What is the "Special Muster Roll" ?

O.R.-- SERIES I--VOLUME XXV/2 [S# 40]
Correspondence, Orders, And Returns Relating To Operations In Northern Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, And Pennsylvania, From January 26 To June 2, 1863.
UNION CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.--#6
BALTIMORE,
March 24, 1863.
Colonel TRUEX,
Frederick City, Md.:

At midnight Colonel Schley reported from Point of Rocks that Stuart, with his cavalry, had passed Leesburg in the direction of Nolan's Ferry. Doubtful; but still you will be on the alert with your Jerseymen at Monocacy and on the railroad. This will be communicated here to General Briggs.
R. C. SCHENCK,
Major-General, Commanding.
-------

NOTE: The area around the Monocacy bridge is very necessary to access the road to Gettysburg. Stuart's Cavalry is reported and if the Cavalry raid overran the 14th New Jersey 'guard' on any of the portions of the railroad, that person would be on the Special Muster Roll. The date of April 1863 is an active one as Lee was on the March and leading up to the Gettysburg campaign.

M. E. Wolf
 
O.R.-- SERIES I--VOLUME XXV/2 [S# 40]
Correspondence, Orders, And Returns Relating To Operations In Northern Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, And Pennsylvania, From January 26 To June 2, 1863.
UNION CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.--#6
BALTIMORE,
March 24, 1863.
Colonel TRUEX,
Frederick City, Md.:

At midnight Colonel Schley reported from Point of Rocks that Stuart, with his cavalry, had passed Leesburg in the direction of Nolan's Ferry. Doubtful; but still you will be on the alert with your Jerseymen at Monocacy and on the railroad. This will be communicated here to General Briggs.
R. C. SCHENCK,
Major-General, Commanding.
-------

NOTE: The area around the Monocacy bridge is very necessary to access the road to Gettysburg. Stuart's Cavalry is reported and if the Cavalry raid overran the 14th New Jersey 'guard' on any of the portions of the railroad, that person would be on the Special Muster Roll. The date of April 1863 is an active one as Lee was on the March and leading up to the Gettysburg campaign.

M. E. Wolf


Fantastic! I enjoyed all of it! Thanks again!
 
View attachment 29022
This being a much better scan -- See the name? The return from Missing in Action?

The small print also defines this area of the Return to list casualties, e.g. death, etc. This would be the foundation to create the "Special Muster Roll."

Hope this helps explain the purposes for the Special Muster Roll.

M. E. Wolf
View attachment 29021
Note the right portion of this scan -- the alterations of Enlisted men - "Return."

Special Muster Rolls were designed to hold in a 'holding pattern per se' those men who were assigned to a Regiment/Company but not fully accountable due to being a POW or Missing.

Wolf: Liked your responses. Like FrankN I have a Special Muster Roll on an ancestor in the 1st N Y Inf for April 10, 1863. His real name was Henry Greenwald but he is also listed as Henry Grieswald, Henry Grimwold, Heinrich Grunewald, etc.) The Special Muster lists him present for duty. However, under the Remarks someone other than the officer who prepared the Roll added "Roll apl 30/63 not on file." I assume the hypenated word "apl" means "April." I guess it could be "after" but the "t" is not crossed and "after 30/63" would not make much sense. The next reports are two Co. Muster-Out Rolls both showing the soldier mustered out with regiment May 25, 1863. Family lore says he died as a POW. 57 men of his regiment were captured on May 2, 1863, at Chancellorsville when Birney made a night bayonet attack. Phisterer's roster shows all were paroled. The entry for my ancestor's doesn't mention his having been WIA or a POW/paroled. It says he was mustered out. Sorry for the long blast but can you offer any advice on where I might look to solve this problem?
 
Mustered out would mean that he would have had to gone through administrative processes to leave the service. Lost records/Missing records was chronic, especially depending on horse transport in a battle theater. Apl could mean applied. I would have to read the original document.

The multiple spellings will give you a headache as you have to play tracking the chain 'detective.' The "Mustering/Discharge Officer" (you'll see at times in a sentence referred to as the M&D Officer) is the guy who opens the door and closes the door behind a soldier's career. It isn't that rare for a whole Regiment to be Mustered out. These Regiments were frequently created on the same day and entered the Camp of Instruction. They would have been signed up for three years or as many years as they would have applied for. Some were two year men.

Statement of Volunteer-1 001.jpg

This is what many states used to register a recruit or re-sign up a veteran.

M. E. Wolf
 
This would be before the Muster Roll would be filled out. By using this form, which is an 'index' per se, they could get all the names in alphabetical order.
Statement of Volunteer-2 001.jpg

This particular chap signed for one year.

The "Reg." number, is the registration number. It would be referred to throughout the maintenance of the Muster Roll. If he resigned for another year, he could have a new number. But, it is logical for these statements to be used as a index card per se.

