| Notes |
- Description:
The Civil War Compiled Military Service Records are part of a historic effort to compile and link all available records of soldiers serving in individual states during the Civil War. This database is a listing of over 5.3 million men who served in the war. Taken from records housed in the National Archives, each record provides the soldier's name, company, and unit. Also provided is the individual's rank when inducted and rank when discharged. For researchers of ancestors who may have served in the American Civil War this can be an informative database.
Extended Description:
Union records were taken from National Archives Record Group 94. Confederate records were taken from National Archives Record Group 109 microfilm series M253.
?i?Compiled Military Service Records (CMSR)?/i? Each volunteer soldier has one Compiled Military Service Record (CMSR) for each regiment in which he served. The CMSR contains basic information about the soldier's military career, and it is the first source the researcher should consult. The CMSR is an envelope (a jacket) containing one or more cards. These cards typically indicate that the soldier was present or absent during a certain period of time. Other cards may indicate the date of enlistment and discharge, amount of bounty paid him, and other information such as wounds received during battle or hospitalization for injury or illness. The soldier's place of birth may be indicated; if foreign born, only the country of birth is stated. The CMSR may contain an internal jacket for so-called "personal papers" of various kinds. These may include a copy of the soldier's enlistment paper, papers relating to his capture and release as a prisoner of war, or a statement that he had no personal property with him when he died. Note, however, that the CMSR rarely indicates battles in which a soldier fought; that information must be derived from other sources.
A CMSR is as complete as the surviving records of an individual soldier or his unit. The War Department compiled the CMSRs from the original muster rolls and other records some years after the war to permit more rapid and efficient checking of military and medical records in connection with claims for pensions and other veterans' benefits. The abstracts were so carefully prepared that it is rarely necessary to consult the original muster rolls and other records from which they were made. When the War Department created CMSRs at the turn of the century, information from company muster rolls, regimental returns, descriptive books, hospital rolls, and other records was copied verbatim onto cards. A separate card was prepared each time an individual name appeared on a document. These cards were all numbered on the back, and these numbers were entered onto the outside jacket containing the cards. The numbers on the jacket correspond with the numbers on the cards within the jacket. These numbers were used by the War Department only for control purposes while the CMSRs were being created; the numbers do not refer to other records regarding a veteran nor are they useful for reference purposes today.
Source Information:
United States National Archives. ?i?Civil War Compiled Military Service Records?/i? [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 1999-.
Source: http://www.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=4284
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-----Original Message-----
From: NWCTB [mailto:NWCTB@nara.gov]
Sent: Friday, December 16, 2005 5:23 AM
To: rootsdigger05@comcast.net
Subject: Re: Other - my topic is not listed
1. Record Group 94, Entry 519, Carded Records, Volunteer Organizations, Civil War. This is the series which that compiled military service record belongs.
2. When the War Department created compiled military service records at the turn of the century, information from company muster rolls, regimental returns, descriptive books, hospital rolls and other records, was copied verbatim onto cards. A separate card was prepared each time an individual name appeared on a document. These cards were all numbered on the back, and these numbers were entered onto the outside jacket containing the cards. The numbers on the jacket correspond with the numbers on the cards within the jacket. These numbers were used by the War Department only for control purposes while the compiled service records were being created; the numbers do not refer to other records regarding a veteran nor are they useful for reference purposes today. For additional information concerning the creation and filing of the compiled military service records, you may wish to consult Mabel E. Deutrich's Struggle for Supremacy: The Career of General Fred C. Ainsworth (Washington, 1962). Major General Ainsworth was
responsible for the creation of the compiled military service records.
Good questions, not complaints.
>>> Paul Kelly 12/13/05 09:15PM >>>
This message was submitted via the Main Inquire Form by a user of the NARA web site.
DATE SUBMITTED:
Tuesday, 12/13/2005 at 9:15 pm EST
MESSAGE TOPIC:
Other - my topic is not listed
MESSAGE TEXT:
Subject: Service Ticket#: G11-3518794P
Customer Name: Paul Kelly
Order Date: 11/17/2005
Preparerd by: NWCTB
Date Searched: 11/21/05
Searcher: K. B.
File designation: Biggers, John, Co. E. 94th NY Inf.
To whom it may concern:
I received the entire file of the above referenced military record (Civil War), however, I have a two complaints and a request.
Complaint 1:
There seems to be no file/record number or record series information (source citation) refering to this particular military record. Is this a record in a series? I do see a number written on the index page ("206"), but I do not know what this means or refers to. Please advise.
Complaint 2:
The first page of the military record contains fifteen Card Numbers, however, I cannot match up the card numbers with each of the copies of the cards provided. Since the copies of the numbers were not provided together with their respective cards, there is no way of knowing which number belongs to which card. Please send a photo copy of each number, stapled to the copy of each card and send them.
As a genealogist, it is important that I obtain the requested information (as described above) to properly cite my sources.
Please send requested copies and supplemental source information to:
Paul Kelly
3701 Mohawk Drive
Mount Vernon, WA 98273
rootsdigger05@comcast.net
(360) 421-4012
CUSTOMER'S NAME:
Paul Kelly
CUSTOMER'S EMAIL ADDRESS:
rootsdigger05@comcast.net
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