How did each military unit maintain it's paperwork?

Chris Leech

Private
Joined
Feb 19, 2014
Location
Kent, United Kingdom.
Just a quick question that l hope someone can help me with.

As we know the level of paper work, be it nominal rolls, ammunition states and numerous other returns of all kinds were the bane of every units HQ, whether it be Company, Regiment and above.

The question is :- How did these HQ`s physically retain their copies of these numerous items of paper..... Specific forms would have had to be kept separate from other specific forms etc etc, and there would have been numerous different types of forms that had to be retained separately in this manner......

lm presuming the HQ`s had something similar to either folders, holders, binders or boxes just for this purpose, but l cannot find either photos or any information whatsoever pertaining to this....

Hope somebody can help me out with this, and thanks in advance.

Chris.
 
Just a quick question that l hope someone can help me with.

As we know the level of paper work, be it nominal rolls, ammunition states and numerous other returns of all kinds were the bane of every units HQ, whether it be Company, Regiment and above.

The question is :- How did these HQ`s physically retain their copies of these numerous items of paper..... Specific forms would have had to be kept separate from other specific forms etc etc, and there would have been numerous different types of forms that had to be retained separately in this manner......

lm presuming the HQ`s had something similar to either folders, holders, binders or boxes just for this purpose, but l cannot find either photos or any information whatsoever pertaining to this....

Hope somebody can help me out with this, and thanks in advance.

Chris.
It was much easier to keep track of one or two small blank books that a pile of loose papers -- so many units kept everything in a ledger or letter book. I just looked at a Tennessee Cavalry Co.'s book -- contained list of all men and marks showing they had each item of uniform, corn purchased while on a mission, men assigned to work parties, copies of orders that applied to the company, receipts of camp equipment, etc. etc.

This is not a complete answer, but was certainly used at the company and regiment level.
 
I believe you may find mentioned in some reports of headquarters' detail and what they are allowed to bring on an active campaign, is the field desk. It could be set up within a tent and closed up and moved conveniently. I assume the books, ledgers, and writing utensils may have been kept organized in this way.
Lubliner.
 
Here is a prior thread that might be of interest
Regards
David
 
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