Honoring Their Service

I spent part of my evening tonight honoring the memories of those who served in the American Civil War by browsing the collection of Civil War draft registrations on Ancestry, hoping to find new information about the military service of relatives.  All males between the ages of 20 and 45 were subject to the military draft.

I discovered that the Indiana 11th Congressional District in 1863 covered many counties where I had relatives, including: Jay, Madison, Wabash and Hamilton.

The draft act created three classes of men: Class I included men between the ages of 20 and 35 subject to military duty and unmarried men above 35 and under 45 subject to military duty; Class II included married men above 35 and under 45.

According to the National Archives, the consolidated lists of Class III, which I was researching, was comprised of men who were veterans or were already in the service.  The records included information such as name, place of residence, age as of July 1, 1863, occupation, marital status, place of birth and military organization.

I started this search too late at night to finish, but working up through the "D" surnames, I did discover one new lead in Wabash County for Eileen's ancestry.

Duffey, Daniel, age 22, white, farmer, service in the 8th Indiana Infantry.  I believe this was her 2nd-great granduncle.