1. Summary
The Union Army data has significant information on the military involvement of the recruit, including his wartime service history. This includes the dates and places of important wartime events such as battles, military court action, rank and POW variables.
2. Variable Groups
Collection: Military, Pension and Medical Records
Battles: Battles recruit participated in, Battle date
Military Action: Military court action taken, Beginning date for military court action, Ending date for military court action, Military court action- place, Military court action- reason, Military legal action
Military Duties: Military duties, Beginning date of military duty, Ending date of military duty
POW: POW capture date, POW capture place, POW capture state, POW confinement date, POW confinement place, POW confinement state, POW parole date, POW parole place, POW results
Rank: Initial rank, Initial company, Initial regiment, Initial state, Initial rank description, Change in rank, Change in company, Change in regiment, Change in state, Date of change of duty, Change in military status description
Collection: Surgeons' Certificates
Rank: Rank, Company, Regiment, State, and Description of service, Military rank, Military company, Military regiment, Military state, Military description
Collection: U.S. Federal Census
Recruit Veteran: Recruit and household member is a veteran of Union or Confederate Army (1910), Recruit and household member is veteran of Union or Confederate Navy (1910), Recruit is veteran of U.S. military forces (1900), What war veteran recruit served in (1930)
Place variables including battles, military action, rank and POW are additionally classified under the Geographic category. Place and date variables are qualified by a set of codes that can be found in the Quality Codes User Guide.
3. Historical Background
3.1. Original Sources
The primary sources of wartime service data are the Compiled Military Service Record (CMSR), the Carded Medical Record (CMR), and the Pension Record.
Initial rank information is found primarily in the CMSR. Battle information is found in all three records: the CMSR includes an incomplete list of dates and battles for which the company was present; the CMR includes information on battles in which the recruit was wounded; the pension record supports these sources and provides more complete information in depositions or affidavits of the claimant and his comrades. War Department records provide the most complete source of military information in the pension record.
Information on the veteran status of recruits and household members was found in the U.S. Federal Census in the years 1910 and 1930. This indicated if a person was a veteran of the army (Confederate or Union), or a veteran of the Navy (Confederate or Union).
The CMSR of both volunteer officers and enlisted men serving in wartime show the soldier's rank, military organization, and term of service. They also include age at enlistment, place of enlistment, and place of birth, but provide no information about family. The CMSR for each recruit is an envelope consisting of cards with information about the recruit transcribed by War Department clerks. The clerks transcribed the information on the cards from muster rolls, descriptive books, returns (statistical reports submitted to the Adjutant General Office or the War Department by organizations such as hospitals or forts), hospital registers, prison records, and other records. Cards are arranged first by war, then by state, then by military unit, and finally alphabetically by the soldier's last name.
The transcription of a CMSR started soon after the Civil War when Fred C. Ainsworth assumed the duties of Adjutant General. His aim in having the military records transcribed was twofold: first, to preserve the information found on decaying original records, and second, to eliminate the serious backlog on pension applications and rulings by making claim checking easier. Initially, the cards contained the soldier's name, rank, company, regiment, and the page and volume number from which the information was obtained. This is all copied onto separate cards. Most CMSR today also include information that was added later, including POW records, casualty information, hospital register information, records of desertions, furloughs, AWOLs, and MIAs, copies of enlistment papers, and copies of surgeons' certificates of discharge for disability.
As information from the CMSR was entered into the collection screens, it was compared with information already collected. When the CMSR seriously conflicted with the pension information, we attempted to reconcile the previously entered pension data with the more straightforward CMSR. Military information that came from the CMSR was judged to be more accurate than conflicting information from the pension, which may have been retrospective and self-reported.
The CMR were compiled at the same time as the CMSR under the same circumstances and for the same reasons. Medical information from various sources was transcribed onto 3 1/4" x 8" cards which are known today as carded medical records. They consist of three main types; some soldiers have all three types, while many soldiers have no CMR at all. The first type of CMR is a hospital return which is a record of a patient's stay on given days. These records were taken mostly from regimental hospital records (a regimental hospital was a hospital set up by a regiment that moved with it and treated its members). For example, the card would be headed NY 5 RH and contain the phrase "Jan. 1, 1863 Piles." The second type of CMR is a casualty card stating that the recruit was wounded in action. This card contains little information other than the name of soldier, the word "wounded," the name of the battle in which the recruit was wounded, and the date of engagement.
Finally, the most complete and useful card filed as a CMR is a hospital card. Hospital cards were printed by major hospitals and contain information filled in by clerks about individual soldiers. One of these cards might have a soldier's name, rank, service, and diagnosis, as well as the name and location of the hospital where the recruit was being treated, his date of admission, and the result of the treatment.
The boxes of carded medical records are arranged by regiment and then in roughly alphabetical order so that all men whose last name begin with the same letter are found in the same section. The CMR has the most identification problems, including misspelled or partial names, lack of company designation, and discrepancy in military rank.
