ADJUTANT GENERAL:

The entries give name, rank, age, nativity, date and place enrolled and mustered, residence, and remarks (usually on service transfer or termination). The basic information is on the soldier’s status at the time of enlistment; only in the remarks is subsequent service data recorded. The 1865 compilation is incomplete, and its entries provide somewhat less, and occasionally variant, data than that found in the 1915 compilation. Neither compilation specifies the source of the information presented, although the Civil War muster rolls (cataloged separately) are the most likely source.

The compilations are supplemented by a set of compiled muster rolls [approximately 1865] that give similar data, under instructions that these data be derived from the "Company Records."

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Entries in each compilation are arranged by regiment and company.

These documents are organized into the following sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Minnesota. Office of the Adjutant General. Compiled Rosters of Minnesota Civil War Regiments. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: None

Processing Information:

Processed by: Lydia Lucas, 1997, 1999.

Catalog ID number: 990017358610104294

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A compilation of service information on individuals who served in Minnesota regiments during the Civil War. Each entry gives name, rank, age, nativity (state or country), date enrolled, date mustered (if different), residence (town, county, and state), and remarks (whether discharged with regiment, or date and circumstances of other termination of service).

Entries are by regiment and company. Within each company, field and staff officers are listed first in rank order, then privates in roughly alphabetical order. At least one volume of this set is missing; those present cover only the 1st-5th and part of the 11th Minnesota Infantry regiments, the 1st Heavy Artillery, and the 1st Company of Sharpshooters.

This compilation provides more information than is found in the published rosters in Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars. It provides similar but generally somewhat less information than the 1866 Adjutant General’s report.

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Paperbound muster rolls, one for each company (3rd and 7th Volunteer Infantry missing). Organized by regiment and company. Each entry gives name, rank, description (age, height, eye and hair color, complexion), state or country and town or county of birth, occupation, when and where enrolled, where and when mustered in and by whom, residence (town, county, state), whether married or single, and "Remarks" (major service events, primarily separation from the company).

Instructions printed on the covers state that the first part of the roll should be a copy of the original organization roll; that it should then be continued with information on all recruits, draftees, and substitutes that subsequently joined the company, taken from the "Company Records"; and that the "Remarks" should include date and cause of death or discharge, information on desertion, transfer to the Veteran Reserve Corps, and promotions.

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A handwritten list of 21,991 soldiers who served in Minnesota Civil War regiments, or who enlisted from Minnesota into Federal military units. It is, in effect, a quasi-alphabetical summary of the persons recorded in the Compiled Rosters of Minnesota Volunteer Regiments (see below). The entries are organized by first letter of the soldier’s surname, and thereunder by regiment. For each letter of the alphabet, they transcribe name, company, and regiment in the order in which the names beginning with that letter appear in the Compiled Rosters (e.g., all of the “A” entries for the 1st Regiment, then all the “A” entries for the 2d Regiment, etc.). The entries in the list were also assigned sequential numbers, from 1 to 21,991. It is not known whether these numbers serve any reference purpose beyond being a running tally of the number of names in this list.

On the flyleaf of Volume 1, in an unknown hand, is written: "This Index was prepared by C. J. Humason formerly of Co K 3rd Min Vol Infy July 10 1915." It was formerly cataloged as "Compiled index of Civil War volunteers and drafted men." However, this identification appears nowhere on the volumes; their spine titles (and page headings) are "Alphabetical List of Minnesota Vol(unteers) in the Civil War."

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A handwritten compilation of service information on individuals who served in Minnesota regiments during the Civil War. One volume also contains a record of Minnesota draftees and substitutes who served in these and other regiments, enrollees in the U.S. Engineers, and enrollees in the U.S. Colored Troops. They are arranged by regiment, and list all regimental privates and field officers in a single sequence, roughly alphabetical by surname. Surgeons, musicians, chaplains, and quartermasters are included, but not the regimental staff officers (colonels, lieutenant colonels, majors, captains, adjutants), unless they began their service at a lesser rank.

