Bryan Howerton
Ascension Numbers
Thu Mar 15 13:34:07 2001


Ascension Numbers -- I'll have to pass on that one, Hayes. The only number I've paid attention to was the source document identification number. I would guess that Ascension Number refers to some sort of cataloging or indexing system, but I don't really know.

Regarding military archives -- as you know,information from documents that referred to more than one soldier was abstracted onto cards. However, documents dealing specifically with a single soldier were often folded up and tucked into the man's file envelope. In researching Arkansas soldiers, I've found numerous original documents like that -- all bearing a stamp: "REBEL ARCHIVES -- RECORD DIVISION, WAR DEPARTMENT". These were captured Confederate records. Less often, I have seen original documents from Union Army sources (mostly individual parole documents), but I can't remember what was stamped on them.

And you're exactly right about the loaned records being returned to the various State archives. The Arkansas History Commission has been very gracious in letting researchers sit down with original documents and transcribe information. Depending on the condition of the document, they will usually let you make a photocopy (some of them are just too fragile to fool with). I assume the Alabama archives people operate in the same manner.

BTW, I've found that the War Department clerks who abstracted information from the source documents were not infallible. Sometimes they had to guess at the spelling of a word or name if the source document was poorly written, smudged or damaged. I've looked at source documents at the AHC and interpreted them differently. This gets critical when you're dealing with abbreviations: "dis'd" (for discharged) versus "des'd" (for deserted) versus died (for adios). 99 percent of the time they're right on the money, but occasionally I run across an error.