How were officers elected?

[marktwainenjoyer]

(Not sure if this is the right place to post this, my apologies!)

So I know in volunteer units, officers were elected. My question is, what did that process look like? I'm assuming there weren't paper ballots, since not everybody could read. Did it just go, "Okay, everybody who thinks Jim should be colonel, raise your hand?"

Who was running the election? Did you have to declare yourself a candidate if you wanted to, or could anyone vote for anyone? Did they have separate elections for each post, or did the guy who got the second-most votes for colonel become lieutenant colonel, and so on and so forth? Was this just a popularity contest?

 

[Dan Kohli]

I would not be surprised if it ad hock and was dependent on the company or regiment.

 

[Sowbelly and Hardtack]

@marktwainenjoyer you might find this thesis of interest.

https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5917&context=etd

"Our Captain is a Gentleman": Officer Elections among Virginia
Confederates, 1861-1862"

Ryan C. O'Hallahan
Virginia Commonwealth University

 

[Rhea Cole]

Officers & NCO's were elected annually. The men of the regiment organized the proceedings just like a local election. A Colonel & a third corporal could swap positions.

 

[Bruce Vail]

I think you'll find there was a lot of variation from regiment to regiment.

One of the officers of the 3rd NC Infantry Regiment (Confederate) wrote about the subject after the war and insisted that his unit had been legally exempt from any requirement that commissioned officers stand for election. The claimed exemption apparently went unchallenged throughout the war.

 

[Rhea Cole]

I think you'll find there was a lot of variation from regiment to regiment.

One of the officers of the 3rd NC Infantry Regiment (Confederate) wrote about the subject after the war and insisted that his unit had been legally exempt from any requirement that commissioned officers stand for election. The claimed exemption apparently went unchallenged throughout the war.

I have seen references to similar customs. It is kind of obvious that the army & corps commanders were not amused when field grade officers were voted out of office. Leadership subject to local politics & social grudges, or perceived military slights was no way to run a war.

Orders were issued, as cited by Bruise Vale, to exempt officers from election in CSA regiments.

Early war, as Union state regiments were stood up in local state or regional areas, officers & NCO's were elected. Needless a mayor & a colonel under fire have both similar & very different OODA Circles to manage.

There were elections during the first year that I am aware of, but after that I will defer to CWT members conversant in individual regiments.

 

[bobinwmass]

From the "General Statutes Relating to the Massachusetts Militia 1860":

 

[JackADriscoll]

So civil war units could be run like pirate ships? That's crazy to me.

 

[marktwainenjoyer]

insisted that his unit had been legally exempt from any requirement that commissioned officers stand for election.

"No, really, Jefferson Davis wrote the law himself. Trust me."

 

[Rhea Cole]

"No, really, Jefferson Davis wrote the law himself. Trust me."

Another thing to hold him responsible for, including those miserable Jefferson Davis brogans that have given me so much discomfort these last 20 years!

 

[Bruce Vail]

So civil war units could be run like pirate ships? That's crazy to me.

No. Again in the case of the 3rd NC Infantry, the regimental commander was subject to the authority of the brigadier, the divisional commander and the corps command (all non-elected), so he really didn't have a lot of independent power. He was responsible for maintaining a minimum level of discipline and combat readiness in his own unit, but his authority didn't extend very far beyond that.

The 3rd NC was typical of infantry regiments in the Army of Northern Virginia in this respect, which is why you rarely read of a colonel exercising his independent authority in a combat scenario, or in any other militarily meaningful way.

 

[Miles Krisman]

When the Confederate Army reorganized in April 1862, election of officers were held again. Most of the men found that electing their officers broke the monotony of their days, and they followed the campaigning with interest. In the 5th Alabama Infantry Regiment, certain candidates found one time-tested electioneering tactic that worked as well in the army as it had back home. "Passed the Whiskey round & open the polls," Private John Tucker of the 5th Alabama wrote in his diary on April 27th, 1862. It was very much a "Big day" when the brigade elected it's' field officers, he wrote, "& a great many of the men got gloriously tight."

 

[Rhea Cole]

When the Confederate Army reorganized in April 1862, election of officers were held again. Most of the men found that electing their officers broke the monotony of their days, and they followed the campaigning with interest. In the 5th Alabama Infantry Regiment, certain candidates found one time-tested electioneering tactic that worked as well in the army as it had back home. "Passed the Whiskey round & open the polls," Private John Tucker of the 5th Alabama wrote in his diary on April 27th, 1862. It was very much a "Big day" when the brigade elected it's' field officers, he wrote, "& a great many of the men got gloriously tight."

