Dec. 1866, with gaps; and endorsements on letters received, July 1865Feb. 1866, and Aug.-Dec. 1866. Other records include oaths of allegiance to the Union and bonds to be forfeited if the signer should aid the Confederacy, 1861-65 (maintained by the provost marshal); correspondence of the blanks and records office, 1865-67; correspondence of the judge advocate's office, 1865-66; and a series of miscellaneous letters and reports received, 1862-67, at the several headquarters of the Department of the Tennessee, the Military Division of the Tennessee, the Department of the Cumberland, the District of East Tennessee, the District of Middle Tennessee, and the District of West Tennessee. "Special Index for the Principal Armies, Army Corps, Military Divisions and Departments," in Official Records. . . Armies: General Index (Serial 130), p. xliii-xlvii; Raphael P. Thian, Notes Illustrating the Military Geography of the United States (Washington, 1881); Frederick Phisterer, Statistical Record of the Armies of the United States (New York, 1884); Record Group 94. --Not all documents printed in Official Records were restored to the files from which they had been removed. The miscellaneous records of military commands withdrawn for the use of the War Records Office and not returned include some of the Middle Military Division, the Military Division of the Mississippi, the Military Division of West Mississippi, the Department of Arkansas, the Department of the Gulf, the Department of Kansas, the Middle Department, the Department of the Mississippi, the Department of the Missouri, the Department of New Mexico, the Department of the Northwest, the Department of Ohio, the Department and Army of the Tennessee, the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, the Department of Washington, the Department and Army of West Virginia, the Army of Georgia, the Army of Kentucky, and the Army of the Potomac. ARMY CORPS By sec. 9 of an act of July 17, 1862 (12 Stat. 598), Congress authorized President Lincoln "to establish and organize army corps at his discretion," and eventually 25 corps were in service during the Civil War. Sources of information for the histories of the First to the Twenty-fifth Army Corps of the Civil War period are in general the same as the sources, cited above, for information on the territorial commands. Actually, however, more than 25 organizations are involved, for reactivations of corps under numerical designations borne previously by discontinued or reassigned corps amounted to the creation of entirely new organizations. Each corps operated within one of the armies or a geographical department. The observations in the discussion of territorial commands and armies, above, with respect to the advantage to effective research of a good deal of knowledge about command structure and assignment changes, are equally applicable in using the corps records. As in the case of the territorial commands and armies, again, corps documents of campaign significance were extensively printed in Official Records . . . Armies, but the great mass of corps records, partic ularly relating to administrative and logistical matters, was not published. Record Groups 94, 98. --The records of the corps themselves, described below, are best understood when used in conjunction with records relating to the corps in the records of the Adjutant General's Office (Record Group 94). The Adjutant General's document files of correspondence received and letter books of outgoing correspondence are especially valuable for research in matters of corps administration. The series of "Historical and Statistical Records of the Principal Military Commands in the Union and Confederate Armies"--prepared after the war--contains some information on corps tactical formations; and a 1-volume record of "Organization and Commands of Army Corps" gives the names of commanders, arranged chronologically by period of service under corps, and contains newspaper clippings (1892-93) relating to the histories of some of the corps. (Many other records relating to the 25 corps are noted elsewhere in this Guide, but some of these may be mentioned briefly here. In Record Group 77 there is a list, compiled in the Engineer Bureau, of commanders of corps and other elements of the Armies of the Potomac and the James. Records of the Surgeon General's Office in Record Group 112 include pamphlets listing medical officers serving with the 25 corps. The printed general, special, and other orders of these corps are most readily available in the Adjutant General's collection of orders, dating from 1797, in Record Group 94.) The records of the First to the Twenty-fifth Army Corps and those of the geographical departments are not entirely distinguishable because in certain instances the command of a corps was identical with that of a department. The records of each corps consist of the files of correspondence, orders, circulars, and other papers kept at corps headquarters and of similar division and brigade records. The division and brigade records are often imperfect, incomplete, or missing for some periods owing to the fact that the troops assigned were scattered in the various districts, subdistricts, and posts of the geographical area within which the corps operated. The researcher wishing to examine the records of any corps will do well to examine first the book index (compiled in the Adjutant General's Office) of the records of that corps. Each such index is prefaced by a list of successive commanders, a general statement about the corps records, and the facts about its history that are important to an understanding of its records. In each index the list of the records of the corps headquarters (general correspondence, orders, and records of the corps staff) is followed by lists of division and brigade records and, if applicable, of detachment, expedition, and post records. The extant records of 17 of the corps are divided between Record Groups 94 and 98; those of 6 of the corps appear to be entirely in Record Group 98, intact as corps records; and those of 2 of the corps are intermingled with the records of other commands in Record Group 98. The table on the next page shows the quantity of corps records in Record Group 98, states whether a book index of the records is available, notes the existence of other corps records in Record Group 94, and explains why the records of 2 of the 25 corps are not in the main corps collection. *In Record Group 94 are reports, letters, telegrams, **Although not in the main corps collection, the rec- *** Although not in the main corps collection, the rec- As in the case of the territorial commands and armies the corps records in themselves must be distinguished by the researcher from the records relating to the corps that are in the files of superior commands