NARA & Tom Reed

Some of my students have asked me about finding military service records. Sometimes, that is not an easy thing to do. First, if it is WWII you are looking for, good luck! Depending on who you believe either many were destroyed in a fire or the place is such a mess they cannot find anything. All I know is that when I contacted the St. Louis office for my father’s WWII records they said they had been destroyed and asked me to send what I knew!

So where do you go for records? The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/other-methods.html


If you follow the link you will be at a page where you can seek access to military records. You can visit in person, request records via mail or online.
(NARA Photo)

There is no guarantee they will find anything but it is the first place to go. I have requested both HCR & JRL’s records. We will see what I get. Lincoln’s Civil War records will be the hardest to get my hands on because he served in the Confederate army. His career after the war will be easier. Robinett was in the regular Army so there is a good chance they have them; maybe even his court martial records. Court martial? Yes, I have no primary source evidence yet but there is some evidence that he was. We will see.

I also talked to Tom Reed author of Untying the Political Knot: Delaware during the War Between the States. Tom is a professor of law at the Widener Law School.

We had a nice chat about DMA and I look forward to meeting him in the future to continue our discussions.

(Photo from Widener U)

More good news. Today I ordered the ORs. What are they? Well, their formal title is: THE WAR OF THE REBELLION: A COMPILATION OF THE OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE UNION AND CONFEDERATE ARMIES PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR, BY BVT. LIEUT. COL. ROBERT N. SCOTT, THIRD U.S. ARTILLERY AND PUBLISHED PURSUANT TO ACT OF CONGRESSA PPROVED JUNE 16, 1880. Published from 1880-1891.

ORs for short. As wikipedia says (yes, there is a time and place for Wiki, just not in yoru research!) 'They include selected first-hand accounts, orders, reports, maps, diagrams, and correspondence drawn from War and Navy Department records of both Confederate and Union governments."

(photo from Amazon.com)


"As finally published, the records consist of 138,579 pages with 1,006 maps and diagrams assembled in 128 books, organized as 70 volumes grouped in four series" That's a lot to print! I have it coming to me on a search ble CD. These records are not perfect, not completely accurate but they are an excellent start and quite fascinating to read. You just have to remember they were written by the folks who were there and their particular slant may not be the true account. They aren't cheap but vital to doing civil war research. You can also find them on line at: http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/browse.monographs/waro.html But they are not the easiest document to use online.


That's it for now. I have started reading some of Robinette's letters, quite interesting. Today I read one he sent to his father in 1857 reporting on his grades and conduct. He stated his grades were good and his conduct perfect. At the bottom is a not from COL Hyatt indicating that young Harry was correct in is assessment.


Keep History Alive
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