Congress has not yet restricted the class of exempts, and
the work of conscription drags heavily along. All under forty-five must be
called, else the maximum of the four hundred regiments cannot be kept up. It
reminds me of Jack Falstaff's mode of exemption. The numerous employees of the
Southern Express Co. have been let off, after transporting hither, for the use of
certain functionaries, sugars, etc. from Alabama. And so in the various States,
enrolling and other officers are letting thousands of conscripts slip through
their hands.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 257-8
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