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Americas first draft


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Air Force Brat

I have always loved paper goods, of any kind. Stamps old magazines newspapers, posters, currency etc...
My local collectors galleries has a weekly bid board and I saw an old cancelled check up for bid not too long ago. You know the elaborate ornate old kind. Well aside from the fact it was dated 1860 (civil war era) which I always keep an eye out for, this one was eye catching. So I bid and got it relatively cheap.

It was actually a deposit slip for 500 dollars from a James D. Pichert ESQ to the bank of
Ilion, herkimer county N.Y.. If only I could validate the 500 was cash paid to squash violent protests to the draft, which apparently was done.
Did a little research on the name, turns out James D Pickert was one of the first people drafted in to the civil war. Apparently the draft was met with some violent riots since it had been found wealthy people simply paid someone else in their stead to appear and go forth. This link is lengthy but well worth the read if you are a civil war enthusiast. It is taken from local newspapers and documents about the whole process and lists James D. Pickert as one of the 50 plus conscripted because Fairfield was lacking their quota. For a set number of enlistees needed. James Pickert was listed under Fairfield as one of the 56 drawn after 201 enrolled. I believe this all took place well into the war and dated roughly between April 1882 and April 1883.

https://dmna.ny.gov/historic/reghist/civil/counties/herkimer/herkimer_CWN.htm

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