Civil War 'Official Records' Offer A Wealth Of Information

As genealogy researchers, we want our reports to be factual, but not stiff and boring. A family narrative should show some feeling for the experiences of an ancestor.

But we also need to avoid passionate, undocumented rhetoric, especially when an ancestor lived during a controversial time such as the Civil War. That's why we need to carefully research the period. A good family history is one that melds specific information about an ancestor with general information about the conditions, attitudes and experiences of his fellow soldiers.

A publication that any serious Civil War period researcher must use is the "The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies." That publication, commonly referred to as the "Official Records," includes hundreds of first-hand accounts of battles and correspondence between leaders on the Confederate and Union sides.

Those reports fill 127 volumes, grouped into four series on military operations, prisoners of war, and reports and correspondence. Regiment commanders wrote to headquarters after each major battle, detailing where their troops marched and fought. Reading the reports is as close to being there as we can get.

The "Official Records" can be used two ways. First, you can do a direct, straightforward search for your ancestor's name in the index to see whether he rated mention in his commanders' official accounts. Secondly, read all accounts of a specific time and place to piece together the conditions your ancestors faced as they fought, marched and camped with fellow soldiers.

Surname searches in the "Official Records" will not net results for most soldiers who fought in the war. Individuals usually were mentioned only if they did something heroic or dastardly. Reports that name individual soldiers or citizens usually give details you won't find in any other records.

Such was the search in which I found Stephen Horsey, a member of the Order of American Knights. That was a Northern group sympathetic to the Southern cause.

The Knights' goal was to free Southern prisoners from Union prisons.

The Official Records gave details of Horsey's court-martial, including his sentencing that directed he "be hanged by the neck until he be dead on Friday, the 19th day of May, 1865, between the hours of 12 a.m. and 3 p.m., on the parade grounds between Camp Morton and Burnside Barracks, near the city of Indianapolis."

Before Horsey's day of retribution, President Andrew Johnson commuted his sentence to life in prison. Johnson directed a "remission of the sentence" and released Horsey from prison in April 1866.

Unfortunately, there was no explanation for that change in sentence. Every discovery carries more questions and requires more research.

After you look for your ancestors by name, it is time to search for your ancestor's regiment and its commanders. It helps to know that the basic structure and hierarchy of the Civil War military extended from a company to a regiment, brigade, and division.

My great-grandfather Joseph Tate fought with Company C, 23rd Georgia Infantry Regiment, Colquitt's Brigade and Hoke's Division. I looked for him by name in the Official Records but apparently he did nothing either heroic or horrible and was never recognized or called to task.

By looking for the "23rd Georgia," "Colquitt's Brigade" and "Hoke's Division" I found much information about the battles in which I think he fought. I read reports from the commanders, not only of the 23rd Georgia Regiment but also of other regiments which fought in the same battles. I then was able to put together a report of what life was like for soldiers in that regiment during the Civil War.

Meanwhile, the official records also can yield treasures about ancestors who weren't in the military. Officers' reports sometimes gave names of families on whose land they camped and foraged or the names of citizens with whom they interacted while traveling.

A typical informative report was written by Maj. George Mueller, Company A, Fifth Cavalry Regiment, Missouri State Militia, about incidents on the Big Piney River in Missouri: "This mill has always been reported to be a favorite resort of the bushwhackers. I learned that a daughter of Mrs. Rodgers and Miss Nannie George, a girl who is residing with Mrs. Rodgers, have been for some time engaged in carrying food to the brush to guerrillas, and arrested them and brought them to this post. I also learned that the following persons are constantly engaged in feeding and harboring bushwhackers . . . and he provided a list of individuals with locations of their homes.

"There is evidence to show that all these persons are aiding guerrillas in every possible way. I learned also that the bushwhackers are getting their horseshoeing done at the shops of Mill Numbers 1 and Colonel Ormsby's."

Tackling the Official Records is not for the faint of heart. Researchers must pursue trails that meander through multiple volumes, in formats far different from traditional genealogical research. But accounts such as those of Horsey and the Missouri bushwackers are worth the quest.

Those of you who enjoy being able to turn pages as you read can find that publication at most major libraries. If you're more at home in front of a computer screen, several Internet sites offer the Official Records. My favorite is http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/sources /records. It is a free site, as is http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/ moa/browse.monographs/ waro.html. Ancestry.com also recently added the records to their Web site at www.ancestry .com, but a subscription is necessary to access them.

You may want to purchase a copy of "A User's Guide to the Official Records of the American Civil War," by Alan C. and Barbara A. Aimone.

Today's article is the last in a four-part series about researching Civil War ancestors. If you've missed any, check the archives at www2.tbo.com/ content/list/life/genealogy.