New York (State). Bureau of Records of the War of the Rebellion.

Laws of 1887 authorized the Adjutant General to "procure copies of all military records relating to New York volunteers in the war of the rebellion, not on file in his office, from the proper departments of the general government."

In addition, the Adjutant General was "to establish as part of his office a bureau of records of the war of rebellion, in which all records in his office relating to said war, and the records and relics of the bureau of military statistics shall be united and kept."

Although the exact date of collation of these records is unknown, they were probably produced during the same period when the abstracts for men who served in New York Volunteer units, the United States Navy and Marine Corps, or State Militia were being compiled. According to annual reports submitted by the chief of the Bureau of Records of the War of the Rebellion to the Adjutant General, this was between 1887 and 1907. Furthermore, it is possible these abstracts should have been bound and included among the abstracts contained in series 13775, Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts of New York State Volunteers, U.S. Sharpshooters, and U.S. Colored Troops. That series contains the abstracts of the 20th and 31st U.S. Colored Troops which were the other two colored regiments in which New Yorkers served.

The 26th Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops was organized at Riker's Island, New York harbor on February 27, 1864. The regiment's term of enlistment was three years. During its existence, the unit served in the Department of the East to March, 1864; the District of Beaufort, Department of the South to April, 1865; and at Port Royal, South Carolina until it was honorably discharged and mustered out on August 28, 1865.