tion district, who reported at the headquarters of the district each day with the filled sheets, which were then given in, and an account kept of the amount of sheets (filled) each enrolling officer brought in. The enrolment was completed on the 29th day of June, and the number of names returned to this office amounted to fifty-four thousand three hundred and seventy-two (54,372) of class one, and twenty-three thousand four hundred and five (23,405) of class two; total number, seventy-seven thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, (77,777.)

"The consolidation was made by first making an alphabetical list of each ward; the names were carefully revised, and the residence of every person, within the ages named in the act, residing in this district, marked by the ward of this district in which he resided. They were then transferred to another copy, care being taken to gather all who resided in the ward, copying from other wards. On the completion of that copy the lists were again revised for the purpose of ascertaining duplicates, in this manner: by taking the first name of each letter and going through all the rest of the letter, to ascertain that that name was down but once; then taking the second name, and again going through those remaining, until the whole had undergone a careful and actual scrutiny; and in the same manner with class two. This was the work of many days and nights, yet it resulted in a correct list. When a doubt arose as to whether the party under search was a duplicate, an enrolling officer was sent to the residence of such a party to ascertain whether such name was a duplicate

or not.

"Upon the completion of that copy another copy was made, and all errors stricken from and transfers made, should any be found in it. After a careful revision of that copy the final copy was made for the department, and from that the cards prepared for the draft, and carefully compared with the list, and verified by actual count."

Numerous and weighty obstacles were encountered in making this enrolment. The large floating population of the country, and the disposition and right of our people to go from place to place without let or hindrance, rendered it exceedingly difficult to perfect it. Most of the embarrassments resulted, however, from the opposition encountered in almost every house, if not to the act itself, at least to its application to the particular persons whose names were sought for enrolment. The law made it the duty of this bureau to take, but did not make it the duty of any one to give, the names of those liable to draft. Every imaginable artifice was adopted to deceive and defeat the enrolling officers. Open violence was sometimes met with. Several enrollers lost their lives. Some were crippled. The property of others was destroyed to intimidate them, and prevent the enrolment. In certain mining regions organized bodies of men openly opposed the enrolment, rendering it necessary that the United States authorities should send troops to overcome their opposition. There were secret societies, newspapers, and politicians who fostered and encouraged this wide-spread opposition.

Under these serious drawbacks the first enrolment was made. It was no more imperfect than had been expected, and the first draft (as explained hereafter in this report) was, according to it, conducted in such a manner as to neutralize to a great extent (if not entirely) the irregularities and hardships that might have resulted from the errors it contained.

An enrolment having been made as the first and indispensable requisite to the execution of the law, and the determination and ability of the government to carry out the measure to the fullest extent required for the re-enforcement of the armies having been established by the enforcement of the first draft in

* See table of casualties, Doc. 38.

July, 1863, the subject of revising and perfecting the enrolment with a view to future drafts was taken up as soon as the boards of enrolment could get time for it, to wit: in November, 1863. On the 17th of that month circular No. 101 wasi ssued.* It referred, first, to the complaints made relative to errors in the enrolment of the national forces by the omission of persons whose names should have been enrolled, and by the addition of names of persons who, by reason of alienage and for other causes, ought not to have been enrolled; and as it was desirable that the department should have such information as might be necessary in order to do full justice to all parties, it directed that the board of enrolment of each district should have printed lists of the names and residences of all persons enrolled in each sub-district prepared and exposed to public view in at least five places in each sub-district, and in as many more as the board might deem necessary. It further required that public notice should be given by advertisement upon the list of names and in the newspapers, inviting corrections, &c., and that the boards of enrolment should use all diligence in collecting the necessary information and making the requisite notes to perfect the enrolment lists.

As a draft was then pending, (to commence in the following January,) the time for making corrections was limited to the 20th of December. This was to give the officers time to attend to other business preliminary to draft. When it was necessary, however, and could be properly done, the time for correction was extended by special authority.

Notwithstanding the opportunity thus afforded, the appeals made to the people, and the efforts of the officers of the bureau, the corrections, though extensive, were not so thorough as had been hoped.

The people, generally, at that time did not seem to appreciate their interest in perfecting the lists, and gave but little aid in the work, perhaps in the hope and belief that every call was the last which would be necessary. The officers of the bureau were more faithful in perfecting the lists, but they prosecuted their labors under some of the discouragements met in making the first enrolment.

