639 Series III Volume V- Serial 126 - Union Letters, Orders, Reports
Page 639 | UNION AUTHORITIES. |
drafted man who has failed to report would be accepted, and until accepted he would not be counted on the quota, and therefore not being counted, his failure to report creates no deficiency, but leaves the matter in the same condition, so far as credit is concerned, as if he had not been drafted. As well might a drafted men claim to be discharged because an enlisted recruit who has been rejected by a mustering officer is not credited upon the quota.
The principle here announced is in exact accordance with the legal opinion a of the Judge-Advocate-General of the Army, given September 10, 1863. Were a different rule to be adopted, it would occasion manifest injustice to those States in which former drafts have been made and the quotas filled by men actually put in service, in addition to those who were drafted and failed to report. Not only that, but by a different ruling all those who have been drafted to fill the places of men who failed to report would be illegally held to service and ought to be discharged.
By the amendatory enrollment act of February 24, 1864, it is provided that the required number and 100 per cent. in addition shall be drawn. Now, if it were granted that all drawn are in fact (as well as in law) in the military service, and if none of those drawn should report, not only would the quota be filled without the Government getting a man, but the locality would have an excess equivalent to the quota assigned and could not be expected to furnish men on future calls.
Call of December 19, 1864.
On the 19th day of December, 1864, a call b was made for 300,000 men to serve for one, two, or three years.
Under this call the whole number of voluntary enlistments was 157,058, viz:
Volunteers:
White............................................ 130,620
Colored.......................................... 10,055
Regulars......................................... 6,958
Seamen........................................... 9,106
Marine Corps..................................... 319
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Total voluntary enlistments...................... 157,058
The whole number of drafted men and substitutes for drafted men was 24,580, viz:
Number held to personal service.................... 12,566
Number of substitutes for drafted men.............. 12,014
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Total.............................................. 24,580
Number of substitutes for enrolled men............. 12,997
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Total drafted men and substitutes.......................... 35,577
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Whole number raised under December call*.................. 194,635
As the suspension of active military operations occurred while the business of the draft under this call was in progress, orders were issued on the 13th of April, 1865, to discontinue the business of recruiting and drafting; and on the next day all drafted men who
a See Appendix, Doc. 29.
b See Appendix, Doc. 36.
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*But see Vol. IV, this series, p. 1268, for revised statement of the total number of men furnished under this call.
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