Daily Kennebec journal., 1898-11-18
STATE HOUSE.
Looking Up the Records Of the Civil
War Veterans.
Work That Has Been Neglected Since Open.
ing Of Spanish War.

Now that the work in +ha c.
tary line is a little duh. inst hasoro 49,.
work begins on the returns fro,, 49,, -. ,..
1es that has been mustered out
.ne ,oiee ~ tne adJutant generals office
mas us nands full in catching up with tbe
work that has accumulated during tho
time II has had to work on the acco,,n,
OF the Maine forces in the volunteer sar-
vice. SCI
Inc greater part Of this work is In con
nectlon with the old soldiers OF the wa,
OF the Rebellion. who wish their records
investigated. Many have lost their dis
charge papers, and they write for dunli.
Gates. Ihese of course cannot he nro-
cured, as the men who signed the former
ones are dead. However. the record. :,
the Civil War can be looked nm ana :
certificate given each soldier Of his cor
vices, stating when, and under what oon
dltlons, ne was mustered out.
During the past eight months there has
peen put little time to devote to such mat
ters. only the urgent ones being ~inyesti-
gated The others were placed on file
Tor day when there was nothing else
to do. There were cases. of course
where the matter was urgent. and where
there was pension, or something of the
sort, at stake. These were promptly al
tended to.
10 look up the record of a man is by no
means an easy task, though to Captain
Clark who has directed the work for
many years, 1t is not so very difficult.
The alphabetical index shows when the
man enlisted, in what company and reg
iment The muster in, and descriptive
rolls of the company, his age, color,
height, occupation. etc. Then it is nee
essary to follow along and investigate
every monthly report of the companies
of the regiment. Often the man will be
one who was. i'll, or who was transferred
to some other regiment and company.
So the man is followed on until it is time
for. his muster out, and the muster out
roll of the company of which he was a
member will give a description of his
service while he has been in that COM
pany, all his hospital record, his physical
condition, as found by the examining sur
geon at the tune Of his muster out, and
by whom the muster out papers were
signed, besides the commander of the reg
iment. Sometimes there are complications
to be found, and it will take a long time
his army record. One of the clerks
worked all day., Wednesday, under the
direction of Captain Clark, and failed TO
find out anything about a man. The first
thing, Thursday morning, however she
happened to find the mans name, and SO
get a partial record of him.
Away back in 1892 General Gallagher at
the advice of Captain Clark, started a set
of books which contain pages made out
in the form of the certificates given to
the soldiers. AS mans record is looked
UP, it is entered in this book, SO that II
at any time in future years, the man
should wish a copy of his certificate, the
department will not have to go over all
the old records again, but can turn di-
rect to this book, and copy it from there
Already the department has filled six
large volumes. In the index, the men
whose records have been investigated are
marked In time there will be larg"
per cent of the veterans, whose records
will be in condensed form in these books
The work under Adjutant General Ricn-
ards direction will grow faster than ever
stirred many of the old veterans up
little, and they are writing in larger
numbers than before to get certificates OF
their service.
In this work only enough is charged
the man who makes the request, to cover
the work by the clerk. -
There was once a request for a copy IN
alphabetical order, and by companies ana
regiments. of all the men who served IN
the War of the Rebellion. AS there are
Y, 900 men included in this list, 1t woulu
have cost the man large sum OF money
to have had the work done. 1t woulu
have been rather unnecessary too' as
there is large book containing the
names in alphabetical order, that can De
referred to at the adjutant general OF
flee, at any time There are lew ol
these. books in some of the libraries OF
the State, that are accessfple.
Hon T.. r Carleton who returned home
with Hon. gP. o. yickery from their hunt-
ipg trim at Lambert Lake, Wednesday
night. went to his home in winthrop
Thursday morning. He says the NUM-
ing now is getting to pc very poor
there is several inches OIL sno" ~
woods, which has formed so that tnere 10
a little crust 1t is almost mpossipie ~
get near enough to deer 10 shoot NM
as the animal can hear the hunter ions
before the latter can see the opJecl u ni'
hunt. Mr.. Carleton told of trying eA-
perience that Game Warden Neal hau
one day in company with Hon. ~ "
Vickery. Mr. Neal had a chance 10 shoo-
twice at a buck, and twice at aoe, q.
about 80 yards, one morning. Nei.ne.
shot touched the game,sand he founu a,.e,
looking at the rifle which was one ne hau