Examples of Record Searches
As an example of a search for a Civil War veteran, let us look at the records of Lt. Comdr. Charles W. Flusser. Even though it was unnecessary to check Hamersly's General Register or Callahan's List of Officers to determine Flusser's rank, we checked it anyway to see what information was there. From Hamersly we learned that Flusser became a midshipman on June 10, 1853; he was promoted to master on September 15, 1855, then to lieutenant on September 16, 1855. He was promoted to lieutenant commander on July 16, 1862. The last note of his service stated that he was killed in action on April 19, 1864, aboard the gunboat Miami.
Next we looked at microfilm publication M330 to determine the particulars of his service. On roll 11, entry 325, we found a notation that Lt. Commander Flusser was killed in the line of duty on April 19, 1864. This confirmed the information that we found in Hamersly and gave us two additional avenues to search. The first was to check pension records. His death in the line of duty would probably yield a pension if he had any dependents.
The second, less obvious, resource was ship deck logs. Since he was an officer on board the Miami, it was possible that there might be useful information about Flusser and his activities prior to his death. When we checked the various deck logs from the Miami, we determined that he was killed during an engagement with the Confederate ironclad Albemarle. This and other interesting facts, however, were obtained only after hours of research. Researchers with limited time should ignore deck logs and concentrate instead on pension records, if available.
We checked T288, General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934, to see if we could find a pension record for Lt. Commander Flusser. On roll 156 we found an entry for Charles Flusser: application #226, certificate #670, and the name of the dependant, his mother, Juliana Flusser. It was therefore unnecessary to check any of the other various indexes such as disapproved pensions in M1391. We then ordered the pension record.
The pension record contained many interesting facts. First, the cause of death was listed as vulnus sclepticum, Latin for gunshot wound. Second, we learned that Juliana Flusser had depended on her son for her support because her husband, Charles T. Flusser, had died, and her one remaining child was unable to support her. She was granted an initial pension of thirty dollars a month dated April 19, 1864. Her pension was later increased to eighty dollars a month after an appeal. The pension provided the following additional information: a physical description of the late Lt. Commander Flusser; the date of Juliana Flusser's marriage, November 24, 1827, in Anne Arundel, Maryland; and the place of her current (1865) residence in Jefferson County, Kentucky.
This information, in turn, suggests other avenues of research outside of navy records. For example, the date and place of Juliana and Charles T. Flusser's marriage is useful if one wanted to try to obtain a copy of their marriage certificate.
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