Record Group 45, Naval Records Collection of the Office of Naval Records and Library:

Entry 464, Subject File, 1775-1910, files NV (claims of USS Maine survivors) file MK (casualty lists, USS Maine)

Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel:

Entry 224, Keys to and register of enlistment returns, 1846-1902.

Entry 358, Reports of conduct of enlisted men, 1867-1910. Entry 134, Muster rolls of ships and shore establishments, 1898-1938.

Entry 133, Muster rolls of ships and stations together with shipping articles, 1891-1900.

Entry 98, Correspondence relating to men lost on USS Maine. Entries 378-379, Records relating to chaplains, 1804-1946. Entry 168, Commissions, discharges, and resignations of Spanish-American War officers, 1898-1899.

Entry 172, Telegrams and cables conveying orders to naval officers, 1897-1903.

Entry 372A, Record of Medal of Honor awards, 1863-1928. Entry 185, Lists of officers, 1878-1909.

Entry 110, Register of correspondence with or concerning enlisted men, 1896-1902.

Entry 139, Register of applications, 1897-1917.
Entry 166, Warrants issued to officers, 1846-1925.
Entry 143, Applications for appointments, 1886-1917.

Record Group 52, Records of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (Navy):

Entry 22, Medical journals of ships, 1813-1910. Entry 40A, Registers showing individual service of medical officers, 1820-1930.

Entry 51, Registers of patients, 1812-1929.

Record Group 125, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Navy)

Entry 58, Records of the proceedings of naval and marine examining boards, 1861-1903.

Entry 56, Records of proceedings of naval and marine retiring boards, 1861-1909.

Entry 27, Records of proceedings of general courts-martial, 1866-1940.

Entry 28, Registers of general courts martial, 1861-1904. Entry 30, Records of proceedings of courts of inquiry, boards of investigation and boards of inquest, 1866-1940. Entry 31, Registers of courts of inquiry, boards of investigation, and boards of inquest, 1861-1917.

Entry 49, Index to summary courts-martial, 1895-1904.

Record Group 127, Records of the United States Marine Corps:

Entry 75, Alphabetical card list of enlisted men of the Marine Corps, 1798-1941.

Entry 76, Service records (case files) of enlisted men, 1798-1906.

Entry 67, Record of military service of Marine Corps officers, 1869-1873, 1899-1904.

Entry 68, Press copies of military histories and statements of service of officers, 1904-1911.

Entry 17, Letters and endorsements received, 1904–1912. Entry 14, Name and subject index to series 17, 1904-1912.

Record Group 94, Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780's-1917:

Entry 522, Carded records for volunteer organizations, Spanish-American War.

Entry 561, Personal papers of medical officers and physicians, 1846-1912.

Entry 91, Regular army enlistment papers, 1798-1912. Entry 297, Letters received by the Appointment, Commission, and Personal Branch, 1863-1894.

Entry 53, Muster rolls of regular army organizations, 1784-1912.

Entry 25, Document File, 1890-1917.

Record Group 112, Records of the Office of the Surgeon General (Army):

Entry 104, Case files of candidates seeking appointments as army nurses, 1898-1917.

Entry 108, Annual efficiency reports on nurses, 1898-1917. Entry 149, Personal data of Spanish-American War contract nurses, 1898-1939.

Entry 150, Correspondence relating to the service of SpanishAmerican War contract nurses, 1898-1939.

Entry 139, Service records of contract surgeons, 1898-1915. Entry 91, Military service cards of regular army officers of the medical corps, 1894-1917.

Entry 79, Case files of candidates for appointment in the medical corps, 1890-1917.

Entry 44, General Correspondence (doc file), 1889-1917. Entry 42, Index to series 44.

Record Group 153, Records of the Office of the Judge
Advocate General (Army):

Entry 15, Court-martial case files, 1809-1938.
Entry 17, Index to court-martial cases.

included a camera, banjo, and dress sword. More routinely, survivors reported losing clothing, bedding, shaving kits, pipes, watches, knives, and Havana cigars. All of the survivors claimed a whisk broom and ditty box. Incidentally, although a large number of the survivors claimed to have lost Cuban cigars, the navy made allowances for only five hundred cigars per claimant. The USS Maine's chaplain, who claimed he

had lost nine hundred Havana cigars when the ship sank, was out of luck.

Navy Records

Enlisted men. Personnel files for enlisted sailors who served after 1885 are at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Researchers seeking to study these records should use Standard Form 180 and send it to the National Personnel Records Center, Military Records, 9700 Page Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63132-5100. The National Archives in Washington, D.C., does not have an index of these personnel records or compiled or consolidated records of any type for enlisted sailors. However, researchers able to visit the National Archives in person, and willing to search through old fragile volumes, can successfully ferret out the information that is typically included in a personnel file.

