Need Help Interpreting a Document

[Gary Morgan]

Under "Records of," what does it say, and what do the abbreviations stand for? CYB? Is OR "Official Records" and if so, what is the Ex 10?

Inquiring minds want to know. The POW was held at Salisbury, if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance!

 

[SgtDarby8OVI]

This is a tough one but since no one has bitten and I am a newbie with nothing to lose, I will make some guesses.
One cannot escape the feeling that 2 different people wrote on this record, with the second (lighter) clerk trying to clarify some of the information, including the man's first name (Middleton) that looked like a surname. It almost appears that the top line replaces his branch of service with "Inf." and then documents the source in the next three columns in abbreviations that we can't make out.
The original (dark ink) clerk recorded the day his parole was signed (March 12) and my wild guess is that "OR Ex 10" refers to "orders...exchange...and maybe the group number of prisoners being exchanged.
Note that the second guy initials this document, including the changes he added in that top row, at the bottom and dates it March 13.

Hope this helps, though it is all speculative.

 

[A. Roy]

Hmm, quite a puzzle! At that early date, I wouldn't assume that OR would stand for Official Records -- probably not. @SgtDarby8OVI makes a good point that there are at least two hands evident on this document.

On that first line in the "Information obtained from" box, the inscription you're interpreting as "CYB" starts out similar to the note in the same hand at the bottom of the document, where I see what looks like "lel Mch 13.65," which I'm assuming is referring to the date 13 March 1865. But whether the first characters are "lel" or "CY" or something else I don't know.

@lelliott19 can be very good at interpreting handwriting -- wonder what she thinks.

Roy B.

 

[A. Roy]

Mary, what's the context of this form? What collection or archive does it come from?

R

 

[Gary Morgan]

Mary, what's the context of this form? What collection or archive does it come from?

R

It's the Memorandum from Prisoner of War Records that comes near the end of each POW's CMSR. I'm pretty good at deciphering prison records, but this one has me stumped....

Just to be thorough, here's another example of the same form....

 

[treebie2000]

After seeing the second example, I'm tempted to suggest that the "initials" in the lower margin (with the date) are actually the letters "Clo.". Note there is a period after each Clo., and then the date.
"Clo." = Closed?

 

[A. Roy]

Actually, that helps to see another example. Also, that's cool to know that these are part of the CMSR -- I haven't happened across one for a prisoner yet.

I think you're right that that notation stands for "C.Y.B" Maybe you've already run through this, but here's my reasoning.

Both forms have a similar notation at the bottom, which I think might represent the date the "case" was closed:

The second example seems to be more clearly "Clo." Makes sense that this would stand for "Closed." If this is correct, that might suggest that the less legible inscription also says "Clo."

That helps (I think) because this seems to be the same hand that wrote the notation you were having trouble reading:

So I think the first letter is probably a "C." And if you look closely, you'll see three periods, one after each of the three letters. So I wonder whether what we're looking at here is an initial or abbreviation, probably "C.Y.B." as you've already surmised.

Roy B.

 

[A. Roy]

It's the Memorandum from Prisoner of War Records that comes near the end of each POW's CMSR. I'm pretty good at deciphering prison records, but this one has me stumped....

Am I right that this form was used to consolidate information from disparate sources into a common format? So this box "Information Obtained From--" would be coded according to the original source or sources the compiler was working from? I don't suppose there's a master index somewhere showing a list of such original sources?

I do notice a code from your second example form that reminds me of the CYB from the other one:

Looks as if it says something like "C_B" -- not sure what the middle character or characters represents...

R

 

[Dave D]

It's the Memorandum from Prisoner of War Records that comes near the end of each POW's CMSR. I'm pretty good at deciphering prison records, but this one has me stumped....

I haven't been able to find "Middleton H" or "M H" Brown in the Fold3 CMSR for 1st Va Cav. of 1st Va Inf. In which unit did you find his records?

I did find a Middleton Herman Brown on Find-A-Grave : https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10521985/middleton-herman-brown

 

[DaveBrt]

The clo and date appears to be the date of the end of captivity -- true for both examples.

