This likely is an original document that would be located in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. You will need to plan a day at the archives to view it. Upon arrival and going through security, sign in, and you will have to go and register as a researcher. You will have to view a brief presentation and be placed in a government database to obtain a researcher's card. Ensure you have two forms of identification. Once you obtain your card they will direct you to the reference desk and then they will point you to the folks in another room that specialize in certain records/time periods. The lady in that room (I forget her name and don't have my notes with me) will then assist you with finding where it is at in the collections, fill out the proper paperwork, then that paperwork will be sent so the record can be "pulled." They only have certain pull times and the first one is 10 AM and you can view that pull around 11 AM. The last pull is 2:30 PM, I believe. You go to the second floor of the archives to view original documents and go through the security check there.

The compiled service records are a mixture of original documents and "cards" that are extracts of names of individuals from original documents such as a Company Muster Roll where they are multiple names. I don't know who your ancestor is but given it is the Army of Tennessee (40th Georgia, Stovall's Brigade) and I am more familiar with the records of that army, it could be an extract off the special orders that granted leave to soldiers, it could be a court-martial registry notation, or any number of other documents.

I hope this helps.

Respectfully,

Gerald D. Hodge, Jr.
M.A. Military History - Civil War Concentration
Research - Preservation
Historian: 39th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment