I looked at the Compiled Service Record (CSR) of your ancestor and he had two “cards.” The first is an extract from the company muster roll of September & October 1863, dated January 13, 1864. His enlistment date was August 05, 1863 but he was “enlisted” by an enrolling officer at Decatur, Georgia. This would heavily suggest that he was conscripted because enrolling officers where designated to take men that were 18-45 years of age and eligible to be conscripted and Conscript Camps were located in Decatur, Georgia. Here is an account of how this worked from the Company Commander of Company I, 39th Georgia. This company was also from Gilmer County.

"He with all other men of his age was conscripts. When I made up my volunteer company in March 1862, said Logan refused and did not volunteer and staid (sic) out of the Confederate Army until he was forced to go into Confederate service as a conscript and after the Co. I and 39th Regt. Ga. was organized at Big Shanty Ga in March 1862 the 39th Ga. Vols was on duty at Clinton, Tennessee and had been on duty for some 2 months and some time about the last of May 1862 said Robert T. Logan with other conscripts was forced into the service by the conscript law and was ordered to duty and assigned to duty in my Company I 39 Regt as a conscript. And it is just and true to state that his service was not that of a volunteer but was wholly unvoluntary and against his will and was proper to state there was no Conscript organization in the Confederate Army and all conscripts who was forced into service against their will or choice had to be and was assigned to duty in volunteer regiments or companies where they could be forced to do duty and remain under volunteer officers as there was not other place to assign conscripts only in or under volunteer force. And I further state that the Conscript Law requiring all men between the ages of 18 and 45 years was rapidly enforced in Gilmer County and Georgia: at that time that William Stott, Sheriff of Gilmer County was the conscript and enrolling officer of the Confederate States. And it was his duty to force every conscript with the Confederate service. And if they refused to go when ordered to go I understood at that time that he arrested the conscripts and forced under guard or by Military Power. And from my knowledge of the accuser and the situation of the military affairs of Gilmer County Georgia I am fully satisfied that said Robert T. Logan and others was forced into the Confederate Army against their will or power to preveal (sic) as all men within conscript age was compelled to go into the Confederate service and was forced to go against their will, and I know that said Logan was forced into the Confederate service." John D. Hays, Capt. Co I 39 Ga Vol.

The Army of Tennessee spent the winter of 1863-1864 at Dalton, Georgia. I know of no battle that took place in or around Ellijay, Georgia during this time period or in the weeks prior. I have the casualty list for Cumming’s Brigade for the battle of Missionary Ridge and I will see if he was wounded during the battle and he died later.

Georgia Pensions were granted to veterans and widows only. It began on a limited basis in 1871 to veterans who had lost limbs and it was to reimburse them for the cost of the artificial limb. Other veterans with an expanded array of disabilities were not included until 1889. By 1896 the eligibility was again expanded to those that were indigent. It was not until 1893 that widows who had lost a husband during the war and had not remarried were eligible for a pension.

I examined the 1860 Federal Census for Robert Parris and the name they have is Lereca. I compared the “L” and “T’s” and it looks like Lereca, nevertheless, she was sixteen years old in 1860 and in 1863 she would have been nineteen years old. Dalton was the economic and population center of gravity for the region and since the Army of Tennessee was there for an extended period of time, employment of women in the hospitals was not uncommon, and the demonstration at Dalton took place on February 25, 1864 and the battle of Rocky Face Ridge and Dug Gap took place May 07-12, 1864 it is possible that she worked in the hospitals.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to contact me through the 39th Georgia regimental website below.

Respectfully,

Gerald D. Hodge, Jr.
M.A. Military History – Civil War Studies
War Between the States Historian
Historian: 39th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment