Help interpreting a document

[southwindows]

I found the document pasted below that refers to my great-grandfather, who lost an arm at the battle of Spotsylvania. I hope that people here who have worked with such things can help clarify it.

1. What is this called? The genealogy site where I found it gives no source, just the image of the page. In other words, I'd like to say "According to [type of document], Gardner Perry . . . "
2. I assume that 'MR' means 'muster roll.' Is that right?
3. The problems come at the end. I read as follows: "MR June 64 absent wounded, at Parole camp (conf.?? came fr??) Annapolis Md. Gained?? from missing in action MR Aug 64;" If anyone can help, particularly with the word(s) that follow 'Parole' and 'Md.' I'd appreciate it. And what would 'Parole' refer to?

General context: according to Gordon Rhea's book about Spotsylvania, on the evening of May 10 twelve regiments, including the NY 77 in which g-grandfather served, attacked the Mule Shoe. They captured a segment of the Confederate lines but were forced back when additional troops who were supposed to come up as support failed to do so. A description by my great-uncle, based on conversation he heard from his father and other veterans of the 77th, matches this account exactly. It makes perfect sense that Gardner was not present for a muster in June, having just lost his arm, and it is reasonable that he rejoined the regiment in August after three months in the hospital. Maybe what looks like 'Gained' is really 'Joined' (i.e., rejoined)? Or was 'gained' used in the sense of 'restored to service'?

 

[lelliott19]

REMARKS: Wounded in action May 12/'64 at Spottsylvania Va. Present MR <muster roll> ^Oct 31, 1862 April 10/63, April '63, June '63, Aug '63, Oct '63. Dec '63, Feby '64, April '64. Absent missing charge of May 10/'64. MR June '64 Absent wounded, at Parole camp. Annapolis Md. Gained from missing in action MR Aug '64, Oct'64.

@east tennessee roots can probably clarify the content and source for you better than I.

 

[southwindows]

Thank you! Since you confirmed the reading of 'camp', I googled 'parole camp' and learned about the custom of releasing soldiers on parole (I hadn't heard of that before) and that there were three parole camps at Annapolis. So that makes sense.

I'm guessing that my g-grandfather was wounded on the evening of the 10th and was not able to make it back to the Union lines, probably because of his wounds, and was captured. There was a lull in the fighting on the 11th and he was probably sent back on parole at that point. After some medical treatment he went to a parole camp where he recuperated further and then rejoined his regiment. I assume that it would not be a violation of parole to rejoin his unit, since after losing his arm he would not be assigned to combat duty. Is that right?

All the records say he was wounded on the 12th, but that does not agree with the description we have from my great-uncle. If he had been exchanged (unhurt) on the 11th and gone back into battle on the 12th, when there was heavy fighting all day, that would have been a violation of parole. Someone probably wrote down the 12th not the 10th (understandable given the length and confusion of the battle), and that is what has come down officially. So I think I now understand what happened.

 

[lelliott19]

REMARKS: Wounded in action May 12/'64 at Spottsylvania Va. Present MR <muster roll> ^Oct 31, 1862 April 10/63, April '63, June '63, Aug '63, Oct '63. Dec '63, Feby '64, April '64. Absent missing charge of May 10/'64. MR June '64 Absent wounded, at Parole camp. Annapolis Md. Gained from missing in action MR Aug '64, Oct'64..

Yes I think that is probably essentially correct. You can order his service records and verify. There should be a record of his capture and parole. It was not uncommon for wounded soldiers to be treated by the surgeons of the opposite side. It is possible that his amputation was performed by a Confederate surgeon before he was paroled. There was a lot of "honor" between the two sides that is hard for people today to comprehend. The wounded of both sides were generally treated well by the surgeons of the opposing side.

Just so you know, any gunshot wound that resulted in a badly broken or shattered bone usually had to be amputated. There was no orthopedic surgery, no plates or pins, no antibiotics, and little time to make decisions about the possibility that a bone might or might not heal. With infection common from the debris carried into the wound, amputation usually resulted in the best possible outcome.

 

[UCVRelics]

Very Nice Thanks for posting and @lelliott19 is spot with her interpretation and that @east tennessee roots can be a big help. All I can do is check his Fold3 records and New York only has index cards but here is his.

 

[southwindows]

Thanks to you both for the followup. I will see about ordering his service record now that I know it likely has more details.

 

[southwindows]

Well, I ordered my ggrandfather's records, giving plenty of details so it will not be difficult to identify the right guy. Even so, the site says that it will take two or three months. I chose electronic delivery, so I hope that will cut the time a little.

