Ellis Bickerstaff, Member of the Grand Army of the Republic

When I learned a few years ago that my great-great-grandfather Ellis H. Bickerstaff served in the Civil War (for 100 days during the summer of 1864), I wondered if he was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR).  I recently became aware that FamilySearch has Pennsylvania's Grand Army of the Republic Membership Records from 1865 through 1936.  I knew that in later years Ellis lived outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, so I decided to search the records.

There he was in Box 4, Image 109, Line 57.  Ellis often appeared as E. H. Bickerstaff in other records, too.
As I followed the line of information across the pages I knew this was my ancestor:  every piece of personal information in the record aligned with the information I'd already found from other sources.  (Click either image to view it larger in another screen.  Or go to the link just above the first image.)

Here is a transcription of the above record.

Number [on page].  57
Name.  E. H. Bickerstaff
Age.  30
Birthplace.  Steubenville, O.
Residence.       "     ["Homestead" is the location above the ditto marks.]
Occupation.  Carpenter
ENTRY INTO THE SERVICE
Date.  May 2 64
Rank.  Private
Co.  D
Regiment.  157 OV [Ohio Volunteer]
FINAL DISCHARGE
Date.  Sep 2 1864
Rank.  Private
Co.  D
Regiment.  157 O  [?]
Length of Service.  100 days
Cause of Discharge.  End of Term
Date of Muster into G.A.R.  July 29/82
When Honorably Discharged.  [blank]
When Suspended.  [blank]
When Dropped.  [blank]
When Dismissed  [blank]
When Reinstated.  [blank]
Nature of Wounds Received.  [blank]
When and in what Engagements Wounded.  [blank]
REMARKS
[Indecipherable due to darkened image.]

FamilySearch's Source Citation
"Pennsylvania, Grand Army of the Republic Membership Records, 1865-1936", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2SV-YKSC : accessed 23 April 2016), E H Bickerstaff, 1865-1936.

Notes
I was thrilled to find this record but I still have questions about the books in which the records are found.  I went to the beginning of the book to see if I could find more information about how it was organized, the dates within the book, the location of its creation (if narrower than simply Pennsylvania) but found little to help me be more accurate in my personal citation and record-keeping.  The wiki at this link gives more information but doesn't answer my questions.  I will have to dig deeper.

Ellis was 30 when this record was created.  Because I know his date of birth (April 11, 1840) from other sources I can calculate that this record was created after April 11, 1870 and before April 10, 1871.  (I was unable to find a date of creation on the record.)

When this record was created Ellis was living in Homestead, Pennsylvania, but that he had been living in Steubenville, Ohio.  Ellis and his family were enumerated in the 1870 U.S. Census in Steubenville so the move to Pennsylvania came after June or July, 1870, and before April 10, 1871.

Knowing that Ellis was a member of the GAR may help me find newspaper articles from the late 1800s and early 1900s noting his membership, which may lead to a photograph.  (We can always be hopeful.)

My thanks to Michael John Neill for his post Pennsylvania, Grand Army of the Republic Membership Records, 1865-1936 which alerted me to this record set.

--Nancy.

Copyright © 2016 Nancy Messier. All Rights Reserved.
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Coming to Terms with History - Musings on Ellis's Service in the Civil War

Ellis Bickerstaff, my great-great-grandfather, was a soldier in the 157th OVI.  During his hundred days of service during the summer of 1864 he served as a guard at Fort Delaware where prisoners of war were held.

Whenever we family historians research our families, we must realize that there may be some discoveries that place an ancestor's character and/or actions in a questionable, even unfavorable, light.  We never know what research will uncover....  Do we ever really know the truth of events in history when we weren't there, when only the actions and outcomes are recorded, and not necessarily objectively?

The Civil War was one of the bloodiest on American soil.  Emotions ran high.  Allegiances were sometimes lethal.  Wives lost husbands, mothers lost sons, brothers lost brothers:  so much sorrow, sadness, pain.  Homes, hearts, families, and lives were torn asunder, sometimes destroyed.  And for four long years neither side would give in.  Both thought themselves right in their beliefs.

