"An Uprising of the People": Military Recruitment in New York State During the Civil War

Abstract

This dissertation examines the experiences of New Yorkers during the American Civil War as they participated in mobilization while striving to preserve their own autonomy and that of their state and communities. At the war’s beginning in 1861, New York State was preeminent for having the largest population and strongest economy of the United States, and Governor Edwin D. Morgan had an influential role in the Republican Party. The federal government assigned manpower quotas and other directives but relied on—and often deferred to—state governments and their citizens in military recruitment. In a society of small government infrastructure, Morgan and other leaders depended on the support of ordinary citizens, their communities, and associational culture to raise manpower. New Yorkers saw the war effort as voluntary—even after the advent of conscription in late 1862—and tried to mitigate the conflict’s drastic social and economic effects by securing enough volunteers to avoid drafting, opening the military’s ranks to nearly anyone willing to serve, and debating the terms of their obligations to the cause. The second half of the war saw widespread recruitment fraud and conflicts over quotas as New Yorkers sought to preserve traditions of voluntarism and personal choice.