An Interesting Set Of Military Facts
The Civil War was a political war, particularly within the Confederacy. Any rank between those of private and major was essentially elected.
A prominent man in a community would come forward, with the desire to establish a military unit. This man was generally a man who had the financial wherewithal to purchase weapons, ammunition, food, horses and whatever was needed to fight in the Civil War. The community might elect one of these prominent persons to a captaincy.
This new captain would then recruit a group to serve as a company. This company would elect a First Lieutenant, a Second Lieutenant, several sergeants and several corporals. Once this company was formed, it would be offered to the Confederate States Army for service. The CSA would generally accept the elected officers. If a company was too small to fight alone as one unit, it would be combined with one or more partial companies formed in other counties.
This new company would then be assigned to a regiment, where it would fight under major and other superior officers.
The death of a captain, lieutenant or non-commissioned officer would not necessarily result in each elected person moving up one rank, although it could, as there were "battlefield" appointments, but it seems to have usually resulted in each person below the newly-deceased, injured or captured officer moving up one rung on the "ladder".
Also, many of these militiamen would have enlistments for a set period of time, after which they would leave, go home for a while, tend to business at home, and then return (this often happened during the winter months, when there were few, if any, skirmishes or engagements). This would help explain why the Battle of Chickamauga occurred in September of 1863 and the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain occurred in May or June of 1864 despite a distance of not quite 100 miles.
As an interesting aside, it seems that Confederate armies were named for states where they were formed or where they operated - the Army of Northern Virginia, the Army of Tennessee, the Army of Mississippi - whereas, Union armies were named for rivers - the Army of the Tennessee, the Army of the Cumberland, the Army of the Potomac. This does not appear to be a cut and dried rule, however, as there was a Confederate Army of the Potomac.
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