The Provisional Congress established a provisional volunteer army on the 28th of February 1861. Jefferson Davis assumed command at Charleston Harbor by the 1st of March 1861 after serving as U.S. Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce.
Estimates range between 750,000 and over 1,000,000 troops though an accurate count remains impossible due to destroyed records. This figure excludes enslaved Black people pressed into labor for fortifications or wagon driving duties.
The Conscription Act made all able-bodied white men aged 18 to 35 liable for a three-year term starting in April 1862. Age limits expanded again in February 1864 to include men between 17 and 50 years old.
Official counts listed 103,400 deserters though estimates suggest one-third of all Confederate soldiers deserted eventually. Many soldiers went home temporarily to address family starvation or marauder depredations before quietly returning when problems resolved.
Congress passed General Order 14 on the 13th of March 1865 which Jefferson Davis signed as law issued March 23. Only about two hundred enslaved soldiers enlisted before surrender despite proposals seriously considered by the administration until late war.