THE OR

THE OR
"The Official Records of the War of the Rebellion"

At the end of the Civil War, Congress appropriated money to collect all of the correspondance which transpired during the war between the various officers and officials. It includes correspondance of both sides, US and CSA. The final result is 127 volumes of around 700-1000pp each and a General Index. The OR is a primary source for battle information and not a major Genealogical record. If you want to find out what your ancestor's unit was doing during the war, the OR can be a godsend. Of the millions who served only a few are listed and except in some rare(compared to the number of PVTs who served) instances, most are officers. That does not mean you shouldn't look in the OR; but, there is a good chance, same as when purchasing a Census CD Rom that the person you are looking for isn't in there. I would NOT buy it to find my relative. There are 1000+ pages at 100 entries a page in the general index, many of which are locations and not people. Let's say 50% of the entries are surnames that is only 50,000 names out of, maybe 4,000,000 participants. Having stated those caveats, if you have the option, go to the library and check the OR for there are many cases of an enlisted man being mentioned as gallant in battle or they might be mentioned if they were in involved in some action or event described by an officer.

The OR is a primary source for writers, students and anyone who wants to get the flavor of being there, for, although not all that was written is fact, all that is there was written at the time by those who participated. There is a paucity of Confederate correspondance due to records lost, hidden, or destroyed at the end of the war, but still there is considerable CSA correspondance all things considered. There is an indescribable feeling one gets reading the reports of officers explaining their battle strategy or calling for re-enforcements.. or covering their posteriors after a debacle. Many libraries have these volumes (they can also be purchased on CD ROM) and the companion 30 or so volumes of Naval correspondance(the Naval OR is not on CD ROM yet) They can also be purchased in republished editions or found in the original in out-of-print bookstores for about $30-$40 per volume. They can certainly help you trace your ancestor's regiment movements provided you know the regiment. The OR has a general index and each volume has an index to the volume.

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