Force Generation

This page is for the purposes of Canadian Forces College Experiential Learning Visit in support to the Joint Command and Staff Programme.

Conscription was used by both the Union and Confederacy. In the Spring of 1962, the Confederate Congress passed the first conscription and exemption acts in American history. All men between eighteen and thirty-five years of age were eligible for three years' service. Substitutes were allowed and certain types of professionals and factory workers were exempted. However, these exemptions were abused so neither enlistment nor conscription filled the ranks sufficiently for the Confederate army. The population base from which the Confederacy was able to enlist or conscript was considerably less given for most the war, slaves were not to be included. By the Fall of 1862, Lee's army was outnumbered, undernourished and ill-equipped, prompting his retreat to the south bank of the Potomac. There the army found enough forage and subsistence.

In comparison, the Union did not enact conscription until March 1863. All men between the ages of twenty and forty-five were liable to be called for military service. Service could be avoided by paying a fee or providing a substitute, both actions deemed unfair to the poor. In New York City, riots broke out in working-class sections.