where unaccustomed toil now fought vainly against misery and disease; a
pervading sense of insecurity for any point, and that those
homes--broken and saddened as they were--might meet a yet worse
fate--all these causes had done their work. Undaunted and unconquered
as the men were, the bravest and most steadfast still longed for a
sight of the dear faces far away.

The term of service of more than a hundred regiments would expire soon,
enlistments had become slow and were not to be stimulated by any
inducements legislation could offer. The very danger that had been
pointed out in refusing more "twelve months' men" became too imminent
to evade.

The soldiers of the South were more anxious than ever to meet the foe.
Added to their love for the cause, many now felt bitter personal
incentive to fight; and every blow was now struck alike for country and
for self. But while panting for the opportunity, they had a vague
feeling that they must fight nearer home and--forgetting that the sole
protection to their loved ones lay in a union, closer and more
organized than ever--each yearned for the hour when he would be free to
go and strike for the defense of his own hearthstone.

The intent of the conscription was to put every man in the country,
between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five, into the army;
restricting "details" from the field within the narrowest limits of
absolute necessity. It retained, of course, every man already in the
field; and, had its spirit been vigorously carried out, would have more
than doubled the army by midsummer.

It provided for the separate enrollment of each state under a
"Commandant of Conscripts;" and for collecting new levies at proper
points in "Camps of Instruction," under competent officers, that
recruits might go to the army prepared in drill and knowledge of camp
life for immediate service.

But, the Conscription Act, like all other congressional measures, was
saddled with a companion, "Bill of Exemptions." This--while so loosely
constructed as almost to nullify all good effect of the law--opened the
door to constant clashing of personal and public interests, and to
great abuses of the privilege.

It would, of course, have been folly to draw every able-bodied male
from districts already so drained of effective population as to have
become almost non-producing. Such a course would have put thousands of
additional mouths into the ranks, and still further have reduced the
straite