and of the bureaus of the War Department. Since the document files kept by the Second Corps (see table above) are among the largest, the subjects to which they pertain may be mentioned to suggest the kinds of materials the searcher is likely to encounter. Aside from the usual circulars, orders, passes, and certificates, these Second Corps documents pertain to matters such as recruiting, deserters and stragglers, burials, prisoners, sutlers, the Pioneer Corps, loss and capture of arms and colors, "citizen" teamsters and other employees, the Ambulance Corps, and "organization, reorganization & consolidation." REGULAR ARMY REGIMENTS At the outbreak of the Civil War the Regular Army consisted of the 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th regiments of artillery, formed under an act of Mar. 2, 1821 (3 Stat. 615), the 1st and 2d regiments of dragoons, organized under acts of May 23, 1836 (5 Stat. 33), and Apr. 4, 1844 (5 Stat. 654); the regiment of mounted riflemen organized under an act of May 19, 1846 (9 Stat. 13); the 1st and 2d regiments of cavalry, organized under sec. 8 of an act of Mar. 3, 1855 (10 Stat. 639); the 1st to the 7th regiments of infantry, organized under an act of Mar. 3, 1815 (3 Stat. 224), and the act of Mar. 2, 1821, cited above; the 8th regiment of infantry, organized under an act of July 5, 1838 (5 Stat. 256); and the 9th and 10th regiments of infantry, organized under sec. 8 of the act of Mar. 3, 1855, cited above. This Army establishment was increased in the first year of the war by the formation of the 5th regiment of artillery under an act of July 12, 1861 (12 Stat. 269); the organization of 6 cavalry regiments, under an act of Aug. 3, 1861 (12 Stat. 289), by redesignating regiments of dragoons, riflemen, and cavalry previously authorized and by consolidating them into the Cavalry Corps; and the organization of the 11th to the 19th regiments of infantry under an act of July 29, 1861 (12 Stat. 279). Each artillery regiment consisted usually of 8 or 12 batteries; each cavalry regiment consisted of 3 battalions (each battalion with 2 squadrons and each squadron with 2 companies); and each infantry regiment consisted of 2 or more battalions, with 8 companies to the battalion. Record Group 98. --The regimental records in this record group are those actually kept by organizations in the field, and are to be distinguished from those relating to regiments kept in the Adjutant General's Office and elsewhere in the War Department and described accordingly in this Guide. The Revised United States Army Regulations of 1861, issued in 1863, defined the books for each regiment to be the regimental order book, to contain regimental orders, with an index; the letter book, to contain the correspondence of the commanding officer on regimental subjects, with an index; an "index of letters required to be kept on file"; and the descriptive book, to contain a "list of the officers of the regiment, with their rank, and dates of appointment, and promotions; transfers, leaves of absence, and places and dates of birth; . . . [and] the names of all enlisted soldiers, entered according to priority of enlistments, giving their description, the dates and periods of their enlistment; and, under the head of remarks, the cause of discharge, character, death, desertion, transfer, actions in which engaged, &c.; in short, every thing relating to their military history." Each company kept a descriptive book, a clothing book, an order book, and a morning report book. "One page of the [company] descriptive book will be appropriated to the list of officers; two to the non-commissioned officers; two to the register of men transferred; four to register of men discharged; two to register of deaths; four to register of deserters--the rest to the company descriptive list." For the Civil War period these regimental records are in series of "record books," ca. 1858-70, and series of "document files" of correspondence and other papers, 1860-1900. They consist essentially of materials of the character required by the regulations summarized above. A list of regimental books, arranged by organization and giving brief descriptive titles, dates, and volume numbers, is available. VOLUNTEER REGIMENTS Official Army registers of the volunteer forces for the period of the Civil War were published by order of the Secretary of War, in compliance with a joint resolution of the Senate and the House of Representatives, Mar. 2, 1865 (13 Stat. 570). These give names of regiments, short historical accounts of their organization, names of officers, and lists of casualties. Vols. 1-7 are arranged by State. Vol. 8 contains sections on the Territories, Veteran Reserve Corps, U. S. Veteran Volunteers (First Army Corps), U. S. Volunteers, and U. S. Colored Troops. There is an index to battles and names in each volume. Official Army Register of the Volunteer Force of the United States Army for the Years 1861, 62, 63, 64, '65 (Washington, 1865-67. 8 vols.). Manuscript lists supplementing the registers are in the files of the Commission Branch, Adjutant General's Office, as noted under that Office. Record Group 94. --The records of the volunteer regiments consist of "book records" (ca. 1,600 ft.)--regimental descriptive books, letter books, order books, and clothing books; company descriptive books and order books; and regimental consolidated morning report books and company morning report books. For many regiments not all of these kinds of books will be found; but some of them are available for most regiments. In the case of a few regiments all of the "book records" are bound in one volume. The typical contents of the various "books" are as follows: Regimental descriptive book: Rosters of commissioned officers for different dates; lists of commissioned officers by rank, with remarks; lists of noncommissioned staff officers; list of promoted officers showing rank and date of promotion; list of officers transferred from and to the regiment showing rank and date of transfer; list of officers resigned showing rank and date of resignation; lists of deaths of officers showing rank and date of death; and alphabetical list of enlisted men and noncommissioned officers, with personal data and remarks. Regimental letter book: Index of letters sent (alphabetical by addressee); copies of letters sent, arranged chronologically; letters received, arranged alphabetically and chronologically; and endorsements (sometimes entered in a separate volume called the endorsement book). Regimental order book: General orders, special orders, and courtmartial orders, sometimes including circulars and requisitions for men for sentry and other duty. Clothing book: Clothing accounts with noncommissioned officers and enlisted men, giving only the date of issue, value, and when the account was |