Carried on the Rolls, even when dead

[TerryB]

By now I've looked at records until I'm blue in the face, and I'm puzzled by why someone is carried on the rolls, even if dead, even if a POW, even if transferred to a different regiment, even if the old unit no longer exists due to consolidation, tendered resignation and had it accepted (am I leaving anything out?). This is the rule, not the exception, as far as I can tell. My best guess is that as long as the name was on the rolls, rations could be drawn for that individual. It might have been a way for Confederate companies to stretch their already meager rations.

 

[bama46]

In Illinois, that technique is used to get Mayor Daly elected...
Vote Early and vote Often!

 

[ole]

A very interesting observation, TerryB. Not exactlly surprising, but a factor to consider.

 

[TerryB]

A very interesting observation, TerryB. Not exactlly surprising, but a factor to consider.

It really came home to me when I was researching the 12th Ala Cav. It was formed by consolidation, and men who did not live long enough, or who had resigned their commissions, or who had been captured well before the consolidation of the 1st Ala Partisan Rangers were still carried on the rolls of the new 12th Ala Cav Bttn, even after the 12th was upgraded to a regiment. I've even shed some light on when that happened. As of July 15, 1864, when 47 year-old minister of the gospel, Capt. J.M. Musgrove wrote his letter of resignation, he named the unit as 12th Ala Cav Bttn , not regiment. Most of the cards that exist show rolls dated April 30 to July 31st, 1864, and not much after that, due to destruction of records, I bet. So we still don't know the exact date of the upgrade. [edit] Some cards do show men present as of Dec 31, when the regiment was mostly near Screvin's Ferry, SC, while some were still posted in Northern Alabama.