New York State Bureau of Records of the War of the Rebellion Abstracts of Muster Rolls for Men who Served in the United States…

Organized into three subseries: 1. Regular Navy Officers; 2. Volunteer Navy Officers; 3. Enlisted Men.

Alphabetical by name within each subseries.

Laws of 1887 (Chapters 51, 247) 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 the 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."

In his 1898 annual report to the Adjutant General, the chief of the Bureau of Records of the War of the Rebellion stated that "arrangements have been entered into to obtain from the United States Navy Department the records of the men who served in the United States Navy" during the Civil War. Nine years later the chief of the bureau reported that the service records of men who served in the Navy had been bound "and the old records...carefully filed and packed away for preservation."

This series consists of printed abstracts describing the military service of New York men who served in the United States Navy during the Civil War. While the series contains records that document the service of officers and enlisted men, most abstracts are for enlisted men.

Subseries 1--U.S. Navy Regular Officers. 1 volume. This volume provides name, birthplace, from where appointed, date of appointment, rank, promotions, names of vessels on which served, and final disposition (resigned, retired, died, or dismissed). Occasionally copies of official reports or orders are included among the abstracts.

Subseries 2--U.S. Navy Volunteer Officers. 4 Volumes. These abstracts contain the same categories of information as the abstracts for the regular officers. The information contained under the heading "final disposition" is similar to that found for regular officers, except for the disposition of honorably discharged.

Subseries 3--U.S. Navy Enlisted Men. 91 volumes. These abstracts contain basically the same information as the above abstracts. These provide name, birthplace, to which place credited, date and place of enlistment, term rating (rank), names of vessels on which served, and final disposition (discharged, died, deserted, etc.). In addition to service information, many of these abstracts contain physical descriptions that provide: eye and hair color, complexion, and height; they may also state age, place of birth and occupation.

Collation date ca. 1887-1907.

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