Published: October 03, 2008 04:50 pm         

Genealogy: A continued discussion of the online military indexes at the Tennessee State Library Archives

Last week we began examining the online military indexes located at the Tennessee State Library and Archives at www.tennessee.gov/tsla/history/military/index.htm. This week continues that discussion.

6) The state of Tennessee opened its Confederate Soldiers’ Home in 1890 to care for its population of sick and elderly Confederate veterans. This home was on the grounds of the Hermitage, which had been Andrew Jackson’s home and plantation. Veterans wanting to move into the home had to submit an application to a review board which determined the applicant’s need for care. The Tennessee Confederate Soldiers’ Home Applications index lists the applicants’ name, county, unit, and date of application.

7) The Tennessee Confederate Physicians index is a list of medical doctors who served and supported the Confederacy, but are not necessarily listed as Confederate soldiers. The information was obtained from six separate sources: A Roster of Medical Officers in the Army of Tennessee, from Volume 22 (1894) of the Southern Historical Society Papers; John B. Lindsley’s Military Annals of Tennessee; Tennesseans in the Civil War, published by the Civil War Centennial Commission in 1966; the Register of the Adjutant General of the Confederacy from the National Archives; The Proceedings of the Medical Board of the Provisional Army of Tennessee; and Register of Physicians by Samuel H. Stout, the Director of Hospitals in the Western Department of the Confederacy.

8) The Index to Service Abstracts in Tennessee Volunteer Units During the Spanish American War lists the more than 4,000 soldiers from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Tennessee Infantry who volunteered to serve in the Spanish American War (1898). The 1st Infantry saw combat in the Philippines, the 2nd and 3rd were discharged without being sent into combat, and the 4th Infantry occupied Cuba after the war. This index lists the soldier’s name, company, unit, and city and state of residence.

9) For those Tennesseans who died in World War I, either from wounds or disease, the Gold Star Records index lists the soldier’s name and the county from which he enlisted. Information in the complete gold Star Record can include: date of birth, occupation, names of parents, branch of service, date of death, and possibly letters, pictures, and news clippings. These records were compiled shortly after the Great War from information obtained from the deceased soldiers’ families. For that reason, they do not include the name of every Tennessee soldier who died in the war. The book History of American Legion, Department of Tennessee, 1919-1933, lists all of the war dead and can be accessed by e-mailing the TSLA.

10) The county index for Tennessee World War I Veterans was taken from Record Group 36, “the compiled service records of soldiers and sailors who served in the First World War from Tennessee.” A search of the index will show the person’s name, age, birthplace, additional notes, and the page number that the listing is on in the original volume. The index is arranged alphabetically by county and has to be searched that way. Note that this index and Record Group 36 is not a complete list of Tennesseans who served in WWI.

11) In 1919 the Tennessee state legislature passed a bill to “collect, compile, index and arrange all data and information of every kind and character relating to the part Tennessee has played in the Great War.” This resulted in 4,453 questionnaires being collected (representing less than 5 percent of the soldiers). The Tennessee World War I Veterans’ Questionnaires index gives the name and county of soldiers whose questionnaires are in Record Group 239. Ordering the entire questionnaire can yield the following information: name, date and place of birth, occupation, marital status and number in family, parents’ names and places of birth, next of kin, religion, schooling, and detailed service information.