Civil War pensions were available for veterans with disabilities as well as for deceased veterans' widows, minor children, dependent major children, and parents. Under the Act of July 14, 1862, the first pension legislation specific to the Civil War, the veterans were eligible only for disabilities (wounds or chronic illnesses) received during wartime. The Act of June 27, 1890 changed that requirement and expanded eligibility to include disabilities not directly related to wartime experience. As a result, the number of men on the pension rolls swelled. Laws passed after 1907 changed the pension from disability-based to age-based.
When a veteran wanted to receive a pension, he would, under his attorney's supervision, submit an application/declaration. This form was sent to the Pension Bureau in Washington D.C., which reviewed the application and collected further testimony in support of the veteran's application. The decision is recorded on a claim form, which is input alongside the pension application/declaration. Veterans could, and often did, apply for a pension under several laws or submit additional applications because of an increase in disability or a dissatisfaction with the Pension Bureau's decision, therefore, records usually contain more than one pension application and claim.
Information about each pension application/declaration and claim is recorded separately. The pension board required that the veteran appear before a Board of Examining Surgeons to determine his rate of disability. Once the board had the veteran's application and the surgeons' determination of disability, they would issue their ruling-granting the pension or rejecting the claim.
A veteran's application for a pension, includes supporting documentation regarding:
- birth
- residences
- family information
- occupation at enlistment
- employment after discharge from the service
- summary of military and medical wartime experience
- affidavits from comrades, neighbors, family members, and physicians.
There are several types of dependent pensions. These are: widow, minor, parent, dependent major, and sibling. Dependent pensions include information on:
- dependent's name
- including maiden, married, remarried names
- dependent's relationship to the veteran
- dependent's age
- dependent's residence
- veteran's death
- date, cause, and burial
- marriage
Information regarding the veteran's economic status is found in dependent pensions. For example, in order to receive a pension, a parent had to prove that her/his deceased son contributed to the support of the family in a substantial way. In such a situation, one might find an employer's affidavit testifying that the young man worked as a carpenter before enlisting and gave every nickel he earned to his mother for food. Also, to prove their economic dependency, parents might submit a letter or letters the veteran had sent home during the war which mentioned sending his army pay home for the family.
3.2. Variables
Examples of wartime service variables include battle, milcact, and recarm. The variable battle03 is one instance of the battles a recruit participated in. Each instance gives the name of one battle in which the recruit participated. These follow no chronological order. The variable milcact4 is an instance of military court action taken against a recruit. There are five categories of military action found in this variable, furlough, desertion, AWOL, arrest, missing, MIA, and these codes can be found in the related documentation and table. The numerical suffixes follow no chronological order.
Suffixes for CEN data set variables relate to the U.S. Federal Census from which they were collected. The variable recarm_1 indicates the recruit's army veteran status in the 1910 Federal Census. It specifies whether the veteran served in the Union or Confederate Army. The numerical suffix on the end of this variable refers to the census year that the data comes from. In this case, the 1 represents 1910.
We collected information from the original sources knowing that the information was not complete. The records were created for an administrative cause to support the soldier's application for a pension. The records are not an exhaustive source for all topics. We collect the information that is there, but much information for a given soldier might not be included in these records. An example is the battle variable. The CMSR, Pension, and CMR might only list the battle a soldier was wounded in. He might have participated in many battles, but he is not claiming a disability related to those events which are, therefore, not mentioned in the pension record. Other sources, such as regimental histories, the Official Record, or Dyer's Compendium, give a complete list of actions for every Union regiment.
4. User Guide Table
| Variable Label | Variable Name | Data-Set | Source |
| battle01 - battle10 | Battles recruit participated in | MIL | PEN: Pension Application War Department Record CMSR: Muster Roll Card Company Descriptive Book CMR: Carded Medical Record |
| batldt01 - batldt10 | Battle date | MIL | PEN: Pension Application War Department Record CMSR: Muster Roll Card Company Descriptive Book |
| batdqc01 - batdqc10 | Quality code for battle date | MIL | Military Quality Codes |
