justices of the peace off to war?

9-23-2014: I apologize for putting up misleading information in the following post. Please read Scott Mingus’ comment below. Thank you,

Luke Martens

Long-time Virginia politician William “Extra Billy” Smith served in the Confederate army until just after Gettysburg. He was elected governor for a second time in 1863 and assumed his duties on New Year’s Day 1864. Mr. Smith wasn’t afraid to cross the border to pursue the best interests of his state. Using accounts in the Chicago Tribune as a source, Scott Mingus has written that “Extra Billy” actually attended the (Northern) Democratic Convention in Chicago in August 1864.^[1] The governor sued for a peace candidate and was dead set against frontrunner General George McClellan. He claimed that if the Democrats nominated a peace man – “untainted by participation in the war” – Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida would rejoin the Union if the Democrat won the general election. The skeptical Tribune wondered what possible authority Mr. Smith for such an assertion.

A moot point since “Little Mac” was selected as Democratic nominee. The war was definitely continuing. 150 years ago this week Governor Smith issued a proclamation vowing to enforce a January law intended to round up deserters and threatening to revoke the exemptions he provided justices of the peace if they refused to enforce the desertion law.

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch September 17, 1864:

Deserters and delinquents.

We call attention to the proclamation of the Governor concerning deserters and other delinquents owing military service to the Confederate Government. The law of the State makes it obligatory upon magistrates, sheriffs, sergeants and constables to take steps for the arrest of all such persons as may be found within their respective counties, cities and towns, and imposes penalties for a failure to do so. In addition to this, the Governor promises, in the event that the present apathy in this respect continues, to revoke the military exemptions of many justices of the peace and other county officers; and we feel assured he will keep his word. The Government now needs the services of every able-bodied man who can be spared from civil employment; and if all deserters and skulkers were placed in the ranks, our armies would be largely reinforced. The proclamation is timely, and we trust that those who are most interested will heed its warnings. A law more plain in its provisions was never passed by the General Assembly, and we can only account for the neglect of State officers to comply with it by supposing them ignorant of its existence. They can have no such excuse now.

More evidence of the manpower shortage from the same issue of the Dispatch:

Enrollment of Exempts.

–Under orders from the Bureau of Conscription, the enrolling officers of this city, with the aid of the advisory board, will commence this morning to register all white male citizens, not in the army or in the reserve forces, between the ages of sixteen and fifty years. It is very important that this duty should be performed forthwith, and hence every facility should be afforded, by those embraced within the order, to enable these officers to discharge the duty enjoined on them.

1. ^[1]Mingus, Scott L., Sr. Confederate General William “Extra Billy” Smith – From Virginia’s Statehouse to Gettysburg Scapegoat. El Dorado Hills, California: Savas Beatie, 2012. Print. pages 304-5.↩