In the spring of 1862, early Union victories gave many in the North the impression that the end of the war was near. In actuality, the bloodiest battles of the war had not yet happened. By the summer of 1862, the need to muster more Union troops became dire due to devastating Union defeats. Further, news of the high number of dead and wounded soldiers was spreading and Union enlistment rates were dropping dramatically. In August of 1862, President Lincoln requested an additional 300,000 volunteers from the Northern states. If the federal quotas were not met, conscription would have to be instated.
Before the first Union conscription law was enacted in March of 1863, it was left to state and local officials to fill Union troop quotas. In the state of New York, cities were allocated troop quotas. At the time of the Civil War, both the City of New York and the City of Brooklyn were comprised of small political units, or wards, that were in turn allocated troop quotas. Wards were geographically defined areas that were governed by elected representatives. In the City of Brooklyn, each ward elected one representative who served for two years on the Board of Supervisors (later known as the Board of Alderman).
In 1862, the City of Brooklyn had 19 wards. The towns of Gravesend, Flatbush, Flatlands, and New Utrecht (all of which were later annexed by the City of Brooklyn) also had their own wards. Post-war, as of 1867, the City of Brooklyn’s Third Ward boundaries consisted of the area defined by Fulton Street, Flatbush Avenue, 4th Avenue, Bergen Street, Court Square, Atlantic Avenue, and Boerum Place. Today, this would include parts of the neighborhoods of Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, and Park Slope.
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Sources:
- "1867 Ward Boundaries." Brooklyn Genealogy Information. http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Ward/1867.Ward.Bounds.html (accessed July 21, 2010).
- Richardson, James F. "Wards." In
The Encyclopedia of New York City. Edited by Kenneth T. Jackson. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press; New York: New-York Historical Society, 1995.
- Donald Dale Jackson. "Mustering the Legions." In
Twenty Million Yankees: The Northern Homefront, 86-111. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1985.
From the guide to the Third Ward Enlistment Committee records, 1862-1871, (Brooklyn Historical Society)
