The Washington herald., 1914-01-03

!
had been largely exempt from military
duty because OF their positions as rail-
road or government employees. pianfa-
tion overseers, teachers, publishers. or
printers and the like.
Now the Inst OF persons to be exempt
from military duty was greatly reduced.
and planters must leave their crops to
follow the nag.
The people were discouraged, and the
press gave voice to their thoughts.
I'VE find we have an army poorly
clad, scantiiy fed. indifferentiy equipped.
badly mounted. with insufficient trains.
and barely enough ammunition" said
the Richmond Wing. ITO remedy the
evil. We are going to double. and II
possible quadruple the number Of men
and horses. take away every efficient
master from the agricultural districts,
and leave the lahorers. on whom both
the men and horses depend for existence.
a prey to natural idleness. II this be not
judicial madness. the history of desperate
measures adopted by feeble and fright
ened councils does not present an exam
pie"
Appeal to the People.
While 1t passed laws OF conscription.
the Confederate Congress did not fail to
appeal to the patriotic pride Of the peo-
Pile On January Is. II passed vote OF
thanks to Gen. Lee and his army for
iIlustrious service the preamble to
which was as follows:
For the military laggard or him who.
in the pursuits of. selfish and inglorious
ease, forgetss his country's need. no note
of appreciation Is sounded. His infamy is
his only security from oblivion. But the
heroic devotion of those who, in defense
of liberty and honor, have periled all,
while II confers in an approving con-
science the best and highest reward, will
also be cherished in perpetual remem-
brance by grateful nation.
Let this assurance stimulate the ar
mics of the Confederacy everywhere to
greater exertion and more resolute en-
durance, till, under the guidance of
Heaven. the blessings OF peace and free
dom shall finally crown their efforts. Let
all press forward in the road to inde-
pendence and for the security of the
rights sealed to us in the blood of the
first revolution. Honor anu glory awaits
our success. Slavery and shame will at
tend our defeat"
Pressing Men Into the Ranks.
While the conscript agent went from
town to town and village to village
gathering up the available men and car
ryfng them Off under guard like prison
ers. the negro was not required to bear
arms As yet the South could not bring
itself to putting weapons into the hands
or its slaves Yet one of the first sug-
gestions made by Gen Joseph f. John
ston on taking command of the Army
in Northern Georgia was that negroes
be employed on all kinds of camp labor
then done by whites, thus leaving an
equal number of whites free to go into
the firing line.
The pressure of men into the ranks OF
the Confederate army met with opposi-
ton from the governors of certain
States. who claimed that the central gov
ernment had no right to impress men in
the various States.
Flee to the Mountains.
The courts finally PASSED upon the sub
ject, ruling that the government had
such a right, as a war measure.
The work OF conscription was done
from a central bureau, with headquar-
ters at Richmond, of which Gen. G. J.
Rains, Gen. Charles W. Field and Col.
John Smith Preston were successfully
superintendents. Each State had its To-
cal enrolment districts.
The original conscription act went into
force April l6, 1862. In both Georgia and
North Carolina. the governor believed
the act unconstitutional, yet conscription
went on in those States, until Gov. Zeb-
ulon B. Vance OF the latter reported TO
Richmond that the law had stripped the
State bare of its "laboring and official
population
That the enforcement OF the conscrip-
ton law was not the chief cause "of
sweeping the State bare OF able-bodied
men is shown By the report OF Brig. Gen.
]. L. McElroy, of the North Carolina
Home Guards who under date of April
L. 1854. wrote that "swarms Of men liza
BILE to conscription in Western North
Carolina had gone to the Yankees
while many others are fleeing west OF
the Blue Ridge for refuge" Gov. Vance
on this report recommended that the
war department at Richmond suspend
the operation of the conscript law in va
rious counties of the Western district
of the State. Secretary of War Seddon.
replied that grave doubt is entertained
of the expediency of such apparent yield
ing TO the disaffected classes"
Yet the 'disafected classes" were now
So thoroughly tired OF the war that the
desertions from the Confederate army
were thousands monthly, and were to
reach a total. before the end of the war.
of nearly 5000. while the conscript law
brought into the army only 5000.
Tomorrow, Gen. Banks recalled from