This collection contains certificates of enlistment for volunteer soldiers from Lancaster City for April and May 1864. The documents show the name of the volunteer; the ward he was from; date; and signatures of volunteer, witness, and/or the draftee for which the volunteer was a substitute; and signatures of members of the Committee on Bounty Fund. These volunteers were "credited to the quota of the City of Lancaster, in the President's calls for troops."
Admin/Biographical History
"No conscription in the North during the Civil War was absolute. The drafted man could always hire a substitute if he could afford it. Starting in 1862, the U.S. government allowed this escape from military service on the theory that, so long as each name drawn from the wheel produced a man, it made no difference whether the drafted person or one hired to take his place appeared for muster. The Conscription Act of 3 March 1863 legalized this method of draft evasion. Until the act of 24 February 1864, the conscript could choose between hiring a substitute or paying the government $300 as commutation of service. Thereafter, the government only permitted substitution, except for conscientious objectors. Furthermore, exemption by furnishing a substitute extended only until the next succeeding draft, at which point the principal again became liable. Immediately, the prices of substitutes rose far above the $300 to which the commutation clause had held them. For this reason, legal draft evasion became the prerogative of only the unusually well-to-do."
Record of Recruits, 1863-1864. City Archives Collection (CA 08-01 1604-005)
Civil War Collection (MG0018)
Notes
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Civil War Enlistment Certificates (MG0422), Folder #, LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Access Conditions / Restrictions
No restrictions. Please request at the Reference Desk or contact Research@LancasterHistory.org prior to visit.
Copyright
Collection may be photographed. Please direct questions to Research Center Staff at Research@LancasterHistory.org.
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Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Signers of petition for eating house: Bomberger, W. T.; Parry, H. B.; Sprecher, W. D.; Sprecher, George D.; Evans, James; Eshleman, D. G.; Evans, Robert A.; King, George P.; King, David; Atlee, John L. Jr.; Dougherty, Hugh; Pinkerton, William; Wise, John; Wiley, William B.; Boyd, S. W. P.; Ellmaker, Thomas; Calder, George Jr.
January term.
1 item, 1 piece
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
Signers of petition: Reed, John K.; Parry, H. B.; Swope, Zuriel; Long, Robert; Brown, W. W.; Henderson, Amos S.; Evans, Robert A.; Shirk, Jacob S.; Wiley, William B.; Black, John; Reynolds, Samuel H.; Boyd, S. W. P.; Atlee, John L. Jr.
Receipt to keep a tavern.
Approved.
April term.
3 items, 3 pieces
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
Signers of petition: Robert Long, H. B. Parry, Amos S. Henderson, John K. Reed, D. G. Eshleman, John S. Dougherty, David King, W. Carpenter, Zuriel Swope, Emlen Franklin, John L. Atlee Jr., Robert A. Evans.
Receipt to keep a tavern.
3 items, 3 pieces
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
Signers of petition: Frederick Kinzler, W. Frick, E. M. Kline, Simon Young, Christian R. Baer, Lawrence Knapp, William Richardson, Simon Erlanger, J. A. Sprenger, W. D. Sprecher, Christopher Liller, James C. Ewing.
Receipt to keep a tavern.
3 items, 3 pieces
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
Signers of petition: Abraham McConnel, A. D. Whiteside, James Hastings, Alexander Morrison, William S. Barkley, H. R. Whiteside, [Frederick McLaughee], Francis H. Manahan, Josiah Walker, William N. Galbraith, James Clark, Samuel McConnel, James Murphy, William Neely, Samuel G. Morrison, Joseph Parker, David Walker, James Finday, John Harrar.
3 items, 3 pieces
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
Signers of petition: William Cox, D. Killinger, John Carr, David Shultz, John K. Reed, Simon Stevens, Robert Loag, Robert A. Evans, Emlen Franklin, A. S. Henderson, William B. Wiley, John J. Porter, D. G. Eshleman.
3 items, 3 pieces
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Request at Reference Desk; photocopy made by staff member.
