Frank Good & The Civil War
Who is Frank Good? Husband of Mary Ann Ducklow; She was the 1st child of Thomas and Elizabeth Ducklow
Frank Good was drafted into the Civil War, likely in the year 1863 when he was about 22 years old and two years before his marriage to Mary Ann Ducklow. You may recall that the Civil War occurred between the years 1861 and1865. The federal government imposed several drafts on Wisconsin men to build the ranks of the Union army. But Frank’s conscription to military service was short, ending when he got to Janesville.
Janesville was a mustering point for drafted men across the region. There they were assigned to a troop, given uniforms and arms, and first orders. It was also there that Frank was able to pay the government a bounty of $300, called a commutation fee, which allowed him to return back home. The government used money in-turn to pay someone else to join the army and serve.
Father Thomas Good relied heavily on his son Frank to help run their farm in Cottage Grove. Frank was one of only two sons, and his younger brother Tom was not fully able-bodied as he had curvature of the spine (scolioious). Losing Frank to serve in the war, or worse losing him in battle, would have been a very difficult burden, prehaps even catastrophic for the family. It is certainly understandable why Thomas decided to pay the fee and have his son home.
The commutation fee was legal and was one way the federal government allowed men of means to continue providing economic benefit to their families and local economies. It was an option Congress had to give to the public as a concession for those who did support the war. The option was highly controversial as it also meant that it was mostly the poor, who could not afford the fee, that were drafted when there we not enough volunteers. The commutation policy was discontinued in late 1864, one year before the Civil War’s end.
The sum of $300 doesn't sound like a lot of money, but consider the effects of inflation. Using an average of 4 percent inflation over 144 years, the fee equates to more than $80,000 in today’s dollars! Frank, or more likely Frank’s father Thomas, apparently had considerable assets to draw upon. Imagine the risk the family undertook: A 22 year old man, traveling by horse on a difficult, multi-hour ride, eventually meeting up with other anxious draftees on the same dreaded journey. All were likely strangers to one another. And Frank had the equivalent of over $80,000 cash in his pockets! Remember, there was no Master Card or Visa, no checking accounts, nor wire transfers. Transactions were done with cash, most likely in the form of gold and silver coin. Many in Wisconsin at this time were suspicious of paper currency and only accepted payment in hard coin.
So Frank took the money, made the journey to Janesville and paid the fee. This too involved risk because some men were still held to military duty after paying the fee; the clerk accepting the funds not be honest and pocketed the money for himself then claiming the fee was never paid. In Franks case, all turn out well, he paid the fee without incident and returned home to help his father farm.
By one account, out of 14,955 Wisconsin men drafted in 1863 roughly 5,081 paid the commutation fee. It also is notable that the same draft over 2,600 men simply failed to report to duty at all!
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