Abstract:
A look at the unique circumstances surrounding Confederate conscription in North Carolina during the Civil War. Because North Carolina provided over one-fourth of all conscripts in the Confederate Army and had so many Union sympathizers and a strong peace movement, serious conflict occurred. The most common action in response to conscription was to fight it in court. Because there was no Confederate Supreme Court, cases were sent to North Carolina's judiciary, which was intent on preserving the state's sovereignty, and where the chief justice was sympathetic toward conscripts.