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So as I continue to dig into my Great-Grandfather's old outfit, I discover that government record keeping can be spotty at times.
I have the muster roll for the 22nd New York Infantry Regiment, a portion of this is shown below -
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I also ran across the 22nd's roster online, which is a bit different than the muster roll. This lists the men alphabetically and (drum roll please) doesn't necessarily match the muster roll.
My Great-Grandfather is on both lists, and the data matches, but there are guys on the muster roll who aren't on the roster. I have yet to determine when the roster was put together, the muster roll was compiled on the 6th of June, 1861. The roster was later. So men were added, removed, etc., no doubt.
Another interesting thing I noticed on the roster is that when a fellow transferred to the regimental band, he was listed as "transferred to band, and appointed musician; discharged, August 15, 1862, by act of Congress." I need to dig deeper there, were musicians not considered members of the armed forces of the United States? Odd that. Saw it more than a few times.
So that's where we're at at the moment, Your Humble Scribe busy digging through the historical record and trying to fill in the basic framework for the story. I did note that my Great-Grandfather's Company K mustered in with three officers, four sergeants, four corporals, two musicians (drummers no doubt), and 64 privates.
The roster lists 38 of those men mustering out with the regiment at the end of their service in 1862. That implies a loss of 39 men over the course of their two years with the Army of the Potomac.
The roster lists deserters, men discharged for disability (sickness perhaps), wounded, captured, and killed. But the record seems to be missing a lot of detail.
Now about those lists, they appear to be typewritten and typewriters weren't invented until after the Civil War. Of course, they probably sent these documents to be printed out much like a newspaper, but they must have started off as handwritten documents. So transcription errors are highly likely.
Still and all, a fascinating thing to dig into.
We'll get back to our story soon. I just finished sending in my taxes and it seems Uncle Sam is getting a big payday this year. I suppose when you're still working and start drawing Social Security, you make quite a bit. And I discovered, like in January, that they do not take taxes out of your Social Security payments. There's reasons for that, but surprise surprise, the government won't tell you squat, you have to ask.
And of course, I didn't know to ask.
Live and learn I suppose.
Ah......research Sarge, down the dusty halls....watch out for mice! Looked up typewriters, man there's a lot of cloudy history there. Oh, my
ReplyDeletesympathy on the tax front, Uncle does like to have that cash flow eh?
Wouldn't bother me as much if they didn't waste a lot of it.
DeleteWhen my wife and I started Social Security, we went down to the SS orifice and signed a form to take out taxes. We were working at the time and were double-dipping, so taxes needed to be taken out. However, they kept doing it, after we retired. As I remember, we had to go to the orifice to sign papers to make it so.
DeleteWater under the bridge at this point.
DeleteI don't know about others, but I find your descriptions of the Muster Rolls and Rosters as interesting as your novellas. Researching in actual BOOKS! We used to buy encyclopedia at the Recycle Center at the dump. Usually missing one volume, but HEY! for $2 you can't be too picky. It was great to be able to look up something in 6 or 7 different ones, books in a semicircle around you on the floor, and see different editorial and era bias on a subject. At one point we had, I think 16 different ones, spanning from the 1910s to the 1990s. World Book, Britannica, Funk & Wagnall, Columbia, and two others, Plus the reprint of the original 100 articles of Britannica. Say you wanted to know about shoes. Up to the 1949s you would find useful articles about how to make them, not just a brief history. Same for other subjects, ships, preserving foods, accounting, etc.
ReplyDeleteWhen I filled out my forms to start Social Security in 2022 there was a line asking if I wanted to have income tax taken out. Might have been different because I was no longer working anywhere, or had any kind of pension.
Well, they are books on line.
DeleteSeeing the photo of the library caused a wave of nostalgia. Laying on the floor, my notebook in front of me, the books opened to the appropriate pages scattered round about me, the feel and smell of the scritta, aka Bible Paper, had a certain quality and satisfaction to it that having multiple tabs on your screen just doesn't duplicate. Computers are faster, it's easier to find and use images, copying and editing is a breeze - no more having to retype 15 pages because something you were putting on page 20 was better suited to page 5, and so if you put it where it should be you have to retype almost everything.
DeleteI am a fan of the computer.
DeleteI wondered about the typed names on the document, printed explains it.
ReplyDeleteHad to be the case.
