Reconstruction: Were all Confederates officers barred from serving in the Army

[Drakken]

I was wondering if any Confederate officer served in the US Army after the end of the Civil War. Was this allowed by the Amnesty Act of 1872?

I know that those who were either in West Point or serving in the US army at the time of the secessions were usually permanently excluded from service, but what about officers who joined the CSA without having been at West Point or in commission? Would taking an oath of loyalty to the United States' consitution be sufficient to be reenlisted in the Armed Forces?

Thanks!

[bostonwicked]

Yes some Southern Officers went on to careers in the USA forces, Joe Wheeler is one was a Calvary Officer under Joe Johnston in the West fought in the Atlanta Campaings, fought out west against the Indians, entered the US Senate and then lead the US Voulnter Calvary units aka Roughriders in the Spanish American War he was about 70 at the time but still refered to he enemy as those damn yankees

[anarchyintheuk]

Wheeler had graduated from West Point prior to the Civil War. He later served as a major general of volunteers in the Spanish-American War and retired w/ a regular army rank of brigadier general.

I don't know the exact process for reinstatement but it would seem that the passage of the Amnesty Act was the first step along that road. Previous to the Act, officers and civil officials above a certain rank had to apply for a pardon from the president. As to lower ranked officers who joined the CSA w/o having served the US Army, I have no idea other than an assumption that the policy was far less stringent.

[Brochgale]

I guess some men just could not stay out of a fight even if it meant serving with those damn Yankees?

[TheDoctorKing]

Mosby, the Confederate partisan leader in northern Virginia, was a U.S. Consular officer after the war (which requires a commission and the advice and consent of the Senate like a military officer). He was a supporter of Ulysses S. Grant and he had a career in federal civilian jobs, ending up as Assistant Attorney General in the Teddy Roosevelt administration. He wasn't a West Point graduate, having joined the CSA army as a private at the outbreak of the war, despite the fact that he had opposed secession. But because of his successful guerrilla struggle, he had to get a special pardon as he was excluded by name from the general pardon act.

Two degrees of separation: my grandmother was a bank clerk at Riggs Bank in DC before her marriage. Mosby used to bank there and she saw him often. She said he had the "coldest eyes of any man she'd ever met."

[Mangudai]

The Republican governor of Louisiana appointed Longstreet the adjutant general of the state militia and by 1872 he became a major general in command of all militia and state police forces within New Orleans. During riots in 1874 protesting election irregularities, Longstreet rode to meet protesters but was pulled from his horse, shot by a spent bullet, and taken prisoner. Federal troops were required to restore order. Longstreet's use of African-American troops during the disturbances increased the denunciations by fellow Southerners.[67]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Longstreet#Postbellum