February Featured Topic
Like some residents of other Northern states, numerous Ohioans strenuously objected to the American Civil War. Various reasons existed for the reluctance of these Ohioans and their fellow Northerners to support the Union.
A sizable number of white Ohioans, especially those living along the Ohio River, had migrated to the state from slaveholding states. [...]

On March 3, 1863 Congress passed the Conscription Act of 1863. The Conscription Act required states to draft men to serve in the American Civil War if individual states did not meet their enlistment quotas through volunteers. The federal government oversaw the draft and created provost marshals to enforce it. All white men between the [...]

When Congress passed the Conscription Act of 1863 in March the proposed draft was immediately met with resistance. Copperheads, Northerners who opposed the draft and demanded immediate peace be made with the South, encouraged people to resist the draft and encouraged draftees to abandon camp once they were drafted.
Many people associate Union draft resistance to [...]