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Collection Number: 00170

Collection Title: Confederate States of America Bureau of Conscription, 7th North Carolina Congressional District Records, 1862-1865.

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; this finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

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Size 1.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 1200 items)
Abstract The Confederate States of America Bureau of Conscription, 7th North Carolina Congressional District was concerned with enrollment, exemptions, substitutes, work details, partially disabled soldiers on limited service, senior reserves, deserters and other absentees from active units, and manpower problems related to Confederate soldiers from Anson, Chatham, Davidson, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, and Stanly counties, and was responsible to the state conscript office at Raleigh, N.C. The collection includes official records of the successive chief enrolling officers of the 7th North Carolina congressional district. Files include individual applications for exemptions, correspondence, general and special orders received from Raleigh, N.C., and Richmond, Va., reports and lists from each county, and papers relating to deserters, manpower for essential industry, senior reserves, and details for men on limited service.
Creator Confederate States of America. Bureau of Conscription.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Restrictions to Use
No usage restrictions.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Confederate States of America Bureau of Conscription, 7th North Carolina Congressional District Records, #170, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Mrs. J. A. Gray of Guilford County, N.C., prior to 1940.
Additional Descriptive Resources
A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1aa.
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.
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Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, May 2009

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

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The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

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The Confederate States of America Bureau of Conscription, 7th North Carolina Congressional District included Anson, Chatham, Davidson, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, and Stanly counties, and was responsible to the state conscript office at Raleigh, N.C. District offices were concerned with enrollment, exemptions, substitutes, work details, partially disabled soldiers on limited service, senior reserves, deserters and other absentees from active units, and manpower problems. The district enrolling officer was John M. Little, with headquarters at Wadesboro, N.C., until February 1864 when he was succeeded by D. C. Pearson who had headquarters at Lexington, N.C. The commandant of conscripts for North Carolina was Colonel Peter Mallett, who was succeeded in the Raleigh office in October 1864 by Lieutenant General T. H. Holmes. The state conscript officer was responsible to the Bureau of Conscription of the Confederate War Department at Richmond, Va., under John S. Preston.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The collection includes official records of the successive chief enrolling officers of the 7th North Carolina congressional district. Files include individual applications for exemptions and details, and supporting correspondence and petitions; correspondence about bureau policies and procedures; reports and lists from each county and from the district; general and special orders received from Raleigh, N.C., and Richmond, Va.; and papers relating to deserters, manpower for essential industry, senior reserves, and details for men on limited service. In addition to the personnel of the conscript service and the individual applicants, the correspondents include employers in essential industry, employers with government contracts, heads of government departments using manpower, relatives and neighbors of hardship cases, commanders in the field, officers of the state courts and the executive branch of government.

Also in the collection is a series of papers of Claiborne Gray, who apparently served as an adjutant in the Confederate Conscript Sevice, 7th North Carolina District in 1865. The papers are personal and family letters addressed to Gray from relatives in North Carolina, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Indiana, and Tennessee. There is also genealogical material concerning Robert Gray who came from Ireland to Pennsylvania in 1748 and moved to North Carolina about 1767.

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Contents list

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Claiborne Gray Papers, 1859-1870.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Conscript Office Records, 1862-1865 and undated.

Folder 1b

March 1862-February 1863

Folder 2-11

Folder 2

Folder 3

Folder 4

Folder 5

Folder 6

Folder 7

Folder 8

Folder 9

Folder 10

Folder 11

March-December 1863

Folder 12-26

Folder 12

Folder 13

Folder 14

Folder 15

Folder 16

Folder 17

Folder 18

Folder 19

Folder 20

Folder 21

Folder 22

Folder 23

Folder 24

Folder 25

Folder 26

1864

Folder 27-29

Folder 27

Folder 28

Folder 29

1865

Folder 30-32

Folder 30

Folder 31

Folder 32

Undated

Folder 33

Volume 1: Letter book, 1864

Oversize Paper Folder OPF-170/1

Volume 2: Register of applications, Enrolling Office, 7th District, 1864

Oversize Paper Folder OPF-170/2

Records, 1862-1865

Oversize Paper Folder OPF-170/3

Undated roll of exemptees, 50th Regt., N.C. Militia

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