Company-level daily reports

cwebster4

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May 25, 2020
Hello all:
I'm working on a research project (in spite of the current lockdowns) and I can not seem to find any mention anywhere about company-level daily reports. I'm trying to find reports of which soldiers where sent on which details. I find it hard to believe that even back then the commanders were not interested to know where their men were being used and for what reason. Has anyone seen these reports, or heard of their existence?

Thank you in advance for any answers or suggestions,

Charlie
 
Hello all:
I'm working on a research project (in spite of the current lockdowns) and I can not seem to find any mention anywhere about company-level daily reports. I'm trying to find reports of which soldiers where sent on which details. I find it hard to believe that even back then the commanders were not interested to know where their men were being used and for what reason. Has anyone seen these reports, or heard of their existence?

Thank you in advance for any answers or suggestions,

Charlie
The 1st sergeant of each company submitted a morning report each day. There was a standard form which included numbers of those present for duty, those on detached duty, sick list, and so on. I have copies of these forms, we use them at reenactments. I'm out of town right now and don't have any with me. I have them on file on my computer at home. I'll be happy to post them for you when I get home if somebody doesn't best me to it.
 
The 1st sergeant of each company submitted a morning report each day. There was a standard form which included numbers of those present for duty, those on detached duty, sick list, and so on. I have copies of these forms, we use them at reenactments. I'm out of town right now and don't have any with me. I have them on file on my computer at home. I'll be happy to post them for you when I get home if somebody doesn't best me to it.
Thank you for your quick reply. Now that makes sense. A couple of questions:
1. Where do such reports reside? NARA or at the state level?
2. Would these reports, or some other reports include the names that correspond with the numbers? I'm hoping to find lists of those who were detailed or detached for specific tasks.
 
Here you go.

Company Morning Reports, Co A-K(1).jpg


Company Morning Reports, Co A-K.jpg


Company Morning Reports, Co A-K(2).jpg
 
Here you go.

These are interesting and getting warmer to what I am hoping to find, thank you.
1. Where do such reports like these reside? NARA or at the state level?
2. Would these reports, or some other reports include the names that correspond with the numbers? I'm hoping to find lists of those who were detailed or detached for specific tasks.
 

These are even warmer. Did the Union side keep detailed records on a daily basis, or for whatever length of time?
When QA Gillmore was building all his artillery batteries, about 100 men from a regiment would be detailed to assist the Engineers in their work all across Morris Island. Am I dreaming to hope I could find such lists for each day?
 
In my experience, surviving examples of these reports from the Civil War are rare.

Such reports certainly have a long history; I recall an example from a Roman army detachment dating back to the second century A.D.

You are right about commanders wanting to know where and why their men were detached. Fold3 records include some examples. When Pickett's division was nearly destroyed at Gettysburg, some regimental commanders tried to have some of their detached able-bodied men returned to fill depleted ranks. Early in the war they had been detailed by the War Department to locations around the Confederacy, including to hospitals, ordnance facilities, shoe-making facilities, etc. - the list went on and on. My sense is that they were not very successful since most of these detailed men were contributing to the overall war effort.
 
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Some of the Consolidated Morning Reports can be found at NARA. For the regiment I research, the reports were sporadic and incomplete. I have also seen a number for sale online and in smaller museums.
 
I've seen such reports in the National Civil War Museum's archives, but the museum acquired them in connection with collections of officers' private papers.

So it seems that an officer, if he was so inclined, might keep a copy for himself. I suppose that the official copies of those documents would originally have been stashed away in files somewhere, but I don't know if the Army would have kept those copies for all these years.
 
A morning report of the 15th New Jersey from late October 1863 showed 386 present for duty. A breakdown of the roster of Company A from that time (to that date) was made by Chaplain Alanson A. Haynes:
-48 present for duty
-5 sick but present
-5 detached
-9 sick and absent
-4 killed or died of wounds received in action
-6 died in regimental hospital
-2 died in general hospital
-1 missing in action
-6 discharged for disability
-1 promoted to officer rank
-4 transferred to the Invalid Corps
-1 drummed out
-2 deserted
Source: https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/24116/PDF/1/play/

I also found a communication from the Adjutant General's Office of the War Department, dated January 6, 1888, which lists the 15 New Jersey commands (one cavalry regiment, two batteries and twelve infantry regiments) in the 1863 Gettysburg campaign, with a comment that only two immediate post-battle consolidated morning reports existed in their files, one from Battery B dated July 4, and one from the 3rd New Jersey Infantry dated July 8. The previous muster for all of these units occurred on June 30, which I believe also involved most commands in the Army of the Potomac, being the first official muster since the army began marching northward in early- to mid-June in pursuit of Lee's advance into the North.
 
