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of a draft, intensified by a draft riot, which had to be put down by force of arms.1
All of my recruits were credited to the State, and I suppose I may modestly and loyally suggest that it would have been better to allow me to recruit some few Democrats,--and an event happened which would have brought thousands of Irishmen into my ranks,--than to have had these disgraces of Massachusetts, which otherwise might have been the foremost State in the Union in everything to sustain the government, as she was the first under the lead of a Democrat to go to the defence of the capital.
As soon as I got my camp properly established I called upon Governor Andrew again and informed him that upon reflection I preferred not to have the second regiment made up of recruits as they would be recruited by the State officials; that I preferred to have them, if I could get them, a regiment of Democrats, every officer to be a Democrat, and especially the colonel, and I explained to him my reasons.
I told him that I had the permission of the President to have the recruiting of a New England division of Democrats, and I wanted them of the most pronounced and well-known type ; that I should want in addition a battery of artillery and a squadron of cavalry similarly officered; and that I desired to recommend the officers to him for his appointment, subject, however, to the withdrawal of anyone whom he did not choose to appoint for reasons affecting his character and standing.
“Whom do you want for colonel?”
said he.
“I think Col. Jonas H. French will make as good an officer as anyone I know.”
“Why,” said the governor, “French helped break up a John Brown meeting.”
“Yes,” said I, “that is why I want him. He showed a disposition to fight somebody if necessary, and I guess he can get most of his friends who went to that meeting to go with him.”
1 A draft, under the law of Congress, was carried into effect in Massachusetts in the months of June and July, 1863, and was entirely an abortive affair as far as men were concerned. There were enrolled, between the ages of twenty and forty-five, 164,178. Then there were names of persons drawn from the box, numbering 32,079. Of these 6,690 were held to service, and of this number only 743 joined the service; 2,325 procured substitutes. Twenty-two thousand three hundred and forty-three were exempted, and 3,044 failed to report, that is, they left for Canada or elsewhere, and 3,623 paid commutation. So that the whole number of drafted men and substitutes of drafted men sent to camp was 3,068; and of these, 2,720 were assigned and sent to the regiments in the front,--that is, the draft produced three regiments of men.
A. M. Thayer and Co. 1892.
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