How much of a factor did military conscription play with either the North or the South during the Civil War? I can see how peer pressure and egos might work with the South, but all Northerners weren't all that thrilled about going to war, were they?
Conscription in the North was more of a way to influence people to join the service than it was about actually conscripting them. Also the decision to recruit and arm blacks for the war effort alleviated some of the manpower pressures. We have to remember that the military system of that era was different than in this era. States raised units and they were then federalized. Some men volunteered to serve in state militias which were then used for guard duty and other roles temporarily with agreements between the states and federal government. In the South conscription was completely different as was the situation. The urgent and desperate need for manpower meant they were scraping for bodies. Also, about a third of the men in the South refused to fight. It wasn't a popular war by any means for either side.
