Confederate Enlistment papers

[Mentobebuge]

Hi everyone i was wondering if anyone knew where i could see an original confederate enlistment paper. Or if someone has one. i have asked around and no one has seen an original one but others have made up some of there own. So i was wondering if anyone knows anything about them? thanks
John Beaver
Georgia State Line

[RockCityGuard]

Re: Confederate Enlistment papers

Here is an enlistment in the Alabama Archives for an Engineer Regiment:

http://www.archives.state.al.us/marschall/enlistment.html

This site has the enlistment paper of Pvt. Juan Jose Padilla of Co. B, 28th La Inf.

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/5361/28th_jj_padilla.html

Oh heck…here are some others…. they’re everywhere…

http://www.yankeecollector.com/catalog/item/833543/538709.htm

http://www.rootsweb.com/~lawebste/lec/militaryrecords/JWCoyle.jpg

http://www.nkclifton.com/FRDSTJN1.JPG

[Mentobebuge]

Re: Confederate Enlistment papers

Here is an enlistment in the Alabama Archives for an Engineer Regiment:

http://www.archives.state.al.us/marschall/enlistment.html

This site has the enlistment paper of Pvt. Juan Jose Padilla of Co. B, 28th La Inf.

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/5361/28th_jj_padilla.html

Oh heck…here are some others…. they’re everywhere…

http://www.yankeecollector.com/catalog/item/833543/538709.htm

http://www.rootsweb.com/~lawebste/lec/militaryrecords/JWCoyle.jpg

http://www.nkclifton.com/FRDSTJN1.JPG

I do apologize i didnt mean papers i should have said enlistment forms for give me for the misinterptations.
John Beaver
Georgia State line

[BobSullivanPress]

Re: Confederate Enlistment papers

Here is an enlistment in the Alabama Archives for an Engineer Regiment:

http://www.archives.state.al.us/marschall/enlistment.html

This site has the enlistment paper of Pvt. Juan Jose Padilla of Co. B, 28th La Inf.

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/5361/28th_jj_padilla.html

Oh heck…here are some others…. they’re everywhere…

http://www.yankeecollector.com/catalog/item/833543/538709.htm

http://www.rootsweb.com/~lawebste/lec/militaryrecords/JWCoyle.jpg

http://www.nkclifton.com/FRDSTJN1.JPG

Well, no they're not...

Since 1777, enlistment forms for the United States army have been standardized, and a basic form was adopted at the close of the War of 1812 that remained virtually unchanged (except for cosmetics) through the Indian Wars of the 1870s. Enlistments contain basic sections. One section is a contract between the soldier and the army, in which the soldier states that he agrees to a term of service and pledges loyalty to the army and the government. A second section details that the soldier is fit for service. A third section will contain a physical description of the soldier. An optional fourth section will contain bounty information. Most importantly, because the enlistment is a binding agreement between the soldier and the army, there must be signatures (or marks) of both parties on the document for it to be a legally binding agreement. Because of the contractual nature of the enlistment, only one of the five examples cited here is an actual enlistment paper. All of the others are missing one or more key elements of the contract.

The first one, from the Alabama archives (http://www.archives.state.al.us/mars...nlistment.html), is an affidavit certifying that an enlisting officer has in fact enlisted someone into the army. But it does not contain the enlisted soldier's signature or mark, nor does it contain the loyalty oath.

The second one, about JJ Padilla (http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Qu...j_padilla.html), appears to be a pass issued by an enlisting officer after the soldier was enlisted. This form appears to tell the story that Padilla was a conscript, was enlisted (conscripted) into Confederate service, but was granted a 48-hour pass for some reason. This document, because it contains a date and a physical description of Padilla, appears to be a pass that he could carry on his person so that he would not be arrested as a deserter between the time of his conscription and the time he had to actually report for duty.

The third example (http://www.yankeecollector.com/catal...543/538709.htm) is a letter describing the condition of a Confederate soldier and appears to be explaining why this particular person was not on active duty. There is no contract, no loyalty oath, and no signatures. If I had to really go outon a limb, I'd bewilling to bet that this isn't even the entire piece of paper. There's no signature at the bottom, and it appears from the picture that the signature which should appear at the bottom of this letter has been cut off from the rest of the letter by an autograph collector.

The fourth example (http://www.rootsweb.com/~lawebste/le...ds/JWCoyle.jpg) is a real, honest to goodness, Confederate enlistment form. I just wish I could see the back of it.

The fifth example (http://www.nkclifton.com/FRDSTJN1.JPG) is a picture of the type of records you get back from the National Archives when you request an individual's service record. These little forms were painstakingly compiled by researchers after the war from the thousands of records and rolls, and then they were microfiched so that future generations could find them.