Alan...

I agree with you that there were so many administrative dates for raising a company of volunteers that it must have been very confusing to the soldiers. Company F of the 9th Alabama was raised by Col. Thomas Hobbs who took it into camp at the fairgrounds just north of Athens on June 3rd. On June 6th they left Athens by train (where the company roll was presented to them by the mayor) for Richmond,Virginia. A few days later they disembarked at Lynchburg, Virginia where they received their physicals, and several members of the 9th mentioned being sworn into service at that time. Other companies of the 9th were along with them with a few more followed several days behind them. Once all of the companies arrived in Richmond, however, the entire regiment was then sworn into service. Other members of the 9th refer to this date as when they were sworn into service and not the one in Lynchburg.

Maybe the companies were actually being sworn in at Lynchburg- I believe it was Gen. Kirby Smith who was sent by the Confederate Governemnt to Lynchburg to screen the newly-arriving troops and send them on to wherever they were needed the most. I am not sure all of the 10 companies were actually assigned to the 9th Alabama until after they arrived at Richmond (I've often wondered about Company A from Mobile, AL and how they got into a mostly northern Alabama regiment).

It may have been semantics or confusion on the part of the troops, but it may have been even more bureaucratic that we have imagined.

John