The summer of 1862 was a tumultuous time in Litchfield County, Connecticut, as it was for the rest of the nation. As the Civil War entered its second year, two separate calls from President Abraham Lincoln for a total of 600,000 new volunteers for the Union Army left county officials scrambling to meet their quota of nearly 2,000 men. Recruiting officers knocked on doors and held patriotic rallies. Military officers began procuring the supplies and equipment needed to establish a training camp in Litchfield. Town leaders across the county hurried to secure funding for bounties, cash incentives designed to entice men to volunteer. While all sought to avert a draft, military conscription seemed increasingly likely. The July 1862 Militia Act authorized states to turn to conscription when they could not meet their quotas.1 However, a medical exemption was one way for men to avoid this draft, and in August...
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October 01 2022
“The Army of Exempts”: Medical Examinations and the Challenges of Mobilization in Civil War Connecticut
Peter C. Vermilyea
Peter C. Vermilyea
Peter C. Vermilyea teaches history at Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village, CT. A graduate of Gettysburg College, he is the co-director of the scholarship program at his alma mater's Civil War Institute. He wishes to thank Dr. Jared Peatman of Vienna, Virginia, Linda Hocking of the Litchfield Historical Society, and the anonymous reviewers for their insights and suggestions about this article.
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Connecticut History Review (2022) 61 (2): 3–27.
Citation
Peter C. Vermilyea; “The Army of Exempts”: Medical Examinations and the Challenges of Mobilization in Civil War Connecticut. Connecticut History Review 1 October 2022; 61 (2): 3–27. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/26395991.61.2.02
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