Wrong. I know for a fact that my gggrandfather and his 4 brothers volunteered in 1861 - my ancestor volunteered twice, and served in multiple infantry units and the cavalry. The 3rd GA Volunteer Infantry was organized in late April 1861, as were numerous other Ga volunteer units. Virginia's governor had asked for support from Georgia, to which our Governor Joseph Brown responded on 19 Apr 1861, "Will do all in my power to get the companies for Virginia."
On 25 Jul 1863, Gov. Brown wrote Secretary of War James A. Seddon,
The 51st Regiment was tendered as one of the twelve, and, with the other eleven and several additional regiments which offered their services all volunteers, was accepted by the President, as organized and officered by the State.Confederate monies were not printed until May of 1861, and if their value was deflated, it was due to 'an effort to debase this currency, the North printed counterfeit Confederate money and circulated it in the south.'
Wrong. I know for a fact that my gggrandfather and his 4 brothers volunteered in 1861 - my ancestor volunteered twice, and served in multiple infantry units and the cavalry. Due to desertion or what? All units that were told to volunteer in 1861 were pressed into three year service in April, 1862, and then again in 1864. This was to ensure that no one left due to reaching age limitations while in the service. The 3rd GA Volunteer Infantry was organized in late April 1861, as were numerous other Ga volunteer units. Virginia's governor had asked for support from Georgia, to which our Governor Joseph Brown responded on 19 Apr 1861, "Will do all in my power to get the companies for Virginia."
Governor Brown led the anti draft movement in the Confederacy. He spent the war fighting to retain control of Georgia units, and this missive was just the first shot in protecting him from accusations of not supporting the war as fully as he could have. It is to be noted, that of all Confederate governors, Brown was one of the very few to have a long a successful political career after the war. A career in which he also switched parties to the Republican. He was, by definition, a scalliwag.
On 25 Jul 1863, Gov. Brown wrote Secretary of War James A. Seddon, The 51st Regiment was tendered as one of the twelve, and, with the other eleven and several additional regiments which offered their services all volunteers, was accepted by the President, as organized and officered by the State.
The cas;e of the 51st regiment was a key turning point in the effective secession of Georgia from the Confederacy. It's Col. Slaughter was killed shortly before this letter, and the Confederate commander above Slaughter appointed a new officer for the regiment. Brown objected on the grounds that the troops were 'volunteers,' ie: meaning they enlisted to avoid being conscripted, and therefore had the right to elect their own officers. Although Brown lost this argument, his response was to create a very large list of state officers of all types that he declared expempt from the draft, and in the last year of the war these men refused to serve outside of Georgia. They also cooperated with Sherman on his march on the terms worked out between Brown and Sherman.
In this letter you cite, Brown is justifying his claim to the men having a right to elect their new Colonel, nothing else. Had the men not 'volunteered,' they would have been conscripted into the units of other states. In any case, after they 'volunteered,' into their Georgia unit, they were conscripted into Confederate national service by Davis.
By all counts, including that of Richmond, Georgia had more men who avoided the draft than who served. This, of course, doesn't count the thousands of Georgians who served in the Union Army either as regulars of irregulars.
Confederate monies were not printed until May of 1861, and if their value was deflated, it was due to 'an effort to debase this currency, the North printed counterfeit Confederate money and circulated it in the south.'
Banks in the south, particularly in border regions, printed their own currencies. Naturally, they had to do this in the North as the south had very limited abilities to print anything. Even it's war bonds had to be printed in the North. This caused the Confederacy considerable grief, as the first order of such bonds printed in New York were seized by the Union before they could be delivered to Richmond in the summer of 1861.
Face it, the south was a joke.