Had some type of organization been in operation for some years before 1860 and then they activated and started actively recruiting in 1860?
If HH Cooper was from Memphis and he is likely a relative of AJ's that may tell where our "brick wall" ancestor, AJ was from. We know AJ married a girl from Cherokee County, Alabama and that their children were born in NW Georgia around 1858-1863. Some time around 1863 they may have been living in Tennessee, possibly in the Hamilton County area so this could be why AJ enlisted at Missionary Ridge, or he could have been living somewhere else and gone to M.R. during the siege because his relatives were there in the 154th. AJ is not on the 1850 or 1860 census records. We think AJ was 35 or above and with the draft covering men 35 and over during that time, he may have, as you say, joined to avoid conscription, only as an older man instead of an 18 year old. Having a child in the late 1850s, he was probably on the older side rather than 18 years old.
Would joining rather than being conscripted given him more choice of what regiment or company he would serve in?
Found this on www.worldcat.org -- it is down at the Kennesaw State Univ. library --I plan to run down there some time soon and look at it. Are you familiar with this?
Proceedings of a Meeting of Officers and Men of the 154th Sr. Tenn. Regiment
by Confederate States of America. Army. Tennessee Senior Infantry Regiment, 154th
Type: Book : Microfiche; English
Publisher: [S.l. : s.n., 1864]
OCLC: 28329840
Thank you again for your reply.
G. Patton