The National Archives Building does have annual registers of enlistment, called the "keys to enlistments, 1846-1902," for sailors. These registers are arranged by the year (or partial year), then by the first letter of the sailor's surname, and then by the date of his enlistment. The five volumes for 1898 include records for most of the sailors who enlisted in response to the outbreak of the war or who enlisted for the war's duration. If you are searching for a John Brown, for example, you would need to check all the "B" enlistments for 1898. From these records you can learn the sailor's rating, date of enlistment, place of enlistment, terms of enlistment (e.g., one year), the names of the ships on which he served, and his discharge date. The records do not indicate earlier or subsequent enlistments. Sailors could enlist for terms from one to four years. Boys aged sixteen to seventeen were required to enlist until their twenty-first birthday. Since some sailors who served in the Spanish-American War enlisted before 1898, researchers should also check the keys to enlistment for 1894-1897.

Another source of information at the National Archives is a register of Bureau of Navigation correspondence with enlistees for the years 1896-1902. However, this register is only suitable for the most patient and hardy researchers. It is arranged by the first letter of the enlisted man's name and then by the date of the correspondence.

When you know the names of ships on which a veteran served, you can examine U.S. Navy muster rolls and conduct books. Both are arranged alphabetically by name of ship. The muster rolls are nearly complete for every ship. The conduct books are a much less comprehensive collection. Musters were

taken quarterly and cover the preceding three months. Within each muster roll, sailors are listed by the first letter of their last name. For each sailor the rolls show his name, rating, date of his present enlistment, place of enlistment (city or ship), citizenship (native, alien, or naturalized), date received on board the ship, reason for leaving the ship (transfer, death, end of enlistment), and place transferred, discharged, or died. If the rolls show a “continuous service certificate number,” it means that the sailor had a previous enlistment. A check mark or "OK" penciled in beside a name indicates that the person was entitled to the Spanish-American War campaign badge, the "Sampson Medal."

In addition to the main set of navy muster rolls, there is a separate, smaller set that combines navy muster rolls with shipping articles. Shipping articles are records of the enlistee's terms of enlistment, and they include his signature, something not found in the main set. Some also provide physical descriptions of the enlistee, which are not in the main set either. These records are unavailable for many ships, how

ever.

Conduct books, which describe the enlistee's conduct and performance during drills, are another excellent source for genealogists. They show the same information as the muster rolls, but conduct books may also include address of next of kin, birth date, birthplace, marital status, years of previous naval service, personal description, punishments, scores on drills and training, and medical condition (good or poor). The names in conduct books may be unarranged or arranged alphabetically, by muster number, or by rating. Some conduct books have name indexes.

Commissioned officers. The service records of regular navy officers who served in the SpanishAmerican War are available on National Archives Microfilm Publication M1328, Abstracts of Service Records of Naval Officers ("Records of Officers"), 1829-1924. The descriptive pamphlet contains a name index to the abstracts. There are also registers of officers arranged by name of ship or station. Other good sources of information about officers are the proceedings of the promotion examining boards and retirement examining boards, found among records of the Judge Advocate General's Office. Names and dates of service of naval officers are printed in List of Officers of the Navy of the United States and of the Marine Corps from 1775-1900, edited by Edward W. Callahan. Most Spanish-American War-era U.S. Navy logbooks include a list of officers in the first few pages of each volume. For biographical records about chaplains, there are Chaplains Division records, a

Richard L. Oskison's military service record suggests bis Native American heritage and records his injury while a "Rough Rider" at San Juan Hill outside Santiago, Cuba.

collection of records used to write a history of the Navy Chaplain Corps. Records of medical officers are located among records of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

Acting officers. During the Spanish-American War, many volunteers were given temporary commissions. The National Archives has copies of these acting officers' commissions and discharges or resignations, in addition to order books. A register of temporary officers shows their assignments and "remarks." There are special records for acting engineers, including application papers and order books, and a register of commissioned officers of the Auxiliary Naval Force, 1898.

Warrant officers. Application papers and examination papers are available at the National Archives for the following warrant officers: carpenters, boatswains,

gunners, and machinists. Many of them were promoted from the comparable chief petty officer position (chief boatswain's mate, chief machinist mate, etc.). Others were appointed from civilian life because they had related experience in their civilian occupations. The papers include letters of recommendation from civilian employers or commanding officers. Promotion Board proceedings are another excellent source for information about warrant officers.

Navy medical records. The National Archives has medical logbooks kept by ships' surgeons and by surgeons at shore stations. These logs describe medical treatments received by officers and enlisted men and their return to duty or death. There are also registers of patients at U.S. Navy hospitals.

Court records. Additional information about some sailors and marines who served in the Spanish-American

War, including both officers and enlisted men, can be found in proceedings of U.S. Navy courts-martial, courts of inquiry, boards of investigations, and boards of inquest. In these proceedings, researchers can learn about men who were in trouble, who were investigated for various reasons, or who died by accident or as a result of foul play.

