Thanks for your endorsement of my mish-mash theory. Also appreciate the insights into Cochran and the Order 89 troops that also are in line with the theory on the units that I developed in the blind back in 2002 and tweaked in 2008 (see post at http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/mocwmb/webbbs_config.pl?read=10972 ). With just a couple of exceptions, the Federal state government had done away with the PEMM Six Month Militia the prior November due to Conservative/Radical politics, as well as the cost of fielding the troops. These Order 89 troops seem to have been a new and improved version of the previous PEMM troops.

One interesting but unheralded aspect of the Federal mish-mash that these guys flocked to in 1864--given that one unit probably pretty much seemed the same as another to the recruits--is the fact that service in one unit qualified them for a life-long pension later on, while service in another unit did not. "Joining the army" that fall could have been with the 89 units, the 107 units, the newly recruiting volunteer units, etc. There probably was a lot of what's the difference, where do I sign going on. As it turned out, that difference had to do with the luck of the draw in regard to which unit was joined as pensions started being doled out afterwards. Live to a ripe old age, and that amounted to a pretty good chunk of change for some of them, and a lot of frustration for others.