Editing Confederate States of America (section)

===Armed forces===
{{Main|Military forces of the Confederate States}}
[[File:Robert Edward Lee.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|General [[Robert E. Lee]], [[General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States|General in Chief]] (1865)]]

The military armed forces of the Confederacy comprised three branches: [[Confederate States Army|Army]], [[Confederate States Navy|Navy]] and [[Confederate States Marine Corps|Marine Corps]].

On February 28, 1861, the [[Provisional Confederate Congress]] established a provisional volunteer army and gave control over military operations and authority for mustering state forces and volunteers to the newly chosen Confederate president, [[Jefferson Davis]]. On March 1, 1861, on behalf of the Confederate government, Davis assumed control of the military situation at [[Charleston, South Carolina]], where South Carolina state militia besieged [[Fort Sumter]] in Charleston harbor, held by a small [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] garrison. By March 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress expanded the provisional forces and established a more permanent Confederate States Army.

The total population of the Confederate Army is unknowable due to incomplete and destroyed Confederate records but estimates are between 750,000 and 1,000,000 troops. This does not include an unknown number of slaves pressed into army tasks, such as the construction of fortifications and defenses or driving wagons.<ref>Albert Burton Moore, ''Conscription and Conflict in the Confederacy'' (1924)</ref> Confederate casualty figures also are incomplete and unreliable, estimated at 94,000 killed or mortally wounded, 164,000 deaths from disease, and between 26,000 and 31,000 deaths in Union prison camps. One incomplete estimate is 194,026.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

The Confederate military leadership included many veterans from the [[United States Army]] and [[United States Navy]] who had resigned their Federal commissions and were appointed to senior positions. Many had served in the [[Mexican–American War]] (including Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis), but some such as [[Leonidas Polk]] (who graduated from [[United States Military Academy|West Point]] but did not serve in the Army) had little or no experience.

The Confederate officer corps consisted of men from both slave-owning and non-slave-owning families. The Confederacy appointed junior and field grade officers by election from the enlisted ranks. Although no Army service academy was established for the Confederacy, some colleges (such as [[The Citadel (military college)|The Citadel]] and [[Virginia Military Institute]]) maintained cadet corps that trained Confederate military leadership. A naval academy was established at [[Drewry's Bluff]], Virginia<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.navyandmarine.org/ondeck/1862blackCSN.htm|title=1862blackCSN|website=navyandmarine.org|access-date=May 3, 2023}}</ref> in 1863, but no midshipmen graduated before the Confederacy's end.

Most soldiers were white males aged between 16 and 28; half were 23 or older by 1861.<ref>Joseph T. Glatthaar, ''Soldiering in the Army of Northern Virginia: A Statistical Portrait of the Troops Who Served under Robert E. Lee'' (2011) p. 3, ch. 9</ref> The Confederate Army was permitted to disband for two months in early 1862 after its short-term enlistments expired. The majority of those in uniform would not re-enlist after their one-year commitment, thus on April 16, 1862, the Confederate Congress imposed the first mass [[conscription]] on North American territory. (A year later, on March 3, 1863, the United States Congress passed the [[Enrollment Act]].) Rather than a universal draft, the first program was a selective one with physical, religious, professional, and industrial exemptions. These became narrower as the battle progressed. Initially substitutes were permitted, but by December 1863 these were disallowed. In September 1862 the age limit was increased from 35 to 45 and by February 1864, all men under 18 and over 45 were conscripted to form a reserve for state defense inside state borders. By March 1864, the Superintendent of Conscription reported that all across the Confederacy, every officer in constituted authority, man and woman, "engaged in opposing the enrolling officer in the execution of his duties".<ref>Coulter, E. Merton, ''The Confederate States of America: 1861–1865'', op. cit., pp. 313–315, 318.</ref> Although challenged in the state courts, the Confederate State Supreme Courts routinely rejected legal challenges to conscription.<ref>[[Alfred L. Brophy]], [http://blurblawg.typepad.com/files/necessity-knows-no-law.pdf {{"'}}Necessity Knows No Law': Vested Rights and the Styles of Reasoning in the Confederate Conscription Cases"], ''[[Mississippi Law Journal]]'' (2000) 69: 1123–1180.</ref>

Many thousands of slaves served as personal servants to their owner, or were hired as laborers, cooks, and pioneers.<ref>{{cite book|author=Stephen V. Ash|title=The Black Experience in the Civil War South|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L6BURiBt340C&pg=PA43|year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=43|isbn=978-0275985240}}</ref> Some freed blacks and men of color served in local state militia units of the Confederacy, primarily in Louisiana and South Carolina, but their officers deployed them for "local defense, not combat".<ref>Rubin p. 104.</ref> Depleted by casualties and desertions, the military suffered chronic manpower shortages. In early 1865, the Confederate Congress, influenced by the public support by General Lee, approved the recruitment of black infantry units. Contrary to Lee's and Davis's recommendations, the Congress refused "to guarantee the freedom of black volunteers". No more than two hundred black combat troops were ever raised.<ref>Levine pp. 146–147.</ref>

====Raising troops====
[[File:To Arms Confederate Enlistment Poster 1862.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|Recruitment poster: "Do not wait to be drafted". Under half re-enlisted.]]

