Throughout the course of the Civil War, the early settlers of Oceana County responded in kind to the call for volunteers. Each time the call came, we supplied more men than our county’s quota called for, and we did so silently, without complaint. It was a strong, patriotic spirit among the early pioneers that permitted them to give so much, even at the beginning of our history, when the county was still growing and the men were sorely needed. And so, when a draft came to Oceana in November of 1864, it left a bad taste in the citizens’ mouths. As Hartwick and Tuller put it in their book, “Oceana County Pioneers and Business Men of To-Day,” “the disgrace was all the more keenly felt because of the injustice of the draft.” The results of the draft are published in Hartwick and Tuller’s book, but I will summarize it briefly here. Claybanks gave three men, Greenwood gave six, Leroy (now Benona) gave three, Otto (now Ferry) gave three, Pentwater gave eight, Hart gave three (with a fourth having passed away before the draft) and Weare gave two. Following this draft, clubs of brave volunteers were formed. These men would go to Grand Rapids to take the place of those drafted men, whose families would suffer greatly from their absence.
Ultimately, this led to the board of supervisors expressing their complaints to the state and offering a resolution. The protest, as it appears in Hartwick and Tuller’s book, is as follows:
Whereas, since the present rebellion broke out, it appears that there are enlisted in the service of the U.S. 94 white men who were citizens of the county of Oceana, in the State of Michigan, and 34 Indians whom we regard as citizens of said county and state, for which the said county has never received any credit.
Wherefore, resolved, that the Board of Supervisors in session assembled, appoint a committee of three to make a stated of the above facts to the Governor of this State and request him to use his efforts in procuring for said county the proper credit, which in justice we are entitled to receive for such enlistments.
They also copy a resolution that was adopted by the Board at the same session, demonstrating the willingness for Oceana to support its troops. Its states that the county of Oceana will raise $3,200 “to be paid to men who may enlist into the service… in bonds of $75 each to the amount of $150 for each man who shall thus enlist, when he is duly mustered into the service.” Each of these bonds was signed by the clerk and the treasurer of the county, and they accrued a 7 percent interest. One half of the aggregate amount was paid on Feb. 1, 1868, and the remaining amount was paid on Feb. 1, 1869. The cost of this money was incorporated into the general tax.
Oceana may be a smaller county, and it was certainly smaller then, but we went above and beyond what was asked of us in times of trouble.
