What about those who were too ill or had some affliction and could not serve in CW?

[Anne Alt]

Just a couple of questions I wanted to post to the group-- and maybe they have been discussed before...

In researching ancestors (and there were several) within my family who did serve and gave the ultimate sacrifice so that our union would be preserved, it came to my mind (and I wondered if this were possibly the case for Wm J Williams)... here is the question"  What about those who had to register for the CW, but had an affliction of some sort to where they could not serve?".. Even back then there were records of such things would be my guess... Where would one find these records, if, indeed they would exist.

Secondly--I have heard several times over the course of my years that if someone couldn't serve, they could "hire" someone to take their place.  If that is, indeed, the case, I would think that there would be a note of this somehow in some records..

[Judy Miller]

Here is a paragraph from my great grandfather's small bio written by
his grandson and namesake Daniel Wesley Clingaman. This story was
sourced by my grandmother, Daniel's daughter.
"Another sidelight of the enlistment of grandfather is as follows: It
was the custom for volunteers to enroll in the name of another person
so that person would not have to serve in the Army, and for this,
person entering was paid a sum of money. Grandpa enlisted in the name
of a son of Defiance family and was paid $300 for this service.
Grandpa's mother loaned the $300 to a needy family in Bryan at the
time of her son's entering the service."
So, yes that happened quite frequently I have read. I don't know if
any records were kept of these transactions.
Judy

--
Baby Boomers are not old, they are chronologically gifted.

[Anne Alt]

Hi Judy:  thank you for sharing that interesting story..and it does support the information that I was told......... but then it begs me to reveal the next question..."If  'grampa' enlisted for someone else and got paid $300 for doing so... What about his own enlistment?.. Wasn't he registered and wasn't he to serve himself?... Maybe I'm looking at this from the perspective of more 'modern' times in that if you registered, you were to go-- Would he not have been tossed into the 'brig' for not showing up for active duty under his own name?

---

From: Judy Miller <whiter...@gmail.com>
To: ohio-in-the...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Friday, August 3, 2012 10:55 AM
Subject: Re: What about those who were too ill or had some affliction and could not serve in CW?

[Judy Miller]

Grandpa Daniel Clingaman enlisted in his name. He had turned 18 a few
months earlier so he and his brother, who was eight years older and
recently widowed, went to Tedrow (Spring Hill) to register. How he
did the rest I don't know.
The military was probably not prepared for the length of the war and
probably didn't care who went as long as they got a certain number of
people enlisted. Forget about modern times. This was 1865.
Anyone know more about this? They may have just scratched off the name
of the original person.

The payment was made by the individual himself to the person who went
in his place, not the military.
Here is something you might find interesting. http://www.ohiosuv.com/page2.htm
Go to the left side where it says Last CW veterans by Ohio county and
click Fulton.
Judy

[Judy Miller]

Check out this site. This tells you basically what the military knew
years later.
http://suvcw.org/past/danielaclingaman.htm
Judy

[Martin Stewart]

In the Roster of Ohio soldiers, you will often find someone listed as a “substitute.”    These were men who took the place of a draftee and were paid accordingly.

 

 Since the draft did not begin until later in the War, this practice was more prevalent in late 1863 and 1864 and usually only effected the Regiments who were in existence since the beginning of the War but had lost personnel due to disease or 3 year enlistment expirations. 

 

Typically, these substitutes were men who had not been chosen in the draft.  A cottage industry sprung up of men who enlisted as substitutes, got their money, deserted at the first opportunity only to show up in another area and start the process all over again. 

 

Ancestry.com has a data base on men who were eligible for the draft in Ohio – but it does not indicate if they were actually drafted in that data base.

 

Martin