United States. Record and Pension Office

By War Department Orders of July 8 and 16, 1889, in order to consolidate in one office all records relating to United States Volunteers, the Record and Pension Division of the Surgeon General's Office and 13 divisions of The Adjutant General's Office having charge of the muster rolls and other military records of Volunteers were consoliodated and designated the Record and Pension Division of the War Department. Fred C. Ainsworth, Captain and Assistant Surgeon, U.S. Army, had been in charge of the Record and Pension Division in the Office of the Surgeon General. He became the chief of the new division, which was charged with the custody of the military and hospital records of U.S. Volunteers and with the transaction of the business of the War Department connected with them. In addition to the War Department records, certain other records from the Departments of the Interior, State, and Treasury were brought in to the Record and Pension Division, most of which pertain to the Revolution and are now a part of Record Group 93, War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records.

In order to facilitate the furnishing of statements of military service, chiefly to the Commissioner of Pernsions for record evidence in the consideration of Army pensions, it was decided to apply to the military records the same system involving the use of the index-record card that had been previously used successfully in connection with the medical records. The military history of a Volunteer is found on company muster rolls, which were made out every two months, on company and regimental monthly returns, on company and regimental descriptive books, and on several other types of records.

The rolls and returns, having been in constant use for many years, were in a very bad state of repair and were fast becoming worn out from the incessant unfolding and refolding incident to searching them for desired information. In order to collect the many entries comprising the history of a soldier from the numerous rolls and other records, the method adopted was to copy each entry found on every record on a slip or card, and then to arrange the cards by regiments, next by individual names, and finally in chronological order. All the cards relating to a soldier would thus fall together and would show his military history in consecutive order from muster-in to termination of service. All the cards pertaining to a soldier were then filed in a jacket bearing his name and regiment. Missing periods of service were supplied in many instances from pay rolls borrowed from the Second Auditor of the Treasury, which were copied and then returned to his office.

The copying of information from the original records on index-record cards was accomplished for United States Volunteers and Militia having service in the War of 1812, in the various Indian Wars, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and the Philippine Insurrection. The medical records of the Regular Army, 1821-84 and 1894-1912, were also carded by this Office and later by The Adjutant General's Office. In addition, all the available records containing information relating to the military service of soldiers in the Continental Army and States Militia for the Revolutionary War and for the Confederate Army in the Civil War were similarly copied. These are not included in this description as they are in separate record groups in the National Archives (Record Groups 93 and 109).

The history of the Record and Pension Office is closely related to the story of Ainsworth, a dominant figure in the War Department during his time. There were changes in the organization of the Office but the administration of affairs remained in his charge. The Division was designated the Record and Pension Office of the War Department by an act of Congress approved May 9, 1892. By an act of April 23, 1904, and by subsequent War Department orders of May 11, 1904, the Office was combined with The Adjutant General's Office and the combination was designated the Military Secretary's Office. Ainsworth was made the Military Secretary; later in 1907, he became The Adjutant General.

From the description of Records of the Record and Pension Office (a subgroup), 1889-1904. (National Archives Library). WorldCat record id: 122396409