Compiled military service record

The War Department began compiling these records in the 1890s to check pension claims faster. Clerks copied each mention of a soldier from muster and pay rolls, returns, descriptive books and hospital rolls onto a separate card and filed the cards in a jacket. Some jackets also hold personal papers, such as an enlistment paper or prisoner of war records.

CMSRs exist for Volunteers from the Revolution through the Philippine Insurrection, Confederates included. They show presence or absence, enlistment, description, promotions, wounds and hospital stays, but not parents, and rarely battles.