Sometimes a soldier is placed in a situation in which he must follow orders and cannot choose his actions for himself....  But the soldiers of the 157th were given free rein with their actions toward the prisoners of war.  Fort Delaware was the most feared of the Union prison camps.  And Ellis's regiment, the 157th OVI, was the most hated of all who guarded there.

Ellis is not specifically mentioned in any of the memoirs I've read or singled out for inclusion in reports of activities of the regiment.  Some men were.  I'm thankful he wasn't.  There's no way to know all the details or gain a full, objective account of his time there telling exactly what he did, how he behaved.

Ellis was born in 1840.  He was 24 years old when he served.  He'd been married less than 3 years and had a 17-month old daughter when he left for the war.  A son was born that year, his wife pregnant or with a very young baby while he was gone.  When he enlisted he probably didn't know where he would be sent or what his duties would be.  Had he known would he have made a different choice?

I wasn't there at Fort Delaware.  I didn't see Ellis's actions.  I can't, I shouldn't judge....  Perhaps Ellis was a mild-mannered man who did only what was essential and performed no acts of violence against prisoners.  No matter how he behaved, when he came home from the war, what he saw could not be erased from the depths of his memory. 

I feel sorrow for the suffering experienced by the prisoners at Fort Delaware and for all who lived and died during the Civil War.  I feel sorrow for Ellis.  He was three times a husband and twice a widow.  He committed suicide in 1907.  We'll never know why but after learning about where he served in the War, I wonder if memories haunted him.

War is ugly.  War ruins lives.  Yet when people and nations cannot come to terms and make peace, sometimes war is the only way to preserve a standard, an ideal, a freedom.  The fact is, though, that not one of us can change history.  We can only come to terms with what we believe we know.  And until we learn specifics about an ancestor's behavior and actions, we don't really know much.  Because I am Ellis's great-great-granddaughter I want to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Probably more than anything else, the haunting melody of "Ashokan Farewell" speaks to me of the sorrow, misery, and loss of the Civil War.



Previous posts in this series
The Hundred-Days Men of the Civil War
Ellis and the 157th Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Fort Delaware Prison and the 157th Regiment OVI in the Civil War

--Nancy.

Fort Delaware Prison and the 157th Regiment OVI in the Civil War

Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island

Fort Delaware was (and still is) located on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River.  During the Civil War the fort became a prison for captured Confederate soldiers, convicted Union soldiers, and political prisoners.   It also became the site of my second great-grandfather Ellis Bickerstaff's Civil War service in the 157th Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

The fort was octagonal in shape and was guarded at four different levels:  around the edge of the island, around the area surrounding the barracks outside the walls of the fort, around the enclosure, and inside the prison.¹  During the course of the War, different regiments guarded the prison at different times.  As one might expect, experiences of guards were vastly different than experiences of prisoners.

One guard wrote,

We are located on an island in the Delaware River, about 10 miles above the bay, which contains 92 acres, in the center of which is built the Fort, built of granite.  The fort mounts 180 guns, which is manned by three artillery companies of 150 men each....  There is one hotel, a sutler store, an ice cream saloon and some private residences, our little town.

We occupy very nice quarters, white frame houses built close by the Fort, and have everything we could expect or wish.  The water we use is brought every morning from the Brandywine river, about 12 miles off, which is good and fresh.  In addition to this we have as much ice issued to us every day as we can use.  Our rations consists of fresh beef, pork, bread, coffee, sugar, molasses, rice, potatoes, beans, etc.  So you can see there is no danger of us starving....

The regiment enjoys very good health....  The sea breeze makes it cool and pleasant here of evenings, and we all sleep sound till the tap of the drum:  some to guard, some to reading and writing, and others to fishing.  We can sit on the bank and view Delaware City, one and a half miles from here, the nearest point of land, to us; and also see steam and sail vessels, ironclads, etc., and be fishing, catching catfish, perch, eels, etc., at the same time.  All the boys are well and in good cheer, except an occasional one who is homesick, or would not be satisfied in any place or situation in life, and therefore should have no account taken of him.²

This description was written in mid-June, 1864, when the soldier had been there just over a month.  Was this exactly accurate or was this a letter written home to comfort loved ones and give the impression of security and well-being, the actual situation improved upon by imagination?