Assertions and arguments as to the inaccuracy of the enrolment, which had not been presented to the boards of enrolment when corrections could have been made by the opportunity stated above, were subsequently urged upon the bureau as reasons for delaying drafts. They took a variety of forms. Some of them, raising questions of legality, were laid before the Solicitor of the War Department in April, 1864, and were noticed by him as follows:

"WAR DEPARTMENT, "Washington City, April 11, 1864. "COLONEL: Your letter of the 5th instant has been received, in which you inform me that complaints have been made in some instances 'that the enrolments are excessive,' and you 'request my opinion as to the legal and most proper mode of proceeding under the circumstances herein set forth.'

"In reply, I have the honor to say that the original enrolment was made in strict pursuance of the provisions of the act of March 3, 1863, chapter 75, and though some names were omitted which should have been added, and other names were inserted which should have been omitted, yet, considering the novelty of the law, the great number of officers acting under it without experience, and the magnitude and difficulty of the labor they were called on to perform, it is remarkable that the enrolment was so speedily and correctly made.

"In order to remove, as far as practicable, any errors from the lists of names, you issued an order, No. 101, under date of November 17, 1863, in which you authorized and required the collection of all facts necessary for that purpose.

This order was carried into effect. Not willing, however, to leave untried any means within your power of discovering mistakes in the enrolment, you went beyond the requisitions of the statutes, and ordered printed lists of all the enrolled men to be prepared and made public, so that in every community the citizens might have an opportunity to aid you in the performance of a high public duty, while protecting themselves against all liability to bear an unequal share of the public burden.

"Having taken this precaution, and having given to all concerned the power to have all existing errors corrected, and having amended the lists according to the best of your information, the fact that any mistakes still remain must be owing to the negligence or wilful fault of those who now make complaint. The law requires you to proceed with the draft according to the enrolment as it stands at the date of the draft, and there is no other way for you to perform your duty than to take the lists then prepared.

"If any overdraft is made at the present time, the excess will be taken into account in arranging the quota for the next succeeding draft, if more troops should be required.

"WILLIAM WHITING, "Solicitor of the War Department.

"Colonel J. B. FRY, Provost Marshal General."

As soon as the pressure of business permitted, the correction of the enrolment was resumed under orders dated June 25, 1864, which were slightly modified and republished on the 15th of November, 1864, in the following terms:

"[Circular No. 39.]

66

WAR DEPARTMENT, PROVOST MARSHAL GENERAL'S OFFice,

"Washington, D. C., November 15, 1864. "Attention is again called to the necessity of correcting the enrolment lists in every district and sub-district. While the board is responsible, as a body, for the enrolment, the commissioner of the board will be required to give his particular attention to correction, revision, and preservation of the lists, and to the preparation of all reports and returns in regard to them; and he is hereby especially directed to see that monthly reports of the corrections made in the enrolment for the preceding month are promptly forwarded to this office on or before the 3d day of every month.

"Circular No. 24, from this office, dated June 25, 1864, is reproduced and revised for the guidance of all concerned. It is as follows:

"The attention of boards of enrolment is called to section 6 of the act amendatory of the enrolment act, which is in the following words, viz:

"SECTION 6. And be it further enacted, That boards of enrolment shall enroll all persons liable to draft under the provisions of this act and the act to which this is an amendment, whose names may have been omitted by the proper enrolling officers; all persons who shall arrive at the age of twenty years before the draft; all aliens who shall declare their intention to become citizens; all persons discharged from the military or naval service of the United States who have not been in such service two years during the present war; and all persons who have been exempted under the provisions of the second section of the act to which this is an amendment, but who are not exempted by the provisions of this act; and said boards of enrolment shall release and discharge from draft all persons who, between the time of enrolment and the draft, shall have arrived at the age of forty-five years, and shall strike the names of such persons from the enrolment.'

"Attention is also called to paragraphs 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, and 62, revised regulations for the Bureau of the Provost Marshal General.

"It is to be borne in mind by the boards that their duties in regard to the correction of the enrolment do not cease with its revision as recently completed or now in progress. On the contrary, the revision and correction of these lists is a continuous duty, to which the labors of all boards must be directed. The names of all persons liable to military duty taking up their residence in a subdistrict, as well as all in the sub-district who, from time to time, become liable, shall be added to the enrolment lists; and the names of persons who enlist into the military or naval service, or remove permanently from a district, or whose liability terminates while in it, will be stricken off; and in case of removal, whenever it is practicable, the board of enrolment of the district to which the person removes will be notified, and he will be enrolled by that board.

"The board of enrolment shall have copies of the enrolment lists open to the examination of the public at all proper times, and shall give public notice that any person may appear before the board and have any name stricken off the list, if he can show, to the satisfaction of the board, that the person named is not properly enrolled, on account of, 1. Alienage; 2. Non-residence; 3. Over age; 4. Permanent physical disability, of such a degree as to render the person not a proper subject for enrolment under the law and regulations; 5. Having served in the military or naval service two years during the present war, and been honorably discharged.

