Someone asked me a number of good questions regarding the Gazette's Civil War conscription eligibility list. I decided to post the answers to the list in case others might have similar questions. I don't believe many newspapers published the names of eligible draftees, as a rule. At the point that this list was published, the union was still trying to avoid the very unpopular conscription by encouraging men to enlist. All able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 45 were eligible. No exemptions were made due to family size or ages of family members. I assume the Gazette probably took from the 1860 census, a list of all those men who fell in the age category of 18 to 45. Counties were assigned quotas of needed men. If a county could provide that quota (as determined by legislature) through enlistment, they did not have to draft men, or would only have to draft the difference. Many thought this quota system, and conscription in general was unfair, prompting several large "Draft" riots throughout the country. Counties offered bounties as rewards to men who enlisted. This practice was not devoid of problems. Men would hop from county to county, signing up and collecting the bounty money, and then skip out and head for the next county and another bounty. From what I've seen, Scott's bounties were very good compared to many others in the country. I'll be posting more articles addressing these issues. Various state rules exempted those afflicted with heart and lung disease, hemorrhoids or chronic diarrhea, hernia, 'loss or imperfect vision of the right eye'--presumably the rifle-sighting eye--loss of the front teeth and molars, or 'loss of more than one finger of the right or more than two fingers of the left hand.' Regarding deferments, if one was wealthy, or could somehow scrape up $300, he could legally buy his way out. If one could find a substitute to fight in his place, that was also allowed. All kinds of problems arose from these practices. Most folks could not come up with $300 and therefore, the Civil War was considered by many to be a "poor man's war." Although mental and physical disabilities could cause exemption, the substitutes were often discovered to be physically or mentally deficient, or many times they signed up and quickly "skedaddled." Men with occupations such as teachers, judges, telegraph operators, railroad engineers, skilled munitions workers in public arsenals and certain other government employees were exempt. Members of certain religious factions, such as Mennonites and Quakers, were exempt at first, but later on Congress passed a law that men of those faiths had to serve in non-combative roles, such as in hospitals, supply depots, etc. Hope this sufficiently answers your questions. If you have any more, I'll be glad to try to answer them. ~~~~~*~~~~~~ Elaine Rathmann ACC Scott Co., IAGenWeb Project List Adm: *IA-CIVIL-WAR *IA-DANES