Other descriptions of Fort Delaware tell of its loamy surface which was below sea level, surrounded by a dike to keep the river at bay.  After heavy rains the surface became a quagmire.  Canals traversed the island and supplied the only fresh water to prisoners for some years.  Eventually wooden barrels were placed to collect rain from the roof.  If rains were frequent, the water was fairly fresh; if infrequent, it became putrid and bug-infested.  Barracks were built of rough pine and offered little protection from summer's insects and winter's cold.  Other aspects of the prison gave rise to the following description: 

No other northern prison was as dreaded by the South [as Fort Delaware].  By 1863 Fort Delaware had gained a reputation among Confederate soldiers as a place of cruelty.  It was often referred to as "that 'lowermost Hell' of human hells" and, because it engendered one of the highest mortality rates of any Civil War prison, its inmates called it "The Fort Delaware Death Pen."  The news of being sent there often caused "faces to grow white" and "hands to clench" in fear.³

Details of cruelty at Fort Delaware can be found throughout Lonnie R. Speer's Portals to Hell, where the author cites remembrances of inmates there.  For me, the worst sentence in the book is, "The [157th] Ohio regiment became the most hated by the prisoners."⁴

Every descendant of a Civil War soldier wishes to read details of honor and heroism, if not of the individual, at least of the regiment in which the ancestor served.  To read that my great-great-grandfather served in the most hated Union prison in the most hated regiment makes my heart hurt.


Sources
1.  Speer, Lonnie R., Portals to Hell:  Military Prisons of the Civil War, (Mechanicsburg,
     PA, Stackpole Books, 1997), 44.
2.  Leeke, Jim, ed, A Hundred Days to Richmond:  Ohio's "Hundred Days" Men in the
     Civil War, (Bloomington, IN, Indiana University Press, 1999), 63-64.
3.  Portals to Hell, 193.
4.  Ibid., 144.

Other posts in this series
The Hundred-Days Men of the Civil War
Ellis and the 157th Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Coming to Terms with History - Musings on Ellis's Service in the Civil War

--Nancy.
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Ellis & the 157th Ohio Volunteer Infantry - Military Monday

Ellis Bickerstaff (or Biggerstaff as his name was recorded), of Steubenville, Jefferson County, Ohio, was a member Company D of the 157th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry (157th OVI) during the Civil War.  He was one of the Hundred Days Men, enlisted for 100 days' time over the spring and summer of 1864.

According to his Civil War Service Records, Ellis entered military service on May 2, 1864, in Steubenville.  Most information about the regiment gives the mustering in date as May 15th and the location as Camp Chase, Franklin County, Ohio.  The 157th was composed of soldiers from both Jefferson and Carroll Counties, some who had enlisted in the fledgling Ohio National Guard.  The soldiers were under the command of Colonel George W. McCook.

Fort Delaware by Seth Eastman

From Camp Chase they were sent to Baltimore, Maryland, where they reported to General Lew Wallace and were put under the command of General Erastus B. Tyler.  They remained there several weeks for training and were then transferred by the U.S. War Department to Fort Delaware where the Regiment performed guard duty over the prisoners held there.

At the end of their hundred days of service, all soldiers of the 157th OVI companies except those in Company C returned to Camp Chase and were mustered out on September 2. 

Ellis served in Company D with two of his brothers.  Augustine was about nine years his senior and William N. was about two years younger.  Ellis was 24.  Other Bickerstaff/Biggerstaff men included Rezin P. and Samuel, probably cousins of the three brothers.

When I first read overviews describing the 157th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry I honestly didn't give too much thought to exactly what Ellis's duties were.  I was just grateful that he had remained off the field and was in less danger of being killed or maimed.  Little did I know.  The next post is this series will be about Camp Delaware.

Other posts in this series
The Hundred-Days Men of the Civil War
Fort Delaware Prison and the 157th Regiment OVI in the Civil War
Coming to Terms with History - Musings on Ellis's Service in the Civil War



Sources:
Civil War Index:  157th Ohio Regiment Infantry
Civil War Archive: 157th Regiment Infantry
Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1866, Volume 9, by Ohio Roster Commission (Joseph B. Foraker, Governor, James S. Robinson, Sec'y of State and H. A. Axline, Adjutant-General), 1886
Union Garrison Units at Fort Delaware

--Nancy.
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The Hundred-Days Men of the Civil War - Military Monday

My great-grandfather, Ellis Bickerstaff, served in the Civil War from May 2 to September 2, 1864, in the 157th Ohio Company D.  I wondered at his short service and decided to learn more.  It turns out that he was one of the Hundred-days Men. 

