|
Humanities and Social Sciences Library > Collections > Manuscripts > Soldiers Database The Application Process and Recordkeeping Practices, 1862-1865A person seeking information about a soldier or other person wrote, telegrammed or personally visited one of the Hospital Directory offices in Washington, New York, Philadelphia or Louisville. They might also visit a local USSC branch office, which would forward their inquiry to the Hospital Directory1. This was called an application or an inquiry. The office staff checked their hospital directory, and in many cases could immediately supply information about a soldier. If they could not, or if the answer required a written response, details of the inquiry were entered in a journal of applications in the order received. The following information was recorded: the date of application, the applicant's name and address, the name, regiment and company of the soldier, and a brief summary of the soldier's most recently known location and/or condition. This information was also entered in the office's formal register of applications, along with the date of entry, and assigned the next consecutive number. That number was used to track communications regarding the inquiry. The registers also contained room to record the status of a case. Each Hospital Directory office maintained its own register. Journals
are not present for all offices; either they did not survive, or staff
entered information directly into the registers. (Washington's
earliest journal for 1862 is part of a larger record book.) The Washington,
Louisville and Philadelphia offices assigned numbers, the New York
office did not, using only chronological entry. Each office entered
inquiries from other offices into their own registers. When the Washington
office received an inquiry from another office, it entered the inquiry
in its own register and used the Washington number for its own correspondence. The Sanitary Commission used its own printed inquiry form for correspondence with the soldier's regimental officer or surgeon, filled in with the information obtained from the applicant. The bottom half provided space for response from the regiment. The Directory offices used the identical form, carrying their own letterhead. The form did not identify who was making the inquiry, except in certain circumstances. The office application number was written on top. Forms and correspondence were often additionally docketed on the verso with application number, and soldier name, rank and company for filing purposes. The Washington office filed its documents in numerical order. Depending on circumstances, the Directory might also contact other military or government offices. When the Hospital Directory was able to respond to the applicant with news, or to notify them that nothing further could be learned, that response was briefly noted in the register of applications under the appropriate number. Keep in mind that an office might receive more than one inquiry concerning a soldier over the course of a year or years, and those inquiries would carry different numbers. The recordkeeping system described above was finalized in early 1863. In the Washington office's early months, only chronological entries were made; its inquiries were not numbered. In the post-war months of Washington office operations, it maintained numerical entry; but its files also contain a small amount of un-numbered letters of inquiry of similar date which were not recorded in registers, even though some did inquire as to the location of soldiers. In the first year of its operation, Hospital Directory offices corresponded directly with the government, medical and regimental authorities, but inquiries from multiple persons and multiple offices concerning the same soldier soon led to changes to avoid unnecessary work and confusion. In 1864, the AGO required that all inquiries to their office be issued by the Washington Hospital Directory in its role as Central Office, attaching the original letter of inquiry as proof of the applicant's identity. In 1864 files containing only forms submitted to the regimental officer, the letter of inquiry is often found attached. In the final months of the Directory's operations, the AGO did not return the USSC form and letter of inquiry, using its own printed forms for response.
|