Alan J. Pitts
"City Guard" name
Tue Feb 6 23:08:49 2001


That makes sense, and implies that ADAH has a folder for all former members responding to the census. It would bear close study.

As you can see from my other post, it appears that Lt. Lockett went to Talladega sometime after October 31 and before November 28, 1862. Mention of a company of provost guards first appears in the Talladega citizens petition dated Jan. 24, 1863. I'd say Lockett collected volunteers for this unit at the Camp of Instruction during December and January. Most of them had enrolled earlier, some as early as August 1862 from Jefferson County. Keep in mind that all enlistments include the name of a local enrolling officer or assistant enrolling officer. Officers stationed in central Alabama were expected to send conscripts and recruits to Talladega, which they did.

I may have overlooked something, but the first mention of Selma appears in a requisition of Apr. 1, 1863, listing 3 officers and 126 enlisted men. They are evidently without arms. Lt. King signs a requisition for 1000 ball cartridges and 127 musket flints three weeks later. There's a regular flow of documents up to January 1864, and then it all stops. King goes to a junior reserve company, Lockett returns to Talladega as a drillmaster, and I haven't seen staff records for Lt. Kelly yet. So this unit seems to have a life span of just over a year, from December 1862 at the earliest to January 1864.

This was an interesting case study! Thanks for bringing it to my attention.






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