The name is absent

12

Regiment enumerators recorded soldier characteristics at the time of enlistment,
and only soldiers identified as whites by military enlistment officers are included in the
White Regiment books. Physical descriptions in the White Regiment books were
recorded at the time of enlistment with great care as a means of identification because
accurate measurements had identification implications in the event of death or desertion;
accurate physical descriptions were also used to limit bounty jumping, where recruits
enlisted to collect financial enlistment rewards, only to desert and collect additional
enlistment bonuses at other recruiting stations. Military enumerators routinely recorded
conscription dates, age, nativity, and stature; therefore, enlistment characteristics reflect
pre-incarceration conditions. Regiment enumerators also recorded pre-military
occupations, and these occupations are classified into four categories: merchants and high
skilled workers are classified as white-collar workers; light manufacturers, craft workers,
and carpenters are classified skilled workers; agricultural workers are classified as
farmers; laborers and miners are classified as unskilled workers. Most recruits were from
middle-Atlantic states, such as Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania (Table 2). The soldier
sample is also probably rural because most white soldiers in the sample were farmers.⁵
United States’ Prison Data

To contrast the stature-insolation relationship of a high socioeconomic group with
low socioeconomic group, a data set from a lower socioeconomic group is required.
Prisoners, that segment of society most vulnerable to economic change, may have
selected a number of the materially poorest individuals, although there were skilled
prisoners in the sample (Bogin, 1991, p. 288; Komlos and Baten, 2004, p. 199; Nicholas
⁵ Costa, 1993, p. 359.

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