Assistance with muster rolls/CSRs

[HAJ]

Greetings all,

I am an archaeologist working on a Confederate battery in South Carolina. As part of my background research, I have been looking into the company that was stationed at the battery, with the intent of providing a historical sketch of the company. I've downloaded all the CSRs for each of the men in the company, and have a few questions related to muster rolls, which so far I have not been able to find answers to. I should say that I have not seen the actual muster rolls themselves, just the CSRs that were created from them. If anyone can provide information, or point me towards resources that may help, it would be greatly appreciated. I apologize if this has been covered before in the forum; I did search for answers but did not find them. My questions:

1. Why are there multiple muster rolls that cover the same time period? For example, there is a muster roll for September/October 1862 and one for 1 Spetember to 31 December 1862. Or, there are muster rolls for May/June 1864, 30 April to 31 August 1864, September/October 1864, and 31 August to 31 December 1864.

2. Were there strick rules that governed whether a soldier was marked as "present" or "absent", or did it just vary depending on whoever was taking the roll? For example, on a CSR for September/October 1863, a soldier was marked as "present", while in the Remarks it stated "AWOL Sept. 18 and 19, 1863", but then on his CSR for November/December 1863 he was marked as "absent" with the remark "AWOL Dec. 31, 1863 (1 day)".

Thank you!

HAJ

 

[UCVRelics]

On question 1, there were company musters and regimental musters so there will be overlap.
On question 2, a company muster was a 2 month snapshot and will list all the comings and goings during that time frame.

 

[19thGeorgia]

Greetings all,

...on a CSR for September/October 1863, a soldier was marked as "present", while in the Remarks it stated "AWOL Sept. 18 and 19, 1863", but then on his CSR for November/December 1863 he was marked as "absent" with the remark "AWOL Dec. 31, 1863 (1 day)".

Thank you!

HAJ

When September-October 1863 muster roll was made out - on or about October 31 - he was present on that day.

When November-December 1863 m. roll was made out - on or about December 31 - he was absent on that day.

 

[UCVRelics]

Greetings all,

I am an archaeologist working on a Confederate battery in South Carolina. As part of my background research, I have been looking into the company that was stationed at the battery, with the intent of providing a historical sketch of the company. I've downloaded all the CSRs for each of the men in the company, and have a few questions related to muster rolls, which so far I have not been able to find answers to. I should say that I have not seen the actual muster rolls themselves, just the CSRs that were created from them. If anyone can provide information, or point me towards resources that may help, it would be greatly appreciated. I apologize if this has been covered before in the forum; I did search for answers but did not find them. My questions:

1. Why are there multiple muster rolls that cover the same time period? For example, there is a muster roll for September/October 1862 and one for 1 Spetember to 31 December 1862. Or, there are muster rolls for May/June 1864, 30 April to 31 August 1864, September/October 1864, and 31 August to 31 December 1864.

2. Were there strick rules that governed whether a soldier was marked as "present" or "absent", or did it just vary depending on whoever was taking the roll? For example, on a CSR for September/October 1863, a soldier was marked as "present", while in the Remarks it stated "AWOL Sept. 18 and 19, 1863", but then on his CSR for November/December 1863 he was marked as "absent" with the remark "AWOL Dec. 31, 1863 (1 day)".

Thank you!

HAJ

One thing you have to remember is that a LOT of CS unit records were lost or destroyed in the last year of the war and beyond. Hence the Compiled part of CSR. Here is thread on this subject and the reason for the compiling of these records.

Why did US War Dept Refuse For Over 40 yrs To Release CW Records Both North & South | Civil War Potpourri

I came across this photo in our Archives here in The Heart of Dixie and it got me to wondering why the War Dept refused after repeated request from Governors and States both North & South to release soldiers records until 1907. I know that all Southern States passed pension for their vets in the...

civilwartalk.com

 

[HAJ]

Thank you both for the information.

In regards to Question 1, the company was an independent artillery company, though briefly attached to the 10th SCV in 1862. As such, there wouldn't be regimental musters, would there?

Records for the company seem to be decently preserved (as someone who grew up in SC and has done a lot of genaeology research in the state, I'm familiar with Sherman's visit and the result). The men in the company in question ended the war in Greensboro as members of Capt. Bridges's Light Battery (formerly Co. D, 18th. Battalion SCA), Manley's Battalion, but I've yet to find records of that transfer or merging. I suspect that when this would have happened (early '65), that things were chaotic enough to the point where no records were kept, or if they were they didn't survive.

In regards to Question 2, that makes sense. I had been thinking that being marked as present or absent covered the two months, not just the single day that the muster was taken.

 

[Bruce Vail]

Thanks for asking about muster rolls. The subject has been on my mind, off and on, since viewing some original muster rolls at the NC Archive last year.

The rolls that I viewed were company-level rolls. So my question is: Would there be more than one original copy of a company muster roll? I'm guessing that the original roll would have been submitted up the line to the regimental level and then stored somewhere far behind the lines for safekeeping. In my case, I am presuming the muster rolls would have been deposited with other ANV records in Richmond. The rolls that I saw were among the personal papers of the company captain, now part of the NC Archive. So, would the company Captain keep the original and then send copies up the line, or vice versa. Would company-level rolls commonly be created in duplicate, or triplicate? The same for regimental rolls?