Download Recruiting Soldiers and Financing the War-6

Recruiting Soldiers and Financing
the War
By Nicole Leduc
Armies
CONFEDERATE
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•
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Less funding
Fewer members
Basic equipment
Less training
More motivation originally
UNION
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•
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•
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More funding
More members
Advanced equipment
Advanced training
Less motivation
Recruiting Soldiers
• Originally more motivation in the South
– Slavery was the basis of southern economy
• Northern troops less motivated
– Industrial economy, did not need slaves
• The original intent for both sides was to have volunteer
armies
• Both sides started out successfully
• The drafts aided the armies but destroyed the people
The South’s Original Plan
• Volunteer based
• Soldiers get to choose their officers and branch
• $50 bounty
• Many infantry men (foot soldiers) opted for the more
glamourous cavalry (horseback) or artillery (heavy
weaponry)
• Army became uneven and ineffective
Southern Conscription Act
• Passed in 1862
• Left 30 days for volunteers with same perks
• Heavily resented and avoided
• Draft dodgers hid in the woods to avoid enlistment
• Whole counties were dedicated to avoiding and
opposing the draft
Southern Conscription Act Continued
• Wealthy draftees hired substitutes for battle
• This system was put in place so that wealthy,
“skilled” people were kept on the home front
• Congress eliminated the system due to heavy
resentment by poor draftees
• The system changed so a person who owned 20
slaves was exempt from the draft.
War Substitutes
• Often a young man could make a fortune as a substitute
• Someone could enter the army as a replacement, desert,
and be hired again
• A system of commutation was put in place where a person
could avoid the draft by paying $300
• This system kept substitution prices from soaring
• In 1865 an amendment was passed that punished desertion
with loss of citizenship
Southern Social System
• The south had three distinct classes
– The planter class
– White workingman’s class
– Slave class
• The draft mainly applied to the white workingman’s
class
• Members of the planter class could afford substitutes
• Slaves were needed for farming
Southern Resentment
• "A law was made by the Confederate States
Congress about this time allowing every
person who owned twenty negroes to go
home. It gave us the blues; we wanted twenty
negroes. Negro property suddenly became
very valuable, and there was raised the howl
of 'rich man's war, poor man's fight.' The glory
of the War, the glory of the south, the glory
and pride of our volunteers had no charms for
the conscript.“ (Watkins)
The North’s Original Plan
• Volunteer army
• 3 month term
• Just enough time to train, so soldiers reenlisted
• Next term was longer
• Generals were harsh and aggressive
• Enlistment plummeted
Northern Draft
• Implemented in 1863
• Often called “the first draft in the North”
• Began a year after the Confederate conscription act
• Northerners volunteered before the act was passed
under the threat of being drafted
• The goal was to let the states handle their own
conscriptions
Black Soldiers in the North
• The Emancipation Proclamation was the first step
in the recruiting of black soldiers in the War.
• In it, Abraham Lincoln invited all freed slaves to
join the Union army
– Abraham Lincoln 1862: “And I further declare and
make known, that such persons (freed slaves) of
suitable condition, will be received into the armed
service of the United States to garrison forts,
positions, stations, and other places, and to man
vessels of all sorts in said service.”
Emancipation Proclamation OVPL
• Origin:
– Abraham Lincoln, president
– September 22, 1862
OVPL Continued
• Purpose
– To free the slaves of the Confederate states if they
did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863
– Gain troops for the Union army
– Gain northern support
– Pressure Confederate states into rejoining the
Union
OVPL Continued
• Value
– Shows how much Lincoln wanted the Confederate
states back in his power
– Give further justification for the North to engage
with the South
– Shows Lincoln’s strategy for splitting the South
OVPL Continued
• Limitation
– Written from a northern point of view
– Not recognizing that slaves are the base of
southern economy
Damaged Faith
• Both sides faced resentment for the drafts
• Southern troops began to hate the War
• A draft went against southern values and way of
life
• “All our pride and valor had gone, and we were
sick of war and the southern Confederacy.”
(Watkins)
Southern Resentment
• The basis of the southern way of life was
freedom from an overbearing government
• This was one of the reasons for the war in the
first place
• Being forced to fight was the epitome of the
southern peoples’ fears
Northern Draft Riots
• The draft law was severely resented
• Thousands of working-class men fled their states to
avoid being drafted
• The morning of July 13th, 1863, a mob formed on the
streets of New York City and marched for 4 days
• The riots quickly became racially charged, with many
white people attacking black people and blaming them
for the war
Northern Draft Riots Continued
• President Abraham Lincoln sent a several
regiments of volunteer troops and militia to
control the city
• Said regiments did not reach the city until the
14th, when most of the damage had already been
done
• Many buildings were a destroyed including an
orphanage for black children
Ending the Violence
• The mayor of New York tried to stop the chaos
by announcing that the draft was
unconstitutional
• The draft was postponed, giving many rioters
reason to go home
• The remaining rioters were apprehended by
the militia on the fourth day
Result of the Riots
• It is estimated that approximately 119 black
people were killed
• So many black people left Manhattan that
their numbers dropped below the colored
population in 1820
• Total damage was the equivalent of $95.8
million in today’s money
Reluctance to Fight
• With the development of the camera,
photographs of dead soldiers were able to
easily reach the civilian population
Reluctance to Fight cont.
• With more advanced medicine, mutilated
soldiers were able to return home and be in
the public eye
• Willingness to fight plummeted and desertion
rates rose
• By 1863, morale was at an all time low
Northern Financing
• Northern support for the War lead to the successful
sale of war bonds
• The North also passed a 3% tax on all citizens making
more than $800 annually.
• A bill was introduced that authorized the issuance of
$150 million in treasury notes
• Unlike in the South, these notes could be used as legal
tender
Southern Financing
• While the South possessed 30% of the nation’s
wealth, they only owned 12% of its currency and
21% of its banking assets.
• At first, Congress passed a law requiring all
Confederate citizens to pay their debts to the
Treasury in return for Confederate bonds.
• When this did not work, legislation confiscated
property owned by “alien enemies” of the
confederacy
Southern Financing Continued
• Antebellum Americans were the most lightly taxed
people in the world
• When Congress imposed a tax of .5% on the people,
only South Carolina complied
• Texas seized northern-owned property to pay the
quota, and the rest of the states printed money
• This strategy caused massive inflation that devastated
the southern economy.
King Cotton
• The South originally planned to sell cotton to Europe to
fund the War
• Unfortunately for the South, the North blocked their
ports along the Eastern coast
• This action was part of the Anaconda plan to “strangle”
the South
• European relations were cut off and the South lost
their trading partner
Bibliography
• Beck, Tim. Conscription and the South. July 17,
2007.
• Beck, Tim. The North’s Lost Opportunities. July
17, 2007.
• McPherson, James. Battle Cry of Freedom. New
York: Oxford University Press,
1988. Print.
• Lincoln, Abraham. Emancipation Proclamation.
January 1, 1863.
• Watkins, Sam R. Co. Aytch. Chattanooga:
The
Chattanooga Times, 1990.