Abbreviation in Camp Chase prison books

16thVA

First Sergeant
Joined
Dec 8, 2008
Location
Philadelphia
I've been transcribing some prisoner listings from the Camp Chase prison books from old microfiche copies on Family Search. I've come across an occasional notation that looks like "sdy". Anyone know what this might mean?
There is one in the upper left corner of this page. Some notes along the left margin seem to indicate the prisoner was "exchanged", so I'm assuming the "sdy" might be some shorthand but can't imagine for what. Any ideas? Thanks.

You can use the mouse wheel to enlarge the image and the pointer moves it back and forth.

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3...63?cc=1916234&wc=M8VN-CNG:203215501,203256101
 
Hmmmm. Interesting. Wondering if it could be other letters? Perhaps what you are reading as a "y" is actually the double "s" which was sometimes made to drop below the line? My gggrandfather was named Cross and his name often looked like "Crof"

Also noticing that MANY (if not all) of the men who have this "Sdy" notation in the "Remarks" column are identified as "guerilla" or "guerilla leader" or "bushwhacker." The one you linked to is id'd as a "bushwhacker." One (at the bottom of page 81) is listed as "Bushwhacker and thief guerilla." Have you noticed that as a trend among all the records you've transcribed? Maybe its an abbreviation for "Solitary" as in solitary confinement?

Released, Paroled, Ex (for exchanged), Hosp or hosp't (for hospital) and Oath are all easily readable.

Sdy.PNG

Sdy2.PNG

Sdy3.PNG
 
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Maybe its actually "Soly" for Solitary - as in solitary confinement?
 
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Sorry, nothing jumps out. I tried looking for a military record, thinking that might give some insight, but saw that Moses Hunter is listed as a "citizen" -- probably no service record there.
 
Thank you all. If I come up with anything I'll update the thread. It is very interesting going through all these names, written by various hands at different dates, and all with varying data requirements. I've been transcribing them into a database for WV, and I have about 6 more volumes to go.

This is one I just finished.
https://sites.google.com/site/wvotherhistory/drcamden/civilian-prisoners-iv-wheeling

I've just been doing the ones marked "citizen". This would be a good project for Kentucky, as there are a lot of KY citizens listed here. The oddest one I've found so far is a Canadian arrested in Ritchie County on Aug. 12, 1862, with a further notation "escaped Sept. 9, 62". I wonder what the story was. His name, as best as I can make it out, is Peter Callatin. It's on page 74 of the link my first post.
 
WOW! Great project @16thVA !!!!

I finally found a record for one of them. Page 72 Eli Ballenger listed as "bushwhacker" captured in Raleigh Co Va. has the "Sdy" notation in the remarks column. He's actually in Co I 22nd Va.

Eli Ballenger bushwhacker.jpg
 
Thank you, I'll have to remove him from the records then, as I am trying to keep them purely "citizens", though at some point some of them must have either deserted or joined up after release.
 
I think Ballenger may have deserted. He enlisted Aug 26 1861 at Red Sulfur Springs in Lively's Co 166th Va Militia and the Co Muster Roll for Aug 20 - Oct 11 lists him fined for deserting. The only carded recrds in the 22nd Va are his POW cards
 
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I think Ballenger may have deserted. He enlisted Aug 26 1861 at Red Sulfur Springs in Lively's Co 166th Va Militia and the Co Muster Roll for Aug 20 - Oct 11 lists him fined for deserting. The only carded recrds in the 22nd Va are his POW cards

Thank you, Laura. Maybe I'll keep him in, then, if he has deserted. The Federals would also have considered the men in the Virginia State Line to be nothing more than bushwhackers either, even though they had been approved by Gov. Letcher.
 
Released, Paroled, Ex (for exchanged), Hosp or hosp't (for hospital) and Oath are all easily readable.

Wow, tough one. I noticed that"sdy" often has a date after it (several in a column marked "sdy Sep 29" then one "ex" Sept 29" then another one "sdy Sep 29" etc). I agree with Laura It looks like a change in status rather than a descriptor?

