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The Confederate Conscription Acts, 1862 to 1864, were a series of measures taken by the Confederate government to procure the manpower needed to fight the American Civil War. The First Conscription Act, passed April 16, 1862, made any white male between 18 and 35 years old liable to three years of military service.
After awaiting formal initiative from the Confederate Congress since December 1861 for the first national draft on the North American continent, Davis finally proposed military conscription of all men between 18 and 35 without deferring to the states for a policy unauthorized in the Confederate Constitution. The conscription bill was staffed by ...
Confederate conscription was not universal; it was a selective service. The First Conscription Act of April 1862 exempted occupations related to transportation, communication, industry, ministers, teaching and physical fitness. The Second Conscription Act of October 1862 expanded exemptions in industry, agriculture and conscientious objection.
The legislature's failure to act meant that the state, and the Confederacy, would not have an effective militia in the final critical months of the war. Furthermore, the Confederate Conscription Act of February 17, 1864, inaugurated a policy of conscription that inevitably led to conflict between the state and the Confederacy.
The Mississippi Legislature authorized 30 days mandatory military service for boys and men aged 16–55, which was a broader age range than the 1864 Confederate conscription act. Anyone who did not report for State Troops service would be imprisoned, court-martialed , and forced to serve in the army for 1 year. [ 26 ]
Partly in response to such criticism, the Confederate Congress amended the Second Conscription Act in May 1863, requiring among other things that any person exempted under the so-called "Twenty Negro Law" had to have been an overseer prior to April 16, 1862, on plantations that had not been divided after October 11, 1862 (as some plantation ...
The Provisional Army of the Confederate States (PACS) was authorized by Act of Congress on February 23, 1861, and began organizing on April 27. The Army of Confederate States was the regular army, organized by Act of Congress on March 6, 1861. [1] It was authorized to include 15,015 men, including 744 officers, but this level was never achieved.
The 6th Texas Cavalry mustered into the Confederate Army at Camp Bartow near Dallas on 6 September 1861. The regiment counted 1,150 officers and men formed into 10 companies. The soldiers enlisted for one year, but the Confederate Conscription Act of 1862 extended this term of service.