The Mobilization of Negro Manpower for the Armed Forces

Abstract

The Federal Government made its first effort to secure troops by compulsory methods on August 4, 1862. It had become apparent that the required number of soldiers and replacements needed to prosecute successfully the Civil War would not be raised through volunteers. The President, therefore, on that day ordered the draft of 300,000 militia to serve for nine months. The first draft act was passed by Congress on March 3, 1863. It was a recognition of the fact that the volunteer system would never again be depended upon entirely to raise an army for a major war. The Nation did not fully accept the draft system as its sole manpower procurement method. Volunteering was still encouraged. In fact, an enormous amount of money was spent in bounties to secure volunteers. The number of Negro soldiers entering the army during the Civil War under the bounty plan of volunteering was 37,394.