Images will be found here showing Capt. Nesbitt's rolls from the 9th Regiment, Georgia State Troops.
These rolls provide no additional information -- only that Alexander Deas was 1st Lieut. of Co. "G" from his election on Nov. 11, 1861, until Apr. 28, 1862. On that date the regiment was disbanded due to the Conscript Act of April 16, 1862.
Company station during the entire period is stated as Camp Jackson, Ga. Does anyone know the location of this camp? Was it located in the vicinity of Augusta, Ga.?
As these things go, Georgia militia rolls are fairly complete. The most important information you have is that he was county tax collector. Ain't no way he could be paid for that job and still serve in the military except in emergencies. If newspapers printed in Augusta list him as Tax Collector for Richmond County, rest assured that Alexander Deas was sleeping at home in a comfortable bed, not out under the stars somewhere in camp or field.
That's true of any county official anywhere in the Confederacy. On Aug. 29, 1863 John M. Richardson,
Professor of Mathematics at the Georgia Military Institute, estimated that every county in the state had an average of 462 men available for military duty but exempt for one reason or another. This included six county officers, such as the county clerk, tax assessor, sheriff, tax collector &c. Official Records, series IV, vol. 2:740. On Nov. 25, 1864, each county in Georgia reported one county tax collector exempt from military duty, or a total of 132 citizens. (series IV, vol. 3:869).
On Feb. 4, 1864, Howell Cobb wrote of the Secretary of War about the manpower resources of Georgia:
You are aware that under the militia law of the last Legislature the Governor was directed to enroll all our men between sixteen and sixty who are not subject to conscription or in the Confederate service. In one county the State enrolling officer says that his rolls will show that there are more men now in the county between the ages of eighteen and forty-five than have been sent from the county to the war, though the county has done as well as other counties in the State. I could not believe the statement, but he insists it is so, and refers to the details, the mechanics, exempts of all kinds, and counts up large numbers certainly. In another county the State enrolling officer (who I know very well) informed me that he had enrolled 900 men (not including three companies of Georgia State Guard), and that one-half of them were fit for any military service and another fourth fit for local duty. In another district, including three counties, the enrolling officer has now on his rolls over 2,000 men.
If Alexander Deas resigned his commission as tax collector to serve in the militia, then somebody else would have been given that job. Otherwise a county tax collector wuold be exempt from both state and Confederate military service.
We know that Alexander Deas once held a militia commission after Georgia left the Union. In 1865 he must have gone to the Federal military headquarters in town to request a parole. Since he wasn't holding a commission when the war ended, this really wasn't necessary. But, I'm guessing he was a prudent soul, and decided to have a signed parole in his possession 'just in case'. Federal officers certainly didn't ask Deas to prove that he was still in the militia. Plus, it didn't cost anything to get the document -- only a little time and trouble. So why not?
Do you know when he was elected county tax collector?