| milcact1 - milcact5 | Military court action taken | MIL | PEN: Letter, Affidavit War Department Record CMSR: Muster Roll Card Letter |
| milcfdt1 - milcfdt5 | Beginning date for military court action | MIL | PEN: Letter, Affidavit War Department Record CMSR: Muster Roll Card Letter |
| milcfqc1 - milcfqc5 | Quality code for beginning date for military court action | MIL | Military Quality Codes |
| milctdt1 - milctdt5 | Ending date for military court action | MIL | PEN: Letters, Affidavit War Department Record CMSR: Muster Roll Card Letter |
| milctqc1 - milctqc5 | Quality code for ending date for military court action | MIL | Military Quality Codes |
| milcplc1 - milcplc5 | Military court action- place action taken | MIL | PEN: Letter, Affidavit War Department Record CMSR: Muster Roll Card Letter |
| milcrsn1 - milcrsn5 | Military court action- reason for action | MIL | PEN: Letter, Affidavit War Department Record CMSR: Muster Roll Card Letter |
| milcleg1 - milcleg5 | Military legal action | MIL | PEN: Letter, Affidavit War Department Record CMSR: Muster Roll Card Letter |
| milduty1 - milduty6 | Military duties | MIL | CMSR: Muster Roll Card Returns |
| mildfdt1 - mildfdt6 | Beginning date of military duty | MIL | CMSR: Muster Roll Card Returns |
| mildfqc1 - mildfqc6 | Quality code for beginning date of military duty | MIL | Military Quality Codes |
| mildtdt1 - mildtdt6 | Ending date of military duty | MIL | CMSR: Muster Roll Card Returns |
| mildtqc1 - mildtqc6 | Quality code for ending date of military duty | MIL | Military Quality Codes |
| captrdt1 - captrdt2 | POW capture date | MIL | CMSR: Prisner of War Record Muster Roll Card |
| capdtqc1 - capdtqc2 | Quality code for POW capture date | MIL | Military Quality Codes |
| captrpl1 - captrpl2 | POW capture place | MIL | CMSR: Prisner of War Record Muster Roll Card |
| captrst1 - captrst2 | POW capture state | MIL | CMSR: Prisner of War Record Muster Roll Card |
| capplqc1 - capplqc2 | Quality code for POW capture place and state | MIL | Military Quality Codes |
| confndt1 - confndt2 | POW confinement date | MIL | CMSR: Prisner of War Record Muster Roll Card |
| condtqc1 - condtqc2 | Quality code for POW confinement date | MIL | Military Quality Codes |
| confnpl1 - confnpl2 | POW confinement place | MIL | CMSR: Prisner of War Record Muster Roll Card |
| confnst1 - confnst2 | POW confinement state | MIL | CMSR: Prisoner of War Record Muster Roll Card |
| conplqc1 - conplqc2 | Quality code for POW confinement place and state | MIL | Military Quality Codes |
| paroldt1 - paroldt2 | POW parole date | MIL | CMSR: Prisner of War Record Muster Roll Card |
| pardtqc1 -pardtqc2 | Quality code for POW parole date | MIL | Military Quality Codes |
| parolpl1 - parolpl2 | POW parole place | MIL | CMSR: Prisner of War Record Muster Roll Card |
| parolst1 -parolst2 | POW parole state | MIL | CMSR: Prisner of War Record Muster Roll Card |
| parplqc1 - parplqc2 | Quality code for POW parole place and state | MIL | Military Quality Codes |
| powrslt1 -powrslt2 | POW results | MIL | CMSR: Prisner of War Record Muster Roll Card |
| initrank | Initial rank | MIL | CMSR: Muster Roll Card Volunteer Enlistment Form Muster and Descriptive Roll Card |
| initcomp | Initial company | MIL | CMSR: Muster Roll Card Volunteer Enlistment Form Muster and Descriptive Roll Card |
| initreg | Initial regiment | MIL | CMSR: Muster Roll Card Volunteer Enlistment Form Muster and Descriptive Roll Card |
| initstat | Initial state of enlistment | MIL | CMSR: Muster Roll Card Volunteer Enlistment Form Muster and Descriptive Roll Card |
| initdesc | Initial service description | MIL | CMSR: Muster Roll Card Volunteer Enlistment Form Muster and Descriptive Roll Card |
| chgrank1 - chgrank7 | Change in rank | MIL | CMSR: Muster Roll Card Muster and Descriptive Roll Card |
| chgcomp1 - chgcomp7 | Change in company | MIL | CMSR: Muster Roll Card Muster and Descriptive Roll Card |
| chgreg1 - chgreg7 | Change in regiment | MIL | CMSR: Muster Roll Card Muster and Descriptive Roll Card |
| chgstat1 - chgstat7 | Change in state | MIL | CMSR: Muster Roll Card Muster and Descriptive Roll Card |
| chgdt1 -chgdt7 | Date of change of service | MIL | CMSR: Muster Roll Card Returns |
| chgqc1 - chgqc7 | Quality code for date of change of duty | MIL | Military Quality Codes |
| chgdesc1 - chgdesc7 | Change in military status description | MIL | CMSR: Muster Roll Card Muster and Descriptive Roll Card |
| a_mlrnk | Military Rank | DIS | Surgeons' Certificate |
| a_mlcmp | Military Company | DIS | Surgeons' Certificate |
| a_mlrgt | Military Regiment | DIS | Surgeons' Certificate |
| a_mlsta | Military State | DIS | Surgeons' Certificate |
| a_mldsc | Military Description | DIS | Surgeons' Certificate |
| a_milqc | Quality Code for Military Information | DIS | Surgeons' Certificate |
| recarm, harm | Recruit/Household member veteran of Union or Confederate Army (1910) | CEN | U.S. Federal Census (1910) |
| recnav, hnav | Recruit/Household member veteran of Union or Confederate Navy (1910) | CEN | U.S. Federal Census (1910) |
| recvet, hvet | Whether recruit is a veteran of U.S. miltary or naval forces (1930) | CEN | U.S. Federal Census (1930) |
| recwar, hwar | What war the recruit served in (1930) | CEN | U.S. Federal Census (1930) |