United States Military Draft or Conscription Records

United States

U.S. Military

Types of Military Records

Draft or Conscription Records

US Military Records

Topics

Record Finder Search Strategies Ages of Servicemen Military Terms State Records

Wars

Colonial Wars, 1607 to 1763 Revolutionary War, 1775 to 1783 War of 1812, 1812 to 1815 Mexican War, 1846 to 1848 Civil War, 1861 to 1865 Indian Wars, 1780s to 1890s Spanish-American War, 1898 Philippine Insurrection,1899 to 1902 World War I, 1917 to 1918 World War II, 1941 to 1945 Korean War, 1950 to 1953 Vietnam War, 1964 to 1972

Record Types

Aircraft Accidents Awards Biographies Bounty Land Warrants Casualty Records Cemetery Records Census Records Draft Records Enlistment and Discharge Records Japanese Internment Camps Pension Records Prisoners of War Service Records Society Records Soldiers Homes Unit Histories

Branch of Service

Air Force Army Navy Marine Corps Coast Guard

Online Resources

1863-1865 United States Civil War Draft Registration, 1863-1865 at MyHeritage — index & images ($) 1917-1918: US WW I Draft Registration Cards at FamilySearch; index & images; Also at Ancestry ($), MyHeritage ($) 1940-1947: US WW II Draft Cards Young Men at Ancestry - index & images ($) 1942: US WW II Draft Registration Cards at FamilySearch; images only 1942: US WW II Draft Registration Cards at FamilySearch; index & images; Also at Ancestry ($) Draft or Conscription Records Congress passed the first military conscription act in 1863 during the Civil War, allowing President Abraham Lincoln to draft men between the ages of 20 – 45. Our nation’s second military draft law, the Selective Service Act, went into effect in 1917 and gave President Woodrow Wilson the authority to conscript men for World War I. In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act, creating the country’s first peacetime draft and officially establishing the Selective Service System. The draft continued from 1948, during both peacetime and war, to 1973, when President Richard M. Nixon signed legislation officially ending the draft. The Selective Service registration requirement was later suspended in April 1975. However, in 1980, President James E. Carter resumed Selective Service registration in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Selective Service System remains in place today. See also National Archives at St. Louis - Selective Service Records Selective Service System. Induction Statistics, 1917-1973 United States, National Archives, Draft Registration Cards Registrations 1948-1975 - National Archives Catalog Arthur Vollmer. Military Obligation. the American tradition : a compilation of the enactments of compulsion from the earliest settlements of the original thirteen colonies in 1607 through the Articles of Confederation 1789. Selective Service System, 1947. FamilySearch Digital Library John Whiteclaw Chambers, II, To raise an Army : the draft comes to modern America New York, New York: The Free Press, 1987 FS Library 973 M2cha Draft Records by Conflict Civil War, 1861 to 1865 World War I, 1917 to 1918 World War II, 1941 to 1945 Korean War 1950 to 1953 Vietnam War 1964 to 1972