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Researching Confederate ancestor? Public library has wealth of data
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Published: November 5, 2009
Civil War records are especially important for family history researchers, as they come from a time before birth and death records were required.
In North Carolina, birth and death records were not required by law to be kept by the Register of Deeds until 1913. Prior to 1913, researchers have to rely on marriage, military, land, tax and court records such as wills and estate records for information. Other sources are nongovernment records like cemetery, church, Bible and newspaper records.
The Iredell County Public Library has just added to its Civil War records with the addition of the "Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served Organizations from the State of North Carolina." These are the Confederate military records that were collected by the federal government's War Department after the war.
The collection of these records began in 1903 under the direction of Brig. Gen. Fred C. Ainsworth, head of the Record and Pension Office in the War Department. The records were gathered and organized to create as full as possible military abstract records for the men who served in the Confederacy. The records were arranged by the soldiers' unit or regiment, and then arranged alphabetically by the soldier's last name.
The records include the jacket envelopes containing the soldier's name, rank and unit, number of abstract cards, personal papers and medical records. The abstract cards themselves contain entries relating to the soldier such as muster rolls, returns, rosters, payrolls, appointment books, hospital registers, Union prisoner of war registers and rolls, parole rolls and inspection reports. These records later were put on microfilm and became part of the National Records and Archives Administration.
The Iredell County Public Library now has the 580 16-mm reels that contain these service records. Most of the men from Iredell County served in one of the following regiments: Co. B, 19th (2nd N.C. Cavalry), Co. A. C. H., 4th Infantry, Co. A, and I, 7th Infantry, the 18th Regiment, Co. A, 33rd Infantry, 2nd Co. B, 42nd Infantry, Co. C, 48th Infantry, Co. E, 49th Infantry, the 54th Regiment and Co. K, 56th Infantry.
Iredell County also had soldiers who served in the Home Guard in the 78th Regiment and the 79th Regiment. A company was usually 100 men under a captain, a heavy company was around 125 men under a captain, a regiment was 10 companies under a colonel, and a brigade was either four or five regiments under a brigadier general.
The Iredell County Public Library also has the following microfilm dealing with the Civil War: "Confederate Soldiers and Civilians Who Died in Federal Prisons & Military Hospitals in the North, 1861-1865," Confederate Pension Applications Index, 1885-1901," "Confederate Pension Applications Index 1901 (Includes Re-married widows)," "Confederate Pension Lists 1900-1964," "1885 Series Pension Applications, N.C.," "1901 Series Pension Applications, N.C.," "N.C. Soldiers Home Association Minutes 1891-1905 & Hospital Register 1911-1930," "Account Books 1861: Home Guard Letter Book, N.C. 1863-1865," "N.C. Militia Letter Books, 1863-1866, 1861-1865," "Roster of Officers of the N.C. Militia, 1861-1862; 1864," "N.C. Militia Letter Books, 1862-1864," "26th Reg. N.C. Troops Muster Rolls & Regimental Records," "1890 Census Union Veterans & Widows, N.C.," "Iredell County Court Martial Minutes 1808-1862," and "Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers who Served in Organizations from the State of N.C."
The Local History Department houses an excellent collection of books that are valuable for the Civil War researcher. These include the 18-volume "Roster of Confederate Soldiers 1861-1865," listing all those who served with the Confederacy in alphabetical order; "North Carolina Troops 1861-1865, A Roster," which is an ongoing series giving abstract information about N.C. soldiers; and the 230-volume "War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies."
The library also subscribes to the online historical and genealogical database, Ancestrylibrary.com. This site can be accessed from any of the library's Internet computers and has a "Civil War Collection" of service records available online.
The Iredell County Public Library will be closed on Wednesday, Nov. 11, in honor of Veterans Day.
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