2006 School of the Clerk

[Pvt Schnapps]

Posted previously, this little guide attempts to sum up what I've learned about army administration and how it might apply to reenactments and living histories. Please enjoy, and if you have any questions or comments feel free to e-mail me at m.a.schaffner@att.net

[Seamus116PVI]

Re: 2006 School of the Clerk

Mr. Schaffner - - Our reenacting unit and our Company Clerk greatly appreciate receiving your updates to "School of the Company Clerk." We have incorporated this "impression" into our living history efforts - - and our clerk's persona is more "period correct" thanks to your outstanding efforts and contributions.

I am, Sir, most respecfully,
Fred Lynch
116th PVI Co. D Assn.

https://www.116thPVI.com

CWPT, CMH

[42va.reb]

Re: 2006 School of the Clerk

Posted previously, this little guide attempts to sum up what I've learned about army administration and how it might apply to reenactments and living histories. Please enjoy, and if you have any questions or comments feel free to e-mail me at m.a.schaffner@att.net

Can't seen to open or save this link. Don't know why is ther another I can try? Would love to have this.
Thanks,

[42va.reb]

Re: 2006 School of the Clerk

Fixed it thanks,

[rebjeb04]

Re: 2006 School of the Clerk

Mr. Schaffner,

Thank you for putting out the re-vised edition of the School of the Clerk. Our unit is Confederate, and as you said, the two armies were very similar in respect to "paper work" etc. Do you think you might do a Confederate version in the future? I understand Confederate records for the most part are scant, but it would be nice to have some general guidelines. For now we will do as the Confederacy did before and just mimick the Old Gridiron. Can you give any details in regard to the Confederate Morning Report book used that you cited as, were the lines drawn by hand, printed, etc. I figured I would keep a M.R. book for the company desk, and keep forms on my person for campaign purposes. Also the Sick Book--Would the Southern army have used one of these. If I use your form, how should it be filled out? Any extra advice would be greatly appreciated, and thank you for the service you have done for us all.

Thanks,

[Rob]

Re: 2006 School of the Clerk

Check the Roy Bird Cook Collection of paperwork of the 31st Virginia:

http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/Roy_Cook_JPG/

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: 2006 School of the Clerk

Mr. Schaffner,

Thank you for putting out the re-vised edition of the School of the Clerk. Our unit is Confederate, and as you said, the two armies were very similar in respect to "paper work" etc. Do you think you might do a Confederate version in the future? I understand Confederate records for the most part are scant, but it would be nice to have some general guidelines. For now we will do as the Confederacy did before and just mimick the Old Gridiron. Can you give any details in regard to the Confederate Morning Report book used that you cited as, were the lines drawn by hand, printed, etc. I figured I would keep a M.R. book for the company desk, and keep forms on my person for campaign purposes. Also the Sick Book--Would the Southern army have used one of these. If I use your form, how should it be filled out? Any extra advice would be greatly appreciated, and thank you for the service you have done for us all.

Thanks,

Mr. McBroom,

Sorry I didn't get back earlier, but I've actually been working on the 2007 update, which I hope to have out in the next month or so. Nothing drastic -- a few more references, and I'll break it up in parts so it's easier to access. I also plan to have a pdf version.

Although I wrote the "School" from a Union perspective, most of it applies -- with some interpretation -- to the Confederate Army. The Regulations that serve as the basis for all the forms and procedures are essentially the same, and the Constitution -- which drives the whole system of accountability -- is the same for our purposes. When the Confederate Army could, it did things by the same book the northern army used. I get the impression that, because of its size and relative material wealth, the US Army called for more special reports, and more strictly required regular returns than its smaller southern counterpart.

Confederate clerks, like John Jackman, refer to many of the same reports and forms as northern clerks. Shortages of paper and printed forms affect the flow of paperwork, but never cut it off. Rob rightly refers to the Roy Bird Cook collection -- it's a fantastic source and gives a broad range of examples of CS paperwork. The Cook collection seems to show a decline in the use of printed forms, though printed Army orders continue. A stationery requisition in the collection (which normally would be filled every quarter) carries a handwritten notation that it is the first supply the unit has received in a year.

Last year another Forum user posted a link to the journal of A. L. Peel, adjutant of the 19th Mississippi: http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com...elmayjune.html

It's not a terribly detailed journal, but it is a contemporaneous record kept by the adjutant of a regiment in the ANV. Peel began the war as an enlisted man, but the 1863 entries cover a period when he served as regimental adjutant.

Several things struck me as interesting about this. He makes reference to a number of reports, particularly monthly reports, but one does get the impression of a bit less paperwork than in the Federal army. There are also several references to his spending the day ruling out morning report forms for the companies -- this would make an interesting point for comparing with the Roy Bird Cook collection, to see when CS report forms shifted from printed to hand-ruled. It's also a job that would have gone to a clerk in the US Army, on the increasingly rare occasions that they had to hand-rule forms.

This last brings up another interesting point of departure between North and South; as an analysis of the southern defeat in the November 1891 New England Magazine points out (a biased source, but not entirely off -- http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-b...FJ3026-0011-54) the peculiar agricultural economy of the south put it at a disadvantage in several ways during the war, including the fact that its ranks contained fewer mechanics and clerks than those of the more industrial north. Robert Patrick in Reluctant Rebel makes similar observations. With fewer men interested in or capable of writing a good hand and keeping accounts, probably more of the burden of paperwork would have fallen on the orderly sergeants, officers, and adjutants of Confederate units.

But back to your questions. I'll probably continue to just do one version of the "School" and treat the Confederate army as a variant on the US model -- but if anyone wants to pick up the slack on the southern side I'll be happy to help. It's a question more of time than interest. For the morning report book, see the Cook collection. I'll add that, according to the collector Mallen Cunningham (who helped me get started on this a few years ago), the Confederates also made use of captured US books: he has a copy of a MR book printed for a northern regiment with the original unit name lined out and the adoptive parent's identity written in.

For the sick book, the orderly sergeant would write in the soldier's name in the left-most column and march him up to the surgeon at sick call. The surgeon checks one of the columns for confinement in hospital or quarters, checks whether he's for duty or confinement. Notes would indicate if the soldier "for duty" was excused from certain activities (e.g., "no riding" for a cavalry who could still walk around and police the grounds). Woe to the soldier who was recorded as shamming.

For a fuller explanation, see Kautz's "The Company Clerk." About the third time you read it, it begins to make sense.

Hope some of this helps.

[rebjeb04]

Re: 2006 School of the Clerk

Thanks Gents,

Mr. Griffiths, much abliged for the link on the Va. Regimental papers. Mr. Schaffner, I had pretty well decided to use a variant method from the U.S., and it makes sence that a Southern clerk would have done the same during the era. When I read how bad it was for the Federal preparing the Company/Regimental papers, in the rain, on his groundcloth, and on his knees wearing his underdrawers and greatcoat, I think WOW if at times, it was that bad in the Union army, how bad could it have been for the Confederate counterpart! I was doing some research on Capt. Thomas Erskine Young, 43rd Mississippi Inf. and purchased his military record from the Nat. Archives. Encluded with the record were requisition documents for supplies, etc. I will scan a few in if anyone is interested, but one can see the same types probably by checking the above link to the Cook Collection. Mr. Schaffner, you have probably explained most of it all in your article best for the modern living historian. Not that would'nt want to check out Aug. Kautz's book, but I'd prefer to stay with what you have presented for us. Kautz might muddy the waters?!:confused_

Thanks again fellas,