Greeting: America and the Draft · Episode 4 of 12 · 19 min
Little Groups of Neighbors: The WWI Draft Board and the Men It Jailed
In 1917 America built its first modern draft, run by "little groups of neighbors," and treated the men who refused to fight with startling brutality. The episode covers General Crowder's decentralized local boards, the sect-only exemption, the courts-martial, and the prison camps of Alcatraz and Leavenworth, where the Hutterite Hofer brothers died in 1918. It ends with the objector defense committees that became the ACLU.
Who's who
- Enoch H. CrowderProvost Marshal General and architect of the WWI draft
- Newton D. BakerSecretary of War who appointed a Board of Inquiry on objectors
- Joseph HoferHutterite objector who died in military custody in 1918
- Michael HoferHutterite objector who died in military custody in 1918
- David HoferHutterite objector who survived imprisonment
- Jacob WipfHutterite objector whose letters preserved the story
- Ben SalmonDenver Catholic objector court-martialed and sentenced to death, later commuted
Where it happens
- Alcatraz, CaliforniaMilitary prison where the four Hutterites were held in 1918
- Fort Leavenworth, KansasWhere Joseph and Michael Hofer died
- Rockport Colony, South DakotaHome colony of the Hutterite objectors
- Camp Lewis, WashingtonWhere the Hutterites refused the uniform
Timeline
- May 1917Selective Service Act becomes law
- July 1918Salmon court-martialed; four Hutterites arrive at Alcatraz
- November 1918Armistice; Joseph Hofer dies on November 29 and Michael Hofer on December 2
- April 1919Jacob Wipf released, the last surviving Hutterite freed
- January 1920National Civil Liberties Bureau reorganizes as the ACLU
Still debated
Court-martial totals vary by source, with roughly 500 tried, 17 death sentences and about 140 life terms. The Army recorded the Hofers' deaths as pneumonia during the influenza pandemic, while the Hutterite church attributes them to mistreatment.