Sir,

The first place you will want to check is the Compiled Military Service Records (CMSR) of those Ordnance NCO's (authorized one per regiment but a regiment could have had more than one NCO that would have served because of death, promotion, demotion, etc.) in the regiment and then the Ordnance Officers and NCO's on the Brigade Staff. You will also want to check the officer's CMSR of the officers (Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, Majors, or those that served in those positions) in the regiment because they will occassionally have a record of a transfer of arms between their regiment and another regiment. You may even want to check those CMSR's of Officers and Ordnance NCO's in the other regiments in the Brigade.

Again, the Brigade Staff CMSR's are separate and are categorized under the General Officers, and Staff Officers & NCO's. Those records of the Brigade Ordnance officer and NCO's would be here and they may even have another record in the regiment they were originally in. Again, these records are on microfilm BUT can only be found at scattered depositories throughout the U.S. They may have them at the National Archives Annex in Atlanta but I am not sure. The Georgia State Archives does not have them. The Birmingham Public Libary does.

Ordnance Reports were made at the brigade to the division level on a quarterly basis. If the records survived then you will find the original at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The Ordnance Reports will have some research information of value. They will have entries such as weapon type, number of that type, ammunition each soldier has, and number of rounds of by type that are in the brigade Ordnance train. Unfortunately, you will not find information in one place but will find the pieces of a partial jigsaw puzzle that will develop over time.

Remember that these reports are a snap shot in time. Just because they have a majority of Enfields in the first quarter of 1863 does not mean they had them in the second quarter of 1862 or will have them in the first quarter of 1864.

Lots of research time in the library burning your eyeballs out on microfilm machine readers but it is very rewarding.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Respectfully,

Gerald D. Hodge, Jr.
War Between the States Historian
Historian: 39th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment
http://39thgavolinfrgt.homestead.com/39thHomepage.html