 

[hoosier]

I see that the document indicates your great-grandfather came from Schaghticoke, NY. (For those who might be wondering, it's pronounced SCAT-ee-coke.)

I remember growing up in Rensselaer County and attending the Schaghticoke Fair every Labor Day weekend.

I wondered whether that fair existed at the time of the Civil War and I find that, evidently, it did. The fair will be celebrating its 199th year in 2018.

 

[John Hartwell]

That page is from the New York Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts, also available at fold3.com. Attached below is a pdf of the same page, with correct source attribution.

Also a second page, following his transfer to Co. A ("by consolidation")*, showing his 9 March '65 disability discharge.

cheers!
jno

*"by consolidation" means that, because of attrition, the companies of the 77th regiment were consolidated (perhaps with men from other regiments added), and the companies re-arranged. He was moved from Co. D to Co. A (possibly old Co. D was redesignated as A)

 

[John Hartwell]

There is a short history of the Battles of the 77th New York Foot Volunteers, which, though in no great detail, might give you some background information.

Also, his and his widow's pension files MIGHT provide a lot more detail (or might not, you never know until you see them.) The Pensions Index card:

Note, also, that you might find some records reversing his name, as "Perry Gardner". You often find that in indexes/abstracts compiled years later.

Just musing, but if he was "Gained" from MIA in August '64, his arm probably hadn't yet been amputated. Perhaps there were later "complications" that necessitated amputation, leading to his March '65 discharge. Perhaps there's some other explanation.

 

[southwindows]

@hoosier, Yes, my ggrandfather was born in Schaghticoke, where his father had a farm. His father moved the family to Wilton when my ggrandfather was a boy, which is how he ended up in the N.Y. 77th, made up mostly of men from Saratoga County (in fact, Co. D was specifically of men from Wilton).

@John Hartwell, thank you very much for both posts. I had seen the pension card but did not realize that there might be more detailed info in other pension records -- good to know.

I looked at the history of the battles of the 77th you linked to, and it mentions my ggrandfather specifically at the Battle of Spotsylvania: "It was in the charge of the 10th. that . . . Seth Deyoe, Captain D Company, lost his eye, and Gardner Perry his right forearm." (p. 18)

This confirms what I have found elsewhere that he was wounded on May 10th, not the 12th as stated in the muster roll abstract. I hope his complete records will provide more details about what happened after the 10th, since it's not clear from the abstract. As lelliot19 pointed out in a post above, limbs tended to be taken off sooner rather than later during the Civil War; but something else might have happened.

 

[hoosier]

Oh, so Schaghticoke was his birthplace. I was wondering why someone who lived in Schaghticoke would have traveled all the way to Wilton to enlist.

I just found it somewhat comforting to think that, even during the country's greatest crisis, down-home traditions like a county fair would have continued.

 

[southwindows]

Thanks for the suggestion to order my ggrandfather's complete records from the National Archives; I did not know about that possibility. The material arrived a few days ago. There's quite a lot of information there, the most interesting of which is the Memorandum from Prisoner of War Records (copy attached below.) I'd be grateful if anyone can shed light a couple of items on that memorandum.

In the upper right corner, under sources of information, it looks like the first entry is 'MR' for muster roll(s); is that right? Does anyone know what the second entry, 'A R Ex' or 'O R Ex' or 'Q R Ex' stands for?

The second line of the main section says he was hospitalized at Richmond on May 21/64 followed by the initials 'VS' or 'US' -- what does that indicate?

Below the certificate proper are two notations, the first of which says "C. Aug. 19. Oct. 28, 64." It would make sense that it took a few days after he was paroled on Aug. 13 to make his way to Camp Parole, so Aug. 19 might be his arrival. Other items in the record show that he was discharged for disability in February 1865. So what was does the 'C' and the October 28 date mean?

I assume that "3 Div Ward 3" is the location in the hospital where he was sent.

 

[lelliott19]

The second line of the main section says he was hospitalized at Richmond on May 21/64 followed by the initials 'VS' or 'US' -- what does that indicate?

VS is the abbreviation used by medical officers of the period for the Latin Vulnus sclopeticum which indicates a gunshot wound of varying severity. Sometimes a note was made on medical registers about the type of missile - minnie ball, shell fragment, etc. but not always. It was also abbreviated as Vulns Sclop and other similar variations.

 

[southwindows]

Thank you -- makes perfect sense! This also intrigues me because I am a retired Latin teacher. I did not know the word sclopetum (adjectival form scolpeticus). It turns out to be a neo-Latin word meaning rifle or sometimes gun in general. (Neo-Latin refers to words coined from the Renaissance to the present day, usually for things the ancient Romans didn't have.)