Seeking Civil War records for George Sparrow 53rd Indiana Infantry Company G. Joined 24 Dec 1861 and mustered out 11 Jul 1865. Wounded and captured at battle of Atlanta. Any records of his capture, imprisonment (Andersonville) and escape?
Seeking Civil War records for George Sparrow 53rd Indiana Infantry Company G. Joined 24 Dec 1861 and mustered out 11 Jul 1865. Wounded and captured at battle of Atlanta. Any records of his capture, imprisonment (Andersonville) and escape?
Hi Sunderman,
You seem to have a lot of great details re: his service so I suspect you may already have his Service & Pension Record, but if not, definitely request them. When you do so, also ask for any Carded Medical Records for him, since you mention he was wounded..
- Normally his Service records would have info on his being captured, but not every Regiments records are as detailed as you would like.
Pension Index Card - needed to request Pension
Veterans Admin. Pension Payment Card
“The Bureau of Pensions and Veterans Administration began using a card system in 1907 to keep record of all pension payments made to members of the Regular Military Establishment, a group which consisted of Army and Navy invalids and their widows. This collection includes cards for all pension payments made between 1907 and 1933. The cards are in alphabetical order by surname except for Native American or Indian names, which appear alphabetically at the beginning of the appropriate letter of the alphabet.”
- I looked on the NPS Prisoner Search- https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-prisoners.htm but he is not listed - it is not a complete record so doesn't mean he wasn't a POW
- Check with the Perry Co. Historical Society or local library to see if they have any 1864 period papers that might list casualties or accounts.
- You may want to explore the IN Archives to see what Regimental records are there that you might explore
- See if there are any surviving soldier records from the GAR Post he belonged to. Some soldiers made a record of their time in the War.
GAR Post in OK
http://www.electriccemetery.com/ecOKGAR.html
- These are the 53rd IN Inf. Regiments records at the National Archives.
https://catalog.archives.gov/search?page=1&q=%2253rd%20Indiana%20Infantry%22
-you will note on the left side of page is a dot with "Available to Access Online" -If you click on that it will show you the records that have been digitized
- Unfortunately the Regimental Books with Morning Reports, Orders, Descriptive, Clothing, etc have not been digitized so you would need to go to the Archives to view these (or hire a private researcher).
- Check with the Indiana Historical Society re: what materials they have relating to the 53rd IN Inf.
https://indianahistory.org/explore/our-collections/archives/civil-war-materials/
- you will notice on the page that they are in the process of digitizing the Infantry info but have that you can contact them
Questions about any regiments that have not yet been added to this completed guide can be directed to our Reference Department by emailing Reference, by calling our Reference Desk at (317)234-0321, or by referring to the Civil War Researcher’s Guide to see if we have materials related to that regiment.
- If his Service or Pension or Medical records don't have details re his wounding & capture at Atlanta in July 1864, the next best chance is to see if there are any surviving diaries or letters of 53rd IN Inf. soldiers that might recount their ordeal or a Regimental History of the Regiment. I did a quick search but didn't find any references, but when you contact the IN Archives & Historical Society be sure to check with them or do some searching online
-This is a timeline of Andersonville https://discover.hubpages.com/education/andersonville-time-line
Medicine at Andersonville: https://www.civilwarmed.org/andersonville-medicine/
I looked in the period papers on Newspapers.com & GenealogyBank for any mentions of George or the 53rd IN after Atlanta - found this casualty list but he doesn't seem to be listed - Could he have been wounded earlier like at Keneshaw Mountain?
Evansville Daily Journal (IN) Aug 17 1864 p. 2
Finally I found these Post War mentions...
The Perry Republican (OK) Aug 12 1915 p. 1
The Perry Republican (OK) Dec 29 1921 p. 4
The Perry Republican (OK) Jan 5 1922 p. 7
P.McG
Hi Sunderman,
You seem to have a lot of great details re: his service so I suspect you may already have his Service & Pension Record, but if not, definitely request them. When you do so, also ask for any Carded Medical Records for him, since you mention he was wounded..
- Normally his Service records would have info on his being captured, but not every Regiments records are as detailed as you would like.
Pension Index Card - needed to request Pension
Veterans Admin. Pension Payment Card
“The Bureau of Pensions and Veterans Administration began using a card system in 1907 to keep record of all pension payments made to members of the Regular Military Establishment, a group which consisted of Army and Navy invalids and their widows. This collection includes cards for all pension payments made between 1907 and 1933. The cards are in alphabetical order by surname except for Native American or Indian names, which appear alphabetically at the beginning of the appropriate letter of the alphabet.”
- I looked on the NPS Prisoner Search- https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-prisoners.htm but he is not listed - it is not a complete record so doesn't mean he wasn't a POW
- Check with the Perry Co. Historical Society or local library to see if they have any 1864 period papers that might list casualties or accounts.
- You may want to explore the IN Archives to see what Regimental records are there that you might explore
- See if there are any surviving soldier records from the GAR Post he belonged to. Some soldiers made a record of their time in the War.
GAR Post in OK
http://www.electriccemetery.com/ecOKGAR.html
- These are the 53rd IN Inf. Regiments records at the National Archives.
https://catalog.archives.gov/search?page=1&q=%2253rd%20Indiana%20Infantry%22
-you will note on the left side of page is a dot with "Available to Access Online" -If you click on that it will show you the records that have been digitized
- Unfortunately the Regimental Books with Morning Reports, Orders, Descriptive, Clothing, etc have not been digitized so you would need to go to the Archives to view these (or hire a private researcher).
- Check with the Indiana Historical Society re: what materials they have relating to the 53rd IN Inf.
https://indianahistory.org/explore/our-collections/archives/civil-war-materials/
- you will notice on the page that they are in the process of digitizing the Infantry info but have that you can contact them
Questions about any regiments that have not yet been added to this completed guide can be directed to our Reference Department by emailing Reference, by calling our Reference Desk at (317)234-0321, or by referring to the Civil War Researcher’s Guide to see if we have materials related to that regiment.
- If his Service or Pension or Medical records don't have details re his wounding & capture at Atlanta in July 1864, the next best chance is to see if there are any surviving diaries or letters of 53rd IN Inf. soldiers that might recount their ordeal or a Regimental History of the Regiment. I did a quick search but didn't find any references, but when you contact the IN Archives & Historical Society be sure to check with them or do some searching online
-This is a timeline of Andersonville https://discover.hubpages.com/education/andersonville-time-line
Medicine at Andersonville: https://www.civilwarmed.org/andersonville-medicine/
I looked in the period papers on Newspapers.com & GenealogyBank for any mentions of George or the 53rd IN after Atlanta - found this casualty list but he doesn't seem to be listed - Could he have been wounded earlier like at Keneshaw Mountain?
Evansville Daily Journal (IN) Aug 17 1864 p. 2
Finally I found these Post War mentions...
The Perry Republican (OK) Aug 12 1915 p. 1
The Perry Republican (OK) Dec 29 1921 p. 4
The Perry Republican (OK) Jan 5 1922 p. 7
P.McG