Monday, May 18, 2020

Lincoln’s Call for 500,000 Troops: July 18, 1864

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, by the act approved July fourth, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, entitled “An act further to regulate and provide for the enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes, it is provided that the President of the United States may, “at his discretion, at any time hereafter, call for any number of men, as volunteers, for the respective terms of one, two, and three years for military service,” and “that in case the quota of [or] any part thereof, of any town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or of a county not so subdivided, shall not be filled within the space of fifty days after such call, then the President shall immediately order a draft for one year, to fill such quota, or any part thereof, which may be unfilled;”

And whereas, the new enrollment heretofore ordered is so far completed as that the aforementioned act of Congress may now be put in operation for recruiting and keeping up the strength of the armies in the field; for garrisons, and such military operations as may be required for the purpose of suppressing the rebellion and restoring the authority of the United States Government in the insurgent States:

Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do issue this my call for five hundred thousand volunteers for the military service; provided, nevertheless, that this call shall be reduced by all credits which may be established under section eight of the aforesaid act, on account of persons who have entered the naval service during the present rebellion, and by credits for men furnished to the military service in excess of calls heretofore made.*

Volunteers will be accepted under this call for one, two, or three years, as they may elect, and will be entitled to the bounty provided by the law for the period of service for which they enlist.

And I hereby proclaim, order, and direct that, immediately after the fifth day of September, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, being fifty days from the date of this call, a draft for troops to serve for one year shall be had in every town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or county not so subdivided, to fill the quota which shall be assigned to it under this call, or any part thereof which may be unfilled by volunteers on the said fifth day of September, eighteen hundred and sixty-four.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington this eighteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.

By the President:
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD,                 
Secretary of State.
_______________

* Under this call the quotas (reduced by excess of credits on previous calls) and credits were as follows, the first number indicating the quota and the second the number of men furnished: Maine, 11,116; 11,042. New Hampshire, 4,648; 5,973. Vermont, 2,665; 3,971. Massachusetts, 21,965; 31,739. Rhode Island, 1,423; 2,310. Connecticut, 5,583; 10,855. New York, 77,539; 83,838. New Jersey, 14,431; 15,108. Pennsylvania, 49,993; 55,536. Delaware, 2,184; 2,175. Maryland, 10,947; 10,235. District of Columbia, 2,386; 2,318. West Virginia, 2,717; 1,956. Kentucky, 9.871; 15,366. Ohio, 27,001; 30,823. Michigan, 12,098; 12,509. Indiana, 25,662; 25,854. Illinois, 21,997; 15,416. Missouri, 25,569; 23,507. Wisconsin, 17,590; 16,823. Iowa, 5,749; 4,223. Minnesota, 4,018; 3,235. Kansas (no quota), 351. Making a grand total of 385,163 men furnished. Of these there were for one year, 228,044; two years, 8,340; three years, 153,049; four years, 730.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series III, Volume 4 (Serial No. 125), p. 515-6

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