 

[Gary Morgan]

I haven't been able to find "Middleton H" or "M H" Brown in the Fold3 CMSR for 1st Va Cav. of 1st Va Inf. In which unit did you find his records?

I did find a Middleton Herman Brown on Find-A-Grave : https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10521985/middleton-herman-brown

He's there. Look for him under "West Virginia"

https://www.fold3.com/image/268576023

 

[Gary Morgan]

Am I right that this form was used to consolidate information from disparate sources into a common format? So this box "Information Obtained From--" would be coded according to the original source or sources the compiler was working from? I don't suppose there's a master index somewhere showing a list of such original sources?

I do notice a code from your second example form that reminds me of the CYB from the other one:

View attachment 406775

Looks as if it says something like "C_B" -- not sure what the middle character or characters represents...

R

In this example, and possibly in the other one, the middle symbol looks like a cursive "G" to me. Then again, I've seen a lot of capital, cursive G's in my day....

 

[Gary Morgan]

Side note: the guy in the bottom Memorandum died in the collision of the transport steamer Massachusetts with the picket boat Black Diamond a couple of days before the Sultana exploded. 87 men, mostly former Andersonville prisoners on their way back to their regiments after 30 days furlough at home, drowned and most of their bodies presumably floated on down to the Chesapeake Bay and were not recovered. This was the same month as the General Lyon fire at sea, that killed close to 600 men. It was a very bad month for former POWs traveling by boat.

 

[nc native]

It's the Memorandum from Prisoner of War Records that comes near the end of each POW's CMSR. I'm pretty good at deciphering prison records, but this one has me stumped....

Just to be thorough, here's another example of the same form....

View attachment 406748

Where can this archive be accessed? I've got Fold3 but I do not recall seeing these records before. I hope it is there and maybe I've just overlooked it.

 

[Gary Morgan]

Where can this archive be accessed? I've got Fold3 but I do not recall seeing these records before. I hope it is there and maybe I've just overlooked it.

If the person in question was a Union POW, the Memorandum form is usually at the back of the Compiled Military Service Records - I think they have images of the index cards posted for the CMSRs, but they're only part way through uploading the CMSR files themselves and got further stalled due to the National Archives being closed due to covid, so it's sort of hit or miss as to whether the person you're looking for's Service Record is on there or not. If there's a number of pages under where it says "Civil War Service Record," then you are in luck. The Memorandum is usually after a check list that says "Enclosures."

 

[Dave D]

He's there. Look for him under "West Virginia"

https://www.fold3.com/image/268576023

Dang ... I wasn't just looking in the wrong regiments, I was looking in the wrong army !

Thanks for the link.

So, if he was with a Union regiment is this a POW record from a Confederate prison (Richmond) ?

 

[Gary Morgan]

Dang ... I wasn't just looking in the wrong regiments, I was looking in the wrong army !

Thanks for the link.

So, if he was with a Union regiment is this a POW record from a Confederate prison (Richmond) ?

According to his descendant, he was initially held at Salisbury. I think the form just has "Richmond" on it because early on, Union prisoners were originally sent to Richmond (Libby, Belle Isle, etc) and then moved on from there.

 

[savagefellow]

For what it's worth, I read it as WJB rather than CYB.
M. Pearson

 

[lupaglupa]

I'm late to this party but I'm going to tag @Bob Velke who deals in records all the time - Bob do you know what normally went in these forms?

 

[Bob Velke]

I'm late to this party but I'm going to tag @Bob Velke who deals in records all the time - Bob do you know what normally went in these forms?

Sorry for the slow response. The anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg has kept me very busy.

The "Information Obtained From" columns typically represent some kind of register or roll in which the soldier's name, rank and regiment were identified. I've stopped trying to interpret them but I've seen "C.P. Md" or "C.P." (Camp Parole, MD), "B.B." (Benton Barracks, MO), "CCO" (Camp Chase, OH), "O. An" (Original Andersonville List) and others. I believe that "M. R." is Muster Roll and "OR Ex" is "Official Record of Exchange" but I can't say that for sure. I've never seen a master list of the abbreviations.

The "Clo." at the bottom is the date in which his clothing account was settled with the government. Here's an example where it is spelled out more completely.