re: #188 Feline Fearless Leader

Partially that, but also heavily political connections. Many volunteer units got to elect their officers - so a local who was popular or who had helped form the regiment often could start at a colonel, major, or captain.

I think Forrest got his officer rank by helping form a unit a little later than his initial service as a private soldier. From there it was promotion by merit, and having some backers to help smooth the way.

Getting above division commander in the Union Army during that period pretty much required being a West Pointer due to internal politics. Some of the early generals (such as Butler) got around this, but by 1864 some very good divisional commanders (such as Logan) got passed over for corps command due to being “political” generals.

Yeah, Forrest got bumped straight up from private to lieutenant colonel by virtue of having enlisted despite being exempt and offering to use his wealth to outfit an entire regiment of cavalry with horses and equipment. Since the Confederacy relied in large part upon volunteers, compared to the North’s reliance mostly on conscription, a lot of leaders who weren’t former US Army officers were men with connections or wealth prior to the war.