Dear Leah, I forgot to ask you after the last post if you have looked at the 1860 census. This should give the occupation of your ancestor and maybe a clue to his exemption. Also I found nothing in my readings about the amount of land a person owned, only slaves, that exempted a person from military service. When the war started units were formed from a small geographical area and the people that populated the unit were people that were kin, or neighbors, or kin of neighbors. They knew everyone within their company. The companies were formed into regiments from the general region. There was a community pride in being a member of the regiment. Influential people of the community; lawyers, planters and merchants, to name a few; raised and became commanders of the unit or units. At first they were elected officers but as the war progressed they were appointed by the government. They were community outfits from officers to privates, and to decline to serve in your community unit or to desert while in the service was to draw down the wrath of the neighborhood. I did some research for a friend who inquired about an officer that served from 1861 to 1862, was wounded, resigned and went back to Bibb Co., AL. After the war, men of his outfit lynched him on their return. Why? I have not been able to find out. Could have been something that happened while in service or after his resignation. He became rich after his discharge and might have been at the expense of his comrades in arms that were on the war front. If you cared not for the community, you did as you pleased, made as many enemies as you cared to, but when it came time to go to church, gather hay, build a barn, or any other project that required more than one pair of hands, there was no one there. Generally that person moved from the community. So, It was the community thing to join the service if you were from the ages of 18 to 45. In north Alabama and east Tennessee there were communities within a few miles of each other that fought against each other, but it was a community thing. The small community was the government in those days not as government today, which is a government of money. Ruled by money. Sorry for the rambling, will leave for now, but if I can help further please ask. Michael Lee Busby, Ohatchee, AL MBusby3237@aol.com