Conscription in the United States

Introduction

To serve in the United States military, one did not need to be a United States citizen. Conscription in the United States has been employed several times, usually during war. During World War I and World War II a great number of men were registered for military service and many were called up. Also during the American Civil War (1861 – 1865) a great number of men were inducted into the military services.

American Civil War 1861 – 1865

Both the Union side and the Confederacy employed national conscription during the American Civil War. The vast majority of troops were volunteers; however, of the 2,100,000 Union soldiers, about 2% were draftees, and another 6% were substitutes paid by draftees. The Confederacy had fewer inhabitants than the United States, and a conscription act was passed into law in April 1862 by the Confederates, requiring military service for three years from all males aged 18 to 35 not legally exempt. The United States Congress passed the Militia Act of 1862 authorizing a militia draft within a state when it could not meet its quota with volunteers. This system failed and in 1863 Congress passed the Enrollment Act, the first national conscription law, setting up under the Union Army an elaborate system for enrolling and drafting men between 20 and 45 of age. Quotas were assigned in each state, the deficiencies in volunteers required to be met by conscription. Both sides permitted conscripts to hire substitutes to serve in their place. Out of the 168,649 inducted conscripts in the Union Army about 117,986 were paid substitutes. However, it was not cheap to hire a substitute and it took a fairly wealthy family to afford the cost. It was common though that many families together pooled the required money so the chosen conscript in their community could hire a substitute. There was much evasion and overt resistance to the draft. In the Union, many states offered bounties and bonuses for enlistment. A large number of immigrants joined the Union Army, including many Swedes.

World War I 1914 - 1918

World War I Draft Registration Cards 1917-

1918

During World War I the United States employed a nationwide registration of young eligible men as a precaution if the USA would possibly join the war. The registering was undertaken according to the Selective Service Act of 1917 which was enacted on May 18, 1917. The administration of Woodrow Wilson decided to rely primarily on conscription, rather than voluntary enlistment, to raise military personnel for World War I. The act established a "liability for military service of all male citizens" and authorized a selective draft of all those between 21 and 31 years of age (later from 18 to 45). This act prohibited all forms of bounties, substitutions, or purchase of exemptions. The image to the right shows young men registering for military conscription, New York City, June 5, 1917. Image Library of Congress. There were three draft registrations conducted: 1. June 5, 1917 – age range 21 – 31 2. June 5, 1918 - All men who had past the age of 21 after the last registration. A supplementary registration was conducted on August 24, 1918 for men who had become 21 after June 5. 3. Sept. 12, 1918 – All men in the age range 18 – 45 who hadn't been previously registered The drafts were universal and in total 24 million men, born between 1873 and 1900, were registered. According to the 1920 Census there were 106 million people in the United States so about a quarter of the population was registered. Being draft registered didn’t necessarily mean that the person was also inducted; not all were drafted. About 3 million people were inducted into the military services. Draft registration cards do not contain any service information. The cards are filed alphabetically by state, county/city and the individuals’ names. The draft registration cards contain detailed information about each individual’s exact date of birth, information that you will not find in the censuses. Therefore, the registration cards are a valuable source of information for genealogists. The cards are formally called World War I Draft Registration Cards 1917-1918. The first two registrations contain most information, such as: • First name • Last name • Age in years • Permanent home address • Date of birth • Place of birth • Citizenship • Employer • Next of kin • Race • Description of registrant The last registration (Sept. 1918) does not contain place of birth. Universal conscription was abolished after the war (1920).

