You can get mustered out for any reason at all. End of period of enlistment, illness, color-blindness, flat feet, you name it. Mustered out and discharged are generally the same. Usually you can not get a pension unless you have been honorably discharged. Someone who deserts has not had any kind of discharge usually unless it is resolved at a later date. Because of errors and other circumstances a person listed as a deserter might get a pension. In genealogy as in most things there are no absolutes. Never say never. ----- Original Message ----- From: <HZMagida@aol.com> To: <NY-Military-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, May 20, 2000 10:19 AM Subject: [NY-Mil] Significance of "mustered out" and "desertion" > In reading data from ancestry.com civil war database - the term "muster" > seems to be used in different ways - it suggests a transfer or transition > between military units or a type of discharge. > > One possible relative was "mustered out" about six weeks after enlistment - > before his unit was sent on any military missions. Can anyone comment on > what that means? Voluntary discharge? medically unfit? > > Another possible relative deserted after two years of service in a NY > Infantry - would desertion automatically disqualify him for a pension (e.g. > no record)? > > --Helen Magida > Baltimore, MD > >