This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/xhC.2ACE/759.1 Message Board Post: Records of Company "A", 1st Battalion, Hilliard's Alabama Legion show that E. E. *McCrosby* volunteered at Montgomery Ala. on March 6, 1862. However, he was inspected by a surgeon, rejected for service and not enrolled. E. E. McCroskey enlisted as a private on August 1, 1862, in Co. "H", 51st Alabama Partisan Rangers. He was assigned to duty with the Conscript Bureau in Alabama shortly afterwards. A pay record dated Camp Watts, Ala., March 10, 1863, notes that he had been enrolling conscripts in Montgomery County from Dec. 11, 1862, through the end of February. A company roll for Nov.-Dec. 1863 shows him absent, detached by order of General Morgan. McCroskie requested a commission as 1st Lieutenant and Drillmaster, P.A.C.S., on July 28, 1863. Although his request was endorsed by Major Ready, who cited his qualifications and experience, it was not accepted for what appear to be administrative reasons. Ink on several pages of correspondence in his file is quite faded and difficult for me to read. However, another document shows that McCroskey received pay as a private on Sept. 15, 1864, for service through March 31, 1864. Surgeons routinely examined prospective recruits and sometimes rejected a volunteer or conscript due to age, size, physical disability, or any combination of these factors. However, Major Ready's endorsement demonstrates that McCroskey's aptitude as a drillmaster and ability to handle recruits overshadowed whatever physical deficiencies he may have had. I am impressed that McCroskey persevered as a drill officer at Camp Watts despite not having the rank, title and pay ($11 vs. $80 a month) of others with similar responsibilities. Of course he was eventually commissioned as a captain and the ranked all the other drillmasters, who were lieutenants. His experience brings to mind the Biblical story of Joseph in Egypt.