Help with deciphering handwriting

[debwallsmith]

I'm trying to determine if both of these entries refer to the 3rd NY cavalry. Attached are 2 lines from the Andersonville Departure ledgers. They appear to have been entered by 2 different individuals but I believe the regiment is the same. I have found Connelly's records in the 3rd NY cavalry records but have not found Cook's. Am I misinterpreting the handwriting? Thank you.

 

[lupaglupa]

It's hard to do without more examples of the same writing. The top one looks more like an N J to me, but I'm not fining any H. Cook in the records that would match.

 

[JOHN42768]

I believe both to be NY 3rd from the script

 

[lupaglupa]

New Jersey records show there was a Henry Cook in Company M of the 3rd NJ Cavalry. Ancestry shows he held the rank of sergeant at discharge. Looks like he enlisted in November of 1863, mustered in March 24, 1864. Mustered out August 1, 1865. No other info.

 

[Gary Morgan]

Hi, Debbie!

It says "3rd NYC," and since the company is listed in another column, I'm going with C stands for Cavalry. The database of Andersonville Prisoners confirms this for Tim Connelly.

Name: ​ Connelly, TIMOTHY Alternate spelling of last name: ​ CONOLLY Year born: ​ 1844 Rank: ​ PRIVATE Company: ​ F Arm: ​ Cavalry Regiment number: ​ 3rd New York Cavalry Date captured: ​ 6/29/1864 Location captured: ​ Ream's Station, Virginia Date of death: ​ Cause of death: ​

Fate: Sent to Camp Lawton, Millen, Georgia, October 31, 1864. Mustered out November 29, 1865 at City Point, Virginia Remarks: SENT TO MILLEN, GA OCTOBER 31, 1864​

There are multiple H. Cooks, but none from NY, but since he's in the Departures Book (you're a braver man than I am, for wading through that), I'm going with he fell through the clerical cracks in the database, which doesn't incorporate the departure or hospital records.

I keep meaning to tell you,since you only come up with a few departure dates - at Salisbury, outgoing letters are postmarked with just one or two dates on them (there was a fellow talking about prison postage at one of the Salisbury symposiums). The theory was that the date on the "stamper" that was used to postmark outgoing letters got stuck, and so they weren't able to change the date. Don't know if that might be what happened at Millen or not - you're way better at Millen than I am!

(Btw, I've been invited to go give another presentation in Andersonville at the POW Museum next year - I will really miss seeing you!)

 

[debwallsmith]

New Jersey records show there was a Henry Cook in Company M of the 3rd NJ Cavalry. Ancestry shows he held the rank of sergeant at discharge. Looks like he enlisted in November of 1863, mustered in March 24, 1864. Mustered out August 1, 1865. No other info.

Thank you.

 

[debwallsmith]

Hi, Debbie!

It says "3rd NYC," and since the company is listed in another column, I'm going with C stands for Cavalry. The database of Andersonville Prisoners confirms this for Tim Connelly.

Name: ​ Connelly, TIMOTHY Alternate spelling of last name: ​ CONOLLY Year born: ​ 1844 Rank: ​ PRIVATE Company: ​ F Arm: ​ Cavalry Regiment number: ​ 3rd New York Cavalry Date captured: ​ 6/29/1864 Location captured: ​ Ream's Station, Virginia Date of death: ​ Cause of death: ​

Fate: Sent to Camp Lawton, Millen, Georgia, October 31, 1864. Mustered out November 29, 1865 at City Point, Virginia Remarks: SENT TO MILLEN, GA OCTOBER 31, 1864​

There are multiple H. Cooks, but none from NY, but since he's in the Departures Book (you're a braver man than I am, for wading through that), I'm going with he fell through the clerical cracks in the database, which doesn't incorporate the departure or hospital records.

I keep meaning to tell you,since you only come up with a few departure dates - at Salisbury, outgoing letters are postmarked with just one or two dates on them (there was a fellow talking about prison postage at one of the Salisbury symposiums). The theory was that the date on the "stamper" that was used to postmark outgoing letters got stuck, and so they weren't able to change the date. Don't know if that might be what happened at Millen or not - you're way better at Millen than I am!

