Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1864-01-23
O r # &c 1 A L .
Enrolment of Volunteers.

rCrRcULAR No. 3.
VA, Denortment Proross Marshal Generals Office,
Washington, january, 1861.
The following Opinion OF Hon. William Viii
ting Solicitor OF the War Department, is pub.
lishe for the information and guidance OF all
concerned:
The chief objects OF the act OF 1853, chapter
rs, entitled Gan act for enrolling and calling
out the forces of the United States, and for 9th.
er purposes" were to provide for enrolling the
forces OF the United States in order to ascertain
the number of able. bodied soldiers between the
ages OF 20 and as years who might be called
upon for military duty, to divide them into
classes, and to call out from time to time such
pioportlon OF these troops as the emergen cies
OF the service should require. The design of
Congress, as expressed in the clause to which
yon have directed my attention, 1.-THE last clause
in the 18th section,) was to eq aaIize the burden
Of furnishing soldiers, as far as poss ble among
the several loyal States, and among the dis
tricts of each State
TO attain this result, the statute directs the
President "to take into consideration the num-
Der OF volunteers and militia furnished by and
from the several States, and the period of their
service since the commencement Of the present
1t is obvious that the number Of men and the
periods Of their respective service must both
be taken as elements OF calculation in order to
asce rtain the total amount Of service performed
by the soldiers OF given State; and that the
total amount OF service thus ascertained in each
State would give the total amount in the da1re.
gate OF all the service performed in ali the
States.
To ascertain the amount of service which
either one Of the States would have rendered,
If it had borne its just share; or, in other words,
what part OF such aggregate service was Justly
due from each State, it became necessary to
compare the population by the late census of
each State with the aggregate population of all
the States enrolled. 1t was obvious that each
State should contribute in proportion to the
number of its inhabitants, mas m UGH as there
was no other safe basis for es mating the re.
spectlve numbers OF their citizens capable of
performing military duty. This was the plan
prescribed by the statute of July %, 1861, chap
ter 9, section /, for the apportionment of volun-
teers among the several States.
The proportion of troops due from each
State was 10 that obtained from all the States
as the number Of inhabitants of that State was
TO the aggregate number OF inhabitants of all
all the States. The solution Of this formula
ry gave for each State the number of troops
required in order to make up its equal aud Just
share. II the number oftroops fell short Of this
required proportion, that deficit should be
CHARGED, if the number exceeded, it should be
CRKplTl D, to the State in question on the ac-
connt Of the draft under the enrolment act.
When the enrolment has been completed
new and more satisfactory basis is establ ished
for distributing the burden of the draft. Hay.
ing ascertained the number of persons actually
enrolled in the several States, the number of
troops to be drawn from each State will be cal
culated as follows
AS the total number enrolled in all the States
is to the number enrolled in a particular
the number t. be drafted in particular
State
The number to be drafted. thus ascertained,
should BE- charged to the particular State, and
tnen the amount due to or due from that St ite
en- The accounto of former service should be add
ed to or subtracted from that number. The
balance is that which is due from the State In
question, and when balances are thus made
up Tor all the States, the amount of service
will be equally distributed according to law.
The statute also requires that the enrolment
t1h no Mt. Il.
should be eQualiZed among themselves. This
may be effe cted upon the same principles as
above stated. The number OF men to be fur
Iished by any one district bears the same pro-
portion to the number to be furnished by the
State as the number of men enrolled in that
district bears to the whole number enrolled in
the State
The only means provided by the statute to
enable the President to equaiiZe the draft among
the several DISTRICTS is by reference to the
Numbers therein respectively enrolled. There
being no census of Federal population for eth
er OF these districts or sub districts and no
authority given to the President to take a CEN
sus thereof, IL is obviously the intent Of Con-
gTess that the enrolment itself should be the
basis for equalZing tie draft among districts.
I he statute OF 1863 prescribes no particular
mode CT eGualiZing the Plumbers of troops
among the several STATES; and though the
President is therefore left to his own discretion
as TO the mode of carrying the law into effect
yet he is certainly justified in taking the
same mode of equalizing the draft among the
States as is prescribed Tor equalizing it a mong
the several districts; and whatever mode ne
accepts by which the law is carried into effect,
his decision Is final as to the assignment of
quotas.
difficulty arose in the practical admins.
tration OF this statute, from the circumstance
that troops were required for service before
the enrolment could be completed in all the
States. and 1t was impossible for them to as
certain de fnitely the exact quota of each State
and district prior to the completion of the en-
rollment. To obyiate this difficulty, and to
avoid the danger of having the army depleted
while in the presence of the enemy, it was
deemed proper to divide the first draft into two
paris, or to call out only q portion Of the first
draft with a view Of completing the equ aliza-
ton OF the draft as a whole, after the enroll
part of the first draft, therefore, vet remains to
be completed, and it becomes neces sary. there
fore, to give each State credit in the above-men
toned account for all troops furnished under
the first part of the aforesaid draft and the BAL
dnce Of the first draft will be all that will now
be due on that draft from each State respec-
lively.
After the first section of the draft was drawn,
and before the quotas for the last section there
of can be assigned, a new element has been in.
troduced which must now be taken into &C.
count. The Government has. authorized vol.
unteers to be enrolled, who have received
bOunties, and who are to be credited to the
States as part of their respective quotas in the
same manner as though such volunteers had
been furnished under the draft.
BY observing these principles and methods
Of calculation, the acquisitions Of the law in
Lie QuUloS Va cdCu OIdL0 Will, i
thiHk be substantially complied with.
l subjofn tabular form of making out the
account Of each State for more convenient re-
ference. WILLIAM WHITING,
Solicitor of the War Department
NAME OF THE STATE.
DIR. 1. Amount of service to equalize or CR
the accounts between the
States prior to March 3, 1863,
taking into view the number
Of men, period of service, and
population of State as com.
pared with all the States to
be enrolled
DIR. 2. Amount OF service due from
said State as estimated as for
the ENTIRE DRAFT...........
DIR. g. Amount Of service received CR.
from the first section of the