5. The Civil War brought national conscription to the United States
Following the secession of the southern states and the attack on Fort Sumter when Lincoln ordered the fort re-supplied, a call for volunteers was issued. The response among the states was strong. The Union forces during the Civil War included 2.1 million men, and over 90% of them were volunteers who enlisted in both the national army and in state regiments which were raised as part of the system of militia still prevalent in the United States. Both cities and states raised their own regiments which served under the command of their own officers, as well as the professional officers produced by the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Of the 8% of Union troops which were draftees, three-quarters of them were paid substitutes. When Congress authorized a draft it allowed men who were drafted into the army to arrange for a substitute to go in their place. Advertisements appeared in the leading northern newspapers for substitutes, who were paid in accordance with the means of the gentleman hiring them for the purpose. Many were immigrants who were promised payment upon arrival at the recruiting depot, where the money failed to materialize. Some were kidnaped and, with little knowledge of either their new country or language found themselves unable to convince the authorities that they were the victim of a crime.