Delete"My intent in this tale is to stay as close to the historical record as possible, without adhering in such detail as to render the research onerous and the story perhaps boring. In other words, I want to be accurate but not necessarily OCD about it". Sarge, this is how I write - partially because I cannot compete with the formal historians or actual authors that have the time to set aside for that kind of research (some can, probably hold a full time job and do such things; I cannot), and partially because what I am trying to write has in some ways little to do with actual events or the way things work. Like you, it is as much the human element and human relationships and how humans react to a particular situation.
ReplyDelete"And I discovered, like in January, that they do not take taxes out of your Social Security payments. There's reasons for that, but surprise surprise, the government won't tell you squat, you have to ask." A painful lesson we learned with my in-laws as well.
Sometimes it is like the government consciously makes memes of itself.
The government at times is one big meme.
DeleteI occasionally write short nonfiction pieces (3-5 pages or so) of things of interest for our county Historical Society website. Not just paraphrasing an obituary or news item but gathering additional information. The problem is to be accurate (giving conflicting information) and not to say anything that is not known or incorrect (or giving an "I think" where there is uncertainty [and there is sure to be a relative or descendent that will read and critique it]). And somehow make it interesting. One article on the last surviving Civil War veteran in the county took about three months research off and on.
DeleteResearch takes time and effort.
DeleteI think I heard or read that members of the Navy band today (the big one in DC) are actually hired musicians, and not sailors from the fleet. Maybe it was the same back then? Or possibly a reserve type contract?
ReplyDeleteI think you're right about the big Navy band in DC, same with the Army I think.
DeleteIndian War era (and presumably Civil War, since "we always did it this way") personnel record keeping for U.S. Army (not necessarily state forces) involved monthly reports listing EVERYONE in the company/regiment. Any gains or losses were listed with whence or where they came from or went to, so there is continuity of accountability. People would be sent on what we call TAD (temporary additional duty) to schools, or off for medical care and carried on unit rolls for months or years. Those were all manuscript records submitted on a monthly basis. Many of those are available on line, accessible via Ancestry.com. Similar records exist for Navy and Marine Corp personnel for various periods.
ReplyDeleteI think that muster rolls for Civil War state forces may have ended up in state archives, not the National Archives. New York's Division of Military and Naval Affairs has a lot of excellent resources and links, like these:
https://dmna.ny.gov/historic/research/civilResearch.htm
https://museum.dmna.ny.gov/unit-history/conflict/us-civil-war-1861-1865
Navigating their site is a bit of an adventure, so click around to explore all the various parts and there may be some unexpected material.
When I get some time I will see if I can find any of the 22nd NY monthly reports in Ancestry, but I am not optimistic that they will be there.
John Blackshoe
New York's Division of Military and Naval Affairs is superb, it's where I've gotten most of my data on the 22nd.
DeleteWars come and go, but the Morning Report is immortal.
ReplyDeleteAnd ever shall be.
Delete"government record keeping can be spotty at times" - I don't know as to how it's all the gov. that is spotty. Live in small town and worked 3 days a week at our public library as a volunteer for 6 years. We were caught up on books and I had organized all the shelves so with nothing pressing I climbed up on the cabinet and there were 4 boxes that when opened contained the original paycheck records from the Civil War. Went to the person in charge and was told in no uncertain terms to Do Not Touch the Boxes! She guarded those boxes like a mother hen sitting on her eggs. I have not been in that room in the last 6/8 years and the boxes were still there. But they need to be where they can be accessed not hidden away. But who do you contact? Could this be an isolated case or how many of these boxes are moldering away on shelves?
ReplyDeleteThese are northern paycheck as Ky fought with the Union.
Bureaucrats.
DeleteWhat is also sad is that there are companies out there that could/will image those documents quickly and efficiently and at reasonable cost. After my parents died in 1975, I took a bankers box of their old photos, hs yearbooks, hs achievement certificates, and similar "hardcopy" memorabilia, and I loosely organized them by family, generation, topic. I then took them to Mountain States Imaging in Denver, who did an outstanding job of converting them all to image files, and preserved them on a number of flash drives that I then sent to my siblings and children.
Delete* https://www.msimaging.com/
Perhaps that "person in charge" failed to recognize the importance to history of those paycheck records, notwithstanding that he/she may claim to be a librarian? That's sad.
Amen!
DeleteI made a few brief appearances in LIgonier, PA and stopped by the library there. In the basement they had another library and it was dozens of shelves filled with the binders of the printed (retyped) and the original letters that the Civil War soldiers of that town had kept. There were thousands of them. It really is amazing how much those men wrote and how much of it was retained.
ReplyDeleteGood to know!
Delete