Conference smurf::civil_war

    
      I have not come across any units regarded as 'drafted units' in general
    terminology, though the majority of a Regt's enlisted may have been drafted 
    into service.  I am not familiar with the ratio of the 173d PA..  Do you
    notice mostly draft. or enl. types of entry?  Was there a reference to
    a different role of the 173d?  What I mean is; I can reference several
    Mass. Regt's with "same regt/different roles" due to 100 days service,
    9 mos, 12 mos, 3 yrs, etc...   I do not have exact dates to reference
    here at my desk, but the 5th & 6th MVM comes to mind as a few...
    
      "Mustered Out" (M.O., must. out) refered to their discharge & completion 
    of service to the US.  Usually attended at camp or rail station by some
    ceremony, discharges were typically presented here.
    
    -John
    
    

The level of coorespondence that I am looking at is mostly regiment level and
above.  Thus few individuals are mentioned.  Instead there are references to
the assignments and positioning of the unit.  The 173d PA first appears in
documents from December 1862.  It is listed as "mustered out" in a document
dated 31 August 1863.  It appears from the accounting to the governor of PA
that the units may have specifically been organized according to length of
service (ie: volunteers for 3 years and draftees for 9 months).

Dick

    This is minimal info from the book, "Regimental Losses in the Civil War
    :FOX,1889."
    
    173d Pennsylvania.	Keyes's Div., 7th Corps.
    Organized in November, 1862
    Enlisted for 9 months
     0 - Officers & Enl. died of wounds
     0 - Officers died of disease.
    19 - Enl. died of disease.
    
    Other reference might be the Adj. Genl's. office of Penn., or "History of 
    Penn. Vols.: S.P.Bates"  if you can locate it. (printed prior to 1889)
    
    -John
    

    The terminology distinction is between Volunteer units and Regular Army
    units.
    
    In 1860, the Regular Army was quite small.  Such units would have a
    "U.S." designation, rather than a state (e.g. Pennsylvania).  The great
    mass of men who fought in the war were organized into units by the
    states, and entered Federal service as part of the Volunteer Army -
    whether they were volunteers, bounty men, or draftees.  So the 173rd
    Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers would have been (in theory) the
    173rd infantry regiment raised by the state of Pennsylvania.
    
    Officers' commissions in the Volunteers gave temporary rank, which
    would disappear with the end of the war; a Regular Army commission gave
    so-called "permanent" rank.  So, Major General Joseph Hooker, U.S.
    Volunteers, could also (at the same time) be Brigadier General Hooker,
    U.S.A. - a reward for good performance (before Chancellorsville,
    obviously ;^} ).  An officer might be a general of Volunteers, but only
    a captain in the Regular Army.  Custer was a general during the war,
    but reverted to his permanent rank at its end, which is why he was only
    a colonel at Little Big Horn.
    
    MikeR

    There really was no draft in 1862, which doesn't mean that some states
    may not have put some pressure on to meet their quotas.  Basically
    all the three-year regiments organized as part of the 300,000 man
    call-out of July/August, 1862 were volunteers.  The real drafts started
    in 1863....remember the New York Draft Riots in July, 1863?
    
    Mustering Out apparently was some form of a final formation/roll call,
    etc., which took place BEFORE the units left for home.  Most of the
    unit histories of Massachusetts three-year regiments I read talk about
    being "mustered out" in Virginia after the great victory parades in
    Washington....and then leaving by train/boat for home where they were
    paid off and discharged several days to a couple of weeks later.  It
    was probably similar to being mustered for pay, which was a totally
    separate activity from actually being paid which normally took place
    several weeks after the muster.
    
    Oh, BTW, Custer was a Lieutenant Colonel when he said those fateful
    words:
    
             "OH SHIT, LOOK AT ALL THE DAMNED INDIANS"  {:^)

>    There really was no draft in 1862, which doesn't mean that some states
>    may not have put some pressure on to meet their quotas.  Basically
>    all the three-year regiments organized as part of the 300,000 man

But what about 9 month regiments which appear to have been formed in December
of 1863?  The 173d PA does not sound like it fits your description.

Dick

    Yeh, a little oversight there......the 9-month regiments were also
    organized as the result of another almost simultaneous call-out which
    actually overlapped the call-out for three years of duty.  Still,
    there was no draft at this time.....the law would not be passed for
    another year.
    
    Communities, etc., put heavy pressure on people to go, but there was
    no forced enrollments.  States got quotas which were "almost"
    mandatory....which they in turn passed down to the towns and cities.
    In the town of Sunderland, Massachusetts, for instance, all the
    businesses shut down every afternoon for a week for massive rallies.
    Also, officers were appointed by the governor, and then sent out
    to recruit people.  If they could get enough, they often ended up
    commanding that company.
    
    Massachusetts was singled out by Lincoln as a state that he expected
    to come in over quota as an example for other states.  Towns traded
    quotas also.  It was kind of messy, but it worked.  One of the touchy
    spots with Mass. (and other N.E. states as well) was that they didn't
    get credit for people who had joined the Navy!!
    
    Bottom line?  There was no mandatory draft at that time.
                                                 

     Re .5: Although some would like us to believe he told his men 
            on that fateful April day that all leaves were cancelled;
            what he is actually credited as saying was:

            "Come on, boys; we've got them now!" 

     						Don

    
    
    
    The draft was passed by Congress March 3, 1863 and instituted July 11, 1863.
    - Temporarily suspended after the riots.
    
    The main provision was that all able bodied males between the ages of
    18 and 45 become eligable for compulsory military service. 
    
    Is there any evidence of free blacks ever being drafted into service?
    
    -John