Company A, First TN National Guard,
Union Volunteers of 1863

Although active conscription was completely denied by the Confederate States, it was commonly practiced in the last half of the Civil War. The official Conscript Act of the CSA was passed 16 April 1862 at Richmond, Virginia, and most states began to implement the law at once. Often as not, young men in their prime were dragged from their homes and conscripted forcefully into service for the Confederacy. Soldiers suffered greatly because of Union embargoes stopping or stalling CSA supply lines. Their pay was delayed or missing; rations, minimal; conditions, abhorable; and disease, rampant. Is it any wonder that drafted soldiers became increasingly disillusioned, disheartened, and disgusted with the whole situation?

Thus, conscripted soldiers were missing from the ranks and listed as absent without official leave. Consequently, they became "out-liers" in remote mountainous hideaways. Then, the Appalachian Mountains between NC and TN were said to teem with out-liers and Confederate draft dodgers.

By mid 1863, soldiers in gray were routed in TN. By September 1863, General Ambrose Burnside led Union forces into Knoxville, TN where he established headquarters. Tennessee fell to an occupying Union Army, and Confederate soldiers who would not surrender completely evacuated the state by winter and were routed into the Appalachian Mountains. The next offensive then lay beyond the Unakas to a Confederate bastion at Camp Vance in North Carolina. Burnside's officers immediately began mustering volunteer recruits willing to venture into the rugged Unaka Mountains. Soon, hungry out-liers joined volunteers at Strawberry Plains, TN and were mustered into the 3rd TN MTD INF REGT, USA. Thus, the new Union Armies of Tennessee were created.

to be continued

Captain: Goldman Bryson of Coker Creek, Monroe CO, TN

2nd Lt: A. T. W. Payne
2nd Lt: James K. Morrow
2nd Lt: Floyd S. White

1st Sgt: Benjamin Franklin Payne
Sgt: Nathan Bennett
Sgt: Clem Davis
Sgt: A. T. Wilson

Cpl: William Crawford
Cpl: James H. Cagle
Cpl: Thomas Hickey
Cpl: John Smith
Cpl: James I. Murphy

[The listing above is based on the Payne-Boyd Substitute Muster Roll for Capt. Goldman Bryson's Company written by A. T. W. Payne and Thomas G. Boyd. The original rolls were lost or destroyed after being taken from the slain Capt. Bryson by Lt. Campbell Harrison Taylor of the CSA.]

Brannon, Benjamin pvt
Brannon, David pvt
Brannon, Larkin pvt
Brannon, William pvt
Carroll, James
Carson, William pvt
Davis, Andrew J. pvt
Davis, James Cpl
Davis, James pvt
Davis, John pvt
Davis, Michael [sic Mitchell] pvt
Dickey, Leunder Cpl (This was an alias used by Joseph Leander McDowell for enlistment.)
Ellison, Benjamin, Jr.
Ellison, Benjamin, Sr.
Gentry, William S.
Goings, James
Hickey, George Britton pvt
Hickey, James G. pvt
Hickey, John Layfayette pvt
Jenkins, John pvt (pension denied)
Kirkland, Calvin pvt
Ledford, John pvt
Lovingood, Robert pvt
McDonald, John C. pvt
McDonald, Jonathan pvt
McDonald, William Marcus pvt
McDonald, William Marion pvt
Morrow, William Morgan
Mumblehead, David J.
Mumblehead, Moses
Payne, Preston S. pvt
Roberts, Eli 1-SGT
Roberts, Reason pvt
Smith, Calvin L. pvt
Smith, William Laben pvt
Standridge, John Wesley
Stiles, Benjamin pvt
Stiles, John G. Cpl
Stiles/Styles, Thomas pvt (Scouts & Guides)
Sutton, William B. pvt
Voyles, James pvt (questionable)

to be continued

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