Thank you, I'll have to remove him from the records then, as I am trying to keep them purely "citizens"

This is a tough one too! Glad you're doing this. I wouldn't have any idea how to separate out the "citizen" among bushwhackers. My grandma told me that my uncle was captured because his farm overlooked the county seat and the soldiers thought he was spying on them. In the Camp Chase record it says "found in arms" and in the Wheeling Intelligencer it lists him among many charged with "aiding enemy, being bushwhackers" etc. I don't think he was ever in the service. You'll have your work cut out for you to separate the "citizens" when there might be some doubt if the troops at the time even knew.:wink:

I found out yesterday that a lot of people who fled during the war had trouble after they came back in 1866. Are you going to look at citizen arrests right after Apr. 1865?:confused:
 
Wow, tough one. I noticed that"sdy" often has a date after it (several in a column marked "sdy Sep 29" then one "ex" Sept 29" then another one "sdy Sep 29" etc). I agree with Laura It looks like a change in status rather than a descriptor?



This is a tough one too! Glad you're doing this. I wouldn't have any idea how to separate out the "citizen" among bushwhackers. My grandma told me that my uncle was captured because his farm overlooked the county seat and the soldiers thought he was spying on them. In the Camp Chase record it says "found in arms" and in the Wheeling Intelligencer it lists him among many charged with "aiding enemy, being bushwhackers" etc. I don't think he was ever in the service. You'll have your work cut out for you to separate the "citizens" when there might be some doubt if the troops at the time even knew.:wink:

I found out yesterday that a lot of people who fled during the war had trouble after they came back in 1866. Are you going to look at citizen arrests right after Apr. 1865?:confused:

I don't think there is a source for arrests after '65 that I've seen though there are some during that year. If the prisoner is marked "citizen" in the record books then that is what I go by. Since Mr. Balenger had severed relations with the army as was acting on his own then I think I will count him as "citizen". He is not listed in Jack Dickenson's compilation of Confederate soldiers, though that is certainly not complete.
 
I don't think there is a source for arrests after '65

Thats what I thought. But I found out the other day that my uncle the confederate judge was under indictment with 19 others in Harrison county for horse stealing, the charges coming from one of the confed. raids that he was not even involved in. It was in the summer, and he didn't want to come home to Clarksburg from Brownsburg for fear of it. I also found out that some people were "mobbed" up the valley here and had to be guarded. That period from Apr 1865 - 1866 might have more than I thought left over from the ACW.
 
Seeing it further down on the page next to a date confirms my suspicion that it either means Saturday or Sunday.

I'll probably look stupid asking this, but I don't see any "Tuesdays" etc. in the records. How did you pick up that it is a day of the week? Not saying that it isn't, just don't understand. :confused:
 
Seeing it further down on the page next to a date confirms my suspicion that it either means Saturday or Sunday.
I'll probably look stupid asking this, but I don't see any "Tuesdays" etc. in the records. How did you pick up that it is a day of the week? Not saying that it isn't, just don't understand. :confused:
Were it not that the names that have the "Sdy" notation seem to have been identified as "guerilla, guerilla leader, thief, bushwhacker, etc." I would be inclined to agree with TerryB. However, the "Sdy" notation seems to appear only next to the names of prisoners who have some kind of identified offense, at least in the records I reviewed. As a result, I'm inclined to stick with my original opinion that it is some kind of prisoner status note.
 
Okay, I'm probably wrong about it being a day of the week. That was a hunch. We have Ex for exchanged and Hosp for being in the hospital. Names lined through mean these men are gone. I've seen it on Camp Chase rolls for men who had died or were transferred, too. So it's a code for some sort of status. Something like Special Duty comes to mind. It could mean they are not in the barracks, but have not escaped, but might be outside the walls, maybe working on some detail like wood-cutting. It's next to some of Morgan's men, but I wouldn't call them bushwhackers or guerrillas. So it's not some sort of brand for bad apples. However, I think a name lined through means not assigned to that barracks any more for whatever reason. So maybe special duty won't work either.
 
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