Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-04-28
VOLUNTEERING FAILED IN COS.
Consumption Was Employed by Both
Sides to Fill Ranks.

To the Editor OF Inc Staf:
In The Evening Star Of date of the
Gath instant the Hon. Champ Clark in
speaking against the proposed draft
bill is quoted. among other things. as
saying Don't you think Lee had
good army at Gettysburg and there
was not a conscript among them"
If Mr.. Clark said that 1t is very evil
dent that he was not speaking from
personal knowledge or from accurate
information: 1t Is true that at the be-
ginning of the civil war the armies Of
both the north and the south were
made up entirely of volunteers, but be-
fore the war had progressed very far
the volunteer spirit Jagged woefully
and very drastic measures had to be re-
sorted to by both sides to keep the
ranks filled up.
was attending school in Richmond
when the war commenced. and shortly
thereafter was withdrawn from school
and put in a drug store in Charlottes-
vile because all available men were in
the army. and before very long con-
scripting officers were combing the
country to find all who could possibly
handle gun to fill up the ranks.
In the winter of 1854 the conscripting
officer stationed in Charlottesville came
into the store, and, pointing his finger
at me. said: ION your next birthday
YOU will be sixteen years old, and l
shall then conscript you into the army;
birthday l was only fifteen years old.
This statement of the conscripting Of
f1cer set me, for the first time. to
thinking of the war. as related to me
personally. and l soon found, what l
had not hitherto suspected, that my
sympathies were with the Union. and.
as soon as opportunity served, joined
the Union army. / can positively as
sert. with all due Difference to Speaker
Clark. and from my own personal
knowledge, that the Confederate ar
mics in the later years of the war were
largely made up Of conscripted men.
From the spring of 1864 until the
close of the war l was with the Union
army in and around Washington, and
had an intimate knowledge Of the
conditions therein. There was no ma
tional draft or conscript law on the
Union side. but whenever levIes of
troops were needed the President would
issue call upon the several states
for their quotas of troops. based upon
population of the several states, and
It was up to the several states to fill
their quotas In their own several ways.
Some states. when the call for volun-
| teers would fail to fill their quota, as
was often the case. would resort to the
oHer OF bounties for enliSting, other
states would resort to the draft. or
conscript. and some states never filled
their quotas. In the states that used
the draft. or conscript. it was a COM
mon practice for the man drafted to
hire a substitute to take his place
In those states that gave bounties to
induce men to enlist there developed
class of men known as bounty-jump-
ers-men who enlisted and, on obtain
Ing the bounty. would at the first op-
portunity disappear. only to present
themselves at some other place of en-
lfstment and repeat the performance
ad libitum.
SO 1t can readily be seen that the
whole scheme Of so-called Volunteering
was miserable. unsatisfactory make.
shift, which involved an immense waste
or expenditure and effort and winch
won through only by reason Of the
total exhaustion of the south
Why resort to such puerile efforts nou
when by adopting the system of mi.
Nersal liability of service and selectiva
draft we can shortly command an armv
the peer of any nation on earth ~
the same time achieving a stem ~
most truly democratic Dossible far
when the rich mans son and the naor
mans son touch elbow to elbow in p tba
ranks, sharing the same veal nv w. M .a 10
common comradeship, we vii, b.rn
reached the utmost verge Of demon ra We We
attainabie. w. s. BRANSoM,