Bryan Howerton
P.A.C.S.
Mon Apr 16 21:00:40 2001


Just a little fine-tuning, Alan -- When a regiment was mustered into Confederate service, ALL of the personnel (line and staff) in that regiment became members of the Provisional Army of the Confederate States (P.A.C.S.). Before the spring of 1862, the normal procedure was for a regiment to first be organized under State authority, then be accepted by a Confederate enrolling officer into Confederate service. Commissions for all volunteer officers accepted into Confederate service were approved by the War Department. The distinction of staff officers is that they could be assigned to any Confederate regiment, or to a non-regimental unit, such as a post, a hospital, a general's staff, etc. These men normally signed documents using the designation P.A.C.S. Line officers normally were commissioned for duty within a specific regiment (although they could be, and often were, detailed to other duty).

After the passage of the Conscript Act in April 1862, the normal procedure was to bypass the State service phase and enroll directly into Confederate service.

An officer could hold dual commissions. At the beginning of the war, a man with military experience (especially if he was one of those who had recently resigned from the U.S. Army) were commissioned as, say, a captain of cavalry in the regular Confederate States Army. But he could also hold a commission as a colonel in the volunteer or Provisional Army of the Confederate States.

An example of this would be James McQueen McIntosh. He resigned his commission as captain of cavalry, U.S.A., on May 7, 1861, and was immediately commissioned as captain of cavalry, C.S.A. He held this rank in the regular army, even when he was commissioned as colonel, 1st Arkansas Mounted Rifles, in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States.

The U.S. Army had essentially the same procedure. A man might hold a regular U.S. Army rank of captain of artillery, but hold the rank of colonel or brigadier-general, U.S. Volunteers. After the war, he would supposedly revert to his regular army rank.