The immediate onset of war meant that it was fought by the "Provisional" or "Volunteer Army". State governors resisted concentrating a national effort. Several wanted a strong state army for self-defense. Others feared large "Provisional" armies answering only to Davis.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 308–311. The patchwork recruitment was (a) with and without state militia enrolment, (b) state Governor sponsorship and direct service under Davis, (c) for under six months, one year, three years and the duration of the war. Davis proposed recruitment for some period of years or the duration. Congress and the states equivocated. Governor Brown of Georgia became "the first and most persistent critic" of Confederate centralized military and civil power.</ref> When filling the Confederate government's call for 100,000 men, another 200,000 were turned away by accepting only those enlisted "for the duration" or twelve-month volunteers who brought their own arms or horses.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 310–311</ref>

It was important to raise troops; it was just as important to provide capable officers to command them. With few exceptions the Confederacy secured excellent general officers. Efficiency in the lower officers was "greater than could have been reasonably expected". As with the Federals, political appointees could be indifferent. Otherwise, the officer corps was governor-appointed or elected by unit enlisted. Promotion to fill vacancies was made internally regardless of merit, even if better officers were immediately available.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 328, 330–332. About 90% of West Pointers in the U.S. Army resigned to join the Confederacy. Notably, of Virginia's West Pointers, not 90% but 70% resigned for the Confederacy. Exemplary officers without military training included [[John B. Gordon]], [[Nathan B. Forrest]], [[J. Johnston Pettigrew|James J. Pettigrew]], [[John Hunt Morgan|John H. Morgan]], [[Turner Ashby]] and [[John S. Mosby]]. Most preliminary officer training was had from Hardee's "Tactics", and thereafter by observation and experience in battle. The Confederacy had no officers training camps or military academies, although early on, cadets of the Virginia Military Institute and other military schools drilled enlisted troops in battlefield evolutions.</ref>

Anticipating the need for more "duration" men, in January 1862 Congress provided for company level recruiters to return home for two months, but their efforts met little success on the heels of Confederate battlefield defeats in February.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 310–311. Early 1862 "dried up the enthusiasm to volunteer" due to the impact of victory's battle casualties, the humiliation of defeats and the dislike of camp life with its monotony, confinement and mortal diseases. Immediately following the great victory at the [[First Battle of Bull Run|Battle of Manassas]], many believed the war was won and there was no need for more troops. Then the new year brought defeat over February 6–23: [[Fort Henry (site of the Battle of Fort Henry)|Fort Henry]], [[Battle of Roanoke Island|Roanoke Island]], [[Fort Donelson]], Nashville—the first capital to fall. Among some not yet in uniform, the less victorious "Cause" seemed less glorious.</ref> Congress allowed for Davis to require numbers of recruits from each governor to supply the volunteer shortfall. States responded by passing their own draft laws.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 312. The government funded parades and newspaper ad campaigns, $2,000,000 for recruitment in Kentucky alone. With a state-enacted draft, Governor Brown with a quota of 12,000 raised 22,000 Georgia militia.</ref>

The veteran Confederate army of early 1862 was mostly twelve-month volunteers with terms about to expire. Enlisted reorganization elections disintegrated the army for two months. Officers pleaded with the ranks to re-enlist, but a majority did not. Those remaining elected majors and colonels whose performance led to officer review boards in October. The boards caused a "rapid and widespread" thinning out of 1,700 incompetent officers. Troops thereafter would elect only second lieutenants.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 313, 332. Officially dropping 425 officers by board review in October was followed immediately by 1,300 "resignations". Some officers who resigned then served honorably as enlisted for the duration or until they were made casualties, others resigned and returned home until conscription.</ref>

In early 1862, the popular press suggested the Confederacy required a million men under arms. But veteran soldiers were not re-enlisting, and earlier secessionist volunteers did not reappear to serve in war. One [[Macon, Georgia]], newspaper asked how two million brave fighting men of the South were about to be overcome by four million northerners who were said to be cowards.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 313</ref>

