The War and the Threatening Draft of Recruits

For several months the Review had been silent on the Civil War, but the issue of June 10 reprinted an item from the New Bedford, Massachusetts, Republican Standard, which drove home to Adventists that they were in troublous times. It opened:1BIO 474.6

A few weeks ago it was proclaimed with a great flourish of trumpets that the armies of the nation were full, and orders were given to stop recruiting and the enlistment of volunteers. Now it is announced that a call is made for a hundred thousand additional men, to be used “as a reserve.” A sudden change seems to have come over the administration, and they appear to be convinced that the struggle in which we are engaged is not to be terminated in any thirty or sixty days, as some of the leading men at the capital have been fond of asserting.1BIO 474.7

Why is it that a call is to be made for one hundred thousand additional men, from the loyal population of America? Why is this large number to be added to the half million, more or less, who have already been called from the field and the workshop, from the hills of New England, the valleys of New York, and the prairies of the West?1BIO 475.1

It is because the large army now in the field has been terribly diminished in numbers by the bullets of the rebels on the battle field, the exposures and hardships of the march, or the still more fatal diseases of the camp.—The Review and Herald, June 10, 1862.1BIO 475.2

Now there loomed before Adventists the almost certain threat of a draft of able-bodied men, something the Sabbathkeeping Adventists had dreaded and hoped would not occur. As the summer wore on, excitement ran high in the Northern communities, and Seventh-day Adventists asked themselves what they would do in the face of such a situation. From their ranks none, or almost none, had enlisted. They had maintained a low profile, but now they were being watched. Writing of this in early 1863, Ellen White explained:1BIO 475.3

The attention of many was turned to Sabbathkeepers because they manifested no greater interest in the war and did not volunteer. In some places they were looked upon as sympathizing with the Rebellion. The time had come for our true sentiments in relation to slavery and the Rebellion to be made known. There was need of moving with wisdom to turn away the suspicions excited against Sabbathkeepers.—Testimonies for the Church, 1:356.1BIO 475.4

The story of the involvement of the church in the four years of hostilities will be told in volume 2 of this biography, Ellen G. White, The Progressive Years.1BIO 475.5