surgeons and assistant surgeons served with the blockading squadrons, though there were none on some of the smaller vessels. Others served at navy yards and on receiving ships. Medical officers were also assigned to naval examining and retiring boards. At New York a surgeon had charge of the laboratory that provided medical kits for naval vessels. Successive Chiefs of the Bureau during the war period: Surgeon William Whelan, Oct. 1, 1853. Surgeon Phineas J. Horwitz, June 12, 1865. The wartime reports of the Bureau were published each year with the Secretary of the Navy's Record Group 52. --The correspondence files of the Bureau, 1861-65, are part of a series of bound volumes, 1842-86. Both letters sent and letters received are arranged chronologically and include correspondence of medical officers, ashore and afloat, with officials of the Navy Department, Navy agents, naval storekeepers, and others. The letters relate to all the business of the Bureau, including the procurement and distribution of medical stores and equipment for ships, dispensaries, and hospitals; medical surveys; pensions; the appointment of medical officers, surgeon's stewards, apothecaries, and civil employees; admissions to the Government Hospital for the Insane; and the preparation and submission of periodic and special reports. Each volume is indexed by name, and there is a partial register for the letters received. Several extensive series of records prepared in the field and sent to the Bureau for review and filing contain information on the medical history of naval personnel. Medical journals of shore stations and of ships contain information on sick and injured personnel (including the diagnosis and treatment of each case) and statistics. Abstracts of patients received from other naval shore establishments list the names of persons admitted to the sick list, with the nature of each man's disease or injury. A file of "hospital tickets" and case papers contains letters to hospitals requesting the admission of patients and papers concerning the treatment and disposition of the cases. Since the foregoing records are arranged by station or other establishment, it is easier to find records concerning individuals if their stations are known. The stations can be ascertained from some of the records described in the paragraph below. Compilations of medical certificates and casualty lists provide further information on individuals. In one extensive series are certificates of medical examinations of naval and marine corps men, and in supplementary series are certificates of death, disability, pension, and medical survey examination. An alphabetical index helps in finding certificates for individuals, and the information on the certificates is useful in searching in the records described in the paragraph above. For physical examinations by medical examiners at naval and marine recruiting stations and other centers, there is a separate series of certificates. Volumes of death lists include one for 1858-65, arranged by name of the deceased. Of two volumes of casualty lists, one, Apr. 1861-July 1865, is arranged chronologically but has a name index; and another, Apr. 1862-July 1870, is arranged alphabetically by name. Some personnel records give information on the naval service of surgeons and other medical personnel. The names of officers who served on ships and at stations are in a list of medical officers, arranged alphabetically by name of ship or station. Copies of orders and of requests for assignment are in chronologically arranged volumes; these are indexed by personal name and thus permit tracing the officers' successive assignments. Brief statements of the service of naval officers are in a volume covering 184273. Concerning acting medical officers there is a special compilation of statements of service, 1860-70. Articles of agreement and oaths of allegiance executed by surgeon's stewards, apothecaries, and nurses compose a series begun in 1861, when the enlistment of such personnel was sharply increased. A historical data file compiled by the Administrative History Section during World War II and consisting largely of typed or photostat extracts from printed materials relating to the history of naval medicine, longhand notes on data sheets, and departmental and other publications, contains some folders relating to the Civil War. Registers of patients that give the nature of disease or injury, personal information, and the disposition of the case are available for hospitals at the Naval Academy, the naval base at Key West, and the navy yards at New York, Norfolk, Philadelphia, Portsmouth, and Washington. National Archives, Preliminary Inventory [No. 61 of the Records of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, comp. by Kenneth F. Bartlett (Washington, 1948). A logbook of the Red Rover, Dec. 1862-Jan. 1865, is in the records of the Bureau of Navigation. Carded medical records of Navy and Marine Corps personnel are in the records of the Adjutant General's Office (Record Group 94). BUREAU OF NAVIGATION The Bureau of Navigation was established by the naval reorganization act of July 5, 1862, as the scientific bureau of the Navy Department. To it were transferred from the old Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography supervision of the Naval Observatory and Hydrographical Office, the Nautical Almanac Office, and the U. S. Naval Academy. Another training function, that of administering the naval apprentice system, was assigned to the Bureau on the revival of the system in 1864. Throughout the