"Civil officers, clergymen, and all other prominent citizens are invited to appear at all times before the board to point out errors in the lists, and to give such information in their possession as may aid in the correction and revision thereof.

"To the duty of hearing and acting upon claims for exemption, boards of enrolment are enjoined to devote all the time that can be spared from other less pressing duties. They will report to the Provost Marshal General, for the purpose of correcting lists on file, at the end of each month, upon sheets of consolidated enrolment lists, the names and residences of all persons who have been added to, or stricken from, the rolls during the month. They will send with each report a recapitulation, showing, in concise form, the number enrolled at the time of forwarding the last list, the number stricken from the enrolment, and the number added to it since that time, and its actual condition at date of report.

"JAMES B. FRY,

"Provost Marshal General."

At the time these instructions were issued the draft of 1863, under the original enrolment, had been completed, and the draft which began May 1, 1864, for deficiencies in all calls prior to and including that of March 14, 1864, was nearly closed. These drafts had begun to make it apparent to the people that it was certainly for the interest of each town, ward, &c., to have correct lists, to the end, first, that each locality might be called upon for no more than a fair share of all the troops to be raised; and secondly, that all who were properly liable should be so recorded, in order not to increase unduly the chances to be drafted of those whose names were already on the lists. But besides this, when the fairness of this method of raising troops became properly understood, and the necessity for its adoption was generally acknowledged among the people, the opposition which had interfered with former efforts subsided and gradually disappeared. In many instances it was even replaced by activity and zeal on the part of committees and individuals in pointing out errors and furnishing data for corrections. Hence the lists were rapidly corrected, and when the business of the bureau was practically stopped in April, 1865, the enrolment was as nearly correct as it can well be made under existing laws.

thousand and seventy-three (461,073) names were added to the enrolment lists, and one million two hundred and thirty-one thousand four hundred and thirtynine (1,231,439) names stricken off.

The enrolment shows the national forces not called out to have consisted of two million two hundred and forty-five thousand and sixty-three (2,245,063) men on the 30th day of April, 1865. This does not include the one million five hundred and sixteen (1,000,516) men in the field on the 30th day of April,

1865.

Careful estimates and calculations, based upon the best data to be obtained, lead to the conclusion that notwithstanding the losses during the war, there were more men in the loyal States, properly subject to the call of the government for military service, at the close of the rebellion, than at its beginning. Moreover, in estimating the military strength of the government when hostilities ceased, the fact should be borne in mind that the troops, colored and white, raised in States in rebellion, and the sources from which more such could have been supplied, are not considered, no enrolment of the national forces having been made in those States.

REMARKS ON THE SUBJECT OF ENROLMENT AND THE PROPER BASIS FOR AN EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF THE BURDEN OF MILITARY SERVICE.

The original act required the enrolment to be composed of two classes: the first, comprising all persons subject to do military duty between the ages of twenty (20) and thirty-five (35) years, and all unmarried persons subject to military duty above the age of thirty-five (35) and under the age of forty-five (45.) The second class, comprising all other persons subject to military duty, that is, all married persons between thirty-five (35) and forty-five (45) who fulfilled the required conditions. The law provided that the second class should not be called out in any district until the first class was exhausted. This classification increased and complicated the duties of the bureau, and had the effect of making those belonging to the second class indifferent to the operations of the law and the filling of quotas by volunteers, they being practically exempt from draft. The amendment passed February 24, 1864, abolishing the classification and consolidating all into one and the same class, resulted therefore in benefit to the service.

Considering all the circumstances attending the subject of enrolment in this country, I think, while it is the best basis for raising troops that could be found, there is no degree of efficiency and integrity on the part of those intrusted with the administration of the present law that can secure a perfect enrolment, or one as nearly perfect as it should be for an equal distribution of the burden of military service in a great and protracted war. If the late war had continued so long as to render more calls for troops necessary, the correctness of this statement would have become apparent. In anticipation of such a necessity, previous to the meeting of the last Congress, amendments as follows were prepared by me, but were not adopted.

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall be the duty of each male resident of the United States, over eighteen (18) years of age, within thirty (30) days from such date as may be announced by the Secretary of War, to have his name enrolled on the enrolment list of the sub-district in which he resides, unless, upon application to the board of enrolment of the district, it shall appear that such person is not liable to enrolment under the acts approved March 3, 1863, for enrolling and calling out the national forces, and as amended by the act approved February 24, 1864, in which case he shall be furnished with a certificate of his non-liability to enrolment, signed by the members of the board of

* See Appendix, Doc. 35.