Question about an unserved Commission

[Niagara1864]

This question concerns one soldier named Silas S Tucker. I am compiling an honor roll for my county and I am unsure of which regiment to rightly put next to his name as the one he died while serving in.

Basically Silas was a corporal in the 3rd NY Cavalry who signed to serve the duration of the war. He was captured on October 7th 1864 and was sent to a prison camp, where he eventually died before seeing freedom.

However on October 9th 1864, two days after he was captured, he was commissioned in absentia as a Lieutenant in the 2nd US Colored Cavalry. He was discharged from the 3rd NY Cavalry on October 12th in absentia because of this commission. He was never mustered into his new regiment and probably never knew he had been discharged from the old one. Is it fair to argue that he died as a member of the 3rd NY Cavalry, or would that be considered incorrect? Technically if you are commissioned an officer in a new regiment, don't you have to be mustered in be considered on the official roster? Seeing as you cannot be mustered in since you are a POW, they presumably would have filled your commission with another person after a short while.

As I see it, a POW should never be mustered out until they are paroled, nor discharged because of a commission they never saw or accepted. And therefore I'm leaning towards listing him as dying while serving the 3rd NY Cavalry.
Any thoughts?

 

[lupaglupa]

I'm assuming there is no way to list him as serving in both units, which would solve your problem neatly. If only one unit listing is allowed, then I would give him his promotion and credit him as a member of the 2nd.

 

[connecticut yankee]

This question concerns one soldier named Silas S Tucker. I am compiling an honor roll for my county and I am unsure of which regiment to rightly put next to his name as the one he died while serving in.

Basically Silas was a corporal in the 3rd NY Cavalry who signed to serve the duration of the war. He was captured on October 7th 1864 and was sent to a prison camp, where he eventually died before seeing freedom.

However on October 9th 1864, two days after he was captured, he was commissioned in absentia as a Lieutenant in the 2nd US Colored Cavalry. He was discharged from the 3rd NY Cavalry on October 12th in absentia because of this commission. He was never mustered into his new regiment and probably never knew he had been discharged from the old one. Is it fair to argue that he died as a member of the 3rd NY Cavalry, or would that be considered incorrect? Technically if you are commissioned an officer in a new regiment, don't you have to be mustered in be considered on the official roster? Seeing as you cannot be mustered in since you are a POW, they presumably would have filled your commission with another person after a short while.

As I see it, a POW should never be mustered out until they are paroled, nor discharged because of a commission they never saw or accepted. And therefore I'm leaning towards listing him as dying while serving the 3rd NY Cavalry.
Any thoughts?

Your reasoning is very sound throughout. Silas Tucker officially was a member of the 3rd N.Y. Cavalry when he died. The commission is a moot point, as it was never acted upon by the War Department. List Tucker as 3rd N.Y. Cavalry on your county honor roll, but always try to add the commission issuance to his service record as important honorary type information out of respect to him.