A little sidetrack for just a bit, but, on an ancestor hunt.
C.S. Moore
Earlier today, I realized that ancestry.com has Civil War draft records. So, I couldn’t wait to get home to see if for my third great grandfather, Cyrus S. Moore, by draft time, 1863, was still working his canal boat, the G.P. Lloyd, on the C&O Canal.; likely home-basing his family out of Four Locks, Maryland (after having sold his property in Clear Spring, in 1860… the same year he bought the canal boat). I know that he eventually left life on the canal for life as a conductor on the B&O Railroad (I’m betting, sometime between 1866 and 1869), but have never been able to figure out exactly when. So, I was hoping that the draft records would provide me with some insight.
Regretfully, the draft record doesn’t tell me what I want to know. As with the 1860 census, he’s listed as a laborer… but, are the draft records an extraction of the 1860 census? Hard to tell. Here’s an one of two images from the draft books for Cyrus (he’s the second man listed on the page).
There’s not much else to say about this, other than the fact that I think draft records would make for an interesting study. So often, we focus on the men who served in the military, but I find those who lived in the border states, and did not volunteer (for either side), equally interesting. I also believe that looking at these folks is helpful in understanding the more complex story that exists behind the citizen soldier.
Cenantua's Blog 
Jim Sanders
January 17, 2012
I didn’t realize there were draft records for the civil war. I knew about the service records and pension records. I know the civil war service and pension records can be very enlightening. However, ordering them from NARA can be very expensive. Luckily there’s a less expensive way to get a copy of these records. You can hire a professional genealogist in the NARA area. He/she can make copies for you. I did this for 3 service records and 3 pension records I wanted. I paid less then 1/2 the price then I would have if ordering them from NARA. I also got them much quicker. See my blog Civil War Ancestors for more details about what I found in the copies I received.
Regards, Jim