Thanks for an excellent post. This uniquely American practice absolutely flabbergasted European observers. A lot of huffing & puffing about the superiority of hereditary class systems peppered their reports.

 

[Tom Elmore]

From what I have observed, at least by mid-war regarding field-grade level officers, a lieutenant colonel would usually just advance to fill a colonel vacancy, the major would become lieutenant colonel, and the senior captain moved up to fill a vacant major slot - but it was still subject to confirmation by higher authority. Here are some examples of junior officer elections, which may touch upon your questions.

(CSA) Just before the famous "Seven Days' battle," our company … elected [William W. Williamson] first lieutenant, and on the death of Capt. John A. Young at Gettysburg … he was raised by unanimous consent of the company to the captaincy. (Georgia Virtual Vault, Confederate Pension Applications, William W. Williamson, Company G, 8th Georgia)

(CSA) September 24, 1861, there were three candidates for election to 1st Lieut., [J. B.] Potts, [Francis M.] Palmer, and [Thomas J.] Gatewood. Gatewood beat them both on the first ballot. Sgt. [Marcus C.] Shepherd of the Rangers was yesterday elected 2nd Lieut. in that company, also a Sgt. in the B. Blues was elected 2nd Lieut. in his company. /// January 24, 1863, held an election for Jr. 2nd Lieut., Sgt. [Francis M.] Palmer was elected. /// July 26, 1863, I was elected brevet [junior] 2nd Lieutenant in our company this evening. (A Life for the Confederacy, Diaries of Robert A. Moore, Company G, 17th Mississippi)

(CSA) Henry S. Trout and myself were first associated in the company as privates, then as sergeants, and then lieutenant and first sergeant. The writer of this was made to feel his [Henry's] popularity by his success in being elected over him for a lieutenancy by a two majority; was consoled by the fact that it took a good man to defeat him. … (A. H. Roller, World News, April 24, 1918). [At Gettysburg, 3rd Lieutenant Trout was put in charge of Company E, while 1st Sergeant Albert H. Roller remained with Company I.]

A previous post on this topic:

Elections | Gettysburg

The following comments from soldiers shed a little light on the process of internal and external elections around the time of the Gettysburg campaign: (CSA) (Diary of Jacob H. Lemley, Musician, 48th Virginia) May 28, Election Day [in Virginia], I voted for Governor [William] Smith, for...

civilwartalk.com

 

[Bentonville]

I was talking to a person who's relative was in the same company one of mine was. He told me that the man's brother had been a luetenant in that company. He'd died so they grabbed his brother from another innthe same regiment and promoted him to luetenant from a fist sargent.

All I van figure was that Co. C liked the family, or something. My relative in that same company went from a private to a luetenant.

 

[Present Arms]

Would soldiers vote for the officer who would enforce the most lax discipline, or the officer who would best ensure success and survival in combat?

 

[Trooper "D"]

Would soldiers vote for the officer who would enforce the most lax discipline, or the officer who would best ensure success and survival in combat?

There is the question at its crux.

 

[The Ninth Ohio]

Would soldiers vote for the officer who would enforce the most lax discipline, or the officer who would best ensure success and survival in combat?

Often enough the soldiers in one company knew and lived near each other, so there were likely more factors going into the vote than even discipline and survival.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

Officers & NCO's were elected annually. The men of the regiment organized the proceedings just like a local election. A Colonel & a third corporal could swap positions.

Once the colonel was recognized officially by the high level generals and the government didn't it change?

 

[Rhea Cole]

Once the colonel was recognized officially by the high level generals and the government didn't it change?

No, either from incompetence or politics, a colonel could find himself a 3rd corporal. Needless to say, this really was no way to run an army.

A colonel, out of necessity, made impolitic decisions. His duty was to follow orders from up the chain of command. Subjecting them to an annual slap back by the peasants did not sit well with the higher command.

Orders limiting the scope of elections brought an acceptable order to typically energetic American elections.

Here are links to some references:

Officer Elections | Civil War Day by Day

Civil War Day by Day - From the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

web.lib.unc.edu

https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5917&context=etd

Chapter 9: The Civil War, 1861