Robert E. Lee’s Compiled Service Record

    For anyone wishing to research a person, regiment, or just about anything else connected to the War, the first place to stop is the Compiled Service Records. At the very end of the war, scores of boxes from the Confederate War Department were turned over to Federal officials in Charlotte (you can learn more about this here). These papers were transported to Washington, D.C., where they were gone through by officials, trying to tie Jefferson Davis to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

   Part of the War Department papers were the muster roll sheets for the various regiments in Confederate service. These muster rolls were completed once every two months and were used to pay the individual troops. Other correspondence was also included. All of this wound up in Washington, D.C.

   After the war, there were various pension acts passed. For Federal soldiers, the pensions came from the US Congress. For Confederate soldiers, pensions came from their various states. The validity of each claim had to be verified. Were they good soldiers who were honorably discharged versus not-so-good soldiers: men who had deserted or been dishonorably discharged. Beginning in the 1890s, the War Department began creating the Compiled Service Records. The muster roll sheets, regimental returns, descriptive books, information from hospitals, and any other materials the clerks could find were copied onto various cards (usually one for each surviving muster). With other surviving documents, these cards were placed in envelopes and filed away by states and regiments. When a pension applicant or state official wrote the War Department inquiring about a veteran’s service, it was (usually) easy to pull those records, summarize the information, and send a letter with the necessary details.

   Robert E. Lee never served in a regiment. He, along with thousands of others who were staff officers, had a special category  (now known as “Confederate officers). Although Lee served as a military advisor to Jefferson Davis, as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, and then, toward the end of the conflict, as overall Confederate commander, his folder only contains 66 pieces.

   Several of the cards refer to letters found in other places. For example, there is a card for a letter that Lee wrote to Jefferson Davis on February 19 and February 23, 1865. They are in the file of Charles E. Jones. Both letters deal with correspondence from Beauregard. Another refers to a special order issued on June 2, 1862, assigning Lee to command the army in Virginia.

   One card outlines Lee’s service as commander of the department of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida, including a list of his staff; his promotion to brigadier general in the regular Confederate Army; and his parole at Appomattox on April 9, 1865.

   And then there are more mundane things, like a requisition for forage for the third quarter of 1864. Lee had two horses (Traveler and Lucy) and asked for eight pounds of corn and eight pounds of oats, daily. It is interesting that in August 1864, the voucher listed four horses.

   There are pay vouchers for his thirty years of service. It is interesting to note that Lee was paid $301 a month, plus an additional $100 a month for commanding an army, plus an extra $54 a month for his thirty years of service. There are several official letters that Lee wrote. One is dated March 26, 1863, and addressed to Maj. A. H. Cole. His total pay for the months of April, May, June, and July, 1863, was $1,820.00.

   Included is a telegram from Lee to Secretary of War James Seddon, written December 4, 1862, regarding corn in the upper Rappahannock valley; a note from Secretary of War Seddon regarding the nomination of Lee for Commander in Chief; and various other letters while Lee was serving as military advisor to Davis in the spring of 1862.  These include notes to Beauregard, E. Kirby Smith, Lovill, and Josiah Gorgas.

   Also included are a handful of letters from twentieth-century people, including Douglas Southall Freeman, asking for details on Lee’s military service. Writing on August 15, 1925, Freeman was interested in any correspondence from Lee between April 1 and April 10, 1865. Freeman was advised to consult on the Official Records.

   I was curious about how Lee’s Compiled Military Service Record, at 67 pages, stacked up against some of the other Confederate commanders: P.G.T. Beauregard comes in at 170 pages; E. Kirby Smith, 81 pages; and Joseph E. Johnston, 129 pages.

   Once again, if you are going to research a person or regiment/brigade, etc., the Compiled Military Service Records, now housed at the National Archives and available online at fold3.com, is the place to start. You might find nothing, and you might discover a gold mine!