U.S., Index to General Correspondence of the Record and Pension Office, 1889-1904

This database contains an index to general correspondence of the U.S. Record and Pension Office from 1889-1904.

About the Record and Pension Office:

The Record and Pension Office was in charge of military and medical records of volunteer forces, medical records of the Regular Army, and any business pertaining to these records. However, during the years 1889-1904, generally the Record and Pension Office only had responsibility over records of volunteer forces. Records relating to the Regular Army were in the charge of the Adjutant General’s Office. Records that related to both the volunteer forces and the Regular Army were under the Record and Pension Office.

Types of correspondence included:

About the Index:

Correspondence received by the Record and Pension Office was numbered consecutively according to time of receipt. Replies and other abstracts and copies of the communication were filed together with the incoming correspondence. Name and subject index cards to these files were created as a finding aid. This finding aid is what is reproduced in this database.

Most of the index cards are arranged according to the Soundex system, and there under alphabetically according to soldiers’ surnames. A card listing all of the variant spellings precedes such index cards. Other index cards were filed according to names of volunteer organizational units or subjects. These cards are also filed according to the Soundex system but appear after the cards containing the names of soldiers. Organizational units were often filed by the name of the officer who commanded the unit. Each index card lists:

For information about this record set, please consult the National Archives’ descriptive pamphlet for this microfilm series.