Ohio Governor John Brough

As the Civil War continued to rage during the early months of 1864, there was no clear victory for either side.  And yet victory seemed within reach of the Northern armies:  there had been some encouraging successes.  With this view, Ohio governor John Brough (pronounced Bruff) proposed to President Abraham Lincoln that regiments be formed with men who would serve for 100 days.  Short-term enlistments were not uncommon at the beginning of the war and during special emergencies.  Men enlisted for three months might be just what the Union needed to overcome the last hurdles to victory.

Brough proposed that members of the state militia, which had recently become known as the National Guard, would guard Northern bridges, railroads, and forts, thereby relieving the trained soldiers from those duties and allowing them to fight at the front and finish the war in 100 days' time.  Brough visited Pres. Lincoln in Washington, D.C., and offered 30,000 or 40,000 Ohio men.  He also proposed that the states of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin join him and offer men for 100 days of service.  Jointly, those states committed to send 85,000 men:  Ohio, 30,000; Indiana and Illinois each 20,000; Iowa 10,000; and Wisconsin 5,000.    

Ohio had already sent 10 percent of its entire population to the war.  The men who enlisted for these 100 days were

• boys too young to serve at the beginning of the war
• men who had previously paid others to serve in their places
• men who had already served and come home, either injured or because their time commitment had ended; and 
• older men 

The call came on April 25.  Men were to report for active duty on May 2, prepared to serve for 100 days.  Nearly 36,000 Ohio men reported ready for duty but only about 25,000 of them served.  They came from all walks of life:  farmers, business men, tradesmen, factory workers, etc.

For my farmer grandfather May was an awful time to leave.  Spring and summer are a farmer's busiest time.  He was undoubtedly in the throes of spring planting on either his own or his father's farm.  He left behind a wife, whom he'd married just three years earlier, and one, possibly two, young children.  And yet he answered the call along with several of his brothers.

In the introduction to A Hundred Days to Richmond:  Ohio's "Hundred Days" Men in the Civil War, Jim Leeke wrote, "The Buckeyes knew what might await them.  Few answered the call with blind enthusiasm or innocent patriotism...."  As I've learned more about where my Ellis served, I've wondered if he really knew what would await him.  More on that to follow.

Other posts in this series
Ellis and the 157th Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Fort Delaware Prison and the 157th Regiment OVI in the Civil War
Coming to Terms with History - Musings on Ellis's Service in the Civil War


Sources:
A Hundred Days To Richmond:  Ohio's "Hundred Days" Men in the Civil War, Jim Leeke, ed.
"Hundred-days men left checkered Civil War legacy"
Hundred Days' Men at Ohio Civil War 150
Hundred Days Men at Wikipedia

The Romance of War, a brief remembrance/journal written by one who served from Beloit, Wisconsin

--Nancy.
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Harper's Weekly Civil War Issues - Tuesday's Tip

Are you interested in seeing what your Northern ancestors may have read during the Civil War?  If so, you are in for a treat:  you can see nearly every issue of Harper's Weekly published between 1861 and 1865 at The Civil War.

What a boon for those of us with ancestors from that time period.  And let's face it, we all had ancestors alive during the 1860s or we wouldn't be here!  Not all ancestors were directly involved with the war but most people were effected by the War in one way or another.

The Civil War website states, "We Believe that the most exciting way to study the Civil War, is to watch the war unfold on the pages of Original Harper's Weekly Newspapers.  Harper's Weekly was the most popular newspaper during the Civil War, and it featured stunning illustrations, and in depth stories on all the important people and events of the war.  Below, for your research and enjoyment, we present this work in progress.  Presently 1861 through 1864 are completed, and the 1865 issues through May are complete."

The front page of each issue has either one large drawing or several smaller ones.  There are 8 or more pages per issue with more illustrations inside, sometimes full-page.

