The Draft Begins in Wisconsin

Wisconsin was required by the Union government to enlist over 11,900 men by August of 1862. Governor Edward Salomon had postponed the draft long enough to allow farmers to bring in their harvests and thus potentially increase the number of volunteers. Quotas set by the Adjutant General of the state were disproportionate by county. Rural agricultural Ozaukee County was required to enlist 529 soldiers, relative to the adjacent urban county of Milwaukee which was required to enlist 727. These were among the three highest draft quotas in the state, after adjacent and rural Washington County’s 807 requirement. All other counties’ draft quotas ranged between zero and 223. The disproportionate quotas made Ozaukee County residents highly suspicious about the fairness and propriety of the draft.

The citizens of Port Washington met and had selected Andrew Blair as their draft commissioner, and Dr. H. Stillman as the examining surgeon. A signed petition with these candidates was submitted to Gov. Salomon’s office. Instead, the governor commissioned William Pors to conduct the draft, and Por’s friend Dr. S. Hartwig of Cedarburg as the examiner, both of whom were his political allies. As had happened with the disproportionate quotas, the lack of choice in selecting their own draft officials made the citizens of Port Washington distrustful about the procedures undertaken for the draft. As the enrollment examinations were undertaken, many observed that the politically connected, wealthy elite were uniformly receiving exemptions. These actions by the draft agents infuriated the common citizenry who sensed that political favoritism was fraudulently skewing the draft procedures