General Question

[Cnbrodie]

I am learning about the different areas where the Civil War took place. It has been years and years since I took this in school. I would like to ask a general question. I have a relative who lived in Arkansas but it seems he might have been listed in the 14th Missouri Cavalry. Is that possible? Did they cross state lines to join? or were they drafted across state lines? Or is that a person who happen to have the same last name of my relative? Thank you in advance for this very basic question.

 

[1SGDan]

It was not at all uncommon for men of one state to join a regiment in another. Often this was because the nearest recruiting office was in that state.

 

[John Winn]

One would need more info to answer the question about two persons with the same name. However, I can tell you that many did enlist in units in different states. The drafts were for each state, though, so if your guy were drafted it would have been in his home state. Hope that helps.

 

[Cnbrodie]

Then the draft paperwork would be kept and listed under the home state but the regiment could be of another state?

 

[Nathanb1]

Then the draft paperwork would be kept and listed under the home state but the regiment could be of another state?

Well, I'm thinking you wouldn't be drafted into another state. But you certainly could join a unit from another state. I had Texan ancestors who ended up in Arkansas cavalry (sorry, don't have my notes or I could ID the exact unit). Now, if you sneaked off to another state and lived there, you might be caught up in the draft.

Stuff was pretty loose, honestly.

 

[Cnbrodie]

Well, I'm thinking you wouldn't be drafted into another state. But you certainly could join a unit from another state. I had Texan ancestors who ended up in Arkansas cavalry (sorry, don't have my notes or I could ID the exact unit). Now, if you sneaked off to another state and lived there, you might be caught up in the draft.

Stuff was pretty loose, honestly.

Ok thanks, I also have Texas relatives that came from all over and were a part of different cavalries and it was very confusing. My g grandmother was in Ouachita, Arkansas but it seems her father might have joined the 14th Missouri cavalry. She shortly ran off to Texas about 1862. I am just trying to see if all these dates add up, etc. Was Missouri the closest place to enlist? Seems like a long way from one end of Ark to another to enlist. Thanks for the answers to all my questions?

 

[ole]

If state issued a call for 120 volunteers and 140 showed up, 20 would have to go enlist somewhere else.

At least you can be assured that he was a volunteer and not a conscript.

Volunteering in another state was quite common ... you just went to the nearest recruitment center. If it was on the other side of the state line, no biggy.

I'm recalling a USCT unit; the 29th Illinois I think, but most of the volunteers were from Milwaukee.

 

[ole]

Ok thanks, I also have Texas relatives that came from all over and were a part of different cavalries and it was very confusing. My g grandmother was in Ouachita, Arkansas but it seems her father might have joined the 14th Missouri cavalry. She shortly ran off to Texas about 1862. I am just trying to see if all these dates add up, etc. Was Missouri the closest place to enlist? Seems like a long way from one end of Ark to another to enlist. Thanks for the answers to all my questions?

Depends on where in Arkansas he was. There were Arkansas boys in Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee and Mississippi units. Then, there were Arkansas units as well.

It's logical. If it's 40 miles to an Arkansas recruiting center and 10 miles to another state's center, which do you pick? (Obviously, Arkansas was new enough to not have developed the fierce state loyalty that existed in such old states as Virginia and the Carolinas. Didn't make them no nevermind; it was abolitionist Yankees on the other side.)

 

[East Tennessee Roots]

I am learning about the different areas where the Civil War took place. It has been years and years since I took this in school. I would like to ask a general question. I have a relative who lived in Arkansas but it seems he might have been listed in the 14th Missouri Cavalry. Is that possible? Did they cross state lines to join? or were they drafted across state lines? Or is that a person who happen to have the same last name of my relative? Thank you in advance for this very basic question.

Both Confederate and Union had a 14th Missouri Cavalry. Do you know which side your relative was on ? The northwest corner of Arkansas was heavily Union, similar to east Tennessee, western Virginia & eastern Kentucky.

 

[Cumpston1862]

The picture above is from a book about Iowa men listed in other states regiments. My ancestors who were living in Chariton, Iowa enlisted in the 12th Illinois Infantry during the Civil War. Up until about a year ago their enlistment in an Illinois regiment was quite a mystery for me. After sending away for Albert Cumpston's pension record from the National Archives the mystery was solved.