The newspaper covers events pertaining to the war, government news, current events in Washington, biographies of important (and not so important) people, news of social events, an occasional cartoon, and ads.

I found the website easy to navigate.  Thumbnails of the issues are in columns under the years.  Click on the issue you'd like to view and you will be taken to a screen that gives a brief overview of the contents of that issue with thumbnails of each page. Scroll down to see the first page or click on one of the other pages to view it.

I would show you a screenshot of a page but honestly, they are so large I have to scroll to see the whole page.   You can look at The Capital Dome to see what I mean.   Isn't it exquisite?!

I hope you find Harper's Weekly interesting and helpful to your research.

There's more to the website than Harper's Weekly but I plan to do a review of some of it's other content another time.

--Nancy.

Copyright ©2012-2018, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission of the owner.  .

Links to this post:
Follow Friday — 1940 is Done! and Blown Away with DNA

Time to Say Thank You

Finding details about my ancestor's service in the Civil War is a new area of research for me. A month or so ago I ordered my great-grandfather Ellis Bickerstaff's C.W. Compiled Military Service Records. After they arrived I posted images of the pages along with some questions.

I wish to thank several helpful bloggers who responded to that post. They left comments with sources and links to sites where I could find information about the 157th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Those very helpful bloggers are

• Leah from Leah's Family Tree. She learned that the 157th was assigned guard duty of POWS at Fort Delaware. She recommended that I visit the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System for more information about regiments.
• Heather Kuhn Roelker from Leaves for Trees suggested I might find more information at the Fort Delaware site and gave me the link to the 157th, a garrison unit at the Fort. She also included a link to the book Hundred Day Wonders At Fort Delaware: The Story of the 157th Ohio Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War at Ohio Civil War. Wow! Though I don't think my Ellis was specifically mentioned in the book it will, nonetheless, give me an idea of his activities while serving.
• Shelley Bishop of A Sense of Family said that there is a chapter on the 157th in Ohio in the War: Her Statesmen, Her Generals, and Soldiers. At worldcat she found that it's available on google books and at the Columbus Metropolitan Library. (The copy at CML is on reserve and only available for use inside the library.) Shelley also suggested that Ellis or a family member might have filed for a pension. I'd discounted the possibility earlier but decided to look when she suggested it. And finally,
  
• Dee Burris of Shakin' the Family Tree suggested I go to The Civil War Archive and search for the 157th.
  

I'm on my way to discovering more about Ellis. I may have eventually happened onto these resources but having them suggested and having links given in the comments has made it so much easier. I'm grateful to fellow bloggers and family historians/genealogists who so willingly offer help and suggestions. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Leah, Heather, Shelley, and Dee.

Reviewing Civil War Compiled Military Service Records

Not long ago I wrote a post about ordering a Civil War Compiled Military Service Record from NARA for my great-great-grandfather, Ellis H. Bickerstaff. NARA said it could take four to six weeks for the file to arrive so I settled in for the wait, anticipating a nice, bulky bunch of photocopies. Surprise! The envelope arrived last Friday, just over three weeks from the date I ordered it. Surprise again! (And disappointment, too.) There were only 2 pages of records in it.

I had hoped these records might shed some light on events in Ellis's past that led him to commit suicide. They don't. But I did learn some things I didn't know.

• Ellis enlisted in Steubenville, Ohio, and mustered in at Camp Chase in Columbus, Ohio, a (current) distance of about 150 miles.
• He enlisted on Monday, May 2, 1864, to serve for a period of 100 days. He mustered in on Sunday, May 15, 1864 and mustered out on Friday, September 2, 1864. From muster in to muster out, he served for 110 days.
• Ellis was 24 when he enlisted.
• He had blue eyes, brown hair, a fair complexion, and was 6' tall.

Ellis left behind a wife, Emma Nelson Bickerstaff, and one daughter, Susan, who was not yet two years old. A son was born in 1864 but I don't know if it was before Ellis left or after he returned. Ellis and Emma married on September 1, 1861. He was discharged one day after their third anniversary.

________________________________________________________________________

The first page may be an index but to what I don't know. It doesn't correlate to the other pages that arrived.

