7. Resistance to the draft in the Confederacy was strong throughout the war
During the Civil War southern society was dominated by a wealthy aristocracy which controlled the government and industry. In response to the continuous calls for more troops by Lee and his generals, this society established safeguards to protect itself and its sons from conscription, an effort which only intensified as southern military fortunes were reduced. Laws were enacted through which overseers of slave labor were exempted from the draft, and further laws which required one overseer for every twenty laborers further favored the wealthy, who could assign the positions to their sons and other relatives, thus protecting them from mandatory military service. As Confederate armies shrank due to casualties, fewer men were available to replace those lost.
By the summer of 1863 both enlistments and those eligible for the draft were in numbers far below the rate of men being lost to the southern armies from combat casualties, illness, accidents, and desertions. The Confederate armies required those who had lost a limb to remain in the service, as home guards or in logistics roles, freeing the able bodied for service in the front lines. The draft in the Confederate States of America was a failure throughout the war, and as it clearly favored the wealthy of southern society was a divisive source within the less affluent communities. Among rich planters, conscription bore a social stigma which was considered worse than a crime.