Albert and William Cumpston traveled with family to southern Illinois in the fall of 1861 to visit an older brother and his family. While staying there they decided to cross the Ohio River into Paducah, Kentucky and enlist with the 12th Illinois Infantry. The pension record in Albert's own hand continues on say that immeditely after they enlisted they both contracted the measles and were sick for a couple of weeks.

I am unsure if other states compiled such books as the one above for Iowa but you never know until you look. Sending away for military and pension records of your ancestor sometimes can help answer many questions.

Also in many cases but not all men enlisted in other areas instead of close to home because they were actually not old enough to enlist. This is not always the case but it is quite common. You will note Albert R. Cumpston is listed as 19 years old when he enlisted. In fact he had just turned 16 in September of 1861. This may have been a part of his and his brother's reason for enlisting so far from home.

 

[Nathanb1]

Yes, I had problems finding some Mississippi relatives just because they all went to the next county to enlist instead of their home county.....because an uncle was the captain. Then when I located the family homestead, it became clearer--they were much closer to the other county seat than their county seat. That's why I usually have a map handy when I start doing genealogy. When you look at where, it's just another piece of the puzzle.

It wouldn't be unheard of to enlist in, say, Arkansas because they had some tie to the person raising the company, either....or disliked the person raising a local company. In the case of Arkansas or Missouri, could have been as simple as one group having blankets and the other not having much of anything.

 

[DixieRifles]

Think of this scenerio. I searched for a Texas Confederate veteran but I never could find out where he lived. He lived in Georgia in 1860 Census and in Texas after the war (or 1870 Census). But my friend, whom I was doing the research, did not know when the family moved to Texas.
I'm just saying he may have moved for many various reasons. Maybe he moved into another State to get started in his first job. Maybe he married and moved but returned to Arkansas after the war. Maybe he was working on a train or river boat or some other job that took him out of him home state of Arkansas.
So are you sure he was living in Arkansas in 1861? ----not where he was in the 1860 Census??

BTW, I have been digging into my Arkansas side of my family. I have to come out and admit that I'm actualy 1/4 Arkansan. It took me awhile to get over it. I'm currently searching for my gr-grandfather who was too young to enlist. He died just before the 1880 Census and I have no documentation of what happened.

 

[major bill]

If he was in the Union regiment, then my guess as why he joined in Missouri would be that his part of Arkansas was under Confederate control when he wanted to join. Or perhaps the Union was not forming Arkansas Cavalry Regiments at that time

 

[Cnbrodie]

Thank you, thank you, thank you all for the messages. I was looking at Captain Milton Burch from the 14th Missouri Cavalry, 2nd Battalion of Missouri State Militia. I am not sure but I think he was from Arkansas but since I was not sure if he could have been from Ark serving in Missouri. I was confused. All of the comments now make it possible that he might be the one I am looking for. Anyone have information on Captain Burch?

 

[AndyHall]

The 1860 Census has a Milton Burch in Dallas County, Missouri, and a Milton A. Burch in Shelby County, Missouri, both born c. 1823-24. Presumably one of those is your man.

The Milton Burch from Dallas County was still there in 1870.

 

[AndyHall]

There's a tree on Ancestry with this guy:

Milton Burch
Birth 12 Jul 1822 in Estill, Kentucky, United States
Death 26 Oct 1898 in Camden, Missouri, United States

 

[James N.]

Ok thanks, I also have Texas relatives that came from all over and were a part of different cavalries and it was very confusing. My g grandmother was in Ouachita, Arkansas but it seems her father might have joined the 14th Missouri cavalry. She shortly ran off to Texas about 1862. I am just trying to see if all these dates add up, etc. Was Missouri the closest place to enlist? Seems like a long way from one end of Ark to another to enlist. Thanks for the answers to all my questions?

Other posters have skirted this issue without really stating much about it: In 1861 or early '62 Missouri was indeed "the closest place to enlist" - in the Union army! It wasn't until after Pea Ridge in March, 1862, that Federal troops occupied any substantial part of the state, and then it probably didn't include the region of the Ouachitas which is south of the Arkansas River and west of Little Rock. If he was indeed a Unionist, why then would his daughter come to Confederate Texas? Possibly to escape the war in general, since the mountain regions of Arkansas were in turmoil in the same way as those in Missouri, rife with bushwhackers and renegades. Texas was a "safe haven" for many civilian refugees from further east.

 

[John Winn]

Well, cadet, perhaps you're now learning that things Civil War and genealogy can often be more complicated than you bargained for. Think of it as an adventure - and Easter egg hunt of sorts. I hope you can find answers to all your questions in time.