4th Regiment U.S. Veterans Reserve Corps Roster

Collection

Identifier: 2006-01

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection contains 1 bound volume labelled "Company Descriptive Book" Civil War Unit stationed at Rock Island Arsenal Prison/Camp Roberts Davenport as guards. This book covers May 1864-Nov 1865. Includes detailed physical descriptions of members.

Dates

Creation: 1864 May - 1865 November

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Materials are available for use in the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center only.

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Biographical / Historical

This corps consisted of men physically unable to serve in the field because of disabilities or wounds. (For list of qualifications and disqualifications for admission into this corps please see General Orders, War Department, Adjt. General’s Office, No. 130. May 15, 1863)

The item covers the period of 1864-1865 and lists names and basic information for men who were assigned to Company K, 4th Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps.

This Regiment was organized at Rock Island, Ill., October 10, 1863 by consolidation of the 128th, 129th, 135th, 136th, 137th, 138th, 140th, 153rd and 166th Companies, 1st Battalion. They mustered out July 17, 1865 to January 23, 1866. The Regiment consisted of men who had been wounded or became ill and were considered no longer capable of hard campaigning or prolonged exposure to the weather, but who could still serve their country. Twenty-four Veteran Reserve Corps regiments were stationed throughout the North from Minnesota and Iowa to New England and the nation’s capital.

Most of the 4th Regiment was stationed at the Rock Island Prison Barracks on Arsenal Island. Based on reports found in Returns from U.S. Military Posts: Rock Island Barracks (National Archives & Records Service, Roll 1037, Nov.1863-Aug.1865) Company K was assigned to “detached service” at Camp Roberts in Davenport, Iowa “guarding deserters and prisoners” in March 1864. (Camp Roberts later was called Camp Kinsman, and then became the Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans Home.) Reports through June 1865 state Company K was “guarding Indians” at Camp Roberts.

The Union: A Guide to Federal Archives Relating to the Civil War by Kenneth White Munden [SC 973.7 Mun] p.344 The organization of an Invalid Corps was authorized by AGO General Order 105, Apr. 28, 1863 to consist of companies and, if desirable, of battalions. The Provost Marshal General was responsible for executing this order; the troops organized under it were to be under the control of his Bureau; and a new branch was set up to handle the work.

p. 404 Official Army registers of the volunteer forces for the period of the War were published by order of the Secretary of War, in compliance with a joint resolution of the Senate and the House of Representatives. These give names of regiments, short historical accounts of their organization, names of officers, and lists of casualties. Vol. 8 contains sections on the Territories, Veteran Reserve Corps…There is an index …

[Note: University of Iowa, Iowa City has this series: Official Army Register of the Volunteer Force of the United States Army for the Years 1861-1865 as of 2/2006]

There were 21 prison camps operated by the Union during the Civil War.