Deserting the Union Army
The Confederate army entered the American Civil War with a militaristic personnel disadvantage. In 1861 the population of the Northern states (about 22 million) was more than double the population of the South (about 9 million). The Union soldiers (2,128,948 soldiers) outnumbered the Confederates (1,082,199 soldiers) almost two to one. (Civil War Facts) Even though the North was at an advantage there will still men who deserted from the Union Army. The exact number is not known; experts estimate that over 200,000 men defected from the North. State records indicated that 44,913 soldiers deserted from New York regiments, 24,050 from Pennsylvania and 18,354 from Ohio. (Weitz) The war was extremely difficult for all involved. Soldiers were faced daily with challenges. Summers were scorching hot, leading to thirst and encouraging the spread of disease, especially dysentery. Winters were bitterly cold. Many men were not accustomed to these conditions in such an extreme form. Most of the soldiers in the Union army had volunteered and were therefore unfamiliar with army life.
Union soldiers were paid an average of $13 per month but received an enlistment bonus of as much as $300. Men could sign up, receive their bounty, and desert the army. The $300 sum was so enticing that men would enlist, desert and enlist again in a different area under a different name. These bounty jumpers could collect a lot of money in a short amount of time, if they weren’t caught. This system made it hard to correctly estimate the exact number of Union deserters. If a man enlisted and subsequently re-enlisted three times under different names, records would indicate that four men deserted, when in reality only one man deserted. The North would ultimately win the war but did not win every battle. Union men defected when the times were tough, notably so after the Army of the Potomac was defeated at Fredericksburg in 1863. Losing battles diminished the Northerners spirits and decreased soldier morale. Many soldiers no longer believed their cause to be worth fighting for. Not everybody in the North believed that they should be engaged in a war. Northern deserters certainly affected the Union army but did not destroy the Army of the Potomac. |