CS Conscripts

[atlantis]

Could you enlist in engineers, quartermaster corps, medical corps if conscripted or did you have to choose infantry, artillery, cavalry ?.

 

[leftyhunter]

Could you enlist in engineers, quartermaster corps, medical corps if conscripted or did you have to choose infantry, artillery, cavalry ?.

More likely then not it's a matter of the conscripts ability to convince a commanding officer that the conscript is to talented to be a mere grunt.
Leftyhunter

 

[atlantis]

More likely then not it's a matter of the conscripts ability to convince a commanding officer that the conscript is to talented to be a mere grunt.
Leftyhunter

Would home guard service count toward military service?

 

[leftyhunter]

Would home guard service count toward military service?

Home Guards were either to old or to young to serve in a regular infantry unit.
While not a Home Guard unit there was the Georgia State Troops,which was popular because Govenor Joe Brown kept them in state. However they did fight against Sherman's men with less then great results.
Leftyhunter

 

[Frederick14Va]

Normally if one was conscripted.... you got sent where ever they wanted.... Typically didn't have a choice of where your going..... But if one happened to have prior military experience in a particular branch it sometimes was considered...

This is also a main reason that folks that were of military age and knew they would likely get snagged up soon enough in the conscription acts... They would go ahead and volunteer instead... hence in that case you at least had some degree of choice opportunities... Most would join up with a unit that was mustered up from their given area to be with other friends and/or relatives they knew...

Service in Home guards, Local Defense Troops etc,... normally didn't exempt one from being conscripted into the regular forces. This is also why later in the war these forces were typically made up entirely folks of ages under, or over the conscription age range

 

[JOHN42768]

I guess your preference who only count if it lined up with their immediate needs

 

[WJC]

Could you enlist in engineers, quartermaster corps, medical corps if conscripted or did you have to choose infantry, artillery, cavalry ?.

I have never read about any situation in either the United States Army at the time or the rebel force where conscripts had any choice of assignment.
I have always assumed (dangerous) that the situation was similar to that of later drafts: the draftee was assigned to meet the needs of the service. In WW2, for example, a draftee might report and be assigned to Navy, Army or Marines- depending on the then-current need. In later years, choice was a major factor for some to enlist when faced with the draft.