World War I Draft Registration Card (12

sept 1918)

Below we have the Swedish immigrant Johan Efraim Söderholm’s (1873 - 1957) World War I Draft Registration Card (Sept. 1918):

The images above shows the front and back sides of a WWI Draft Registration Card from 1918. Johan Efraim Söderholm was born on September 23, 1873, in Vik, Graninge parish, Ångermanland province, Sweden, and died on February 19, 1957, in San Diego, California, USA. He emigrated from Sweden to the United States, departing Gothenburg (Göteborg) on June 6, 1901, arriving in Boston with Wesley, Iowa, as final destination. John Efraim Soderholm (Johan Efraim Söderholm) at the time of registration (Sept. 12, 1918) was living in Sargent County, North Dakota. The registration card tells us: He was born on September 23, 1873. Next of kin was his father in Sweden, Isak Soderholm, Vik, Graninge parish. According to the card John was medium height, had blue eyes and brown hair. He was employed by Victor Youngdahl as a farm hand. John was rather old when he registered but according to Swedish records he had fulfilled his conscription duties in Sweden in 1894 (and was military trained in the infantry), i.e. prior to his emigration on 1901. His employer’s name Youngdahl sounds Swedish. Maybe Youngdahl was a Swedish immigrant who had the name Ljundahl in Sweden and Americanized it to Youngdahl in the United States. Images, Hans Högman 2012.

World War II 1939 - 1945

World War II Draft Registration Cards

In 1940, considering the situation in the world, the United States enacted a law about selective military service, The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940. The Act established the first peacetime draft in United States history. This Selective Service Act required men between the ages of 21 and 35 to register with local draft boards. The government selected men through a lottery system. If drafted, a man served for twelve months. In 1941, Congress extended the term of duty for the draftees beyond twelve months. Later, when the United States entered World War II, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, HI, on December 8, 1941, all men aged 18 to 45 were made subject to military service, and all men aged 18 to 65 were required to register. The terminal point of service was extended to six months after the war. Between October 1940 and October 1946 six registrations were conducted and a total of 10 million men were inducted. For each one of them was a ”Draft Registration Card” made up. The wartime selective service act expired after extensions by Congress in 1947. About 50 million men in the age range 18 – 45 were registered. About 36 million were liable for induction and 10 million were actually inducted. Example of information in the Draft Registration Cards: • Name • Age in years • Date of birth • Place of birth • Permanent home address • Employer • Next of kin • Rase • Description of registrant such as race, height, weight, eye and hair color, complexion etc. The fourth registration conducted on April 27, 1942, also known as the ”Old Man's Registration” or "Old Man's Draft", included all men born between April 28, 1877 and February 16, 1897, in other words men who at the time of registration were between 45 and 64 years old and had not yet already served in the armed forces. For reasons of secrecy this is the only registration open to the public today.

Emil Soderlund (Söderlund) was born on November 14, 1906, in Nordanå, Viksjö parish, Ångermanland province, Sweden, and died on February 2, 1996, in Butte County, Calofornia, USA. He emigrated from Sweden to the United States aboard the Swedish American Line's passenger ship the SS Stockholm from Gothenburg (Göteborg), arriving in New York City on February 11, 1927. According to “The United States, World War II Army Enlistment Records 1938-1946" (familysearch.org), Emil was inducted into the Army on July 9, 1943. He registered in Sacramento, California. His marital status was "single without dependents". Occupation: farmhand. His citizenship status was "citizen" (American citizen). Education was "Grammar school". The following year, on March 30, 1944, he was discharged as a casualty of war, which means he was seriously wounded in the war.

The Postwar Era

A second peacetime draft began with the Selective Service Act of 1948. This new law required all men between ages 18 to 26 to register. During the Korean War (1950 – 1953) 1,529,539 conscripts were inducted into military service. An additional 1.3 million volunteered. Congress passed the Universal Military Training and Service Act in 1951 to meet the demands of the war. It lowered the induction age to 18½ and extended active-duty service commitments to 24 months. In the war health professionals were also inducted into military service, the "Doctor Draft". Also in the Vietnam War, where the United States had ground troops between 1965 and 1975, conscripts were inducted. About 3.4 million servicemen were deployed to Southeast Asia. From a pool of about 27 million, the draft raised 2.2 million men for military service during the Vietnam era. The draft encouraged many of the 8.7 million "volunteers" to join rather than risk being drafted. The majority of the servicemen deployed to Vietnam were volunteers. With the end of active ground participation in Vietnam, December 1972 saw the last men conscripted, those who were born in 1952. In early 1973 it was announced that no further draft orders would be issued.

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