Search Preserved Draft Records
The first national draft in U.S. history was authorized by President Lincoln when he signed the Enrollment Act on March 3, 1863, in an effort to provide more men to fight for the Union in the Civil War.
Lincoln hoped the legislation would raise a force of 3 million men. However, it drew only 46,347 men into the Union army during 1863 and 1864.
A hundred-plus years later, genealogists will be excited to realize that more than 200,000 men registered for the draft, thanks to the Enrollment Act. While less than a fourth actually served, various records on all who registered have been preserved and are available for searching.
Commonly called the Civil War Union Draft Records, five groups of records are worth researching: Consolidated Lists, Descriptive Rolls, Case Files on Drafted Aliens, Medical Records of Examinations, and Statement of Substitutes.
While some of these records can be accessed by mail, others must be checked at the National Archives in person. For each record, it’s necessary to know the congressional district where the man lived when he filled out the draft registration card.
The records for your consideration:
Consolidated Lists are the draft registration records which resulted from the Civil War draft and can be accessed by mail from the National Archives.
Descriptive Rolls were created when the man was drafted and identified with a personal description; they’re not available through the mail.
Case Files on Drafted Aliens, which concern only non-citizens who were drafted and released, are available by mail from the archives.
The Medical Records of Examinations are organized by state and then congressional district. They include all the men, both drafted or rejected. This batch of records also is not accessible by mail.
The Statement of Substitutes, created from lists of those men who were paid to substitute for a drafted man, are not available by mail.
Nancy Justus Morebeck wrote an article on the subject of these Civil War Draft Records for the winter 1997 issue of the Forum, a publication of the Federation of Genealogical Societies. The article was an introduction to her helpful book, “Civil War Draft Records: An Index to the 38th Congressional Districts of 1863.”
The book gives a more complete description of each record group and all the appropriate addresses to write for those records that are available by mail. It also lists all the U.S. counties as of March 1863 and gives their congressional districts.
The author has even included sample letters and the answers she received from the Archives.
Morebeck’s book is $12.50, postpaid, from the author at 409 Dennis Drive, Vacaville, CA 95688-2119.
I recommend the book to any serious researcher of Civil War records. If you send me a legal-sized self-addressed stamped envelope c/o this paper, I will send you (with Morebeck’s permission) a copy of that two-page Forum article.
Today’s laugh: Why doesn’t Great-Grandpa have a tombstone? This story may hold the answer:
After a very stormy 40-year marriage, the husband died. A few months later, the wife is seen sporting an enormous diamond ring. “Well,” she said, “going through his things after he died, I found an envelope and a note saying, ‘Here is enough money to bury me, plus get a nice stone.”’