Michael - I appreciated your description and explanation of the Conscript Officers and the militia... THANK you! Since you seem knowledgeable - Do you know anything about being exempt from Conscript?? In a letter written home to his wife, my grgr grandfather speaks of hiring a substitute and says he would not consider doing this if he had been eligible for conscript but since he was exempt, he would consider hiring a substitute. (Which never happened, by the way. He was killed outside of Atlanta in May of '64.) What were the conditions by which a male in his early 30's would be exempt? Other than physical limitations, of course. .... Would appreciate hearing from you or anyone else about this as I have not been able to find any information about exemption from conscription.... I did find one article that mentioned if you owned enough land or enough slaves you could be exempt - thus the reason the war was sometimes called a rich man's war and a poor man's fight.... But no specific definition of "enough" was given..... Can you or the list help???? - Leah