====Conscription====
{{Main|Confederate Conscription Acts 1862–1864}}
[[File:Resistance to Confederate conscription.jpg|thumb|Southern Unionists throughout the Confederate States resisted the 1862 conscription]]

The Confederacy passed the first American law of national conscription on April 16, 1862. The white males of the Confederate States from 18 to 35 were declared members of the Confederate army for three years, and all men then enlisted were extended to a three-year term. They would serve only in units and under officers of their state. Those under 18 and over 35 could substitute for conscripts, in September those from 35 to 45 became conscripts.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 313–314. Military officers including Joseph E. Johnston and Robert E. Lee, advocated conscription. In the circumstances they persuaded Congressmen and newspaper editors. Some editors advocating conscription in early 1862 later became "savage critics of conscription and of Davis for his enforcement of it: Yancey of Alabama, Rhett of the Charleston 'Mercury', Pollard of the Richmond 'Examiner', and Senator Wigfall of Texas".</ref> The cry of "rich man's war and a poor man's fight" led Congress to abolish the substitute system altogether in December 1863. All principals benefiting earlier were made eligible for service. By February 1864, the age bracket was made 17 to 50, those under eighteen and over forty-five to be limited to in-state duty.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 313–314, 319.</ref>

Confederate conscription was not universal; it was a selective service. The [[Confederate Conscription Acts 1862–1864|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. Exemption fraud proliferated in medical examinations, army furloughs, churches, schools, apothecaries and newspapers.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 315–317.</ref>

Rich men's sons were appointed to the socially outcast "overseer" occupation, but the measure was received in the country with "universal odium". The legislative vehicle was the controversial [[Twenty Negro Law]] that specifically exempted one white overseer or owner for every plantation with at least 20 slaves. Backpedaling six months later, Congress provided overseers under 45 could be exempted only if they held the occupation before the first Conscription Act.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', p. 320. One such exemption was allowed for every 20 slaves on a plantation, the May 1863 reform required previous occupation and that the plantation of 20 slaves (or group of plantations within a five-mile area) had not been subdivided after the first exemption of April 1862.</ref> The number of officials under state exemptions appointed by state Governor patronage expanded significantly.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 317–318.</ref>

<gallery style="float:right; text-align:center" perrow="2" heights="150">
Gabriel James Rains.jpg|Gen. [[Gabriel J. Rains]], {{small|Conscription Bureau chief, April 1862 – May 1863}}
General Gideon Johnson Pillow.jpg|Gen. [[Gideon J. Pillow]], {{small|military recruiter under Bragg, then J.E. Johnston<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederates States of America'', p. 324.</ref>}}
</gallery>

The Conscription Act of February 1864 "radically changed the whole system" of selection. It abolished industrial exemptions, placing detail authority in President Davis. As the shame of conscription was greater than a felony conviction, the system brought in "about as many volunteers as it did conscripts." Many men in otherwise "bombproof" positions were enlisted in one way or another, nearly 160,000 additional volunteers and conscripts in uniform. Still there was shirking.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 322–324, 326.</ref> To administer the draft, a Bureau of Conscription was set up to use state officers, as state Governors would allow. It had a checkered career of "contention, opposition and futility". Armies appointed alternative military "recruiters" to bring in the out-of-uniform 17–50-year-old conscripts and deserters. Nearly 3,000 officers were tasked with the job. By late 1864, Lee was calling for more troops. "Our ranks are constantly diminishing by battle and disease, and few recruits are received; the consequences are inevitable." By March 1865 conscription was to be administered by generals of the state reserves calling out men over 45 and under 18 years old. All exemptions were abolished. These regiments were assigned to recruit conscripts ages 17–50, recover deserters, and repel enemy cavalry raids. The service retained men who had lost but one arm or a leg in home guards. Ultimately, conscription was a failure, and its main value was in goading men to volunteer.<ref>Coulter, ''The Confederate States of America'', pp. 323–325, 327.</ref>

The survival of the Confederacy depended on a strong base of civilians and soldiers devoted to victory. The soldiers performed well, though increasing numbers deserted in the last year of fighting, and the Confederacy never succeeded in replacing casualties as the Union could. The civilians, although enthusiastic in 1861–62, seem to have lost faith in the future of the Confederacy by 1864, and instead looked to protect their homes and communities. As Rable explains, "This contraction of civic vision was more than a crabbed [[libertarianism]]; it represented an increasingly widespread disillusionment with the Confederate experiment."<ref>Rable (1994) p. 265.</ref>