day! Soldiering will be the best
business for the future.”
On August 4 [1863] the draft came to
Oswego. While most draftees accepted the [conscription] law….the Times
reported that some were applying to the British Vice Consul for papers
giving them protection as aliens. A few were said to be “skedaddling”
across the Canadian border. The Times noted also, that the draft had
developed an extraordinary number of sharks in the area. “Several
half-starved lawyers, who don’t often get any business, have been taking
advantage of the anxiety of drafted men to become exempt, to charge the
most exorbitant rates for their services in making out the necessary
papers.”
A
year later a second draft stared Oswegonians in the face. It might be
avoided, of course, if the quota could be raised by enlistment; but for a
time the latter lagged. Groping for a solution an imaginative group of
twenty-five men sent the local recruiting agents, E.B. Burt and A.B.
Getty to Newport News, Virginia, in a military district occupied by
Federal troops under General Benjamin Butler, for the purpose of
procuring substitutes among the freedmen; expecting, it is assumed, that
they could be hired cheaply.
The
agents wrote that they found a few substitutes, though the place was
filled with bounty-jumpers, but that General Butler had issued an order
prohibiting the removal of freedmen from the district; that they would
therefore try to enlist them freedmen as part of the Oswego quota,
provided the city would pay the bounties required. The City Council
quickly voted bounties up to $300, including the agents’ fees, but the
project fizzled and the agents returned home empty handed. The Times
writer considered this scheme quite ingenious until he discovered that
Jefferson County [New York] was trying the same experiment.
As
has been seen, when enlistments lagged, bounties served as a stimulant.
As early as July 1862, the State was offering $50 and the County
[Oswego] an additional $50, By January 1864, the County was paying $300
bounties, and by December, 1864, the sum was increased to $300 for one
year, $500 for two years, and $700 for three years. Meanwhile, the
Federal government had increased its offer to $300. Thus a volunteer
might pick up $1000 if he had patience to wait for the installments;
this, when laborers wages were about one dollar per day! To those who
remained hesitant, the Mexico [New York] Independent offered the happy
thought that the war would not last long, and they might never fire a
gun or draw a sword.”
(New York State in the Civil War, Robert J.
Rayback, New York State Historical Association, 1961, pp. 69-70; Oswego
Counties Response to the Civil War, Charles M. Snyder, New York State
Historical Association, 1961, pp. 81-84)
