Conscientious Objectors in History

No one knows when conscientious objection in the military began. Years ago, anyone who refused an order or said he or she was a conscientious objector might be court-martialed or imprisoned, or tortured, or shot. But we know there were conscientious objectors and people who refused orders in some of the Colonial armies, and in the American revolution. During the Civil War, COs were sometimes drafted and often stood by their beliefs despite punishments like being hung by their thumbs.1

In the two World Wars of this century, there were many conscientious objectors, and some of them were in the military. Because there was no provision for discharge or transfer for COs, no one knows how many soldiers could have applied for CO status. But a controversial survey after World War II by Brig. Gen. S. L. A. Marshall seemed to show that many soldiers fired in the air or simply didn't fire their weapons as ordered. In many units, 75 percent of the soldiers did this.2

These people didn't apply for discharge, and most of them probably supported the war. But they also found that they couldn't kill.

In 1962, the Department of Defense finally provided for conscientious objector status. The number of applications for discharge or transfer remained low until the Vietnam era (from about 1966 through 1973). Many soldiers and sailors refused to be part of the Vietnam War. Desertion rates went to their highest levels in history. Thousands were court-martialed for many different offenses. Occasionally entire units simply sat down and refused to fight. And the number of applications for CO discharge doubled, and then doubled again, until, in 1971, 4,381 members of the military applied.

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