Confederate Regular Army.

[Lnwlf]

https://archive.org/details/compiledrecordss0074unix

https://archive.org/details/compiledservicav0074unit

These are scans of the microfilm CSR for units raised DIRECTLY by the CSA, or the Regular CS Army. These do not list individual soldiers but rather the day to day business of the units. This collection is rather cumbersome to use but contains nuggets of information that may not be readily available at the "pay per view" sites.
Some carry a state designation, but nonetheless they are regulars.

Expired Image Removed

Expired Image Removed

 

[CSA Today]

Yes Elenn.
On May 11, 1861, the 1st NC Volunteers were formally organized. Now the 1st would go to Virginia and see its first action at Big Bethel on June 10, 1861. They would be led by Colonel D.H. Hill, brother-in-law of Stonewall Jackson. In the engagement at Bethel, Private Henry Lawson Wyatt would be the first and only death. Private Wyatt was the first Confederate dead of the war. The 1st would now return to North Carolina where it would be re-formed into the 11th North Carolina Troops and asigned to the Department of North Carolina. For the next two years the 11th would serve in eastern North Carolina. The newly formed 11th NC would be made up of ten companies: three from Mecklenburg County, two from Burke County and one from Bertie, Chowan, Orange, Lincoln and Buncombe. The 11th would now see action in eastern North Carolina. They would do provo duty around the city of Wilmington, N.C., and also see some action in White Hall and the Seige of Washington, N.C.

The original 1st North Carolina was a six moth regiment that had defeated Benjamin Butler's larger force at the small battle of Big Bethel in Virginia in 1861 and became known as the Bethel regiment. When their enlistment ended so many of them reenlisted in the 11th North Carolina (in the process of organization at the time) that the 11th NC took the title of the Bethel regiment. To add to the confusion, a second 1st NC organized in 1861. Also the 9t regiment NC State troops were commonly known as the 1st NC cavalry and the 10th regiment NC State Troops were often referred to as the 1st NC artillery.

 

[TerryB]

Another example of a group not belonging to any state is Henderson's Forrest Scouts. He was authorized to draw them from all over. Not sure they count as "regulars," however.

They may have kept their original unit designations. I have a CDV of John W. Gates, a member who was captured in 1864. While a POW, he listed his unit as 6th Tenn Cav, which he had joined early in the war. Of course, he may have told them that to keep from being shot as a spy.

 

[TerryB]

This is an interesting discussion. I've always known that the CSA had "regulars," just like the US did. But how are we defining them in light of the fact that the CS army was a self-designated "Provisional" army?

 

[Allie]

They may have kept their original unit designations. I have a CDV of John W. Gates, a member who was captured in 1864. While a POW, he listed his unit as 6th Tenn Cav, which he had joined early in the war. Of course, he may have told them that to keep from being shot as a spy.

I'm guessing the latter, since I ran into a similar situation with Richard Bransford, who was carrying papers saying he was with the 7th tn Cav, which he emphatically was not. Not one pay stub after his recruitment for the scouts (I seem to recall he enlisted with the 2nd Mississippi) lists him with anything but the scouts, he is never in the same place at the same time as the 7th Cav, and at the end of the war he surrendered with the scouts. His fake papers also listed him as disabled, which he also was not - after his release he returned to his unit.

 

[Miles Krisman]

Just a small snippet of information that illustrates that early in the war, there were men serving in the "Confederate States Army" before the fulfillment of enlistment and training of Volunteer Regiments.

"On June 10, 1861, 1st Lieutenant of Infantry, C. S. A., Peyton Randolph, was assigned to duty with the 5th Alabama Infantry Regiment as an Assistant Instructor on Tactics."

 

[TerryB]

I'm guessing the latter, since I ran into a similar situation with Richard Bransford, who was carrying papers saying he was with the 7th tn Cav, which he emphatically was not. Not one pay stub after his recruitment for the scouts (I seem to recall he enlisted with the 2nd Mississippi) lists him with anything but the scouts, he is never in the same place at the same time as the 7th Cav, and at the end of the war he surrendered with the scouts. His fake papers also listed him as disabled, which he also was not - after his release he returned to his unit.

Gates seems to have been exchanged very late in the war, too. A list of the scouts compiled at the end of the war shows him as an exchangee, but no other record in his CSRs has that. I learned of his service as a scout from his bio. All his official records show his 6th Tenn service, somewhat muddled by another man with the same name. Gates was also in the Quartermaster Dept due to bad health, had to stand down, then later came back. He was from Madison, Tenn, and was a journalist both before and after the war. Easy to hook up with Forrest from that area.

 

[Lnwlf]

Another example of a group not belonging to any state is Henderson's Forrest Scouts. He was authorized to draw them from all over. Not sure they count as "regulars," however.

From the second link in post #22:

Expired Image Removed

 

[TerryB]

Well, now I have an interesting project. While in Middle Tennessee in 1863, Col. Reuben R. Ross was paying the room and board for scouts stretching from the Ky border to Thompson's Station. He signed the vouchers "in the name of the Confederate Secret Service." Ross was assigned to Wheeler at the time, and names some of his scouts on these vouchers. If they were members of official units, that should show up on their records.

 

[Allie]

From the second link in post #22:

Expired Image Removed

Am I the only person on this thread with fold3? I'm paying like seven bucks a month for it, seems like a bargain.

I notice looking at the fold3 records that although there are a whole bunch of units raised directly by the CSA, three actually have "regular" in the title - the first confederate regular cavalry, which is a different unit from the first confederate cavalry, also directly under the CSA (in fact there are up to the 15th); first regular battery, confederate light artillery; and Brooks' battalion, confederate regular infantry. Are all of the units directly raised by the CSA considered "regulars," or just some? In the case of the 1st Cav there seems to be a distinction.

 

[GELongstreet]

Many confederate officers held a double commission with the PACS and the ACSA. For example R.H. Anderson and Barnard E. Bee, both general officers, held commissions as Major in the ACSA. James Dearing also held double commission as a 2nd Lieutenant with the regulars.

Pretty much like the U.S. Regulars, just the beginning. When the war ended and the volunteers were mustered out the officers that wanted to stay in service where either continuing with their previous regular rank or were commissioned at a lower rank (exceptions existing of course). I mean, Custer was "demoted" to Captain after the war, Pleasonton to Major; all things were reduced to fit into the much smaller peace time army. A confederate victory would have resulted in the same measures.