A morning report of the 15th New Jersey from late October 1863 showed 386 present for duty. A breakdown of the roster of Company A from that time (to that date) was made by Chaplain Alanson A. Haynes:
-48 present for duty
-5 sick but present
-5 detached
-9 sick and absent
-4 killed or died of wounds received in action
-6 died in regimental hospital
-2 died in general hospital
-1 missing in action
-6 discharged for disability
-1 promoted to officer rank
-4 transferred to the Invalid Corps
-1 drummed out
-2 deserted
Source: https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/24116/PDF/1/play/

I also found a communication from the Adjutant General's Office of the War Department, dated January 6, 1888, which lists the 15 New Jersey commands (one cavalry regiment, two batteries and twelve infantry regiments) in the 1863 Gettysburg campaign, with a comment that only two immediate post-battle consolidated morning reports existed in their files, one from Battery B dated July 4, and one from the 3rd New Jersey Infantry dated July 8. The previous muster for all of these units occurred on June 30, which I believe also involved most commands in the Army of the Potomac, being the first official muster since the army began marching northward in early- to mid-June in pursuit of Lee's advance into the North.
These are a great start to what I am looking for, just like some of the items above. BUT, what I am hoping to find is (using your report as an example) the names of the 2 deserters, or names of the 6 discharged for disability, or the names of the 5 detached, and so on. I'm especially interested to know the names of men detached or assigned to fatigue duty.

Thanks for your reply
 
Hello all:
I'm working on a research project (in spite of the current lockdowns) and I can not seem to find any mention anywhere about company-level daily reports. I'm trying to find reports of which soldiers where sent on which details. I find it hard to believe that even back then the commanders were not interested to know where their men were being used and for what reason. Has anyone seen these reports, or heard of their existence?

Thank you in advance for any answers or suggestions,

Charlie
All of the above gives some excellent information. Overall, I can tell you that such type of reports are very scattered and very rare. The consolidated morning report books were supposed to be turned in with the regimental records when the regiment was mustered out. Some were, some were not. You would have to check each regiment you are looking for individually. Some are at the National Archives, some ended up in State Archives, some the officers kept.

The quality of the morning reports vary. Some will mention some of the information you seek- who left the company, who returned that day, who was listed as a deserter, etc. Most will not- just cold statistical numbers.

Keep in mind there were various types of extra duty. Some men had more "permanent" assignments away from the normal duties of a soldier in the line. Things like officer's servant, hospital attendant, clerk at HQ, wagon driver assigned to the division train, butcher in the brigade commissary department, etc, etc. Occasionally, brigade/division/corps commanders went on a tizzy about how many men were away from the line and demanded an accounting, specifying who, where, what, and by what authority. You may come across such lists. On some of the regiments (union) I research, I found some of the lists in the loose papers enclosed in the boxes housing the original muster rolls of the regiment. To obtain them, you would have to request the boxes from the Old Army records office at the National Archives (in person or hire a researcher). Be prepared for a fight to see the boxes as the NARA feels there is no need to handle the original muster rolls since everything was put in the CMSRs. You would need to explain that you are looking for papers in the boxes other then the muster rolls. If you get to see them, there are usually a lot of gems buried among them overall for a regiment.

From what I read in your responses above, what you are really seeking are any lists of men assigned on a daily basis to construct the fortifications on Morris Island. Overall, there would not be any such lists. In general, fatigue duty was assigned on an adhoc daily basis. Whatever the task, commanders would just assign a number of men to accomplish it. It really depended on whose turn it was for the day as to who got assigned. In this case, the chief engineer would request the garrison commander for 100 men each day for fatigue work in constructing artillery batteries. The commander would say to assign the request for the day to X corps, whose commander would assign it to X division, whose commander would assign it to X brigade. The brigade commander would either assign it to X regiment, or say that each regiment shall assign X amount of men, then appoint an officer in overall command of the detail to which the assigned men will report at X time. A regimental commander gets the order to provide X amount of men for a fatigue detail and either assigns it to however many companies are needed, or says each company shall furnish X amount of men with a non-commissioned officer and officer X is assigned to oversee the detail. The companies get the order and the orderly sergeant is tasked with selecting whom shall go. Now the orderly's little black book comes into play. Who has sinned in the recent past and gets all the fatigue duty? Who is sick and can't go? Who is already scheduled for guard or picket duty? Who is on daily duty and can't go as well? In the end, Sgt. Y and 20 men are assembled and sent to HQ to report to Lt. Z for fatigue duty on the fortifications. Was a list of the detail made? Probably not. If any, it may be in the orderly's notebook or on a scrap of paper. If you dig through order books, you may come across where a clerk recorded the order for the day. Otherwise, you might stumble across a letter or diary entry saying something about working on the fortifications and who was there that day too.

Good luck with your search!
 
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