(Btw, I've been invited to go give another presentation in Andersonville at the POW Museum next year - I will really miss seeing you!)

Hi, Debbie!

It says "3rd NYC," and since the company is listed in another column, I'm going with C stands for Cavalry. The database of Andersonville Prisoners confirms this for Tim Connelly.

Name: ​ Connelly, TIMOTHY Alternate spelling of last name: ​ CONOLLY Year born: ​ 1844 Rank: ​ PRIVATE Company: ​ F Arm: ​ Cavalry Regiment number: ​ 3rd New York Cavalry Date captured: ​ 6/29/1864 Location captured: ​ Ream's Station, Virginia Date of death: ​ Cause of death: ​

Fate: Sent to Camp Lawton, Millen, Georgia, October 31, 1864. Mustered out November 29, 1865 at City Point, Virginia Remarks: SENT TO MILLEN, GA OCTOBER 31, 1864​

There are multiple H. Cooks, but none from NY, but since he's in the Departures Book (you're a braver man than I am, for wading through that), I'm going with he fell through the clerical cracks in the database, which doesn't incorporate the departure or hospital records.

I keep meaning to tell you,since you only come up with a few departure dates - at Salisbury, outgoing letters are postmarked with just one or two dates on them (there was a fellow talking about prison postage at one of the Salisbury symposiums). The theory was that the date on the "stamper" that was used to postmark outgoing letters got stuck, and so they weren't able to change the date. Don't know if that might be what happened at Millen or not - you're way better at Millen than I am!

(Btw, I've been invited to go give another presentation in Andersonville at the POW Museum next year - I will really miss seeing you!)

I found Connelly's record but no Cook using a variety of different search techniques. Nada. However, it appears there is one in the 3NJ cav.

I'm in the process of making sure that I've got all of the correct and corrected information on the Millen POWs before I enter the final numbers into the article I'm writing for the Ga Historical Quarterly. I'm still convinced that there are missing pages of the departure ledgers because the 1800 men who were sent to Rough and Ready for exchange were listed and they were sent 2 days after the first 581 were sent to Millen. So none of those sent before October 31 are listed even though the numbers show up in the monthly recapitulations. There are also lots of entries of others being sent to Savannah and Macon and elsewhere with a variety of different dates. There were almost 2500 men sent to Millen before entries start appearing in the ledgers. Maybe one day they'll be found. I'm hoping that one day I get back to DC and get a chance to examine the original ledgers at NARA.

I'm glad you continue to share your knowledge of Andersonville. Sorry I won't be there to catch up.

 

[lupaglupa]

Kudos to both of you for your hard work in naming and identifying these men. So many names have been lost to time (and bad record keeping!) and it's a wonderful thing that you are doing to reclaim their identities and stories.

 

[debwallsmith]

I found Connelly's record but no Cook using a variety of different search techniques. Nada. However, it appears there is one in the 3NJ cav.

I'm in the process of making sure that I've got all of the correct and corrected information on the Millen POWs before I enter the final numbers into the article I'm writing for the Ga Historical Quarterly. I'm still convinced that there are missing pages of the departure ledgers because the 1800 men who were sent to Rough and Ready for exchange were listed and they were sent 2 days after the first 581 were sent to Millen. So none of those sent before October 31 are listed even though the numbers show up in the monthly recapitulations. There are also lots of entries of others being sent to Savannah and Macon and elsewhere with a variety of different dates. There were almost 2500 men sent to Millen before entries start appearing in the ledgers. Maybe one day they'll be found. I'm hoping that one day I get back to DC and get a chance to examine the original ledgers at NARA.

I'm glad you continue to share your knowledge of Andersonville. Sorry I won't be there to catch up.

I can't come up with any good reasons to travel to Andersonville. I think I tapped out all of their Millen related materials when I was there. It's probably just as well because we both know that my presence might cause problems with a certain former employee. But have a great time. I hope that if it's another outdoor hike that the weather cooperates the way it did when you did the Raiders presentation.