The last several blog entries on the 3rd Tennessee gave several insights on being a soldier during the war.
Imagine soldiers today electing their officers?
Regiments generally had around a 1000 men with ten companies of 100 men each. Companies were commanded by a captain. Regiments were commanded by a colonel.
However, regiments and companies were generally not at full strength due to sickness and death. As the war continued, regimental strengths dropped accordingly.
In some cases, new recruits were used to fill the ranks, but often regiments were folded or consolidated with other regiments.
If you were captured, you might get lucky and get paroled at which time you returned to your side, but legally could not soldier again until you were exchanged. Things got rough on Confederate prisons in the last year of the war when the Union stopped exchanging prisoners, one reason Southern prisons gained such a bad reputation.
Off to be a Soldier. --Old B-Runner
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