Biggerstaff, Ellis H.
Co. D, 157 Ohio Infantry,
(National Guard.)

Private | Private
CARD NUMBERS.
1 - 26171747
2 - 26171830
3 - 26171812
4 [through 50 are blank]
Number of personal papers herein 0
Book Mark : [blank]
See also [blank]

________________________________________________________________________

The second paper in the envelope is divided into 3 columns. Two are Muster Rolls, the other is a Muster-out Roll. They are in reverse chronological order on the paper. I separated them when I scanned them and I've transcribed them below in chronological order.

B | 157 | Ohio N. G.
Ellis H. Biggerstaff
Pri., Co. D, 157 Reg't Ohio National Guard Inf.
Appears on
Company Muster and Descriptive Roll
of the organization named above. Roll dated
Camp Chase, O., May 15, 1864.
Where born Jefferson Co. O.
Age 24 y'rs; occupation Farmer
When enlisted May 2, 1864.*
Where enlisted Steubenville, O.*
For what period enlisted 100 days.*
Eyes Blue; hair Brown
Complexion Fair; Height 6 ft. ___ in.
When mustered in May 15 , 1864.
Muster-in to date May 15, 1864.
Where mustered in Camp Chase
Bounty paid $ [blank]; due $ [blank]
Where credited [blank]
Company to which assigned [blank]
*Muster and descriptive, muster and muster-out rolls show enrollment of all men of this company as of same date.
Book mark: [blank]
Owsley [?] [signature]
Copyist.

________________________________________________________________________

B. | 157 | Ohio N. G.
Ellis H. Biggerstaff
Pri., Co. D, 157 Reg't Ohio National Guard Inf.
Appears on
Company Muster Roll
for May 15, to June 30, 1864.
Present or absent Present
Stoppage $ [blank]
Due Gov't $ [blank]
Remarks: [blank]
Book mark: [blank]
W. T. Owsley [signature]
Copyist

_________________________________________________________________________

B | 157 | Ohio N. G.
Ellis H. Biggerstaff
Pri., Co. D, 157 Reg't Ohio National Guard Inf.
Age 24 years.
Appears on Co. Muster-out Roll, dated
Camp Chase, Sept. 2, 1864.
Muster-out to date Sept. 2, 1864.
Last paid to June 30, 1864.
Clothing account:
Last settled [blank]; drawn since $ [blank]
Due soldier $ [blank] due U. S. $ [blank]Amt. for cloth'g in kind or money adv'd $19 10/100
Due U.S. for arms, equipments, &c., $ [blank]Bounty paid $ [blank]
Remarks: [blank]
From Second Auditor's Roll [rubber stamped]
Book mark [blank]
W. T. Owsley [signature]
Copyist.

_____________________________________________________________________

If any of you readers have insights about these records that I may have missed, I'd be grateful to hear from you. With this information is there a way to tell where Ellis served and whether his company and/or regiment fought in any battles? Thanks.

Ordering Civil War Compiled Military Service Records

I've known for a few years that my great-great-grandfather, Ellis H. Bickerstaff, was a Civil War veteran who served in the 157th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company D. I soon learned that I could order information about his time in the Army from National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) but they'd just increased their fees and the charge for a Compiled Military Service Record (CMSR) was about $75.00. I just didn't have that much in my genealogy budget at the time so I laid that research aside until later.

Ellis was on mind today and I knew I needed to do something for him: find his Civil War service records. I pulled out my Bickerstaff file, found his Graves Registration Card, and headed to NARA's website, Civil War Records. It is an excellent resource detailing what records are available at NARA (though it didn't have a direct link to a site where I could order records). At this site I found

• a good bibliography of other resources
• details about the basic records including CMSR, pension records, and records of events of the companies
• where these records can be found
• links to Civil War photographs and maps
• sources for photographs and maps that are not available online
• information about the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) which is not affiliated with the U.S. Army
• and sources for information about other Civil War records

My next step was to find how to order records from NARA. I searched again and found Civil War Service Records Research Guide. This site was focused on finding Compiled Military Service Records and offered

• information about the records for Union and Confederate soldiers
• finding aides and a list of the information required to order records
  
• links to indexes where I could find regiment and company (if not yet known)
• a direct link for ordering records online
• a direct link to a site for printing mail order forms
• the locations of microfilms containing CMSR
• a link for information about ordering Union and Confederate pension records
  

I was surprised to learn that Fold3 has some records available online (but not Ohio) for both Union and Confederate soldiers.