M. E. Wolf
 
Wolf: Liked your responses. Like FrankN I have a Special Muster Roll on an ancestor in the 1st N Y Inf for April 10, 1863. His real name was Henry Greenwald but he is also listed as Henry Grieswald, Henry Grimwold, Heinrich Grunewald, etc.) The Special Muster lists him present for duty. However, under the Remarks someone other than the officer who prepared the Roll added "Roll apl 30/63 not on file." I assume the hypenated word "apl" means "April." I guess it could be "after" but the "t" is not crossed and "after 30/63" would not make much sense. The next reports are two Co. Muster-Out Rolls both showing the soldier mustered out with regiment May 25, 1863. Family lore says he died as a POW. 57 men of his regiment were captured on May 2, 1863, at Chancellorsville when Birney made a night bayonet attack. Phisterer's roster shows all were paroled. The entry for my ancestor's doesn't mention his having been WIA or a POW/paroled. It says he was mustered out. Sorry for the long blast but can you offer any advice on where I might look to solve this problem?
 
I got an explanation from the U.S. Militaria Forum. If anyone else is unsure, I was told that it was an out of cycle muster sometimes done after a battle, a unit relocation, transferring in and out of a large number of men or just because the commander ordered that it be done.
That would certainly make sense. The muster roll for the 52nd North Carolina was listing my GGrandad as MIA. He had been captured and shipped to Point Lookout. I'm going to go back and see if the first Muster after he was taken was of a special nature.
 
That would certainly make sense. The muster roll for the 52nd North Carolina was listing my GGrandad as MIA. He had been captured and shipped to Point Lookout. I'm going to go back and see if the first Muster after he was taken was of a special nature.

Let us know what you find!
 
Ok….I'm resurrecting this thread (Thanks 'Gen. Meade' for the tip).

and Thanks also to 'M.E. Wolf'….you truly are a treasure of this forum, sir…

So…..here's my guy….with a 'special muster roll' dated April 10, '63 as well….

What I know is: his regiment was on duty at the 'Contraband Commissary' in the Washington area (Alexandria?…I can look it up…I just don't remember off the top of my head….I have it buried somewhere)

I'm finding the date of this 'special' more and more curious….others have already commented that they have one for their guys from 4/10/1863 as well….hmmmmmmmm…..curiouser and curiouser….

Below is the scan of his roll cards…including the one for May & June '63 where he is noted as promoted to corporal by the Col. of his regiment….At fist, I was thinking the 'special' might have had something to do with his promotion….
Apr10, May, June 1863 musterrolls1.jpg
 
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Wolf: Liked your responses. Like FrankN I have a Special Muster Roll on an ancestor in the 1st N Y Inf for April 10, 1863. His real name was Henry Greenwald but he is also listed as Henry Grieswald, Henry Grimwold, Heinrich Grunewald, etc.) The Special Muster lists him present for duty. However, under the Remarks someone other than the officer who prepared the Roll added "Roll apl 30/63 not on file." I assume the hypenated word "apl" means "April." I guess it could be "after" but the "t" is not crossed and "after 30/63" would not make much sense. The next reports are two Co. Muster-Out Rolls both showing the soldier mustered out with regiment May 25, 1863. Family lore says he died as a POW. 57 men of his regiment were captured on May 2, 1863, at Chancellorsville when Birney made a night bayonet attack. Phisterer's roster shows all were paroled. The entry for my ancestor's doesn't mention his having been WIA or a POW/paroled. It says he was mustered out. Sorry for the long blast but can you offer any advice on where I might look to solve this problem?

The abbreviation for "apl" is application -- which in old context, means moving information to another place, e.g. special muster roll to 'index' or 'records ledger' -- Alphabets being so important, abbreviations so frequent due to lack of and expense of paper, the abbreviation for April would be Ap.l (with the "l" elevated to footnote position - typist on manual typewriters would refer to half a space up, then turn the roller back level onto the line.

The records via 'roll' would shed light on it.

M. E. Wolf
 
Ok….I'm resurrecting this thread (Thanks 'Gen. Meade' for the tip).

and Thanks also to 'M.E. Wolf'….you truly are a treasure of this forum, sir…

So…..here's my guy….with a 'special muster roll' dated April 10, '63 as well….

What I know is: his regiment was on duty at the 'Contraband Commissary' in the Washington area (Alexandria?…I can look it up…I just don't remember off the top of my head….I have it buried somewhere)

I'm finding the date of this 'special' more and more curious….others have already commented that they have one for their guys from 4/10/1863 as well….hmmmmmmmm…..curiouser and curiouser….

