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Ernesto · 01-23-2021, 10:18 AM

Does anyone know how Booth, Surratt, Herold, et all escaped the draft. My memory is fading, and I don't recall anyone mentioning it.

Steve · 01-23-2021, 02:00 PM

Booth moved around the country a lot and could easily avoid registering for the draft.

Surratt did in fact register for the draft, as well as Dr. Mudd. Their station in Maryland probably required them to in order to avoid suspicion.

Powell was from Alabama and in the Confederate Army. Arnold was also in the Confederate Army until 1864.

David Herold also avoided draft registration. I guess he just skulked around without anyone noticing or caring.

Atzerodt may have been exempt from the draft due to his citizenship status. Only aliens who had naturalized or were in the process of naturalizing, ie had filed their "first papers" two years prior to naturalizing were subject to the draft. I don't know what Atzerodt's citizen status was.

O'Laughlen was a Confederate veteran, I don't think the Union Army would've wanted him even if he had bothered to register for the draft.

Ernesto · (This post was last modified: 01-23-2021 05:08 PM by Ernesto.)

(01-23-2021 02:00 PM)Steve Wrote: Booth moved around the country a lot and could easily avoid registering for the draft.

Surratt did in fact register for the draft, as well as Dr. Mudd. Their station in Maryland probably required them to in order to avoid suspicion.

Powell was from Alabama and in the Confederate Army. Arnold was also in the Confederate Army until 1864.

David Herold also avoided draft registration. I guess he just skulked around without anyone noticing or caring.

Atzerodt may have been exempt from the draft due to his citizenship status. Only aliens who had naturalized or were in the process of naturalizing, ie had filed their "first papers" two years prior to naturalizing were subject to the draft. I don't know what Atzerodt's citizen status was.

O'Laughlen was a Confederate veteran, I don't think the Union Army would've wanted him even if he had bothered to register for the draft.

thanks

Susan Higginbotham · 01-24-2021, 11:51 AM

John Surratt wrote to Weichmann on September 21, 1864, "John Surratt is neither dead nor drafted; though he ran the gauntlet of both. . . . I am very happy to state that I escaped the draft. I sincerely hope you may do the same."

RJNorton · 01-24-2021, 07:32 PM

How about Weichmann and the draft? Several years ago Susan posted a letter Weichmann wrote to Father John B. Menu (on the faculty of St. Charles College). Regarding the draft, Weichmann wrote:

"The draft has not yet taken place at Ellicott Mills, and consequently I know not yet what will become of me. In case I am drafted, I will have recourse to your influence with the Government to obtain my exemption."

Steve · 01-24-2021, 08:58 PM

As far as I can tell, unlike Surratt, Weichmann did not register for the draft.

Jim Garrett · 01-26-2021, 10:44 AM

Since Weichmann was a government clerk, would he be exempt? George Atzerodt may have been exempt. He may have had scoliosis. There are a few descriptions of him walking with a limp.

Susan Higginbotham · (This post was last modified: 01-26-2021 01:19 PM by Susan Higginbotham.)

Weichmann didn't get his government job until January 1864 (according to his memoir). Before that, he taught school. While in the War Department, he was a member of the War Department Rifles, so perhaps that counted as service?

(01-24-2021 07:32 PM)RJNorton Wrote: How about Weichmann and the draft? Several years ago Susan posted a letter Weichmann wrote to Father John B. Menu (on the faculty of St. Charles College). Regarding the draft, Weichmann wrote:

"The draft has not yet taken place at Ellicott Mills, and consequently I know not yet what will become of me. In case I am drafted, I will have recourse to your influence with the Government to obtain my exemption."

It was actually Menu who was writing to Weichmann, asking Weichmann to intervene if Menu got drated.

RJNorton · 01-26-2021, 03:25 PM

Thanks, Susan. I had it backwards.

Nevertheless, Weichmann seems to really have wanted to avoid the draft if John Brophy is to be believed. Brophy claimed, "That he (Weichmann) went away to shun the draft, and told me so himself, saying he would never fight for the Northern side, and saying also, that if drafted he would 'pocket his share of the club money' and clear out."

(I believe Weichmann disavowed most, if not all, of Brophy's claims; Brophy made a series of claims in support of Mary Surratt's innocence).

bob_summers · (This post was last modified: 01-28-2021 11:34 AM by bob_summers.)

(01-23-2021 10:18 AM)Ernesto Wrote: Does anyone know how Booth, Surratt, Herold, et all escaped the draft. My memory is fading, and I don't recall anyone mentioning it.

Dr. Mudd was drafted on July 19, 1864 (see Baltimore Sun, July 20, 1864), but he did not serve. A draftee could escape serving if he failed the physical exam, or hired a substitute, or paid a $300 commutation fee. Dr. Mudd’s father had paid for substitutes for his brothers Henry and James when they were drafted. Dr. Mudd’s name does not show on lists of draftees who obtained a substitute, or who failed a physical exam. Most likely therefore, Dr. Mudd, or his father, paid the $300 commutation fee.

Ernesto · 02-04-2021, 10:52 PM

thank you all for your answers.