Was there conscription in the US for World War 1?

Answer 1

Yes!

My father-in-law was drafted after he started college at the University of Nebraska (Lincoln). He was on a train headed to training camp in Colorado when the end of the war was announced. I know this is true because I myself heard him tell the story a number of times.

Answer 2

Yes. The US had a small peacetime army and had not increased the size of it while remaining neutral through the first years of the war. With the about-face of the US government from neutrality to a declared belligerent, which somehow coincided with the reelection of Woodrow Wilson, suddenly the US needed an army of many times greater size. The US declared war in April 1917, and in June there was a registration for the "draft", and by August the draftees were reporting for duty. In theory the US had three types of soldiers and divisions: the low-numbered divisions (1 through 9) were so-called "regular army" divisions, but in reality had many recent enlistees and draftees in their ranks, as there were nowhere near enough professional regulars to form more than a couple of divisions. Divisions numbered 26-50 were National Guard divisions. These are "weekend warriors", in a system which persists to this day, the holdover of the old militia of colonial times. These are military units belonging to the states, and under the control of the state governors (and thus great sources of political patronage, causing them to be generally top-heavy with old, useless untrained political hacks masquerading as military officers) unless and until called into service ("Federalized") by the president in times of national emergency. The US actually sent more National Guard divisions and troops to France than any other type of unit/soldier, though again, the ranks of these divisions were of necessity filled with recent wartime enlistees and draftees. The highest numbered divisions were the so-called "National Army" divisions, numbered 76-100, which were to be made up of drafted men, or conscripts, if you will. Like the National Guard formations these were constructed by grouping men from particular states together. National Army divisions higher officers were usually professionals, though. So, for instance, a man from a particular state might be in the 30th Division, the NC National Guard, or the 81st Division, the National Army division of draftees supposedly including NC's draftees, or in one of the low numbered purportedly "regular army" divisions, whether he was in the army as a career man when the war started, or enlisted, or was drafted.