A little known and little used resource in researching Civil War ancestors is The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Otherwise known as the OR for short, these 128 volumes are a collection of actual reports and correspondence written by army and navy officers who fought in the Civil War.
I know it sounds overwhelming but let me tell you it doesn’t have to be that way. Google The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. There are a few places online that have digitized this information. Cornell University and The Ohio State University, https://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records are a couple places this work can be viewed online. You can also find the set in many libraries if you’d like to read from an actual book.
Today we’re going to read online and go to Cornell University http://collections.library.cornell.edu/moa_new/waro.html. They have an easy to use site that explains how the OR is set up on their site. It is compiled according to the campaign, either in the eastern or western theater and then in chronological order. Usually the Union report is first, then followed by the Confederate report.
Next is the list of each volume with the explanations of contents. I’m interested in the actions of Co. G, 9th Ohio Cavalry on April 13, 1864. A corporal I’m researching died on that date outside of Florence, Alabama. So I scrolled down until I found:
Volume XXXII – in Three Parts. 1891. (Vol. 32, Chap. 44)
Chapter XLIV – Operations in Kentucky, Southwest Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and North Georgia. January 1-April 30, 1864.
Part I – Reports
Part II – Union and Confederate Correspondence, etc.
Part III – Union and Confederate Correspondence, etc.
I click on reports and find myself immersed in the actions of both Union and Confederate regiments. Then I come across this:
. . . . On the night of the 12th instant detachments of the Twenty-seventh Alabama and my regiment, commanded by Colonel Jackson and myself, crossed the Tennessee near Tuscumbia and surprised a camp of the enemy 4 miles distant from the river, killing 3, capturing 3 commissioned officers, 38 noncommissioned officers and privates, and 1 negro sutler, together with a considerable number of horses, mules, arms, equipments, comprising the larger portion of Company G, Ninth Ohio Cavalry. I brought off my detachment entire, sustaining no loss whatever. One-half the prisoners I took charge of, and have this day forwarded them to Tuscaloosa with a guard of 1 captain and 14 men, to be turned over to the provost marshal of that district. . . . . . . (1)
Wow! So that’s what happened to Co. G, 9th Ohio Cavalry on that day in April 1864 as reported by Col. Samuel S. Ives of the 35th Alabama. I can’t find a corresponding Union report so I click on Union and Confederate Correspondence to find Union Brigadier-General G. M. Dodge write:
. . . Colonel Rowett reports heavy force on opposite side of river, but thinks that they have as yet only crossed in squads. They captured one company of Ninth Ohio Cavalry yesterday morning before daylight, and got them across without firing a shot. This is the first expedition of that regiment. They are evidently green. All sorts of rumors down in that country. Rowett says they are building boats at Prides, 12 miles below Tuscumbia, and hauling them to six different points on the river. The rest of the Ninth Ohio Cavalry is with Rowett before this, and he will watch close . . (2).
Another wow! So this was the Union’s response to Co. G, 9th Ohio Cavalry being taken prisoner by the 27th & 35th Alabama regiments. I felt like I had taken a step back in time, as if I were standing right there along the banks of the Tennessee River in April 1864.
This information puts a new light on what I already knew about my corporal and the 9th OVC. Most of Co. G was taken prisoner without firing a single shot, they were newbies on the battlefield and it showed. That’s how my corporal died.
I was researching a very small skirmish, just think what you’ll find if you search a major battle or extended campaign! You can tell your friends you researched The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Sure they’ll yawn but secretly they’ll be impressed by your intelligence!
Remember the idea is to shake the dust off your Civil War ancestor, using all the information you find to add up to what once was a real living, breathing person. A person who happened to be a part of one of the most important events in this country’s history!
Good luck in your continued search!
(1) United States. War Dept., The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Govt. Print. Off., 1880 – 1901, Series 1, Volume 32, Chapter 64, pg. 355, online digital collection Cornell University.
(2) United States. War Dept., The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Govt. Print. Off., 1880 – 1901, Series 1, Volume 32, Chapter 64, pg. 663, online digital collection Cornell University.