Each entry gives number (from 1 to xxx within each regiment), name, rank at enlistment, age, birth place, date of enrollment, where enrolled, date and place of muster-in (usually the same as enrollment), term years (number of years enlisted for), company, regiment, residence when enrolled (for Minnesota, often just the township or city), date and place of muster-out, and remarks (died, deserted, transfers, promotions, captured, status at close of war, and the like).

This compilation is in the same handwriting as the Alphabetical List, above, and thus was presumably created by C. J. Humason in, or shortly before, 1915. The purpose and circumstances of its creation, and the source(s) from which the information is derived, are unknown.

These volumes provide somewhat more information than that in the 1866 Adjutant General’s report. Data found in these volumes that are generally not given in the 1866 report: where and when enrolled, where mustered in, where mustered out, and term of enlistment. The “remarks” are often more expansive in the compiled rosters than in the report. Some information in the other categories differs between the rosters and the report, and occasionally one gives information not found in the other. There are occasional variations in the spelling of names and/or in middle initials, as well.

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Two handwritten compilations of service information on individuals who served in Minnesota military units during the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. Both are in the same handwriting as the [1915] Alphabetical List and the Compiled Rosters (above), and thus are presumed to have been created by C. J. Humason at about that same time.

One is identified at the top of the first page, in [Humason’s] handwriting, as “History of the 9th Regt Minn Vol Infty by the Chaplain A. H. Kerr.” This may denote the work from which the data in the compilation was derived; however, no such work has been located. The 9th Regiment initially served on the Minnesota frontier before being transferred East. The entries begin with the regimental officers, and then are arranged by company. For each company, there is a roughly alphabetical list of the original enrollees, followed by a list (not in alphabetical order) of the 1864 recruits. The entries give name, rank, age, occasionally muster-in or enrollment date, and remarks (discharge, death, taken prisoner, wounds, promotions, and/or transfers). The remarks tend to be somewhat more expansive than those in the Compiled Rosters, especially as regards wounds and deaths. In addition, there are numerous inconsistencies in dates and sometimes other data between this compilation and the other sources cited above, including spellings of both forenames and surnames.

The other compilation is identified at the top of the first page, in [Humason's] handwriting, as "List of Citizen Soldiers who took part [in the] Massacre of 1862 between Aug 15 & Sep 15." It consists of a numbered list of 3363 individuals, in roughly alphabetical order, covering the many militia units who served on the Minnesota frontier during the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. These units numbered over five dozen; many were identified with the area they served (for example, the LeSueur Tigers, the Hutchinson Guards, the Chisago County Rangers, and the Scandinavian Guards). The entries give name, rank, inclusive dates of service, service unit and commanding officer, and very occasional remarks (usually regarding illness or death). Most, if not all, of these individuals also appear in the published rosters in Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars. At the rear of this compilation is a "List of Names of Citizens who took part in the defense of Fort Ridgley" (1 page, 67 names); and a "List of persons who sought refuge at Ft Ridgely on the outbreak of the Indian war as reported by Lt N. H.[?] Culver…." (1 page, 23 names, also giving age, birth place, residence, and information on husband’s service unit or relatives killed).

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Published rosters in Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars (St. Paul, 1890). Minnesota Adjutant General’s report, 1866 (reprinted in 1997 by Park Genealogical Books as Minnesota Adjutant General’s Report of 1866). Adjutant General: Civil War muster rolls, 1861-1865.

The compiled rosters provide more information than is found in the published rosters, and similar information (but with variances in completeness and details) to that found in the 1866 Adjutant General’s report. The muster rolls often contain additional service details that are not found in any of these compilations, as well as providing information on sequential personnel changes for each company or other service unit.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Dakota Indians -- Wars, 1862-1865.

Soldiers -- Minnesota -- Registers.

Veterans -- Minnesota -- Registers.

Persons:

Humason, Charles J.

Kerr, Aaron Hervey, 1819-1890.

Places:

United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Participation, African American.

United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Veterans -- Minnesota.

United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Minnesota -- Registers.

Document Types:

Rosters.

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