Below is the scan of his roll cards…including the one for May & June '63 where he is noted as promoted to corporal by the Col. of his regiment….At fist, I was thinking the 'special' might have had something to do with his promotion….
View attachment 79444

The location I see was "West Chester," which I assume to be Pennsylvania. His promotion was by order of the Colonel, and reflected to be dated on the date in the remarks section. At times promotions were before the paperwork caught up with the Regiment.

Special Muster Rolls are frequently used for those on details away from their normal Regiment, in your case the 7th Pennsylvania Reserves.

Contraband are Black/Negroes -- their Commissary would have been a different place than for Troops.

M. E. Wolf
 
The location I see was "West Chester," which I assume to be Pennsylvania……

That's correct…he was mustered into the Federal Service while at (boot) Camp Wayne, which is near West Chester Pa.

Contraband are Black/Negroes -- their Commissary would have been a different place than for Troops.

That is correct as well…his unit had duty policing the Commissary while they were camped in the Alexandria area.
 
Hi ,

I just noticed tonight my ancestor's "Special Muster Roll" after having his records for some 17 years.
I did a search here on the forum and found this topic. :smile:

As you see his is also dated April 1863 albeit the 14th. Near the jump off date of Streight's Raid with the Mules.
My ancestor was with Gen Dodge's Brigade as they screened Streight's movements into Alabama.

Scan0001.JPG
 

Hello from Maine,

I am new to this website but a long time civil war student. I was recently reviewing the muster rolls I had received from my gg grandfather's civil war records, and I found an April 10, 1863 Special Muster Roll. While researching this, I found this old thread of conversation discussing it. There was a lot of good conversation, but I found that the answer did not specifically answer my question as to why so many soldiers had a Special Muster Roll on April 10, 1863. My gg grandfather served in the Second Maine Battery, and was in the Army of the Potomac on April 10, 1863, just like so many other men from other armies. So I did a little more digging and found that the War Department had ordered that there be a general muster of the troops, on April 10, 1863, to use for the making of a draft of men, to fill up all the regiments and batteries. Here are two of the orders that support this information. I hope this might help someone solve their mystery about their gg grandfather. Please share your thoughts. Thank you.

"HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Thursday, April 2 -- 10 P.M.
General Orders, No. 35,
"In pursuance of instructions which have been received by the War Department, there will be a general muster of all the troops serving in this army, on the 10th inst, and the muster-rolls will be immediately thereafter sent to the Adjutant-General of the army, for the use of the Provost-Marshal in making drafts to fill up regiments and batteries to the proper complement."


"Head-Quarters Department of toe Cumberland, Murfreesboro , Tenn., April 3 d, 1 S63.
GENERAL ORDERS, No. 69. ]
1. There will be made on the 10th day of April, or as soon thereafter as practicable, a General Muster of all the troops serving in this Department.
The Muster Roils will be sent immediately to the Adjutant General of the Army, for the use of the Provost Marshal General, in making drafts to fill all regiments and batteries to the proper complement. Regimental and Detachment Commanders will forward these Muster Rolls direct to Washington, and report by letter to these Head-Quarters the execution of this order..."
 

Hello from Maine,

I am new to this website but a long time civil war student. I was recently reviewing the muster rolls I had received from my gg grandfather's civil war records, and I found an April 10, 1863 Special Muster Roll. While researching this, I found this old thread of conversation discussing it. There was a lot of good conversation, but I found that the answer did not specifically answer my question as to why so many soldiers had a Special Muster Roll on April 10, 1863. My gg grandfather served in the Second Maine Battery, and was in the Army of the Potomac on April 10, 1863, just like so many other men from other armies. So I did a little more digging and found that the War Department had ordered that there be a general muster of the troops, on April 10, 1863, to use for the making of a draft of men, to fill up all the regiments and batteries. Here are two of the orders that support this information. I hope this might help someone solve their mystery about their gg grandfather. Please share your thoughts. Thank you.

"HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Thursday, April 2 -- 10 P.M.
General Orders, No. 35,
"In pursuance of instructions which have been received by the War Department, there will be a general muster of all the troops serving in this army, on the 10th inst, and the muster-rolls will be immediately thereafter sent to the Adjutant-General of the army, for the use of the Provost-Marshal in making drafts to fill up regiments and batteries to the proper complement."


"Head-Quarters Department of toe Cumberland, Murfreesboro , Tenn., April 3 d, 1 S63.
GENERAL ORDERS, No. 69. ]
1. There will be made on the 10th day of April, or as soon thereafter as practicable, a General Muster of all the troops serving in this Department.
The Muster Roils will be sent immediately to the Adjutant General of the Army, for the use of the Provost Marshal General, in making drafts to fill all regiments and batteries to the proper complement. Regimental and Detachment Commanders will forward these Muster Rolls direct to Washington, and report by letter to these Head-Quarters the execution of this order..."
Thank you for posting this!
 
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