8 May 2014
To study soldiers in a particular war, researchers frequently begin with carded records maintained by the National Archives. As their name implies, these Compiled Military Service Records (CMSRs) abstract the service of each volunteer soldier, drawing from a number of record series. Contrary to widespread belief, they are not the actual military records created during each man's service—a fact that is important to our development of a research plan. Many researchers also create stumbling blocks for themselves by investing too-much trust in the data these cards provide and by making assumptions that the resource does not support.
QuickLesson 3 "Flawed Records," in the Archives here at EE's website, explores a case in which the CMSRs provided the researcher with seemingly good data for a Revolutionary War—data that erred in multiple ways—and it demonstrates how due-diligence can expose and correct these problems. Conversely, many researchers are frustrated by not finding a CMSR for someone they know to have served during a conflict but they don't anticipate the underlying cause: CMSRs were made for those who volunteered for a specific conflict. Comparable carded records do not exist for regular military personnel.
EE 11.38-11.40 offers more help in understanding these critical records.