Not so fast, my friend. The enthusiasm of April 1861 and December 1941 was similar, but a two WWII vets talking about their enlistments Thursday evening reminded me that their enlistments weren't short-term. A majority of Southern volunteers in the Spring of 1861 enrolled for twelve months only. Those short-term enrollments produced the need for the Conscript Act of April 16, 1862. The Conscript Act also produced many thousands more men in the ranks than the volunteers of 1861.