Hopefully someone better informed than myself will provide better information. I've not studied Mobile County Reserves, but hope to do so in the near future. Two hours or so with Montgomery County Reserves last week taught me a little about these organizations. I'm under the impression that they came into existence during 1864 and were also titled Alabama State Militia, First Class. As such they would have been under control of the governor of Alabama rather than a Confederate officer.

The ages of these men appear to fall between 18 and 45, which ordinarily would have made them liable to Confederate service. However, they were exempt for a variety of legal reasons, usually occupation or prior discharge from Confederate service. For instance, the Mobile County Reserves included two companies of railroad employees: one composed of men who worked for the Alabama and Florida Railroad, the other of employees of the Montgomery and West Point Railroad.

Counting these two, there were eleven companies of Montgomery County Reserves, one being mounted. Except for the two railroad companies and the mounted unit, companies were recruited in specific militia beats numbered one through eight. The ten foot companies were organized into a regiment and given letter designations. Correspondence shows the regimental organization continuing into 1865.

Company rolls include some 875 officers and men. One other point: these men were volunteers, so there were far more than this eligible for service who didn't volunteer. For instance, there were over 200 names from one rail company listed as exempt from regular service, but only about eighty of theem volunteered as county reserves. One militia folder contained the names of all men in the county who were eligible for duty and not enrolled in Confederate service. The list is twenty-three pages long in script; twenty-eight when typed.

I left the archives wondering how valuable this material would be to people strictly interested in family history. Evidently Confederate military records do not contain many of these names. Some lists include quite a number of specifics on each man, such as age, residence, place of birth and physicial description.

Hopefully someone can explain the distinction between first and second class militia. There are extensive records on second class militia from Montgomery as well, but they do not appear to have the same kind of organization.

I'd expect to find extensive records on Mobile County Reserves, but that remains to be seen.