Civil War Treasures from the New-York Historical Society
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Go directly to the collection, Civil War Treasures, in American Memory, or view a Summary of Resources related to the collection.
Civil War Treasures is drawn from archival collections housed at the New-York Historical Society. The materials in this collection include Civil War enlistment and recruitment posters, etchings and sketches, envelopes embossed with decorations related to events or portraits of prominent personalities, photographs, and stereographs. The collection also contains a copy of the Prison Times, a newspaper produced by Confederate prisoners of war at a federal prison camp in Delaware; several of Walt Whitman’s letters written from hospital visits to wounded servicemen; a series of letters from Sarah Blunt, a nurse in hospitals at Point Lookout, Maryland, and Harper's Ferry, West Virginia; and manuscripts relating to the work of William Oland Bourne, a New York social reformer, editor, and author. Background on the types of materials included can be found at Archival Collections from which the Civil War Treasures Are Drawn.
The Special Presentation: Before, During, and After the Civil War provides a brief overview of the events of the Civil War, illustrated with graphics from the Civil War Treasures collection. This presentation could be used to introduce students to the collection.
The digitized images and documents in the collection provide access to mid-19th century archival manuscripts and popular graphics that contain a wealth of information on the political and social history of this pivotal era in American history. However, some of the materials in this collection contain language or negative stereotypes that may be offensive to some readers. Students should be prepared for encounters with such historic materials before they begin working with the collection.
Recruitment and Conscription
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As the war lengthened, recruiting troops became a challenge. In 1863, Congress passed and President Lincoln signed into law the Enrollment Act of Conscription. The Act made all single men between the ages of 20 and 45 and married men between the ages of 20 and 35 subject to a draft, unless they could afford to pay for a substitute. Draftees were to be chosen through a lottery. In New York City, on July 12, 1863, the day after the first draftees were drawn, citizens rioted. Many of the rioters were Irish and German immigrants who were struggling to survive in low-paying jobs. Angry at the rich, who could buy their way out of service, and African Americans, with whom they competed for jobs, the rioters roamed the city, looting stores, attacking blacks, and burning a black church and orphanage. A number of people were killed in the rioting, and federal troops were called in to quell the riots.
Investigate conscription and the draft riots of 1863 by conducting an Internet search. Also examine documents in the Civil War Treasures collection, including the Volck etching “Buying a Substitute in the North During the War” and Union enlistment posters offering bounties for substitutes, such as “Wanted! Wanted! Wanted! 1000 Substitutes!”
If you were a farmer in Indiana or an Irish immigrant in New York, how would you react to the practice of buying substitutes? Write an editorial about the practice, explaining why the practice was established and your opinion on the fairness and effectiveness of the practice.