How could a deserter go West in 1863?
Upvote:1
Maybe Mhw has seen too many thrillers set in fascist or communist states, where police officials go through trains demanding to see the papers of all the passengers. Or maybe he imagines that police would ask to see travelers' identity papers at the borders between the various counties and states. That didn't happen in 1860s America.
Remember that American society was not nearly as automated and mechanized as today, and only a minority of healthy men could be spared from ordinary jobs to serve in the army, and many of them would sometimes be traveling for work reasons, looking for new jobs, or moving west. One of the main advantages of the Union over the Confederacy was its more mechanized agriculture that enabled a lot of farm workers to join the army without lowering food productions.
A lot of men who didn't want to be conscripted headed out west to the frontier. One army officer sent west after the war found his region full of confederate sympathizers, draft dodgers, deserters from the Union army, and other sinister characters.
The US Army had a provost marshal's bureau dealing with military law and order, including tracking down deserters. But that didn't stop a small number of "bounty jumpers" from enlisting for the enlistment bounties paid by the federal, state, and local governments to encourage voluntary enlistment, deserting as soon as they could, and reenlisting in another unit for another bounty, over and over again. Even though the maximum possible penalty for desertion was death, the percentage of deserters caught was small enough that many thousands of soldiers deserted once, and there were even those "bounty jumpers" who deserted over and over again.
Upvote:3
This question seems to be predicated on two assumptions:
a twentysomething guy walking through town would be suspicious. I'm not sure that is completely true. I don't know what the migration patterns for that era are, (I know the data exists, but I can't find it), I believe there were still a lot of people going West. The deserter could take any normal form of transportation (horse, coach, etc.). If challenged, the deserter could merely state that they were joining their family in the West.
An unstated assumption that anyone who was of an age for military service should be in the military, rather than heading West. I think this is where @Semaphore's point is critical; Northern troops were largely volunteers, not conscripts. The first problem with this assumption is that conscription was not yet the law at the time of the desertion "The Enrollment Act, 12 Stat. 731, enacted March 3, 1863" Wikipedia.
Furthermore
Exemptions from the draft could be bought for $300 or by finding a substitute draftee. history.com
The policy of substitutions was continued throughout the war. The problem with substitution was that it provided substitutes with powerful incentives to desert soon after enlisting. Career "jumpers" made a living off of enlisting as a substitute, collecting their compensation, deserting before their units were dispatched to the front, and repeating the process. The problem was well known to the military commanders who regularly saw the same recruits repeatedly. In addition, troops furnished by substitution were considered to be of an inferior quality in comparison to regulars and volunteers. Wikipedia
More post
- 📝 Why were Japanese escort ships not numerous at the battle of Bismarck Sea?
- 📝 Did Palmerston contribute to Louis Philippe's downfall?
- 📝 What's the reason behind the 17th century tradition of British monarchs being depicted on coins facing in the opposite direction to their predecessor?
- 📝 Where can I find an explanation of the variations in style of Egyptian hieroglyphs?
- 📝 Why is there a Herakles/Hercules sarcophagus?
- 📝 How did Isaac Newton support himself in the period of self-study that he conducted at 23?(after he received his B.A.)
- 📝 Which technologies/commodities were available during the 30s on USA?
- 📝 What was the extent of Japanese control after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs and before surrender?
- 📝 Why has Hatutu's population never returned to the island?
- 📝 What WWII fighter raid did my great-uncle misremember?
- 📝 Is limestone robbed out from pyramids ever seen in local use?
- 📝 Is the story "Conquistadors using plans of Constantinople in the new world" factual?
- 📝 Is there any corroborating evidence for the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?
- 📝 Who said this quote about assimilation?
- 📝 Identification of the dagger/mini sword which has been in my family for as long as I can remember (and I am 80 years old)
- 📝 How do new countries legally and without bloodshed declare themselves independent?
- 📝 How do we know the tonnages U-boats sank?
- 📝 Did nutmeg really prevent infections during the Bubonic Plague?
- 📝 What is the social history of British popular opposition to Thatcher over the miner’s strike?
- 📝 Were the "hussars" that Jan Sobieski used at the battle of Vienna actually elite troops?
- 📝 How was titanium transported from Soviet Union to Area 51 for Oxcart?
- 📝 Why hasn't Sub-Sahan African developed as fast as other regions between the beginning of civilisation and European colonialism?
- 📝 How can we be sure what the first day of the month was 2000 years ago and how can we determine which years were leap years?
- 📝 Did they use nicknames in ancient Rome?
- 📝 When was "diablo" first used to refer to the Devil?
- 📝 Has the USA offered aid to every sovereign nation?
- 📝 Why were Catholic priests so instrumental in the Mexican independence movement?
- 📝 Was WW1's extended static slaughter caused by bad leadership?
- 📝 Why did the Soviets refuse to help Nur Mohammed Taraki?
- 📝 "Black Bull" pubs in Northumberland
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How could a deserter go West in 1863?
- 📝 How could West Berlin had access West Germany/world while the wall was up?
- 📝 How was Germany able to hold itself together, while Austria-Hungary could not?
- 📝 In the Battle of the Coral Sea, how could two Japanese scouts grossly mis-identify two American ships?
- 📝 How could Jews integrate into Western modern society back when Saturday was a normal working day?
- 📝 How many different countries could a person alive today have lived in without leaving their hometown?
- 📝 How and why was the boundary between West and East Berlin decided to be where it was?
- 📝 How far could an English war bow shoot?
- 📝 How quickly could the Roman legions march? How did it compare to their cavalry?
- 📝 How accurately could ancient astronomers find latitude and longitude?
- 📝 How could Eratosthenes measure the circumference of the Earth?
- 📝 How were the West Berlin air corridors negotiated?
- 📝 How was security on the Silk Road between China and the West maintained?
- 📝 When and how did the West lose its dependency on the USSR for Titanium?
- 📝 How did people and goods move between East Pakistan and West Pakistan?
- 📝 How could it be that 80% of townspeople were farmers during the Edo period in Japan?
- 📝 How could temporary surrender of self-government help Newfoundland with its debts?
- 📝 How far away could one be and still see the atom bomb explosions?
- 📝 How did slavery become permissible in the French West Indies when it was forbidden in France?
- 📝 In WW2, how long could a submarine stay submerged if it wasn't moving?
- 📝 How could black men serve as officers in the US army during segregation?
- 📝 How much gunpowder could the average Napoleonic ship of the line carry?
- 📝 How did they measure speed in the 19th century so they could issue the first speeding ticket?
- 📝 How could ancient people determine the winter solstice was occurring?
- 📝 How could a chariot work against a phalanx?
- 📝 How much power and influence could a child monarch have?
- 📝 How could nonconformist Protestants be buried in graveyards controlled by the established Church before 1880?
- 📝 During the Middle Ages, how many people could be fed by fishing?
- 📝 How could a theatre be heated in 1808 Vienna?
- 📝 How easy one could start an artel in USSR after WW2 1945-1956?