I finally arrived at NARA's Veterans' Service Records where I ordered Ellis H. Bickerstaff's Compiled Military Service Records online. The fee was $25.00, about 60% less than I expected to pay. The cost is the same for either paper copies or a CD with the records. If you prefer to order the records by mail, you can print the form there. I ordered paper copies.

And now the waiting begins. Records may take 30 to 90 days to arrive.

Henry C. Meinzen: Civil War Veteran or Not?

I was surprised to find a Civil War Graves Registration card for Henry. It said that he enlisted in August 1862 and was discharged in August 1863; that his rank was "Seaman" in the U.S. Navy; and that he served on USS Cairo and USS Brilliant. (Further research about those ships indicated that the USS Cairo was the first armored ship to be sunk by a torpedo.)

At right is a photocopy of the Graves Registration card and below it is a transcription of the information for easier reading. You can on the image to see a larger image.

Our family didn't pass many stories down through the generations, but I would have thought that having a German immigrant ancestor serve in the Civil War would have been worthy of at least a brief mention! Frankly, I didn't believe he served in the Civil War, and I don't yet. But I'm doing some research to see what I can find to help prove or disprove it.

So for the past few months I've been on the hunt for any other information I could find about Henry's (supposed) Civil War service. I doubted that he had received a pension (because he didn't have young children, as far as we know, he wasn't injured in the war, and because he outlived his wife who would have received the pension) but the NARA site told me that I should first request that before requesting service records. Henry did not receive a pension.

Where to search next? It seems that CW army information has been compiled and made easily available, but Navy records have not been given the same status by NARA. I began borrowing books about Civil War genealogy from the library and finally found something that I thought would be helpful. One book said that the SLC FHL had some films relating to the enlistments into and transfers of men in the Navy. The one with enlistments is called "Index to Rendezvous Reports, Civil War, 1861-1865." The other is "Weekly Returns of Enlistments at Naval Rendezvous ('Enlistment Rendezvous, Jan. 6, 1855-Aug. 8, 1891: Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, National Archives and Records Administration, M1953." So I went to our local Family History Center and ordered copies of the films. I didn't know if they would be helpful or not but I thought it was worth it to look at them.

The first one came in this past week. Saturday morning I went to the FHC and looked at the film. Our little FHC has 2 manual microfilm readers and 1 reader/printer. I wondered whether to be optimistic and use the reader/printer or whether to be doubtful and use the reader only. I started with the reader but had to transfer to the reader/printer because the film was so small.

I found that the names were in alphabetical order by last name, Maney to Moore. I stopped at the possible variations of Meinzen on the way to Meinzen, but found nothing. Then appeared on the screen what I thought was "Meinzen, Henry." Wow!!! Is that MY Henry? The dates were correct. But then I looked more closely and the name was "Meinze" without the "n." (See to the right a copy of the original and a transcription.)

I came away from the library knowing no more about Henry than when I went. BUT, because one of the staff people there is expert on German research, I came away with some suggestions of where else to search. And I have one more film to come. Perhaps that will have Henry Meinzen (instead of Henry Meinze) and I'll learn something more about Henry.


How can one man leave a trail behind him (his posterity) without a path leading to him from behind (his ancestors)? Who were your parents, Henry, and where were you born? Where and how did you learn your carpenter's trade? Did you apprentice, and where? I want to know these things! (And plenty more, besides.)

For anyone who's interested, here's a (very poor) copy of a photograph of Henry C. Meinzen taken about 1870. There is a matching photograph of his wife, Elizabeth Armitage. I'm guessing the date they were taken by assuming, based on the similarity in size and background of the photographs, that they were probably wedding photographs.

Later I'll post this photograph side-by-side with one of Henry when he was older. You'll be able to see the similarity.

So, I'm still hunting for evidence of Henry's (supposed) Civil War service. Can anyone out there read German newspapers?