Marine Corps Records

Enlisted men. Personnel jackets (“case files”) for marines who fought in the Spanish-American War can be found in two places. If the marine was discharged before 1906, his personnel jacket is at the National Archives. If the marine continued to serve after 1906, his personnel jacket is at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri. A typical personnel jacket includes enlistment papers, descriptive list, conduct record from each ship or station, and records relating to campaign badges or awards. Occasionally, the personnel jacket will include a letter from a relative relating to pension benefits, cemetery headstone, or general information. These records usually show the address of next of kin, birth date, birthplace, age, personal description, medical condition, and discharge information. The Marine Corps case files are arranged alphabetically by name of marine for enlistments after 1895. Case files for enlistments before 1895 are arranged by enlistment date.There is a card index to Marine Corps enlistments, 1798-1941. Officers. The National Archives does not have personnel files for Marine Corps officers for the period around the Spanish-American War. Personnel files beginning with 1896 are at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. However, researchers who can travel to the National Archives in Washington, D.C., can find monthly reports on the duties to which the officers were assigned and summaries of their service among the Records of the U.S. Marine Corps. There are some correspondence files for officers, 1904-1912, with a name index.

Army Records

Volunteers (regiments raised by states called into federal service). Most soldiers called into service for the Spanish-American War served with regiments raised by their state. A consolidated name index to the compiled military service records of these men has been microfilmed as National Archives Microfilm Publication M871, General Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteers Who Served During the War With Spain. Compiled service records are arranged by state, type of regiment (artillery,

NATIONAL ARCHIVES MICROFILM PUBLICATIONS RELATING TO

SERVICE IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR

M871, General Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served During the War With Spain, 126 rolls.

M233, Register of Enlistments in the US Army, 1798-1914, 81 rolls.

T288, General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934, 544 rolls.

M1328, Abstracts of Service Records of Naval Officers
("Records of Officers"), 1829-1924, 18 rolls.
M1052, General and Special Indexes to the General
Correspondence of the Office of the Secretary of the
Navy, July 1897-Aug. 1926, 119 rolls.

M1064, Letters Received by the Commission Branch of the Adjutant General's Office, 1863-1870, 527 rolls. M1125, Name and Subject Index to the Letters Received by the Appointment, Commission, and Personal Branch of the Adjutant General's Office, 1871-1894, 4 rolls.

M698, Index to the General Correspondence of the Office of the Adjutant General, 1890-1917, 1,269 rolls.

M929, Documents Relating to the Military and Naval Service of Blacks Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor from the Civil War to the Spanish American War, 4 rolls.

cavalry, and infantry), and then by number of the regiment. Within each regiment, the jackets for individual soldiers are arranged alphabetically. There are compiled military service records for both officers and enlisted men. A typical record includes cards that extract the monthly muster rolls and other regimental papers about that individual. Usually the cards show whether the soldier was present with his company, absent on detached duty, or sick. In addition, you may find medical treatment cards and certificates of discharge for disability. The compiled military service records for the Spanish-American War usually show the date of enlistment, place of enlistment, birthplace and date, personal description, medical information, date and place of discharge, and address of next of kin.

U.S. Volunteers. The U.S. volunteers were special regiments raised for the Spanish-American War. The most famous of these is the First Volunteer Cavalry, the official name of the Rough Riders. There were three volunteer cavalry units, three volunteer engineers, ten volunteer infantry regiments, and a volunteer signal corps. The Seventh to Tenth Volunteer Infantries were composed of African American soldiers. There are compiled military service jackets for the enlisted men and officers, similar to the jackets

for the state volunteers. Their names are also indexed on National Archives Microfilm Publication M871.

Regular army-enlisted. Enlistment papers for men who served in the regular army, arranged alphabetically by name of soldier, show the personal description, age, and birthplace of the soldier. With the enlistment papers are assignment and descriptive cards. Registers of enlistments are available on National Archives Microfilm Publication M233, Register of Enlistments in the U.S.Army, 1798-1914. The registers show the regiments to which the soldier was assigned and his discharge date. More detailed information about his service can be found in muster rolls, which are arranged by type of regiment, by number of regiment, and then by company, troop, or battery.

Regular army-officers. The War Department did not compile personnel files for regular army officers. For most officers, however, there is a consolidated correspondence file that includes their orders, assignments, oaths of office, monthly fitness reports, promotions, and more. An officer's consolidated correspondence file may be found in several different places. Many officers of the Spanish-American War have a consolidated correspondence file among the

Adjutant General's Office Document File (“AGO Doc File"), 1890-1917.The index to this file is available on National Archives Microfilm Publication M698, Index to General Correspondence of the Office of the Adjutant General, 1890-1917. Other officers have consolidated correspondence files among the Appointment, Commission, and Personal Branch (ACP) of the Adjutant General's Office. The index to the ACP files are available on National Archives Microfilm Publication M1125, Name and Subject Index to the Letters Received by the Appointment, Commission, and Personal Branch of the Adjutant General's Office, 1871-1894. Many of the most frequently requested ACP files have been reproduced on microfiche; the others are available in the original format. Officers whose service goes back to the Civil War may have a consolidated correspondence file among the Commission Branch (CB) of the Adjutant General's Office. The CB files are reproduced on National Archives Microfilm Publication M1064, Letters Received by the Commission Branch of the Adjutant General's Office, 1863-1870. The descriptive pamphlet includes a list of frequently requested files. A complete card index is also available. For regular army medical officers, there are service cards and personal papers.