Civil War duties connected with officer personnel were handled by the Office of Detail (discussed below), and after 1862 enlisted personnel were under the supervision of the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting (see above). Navigation officers at navy yards acted as agents of the Bureau and had charge of the storage and issuance of instruments, apparatus, charts, nautical books, signal books, logbooks, library books, and other supplies. The Bureau was organized by James M. Gilliss, Superintendent of the Naval Observatory and Hydrographical Office. The name of the Bureau of Navigation was changed in 1942 to Bureau of Naval Personnel. Successive Chiefs of the Bureau during the war period: Lt. Comdr. James M. Gilliss (acting),July 1862. Henry P. Beers, "The Bureau of Navigation, 1862-1942," Ameri can Archivist, 6:212-252 (Oct. Record Group 24. --The Bureau of Navigation adopted for its correspondence files the system then used in other parts of the Navy Department. Outgoing letters were copied into bound letter books, and separate series of these were kept for different types of correspondents. The letters sent thus were divided into letters to the Secretary of the Navy and Navy Bureaus; to officers on ships; to officers commanding navy yards and stations; to navigation officers; to Navy agents, pay officers, and storekeepers; to officers of the engineer corps; to the Nautical Almanac Office; to the Naval Observatory; to and concerning the Naval Academy; letters sent concerning appointments as acting engineers; letters sent concerning naval apprentices; miscellaneous letters sent; and personal letters of the Chief of the Bureau. Most of the foregoing series begin in late July or early Aug. 1862. There are corresponding series of letters received. A single set of registers serves as an index to both letters sent and letters received Correspondence relating to the administration of the Naval Academy is in the regular files of the Bureau. Segregated files consist of correspondence on applicants for admission to the Academy, beginning in 1862, and correspondence on applicants for appointments as naval cadets at large, beginning in June 1863. As a result of the transfer of the Office of Detail to the supervision of the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation on Apr. 28, 1865, that official began signing routine orders to naval officers. Civil War and earlier records transferred at that time remained in the custody of the Bureau, since it acquired control of the personnel of the Navy. Records relating to officers for the Civil War period include commissions and warrants; abstracts of service records; Senate confirmations of appointments; certifications of age; proceedings and reports of examining boards for appointments and promotions in the Engineer Corps; letters sent transmitting appointments, accepting resignations, and embodying orders; testimonial letters concerning engineers; registers of officers of the Engineer Corps; reports from ships and stations on the conduct and efficiency of line and staff officers; reports on officers under instruction and for arrest on the U. S. S. Savannah, New York Navy Yard, Jan. 1863-Sept. 1864; and ship books containing complements and rosters of officers on vessels. There is also a chronological file of papers in jackets relating chiefly to naval cadets who failed in examinations, resigned, or were dismissed; the index to this file was retained by the Bureau. (Other records pertaining to officers are in the records of the Office of the Secretary of the Navy in Record Group 45 and in the records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General, Record Group 125.) An act of Aug. 14, 1888 (25 Stat. 442), authorized the issuance of certificates of discharge to certain enlisted men of the Navy and Marine Corps who had been charged with desertion during the Civil War. Applications for relief were to be filed within 5 years from the date of the act. An act of Apr. 14, 1890 (26 Stat. 55), authorized the issuance of certificates of discharge or orders or acceptance of resignation to persons who had enlisted under assumed names in the Army and the Navy during the Civil War and who had been honorably discharged. These laws resulted in applications for certificates of discharge, to which there is an index, 1890-94. Records were also kept of the certificates of discharge issued under each act. Muster rolls are a primary source of information about personnel; they contain entries concerning the receipt, transfer, and discharge, desertion, or death of crew members of ships or personnel of stations. Those for the period of the war are arranged alphabetically in a series, 1860-79. The rolls are missing or incomplete for some vessels, as it was not always possible to send them in regularly. A special file of muster rolls for May-July 1861 and Apr., May, and Oct. 1863 consists of rolls sent in by ships when they captured prize vessels; these rolls were to be used in the distribution of prizes. (Related records in the area file in Record Group 45 include a register of pilots who served with squadrons, a special register for the Mississippi River Squadron, and correspondence and orders; a list of vessels, with information on their acquisition, launching, commissioning, and disposal; and muster rolls.) U. S. Navy Department, Bureau of Naval Personnel, Medal of Honor, 1861-1949, the Navy (Washington, 1949). Other records relating to enlisted men and apprentices are described above under the section on