Newsgroup: it.cultura.storia.militare
Titolo: [ACW] servizio militare

Non ricordo dove, ho letto che durante la guerra civile era pratica
comune -presso chi poteva permetterselo- di non andare al fronte, bensě
pagare qualcuno perchč lo facesse al proprio posto. Da come era descritta,
sembrava essere una cosa perfettamente legale. Ammesso che sia vero, questo
"uso" era ugualmente diffuso sia a nord che a sud? E soprattutto, QUANTO era
diffuso? Erano casi piů unici che rari?
--
Frakkia
FIDDer #31

 diffuso? Erano casi più unici che rari?
Sì. Parecchio. No.
At first, instead of instituiting mass conscription, the United
States issued quotas to the states, stipulating that permanent
militias could be called up by the federal government if there
not enough volunteers to meet quotas [...]. Bounties were
paid by the US government, the state government and many
local governments [...]. With the failure of the bounty system,
the US Congress passed its Conscription Act on 3 March 1863.
Both sides' conscription acts allowed for a number of exemptions
for physical disabilities or vital occupations. Also both sides
allowed conscripts to pay a commutation tax to avoid service,
$ 500 in the Confederacy and $ 300 in the Union. This practice
led to charges of its being "a rich man's war and a poor man's
fight". Finally, both sides initially allowed conscripts to hire a
substitute. A bitterly resented feature of the law, substitution
was declared illegal in the South in 1863 [....]. Although not
liable for the draft, President Abraham Lincoln hired a
substitute to serve in his name, while young and able banker
J. Pierpoint Morgan paid his commutation tax in 1863. [#1]
In the North the draft act of 1863 resulted in four different
enrollments: July 1863, March 1864, July 1864 and
December 1864. These drafts resulted in a total of 249,259
men being held to service. Of this total, some 86,724 paid
commutation to be relieved of service, which brought in
$ 26,366,316.78. There were actually 162,535 men raised
by the draft. Of this total only 46,347 men were held to personal
service; 116,188 furnished substitutes. Thus the draft provided
only about 6 per cent of the total Federal enlistments in the
Army. Nevertheless the draft's main effect seems to have
been to stimulate enlistments of volunteers who made up the
great bulk of the manpower. [#2]
Some Confederate officials recognized at an early date
that the policy of allowing substitution represented a
grave error. In August 1862 Secretary of the War George
Randolph reported to Davis that substitution had "led to
great abuses. The procuration of substitutes has become
a regular business". Indeed, substitutes had become a
commodity, whose price J. B. Jones recorded in his diary
as an index of inflation. Making what he called "a moderate
estimate", the Assistant Adjutant-General of the Confederacy
declared that there were 50,000 able-bodied conscripts
who had employed a substitute. The total may have been
considerably higher, although a group of high-ranking
officers of the Army of Tennessee probably exaggerated
when they placed the number in excess of 150,000. In any
case the large number of substitutes constituited what
Bell Wiley has called "a shameful reflection on Confederate
patriotism". Realizing that most substitutes deserted, the
government gradually restricted the privilege over the
vehement protests of many wealthy southerners, but it
was not until the beginning of 1864 that the congress
finally abolished this demoralizing and counter-productive
system. [...] Tardy as this action was, it nonetheless
showed greater sensitivity in the Davis administration
than in the Lincoln government, for the United States
never abolished substitution and until the last ten months
of the war allowed any draftee to purchase his exemption
from service by paying three hundred dollars. [#3]
Forse è il caso di precisare: al Nord il governo emetteva
in caso di bisogno una richiesta di volontari, di cui precisava
il numero totale, da dividere poi tra i vari Stati a seconda
della loro popolazione. Dopo il 1863, se uno stato non
raggiungeva la propria quota, la differenza veniva reclutata
attraverso la coscrizione. Al Sud viceversa la coscrizione
si riferiva a tutti i cittadini, salvo esenzioni. Da notare quindi
che un sostituto sudista, per essere accettabile in luogo
di chi lo forniva, doveva essere _non_ soggetto alla
coscrizione (cioè: troppo vecchio o giovane, parzialmente
invalido, esentato, etc.).
[#1] Philip Katcher - The American Civil War Source Bookl
[#2] E. B. Long & B. Long - The Civil War Day By Day
[#3] Paul D. Escott - After Secession: Jefferson Davis and
the Failure of Confederate Nationalism
--
Davide
"Solo se la vostra visione va oltre quella del vostro maestro,
siete adatti per ricevere e tramandare la trasmissione."
(Massima Zen)