Alan J. Pitts
Re: Elected officers
Tue Apr 17 10:42:16 2001


I can only add a few notes to Bryan’s excellent response. When the Confederate government accepted military units from a state, it honored state commissions. Most states allowed companies, battalions and regiments to elect their own officers, who held commissions issued by the governor of the state. Section one of the Conscript Act of April 16, 1862, allowed twelve-month regiments to reorganize under terms of the new law and reelect officers. Other vacancies were to be filled by seniority except in the case of junior lieutenants, who could be elected by company members. However, section ten allowed the president to appoint officers from the ranks for “valor and skill”. Appointments bypassing the seniority rule could also be made in cases of “disability or other incompetency”.

Appointments issued by the Confederate government had to be accepted by the nominee. There are many cases in which appointments were declined. A completed commission included a date of appointment, date of rank and date of acceptance. This procedure can be confusing. Frequently we see officers who have been promoted addressed by their previous rank. For instance, Capt. Vincent M. Elmore of 2nd Co. "E", 1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment, was appointed Major on February 1, 1865, to rank from February 26, 1864. This means that Elmore continued to be addressed as captain until official notice of his promotion arrived.

Quartermasters and commissary officers had to be bonded. If bond was not received in a timely manner, commissions of these officers were revoked. Congress revoked the office of regimental commissary in June 1863. Regimental quartermasters, at least in infantry regiments, lost their commissions in September 1864. I haven’t seen the legislation on these practices so I can’t cite particulars here.

According to practice, the senior officer of a regiment informed the appropriate department of a vacancy in his unit. He then nominated that a particular man be appointed to fill the vacancy. Hopefully the department responded by issuing a commission to the person requested. However, they could deny the request, questioning the existence of a vacancy or simply assigning another officer to the post. By the time a commission was received the officer being appointed might be deceased. Often the senior officer had to repeat his request when the department didn’t respond, and staff duties had to be carried out by lieutenants acting as commissaries, quartermasters or adjutants.

It’s an interesting topic, but I fear I’ve gone well beyond the scope of the original question and the interest of most readers.