17
AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, and WV; South West= AZ, NM, OK, and
TX; Far West= CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, OR, UT, WA, and WY.
Table 3 presents white soldier and prisoner ages, birth decade, occupations, and
nativity percentages. Although average statures are included, they are not reliable
because of possible compositional effects, which are accounted for in the regression
models that follow. Age percentages demonstrate that soldiers were enumerated at
younger ages, prisoners at older ages. Consistent with older prisoner ages, prisoner birth
years were earlier in the 19th century than soldier birth years. Occupation distributions
illustrate the counterintuitive result that inmates were consistently more skilled than
soldiers. Much of this may be attributable to age profiles; prisoners were older than
soldiers, were further along in their occupational life cycle, therefore, more likely skilled
than soldiers. Soldier average age was 24.96; prisoner average wage was 32.30. Farmers
in the soldier sample were overrepresented compared to farmers in the census
(McPherson, 1988, pp. 607-608); unskilled workers in the prison sample were
overrepresented compared to unskilled workers in the census (Rosenbloom, 2000, p. 88).
Soldiers were also more likely to be from the Northeast and Great Lakes, while prisoners
were more likely to be from the Plains and Southern states. Therefore, soldiers were
more likely than prisoners to be young farmers from the Northeast and Great Lakes,
while prisoners were more likely to be skilled from Plains and Southern states.8
8 Because prison enumerators failed to distinguish between common and farm laborers, many unskilled
prisoners were also farmers.