the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting. The logs of naval vessels and stations--chronological records of occurrences--are of value not only for the vessels and stations concerned and actions in which they took part but also for information on the service of officers and men. The logs are frequently searched for evidence regarding claims, pensions, and other benefits. They are usually of less value for naval actions and expeditions than the more detailed reports submitted by the officers, but they should not be neglected. Logs for vessels of the Civil War period form part of a large series, 1801-1946. Specifically the logs, some of which are on printed forms, supply information on the vessel's speed, course, and direction; the force of the wind; weather, temperature, and barometer readings; the sighting of ships (sometimes with their names and nationality); the handling of the vessel; and incidents at ports visited. The logs also record the receipt and issuance of supplies. Manuscript finding aids include an alphabetical card index and an alphabetical list of logs for the war period. U. S. Navy Department, Office of Naval Records and Library, List of Log Books of U. S. Vessels 1861-1865 on File in the Navy Department (Office Memorandum No. 5; Washington, 1898). Neeser's Statistical and Chronological His tory gives (1:76-248) references to logbooks containing entries about naval actions and (2:318-458) references to logbooks containing entries about captures of prize vessels. Office of Detail The Office of Detail, established in 1861 in the Secretary's Office, was assigned to the Bureau of Navigation on Apr. 28, 1865. The detailing of officers, previously done by the Office of Detail, was thereafter done by the Chief of the Bureau. The Office of Detail was abolished, though the Bureau continued its functions, pursuant to General Order 372, June 25, 1889. Record Group 24. --Records of the Office of Detail among the records of the Bureau date from early May 1865 and contain material relating to demobilization activities. Earlier records of the Office of Detail, accumulated while it was attached to the Secretary's Office, were maintained by the Secretary's Office and were retained there in 1865. Except for some miscellaneous letters sent, the records of the Office of Detail consist of letters received, bound according to class of correspondent; from rear admirals, commodores, captains, and commanders; from officers commanding fleets and squadrons; from lieutenant commanders and other officers; from navy yards; and from miscellaneous correspondents. There is also a register of letters received. U. S. Naval Observatory and Hydrographical Office This office originated in 1830 as the Depot of Charts and Instruments and was attached from 1842 to 1862 to the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography; under the reorganization of 1862 it became a branch of the Bureau of Navigation. During the Civil War the Office functioned largely as a service agency for the purchase and care of charts and navigational instruments and for their distribution to the greatly expanded force of naval vessels. Its scientific work was perforce curtailed: the collection of meteorological data from merchant vessels was suspended, but astronomical observations were continued and data were prepared for publication. Comdr. Matthew Fontaine Maury resigned on Apr. 20, 1861, to join the Confederacy. Successive heads of the Office during the war period: Comdr. Matthew F. Maury, Dec. 14, 1854. Comdr. James M. Gilliss, Apr. 23, 1861. Rear Adm. Charles H. Davis, Apr. 28, 1865. Gustavus A. Weber, The Hydro- ties and Organization (Baltimore, graphic Office; Its History, Activi 1926). Record Group 37. --Records of the Hydrographic Office contain several series of letters sent that were taken over in 1862 from the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography; these include letters to the Secretary of the Navy and to bureau heads, to the Depot of Charts and Instruments, to commandants of navy yards and port captains, to Navy agents, to assistant inspectors of ordnance, to officers, and to miscellaneous correspondents. Most of these series extend to Feb. or Mar. 1863. Several binders contain letters received from Navy agents, the Nautical Almanac Office, and assistant inspectors of ordnance; these files end in Aug. 1862 and are registered. Maps of the war period among the records of the Hydrographic Office include a map of the naval depot at Mound City, produced by a Coast Survey party under F. H. Gerdes, who was attached to the Mississippi Squadron, 1863-64; a map of the Memphis Navy Yard; one of Carondelet City, prepared for the Western Navy Yard Commission; and one of the proposed site for a navy yard near Pittsburgh. (Related Civil War cartographic records include, in Record Group 38, maps of the approaches to Vicksburg and the Confederate defenses, maps of the Ohio River between Mound City and Cairo prepared by the party commanded by Gerdes, and sketches of the harbors of Charleston and Port Royal. Similar materials are in Record Group 23 and Record Group 77.) Record Group 45.--Letters received from the Secretary of the Navy, the Naval Academy, and miscellaneous sources, 1861-62 (the end of a series for Aug. 1842-July 1862), relating to hydrography, are in the Naval Records Collection of the Office of Naval Records and Library. A volume of abstracts of bills approved under appropriations for the Naval Observatory, the Nautical Almanac Office, and the Hydrographical Office includes a bit of material for 1861-62. |