Enlistment

[Unregistered]

I have recently found two ancestors who fought in the cw. One for the north one for the south. I was curious about how they were enlisted. Did someone show up to their home say come with me? Was there a notification posted? The ancestor who fought for the north was a regimental blacksmith for th illinois 7th cav and the ancestor who fought for the south was with the missouri guard i believe. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[khalleron]

Most regiments had officers do the recruiting - companies and regiments could not be mustered in until they reached a quota, and the officers did not get on the payroll until muster, so they had a lot of incentive.

If I were you, I'd go to Footnote.com and look up the military records. Illinois is not up yet, but the Missouri Confederate records are.

If you know what regiment they were in, you can also order records from the National Archives for $25 each.