Military service records and WWI draft cards

Compiled military service records

Beginning in the 1890s, the War Department created a compiled military service record, or CMSR, for each volunteer soldier. Clerks copied every mention of the man from muster rolls, pay rolls, regimental returns, descriptive books, hospital rolls and similar papers onto cards, one card for each appearance, and filed the cards in an envelope called a jacket. The aim was to check service quickly when veterans applied for pensions.

The National Archives holds CMSRs for volunteers from the Revolutionary War through the Philippine Insurrection, including Union and Confederate soldiers of the Civil War. These were the state and volunteer regiments raised for a war. The National Archives describes the CMSR as the first source to consult for a volunteer soldier.

What the cards say, and what they do not

Most cards record whether the soldier was present or absent for a period. Others may give his full name, enlistment dates, periods of service, residence at enlistment, and a personal description with age, height, hair and eye color, and complexion. Some show pay and bounty, promotions, wounds, or time in hospital. A few jackets hold personal papers, such as an enlistment paper or papers about capture and release as a prisoner of war.

The National Archives is clear about the limits: a CMSR does not identify parents or next of kin, and it rarely names the battles a soldier fought in. For family details, turn to pension files; for battles, to regimental histories and unit records. Residence at enlistment is not necessarily the place of birth.

Abbreviations are everywhere on the cards: Pvt. for private, Co. for company, Regt. for regiment. Copy them exactly, then expand them in your notes.

State records and published rosters

Militia records are state records, the Library of Congress notes, but when militia were called into federal service, from the Revolutionary War to World War I, records may be found both at the National Archives and in state archives. Each state's adjutant general also published reports, especially for the Civil War, with regimental histories and unit rosters. A roster can confirm a soldier's company before you order a full service record.

World War I draft registration cards

The Selective Service Act was passed on May 18, 1917. There were three registrations. The first, on June 5, 1917, was for men aged 21 to 31. The second, on June 5, 1918, was for men who had turned 21 since the first, with a supplemental registration on August 24, 1918. The third, on September 12, 1918, covered men aged 18 through 45. Together they covered men born from about 1872 to 1900, and the cards record citizenship, so non-citizens registered too.

About 24 million cards survive, covering about 23 percent of the 1918 population. The National Archives says they generally show order and serial numbers, full name, date and place of birth, race, citizenship, occupation, a personal description and a signature.

These are not military service records. The National Archives stresses that not every man who registered served, not every man who served registered, and the cards end when a man reported to a training camp. Cards are arranged by state, then county or city, then name. In rural areas you can usually find a man knowing his name and county; in big cities you may need his address to find the right local board, since New York City alone had 189.

The 1973 fire

Service files for twentieth century soldiers are kept at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. On July 12, 1973, a fire there destroyed an estimated 16 to 18 million personnel files. About 80 percent of the files of Army personnel discharged from November 1, 1912 to January 1, 1960 were lost, and about 75 percent of Air Force files from September 25, 1947 to January 1, 1964 for names after Hubbard, James E.

If a file burned, the center rebuilds basic service facts from other records, such as veterans' claims files, state records, pay vouchers, morning reports and Selective Service records. Ask for a reconstruction, and look for discharge papers kept by the family.