The South Carolina in the Civil War Message Board

Re: Request for information and assistance

Any idea where you got the information that Wiley Chappel REYNOLDS died while in a POW camp? The names on the monument at each camp related cemetery are the names presented in the 1912 War Department list. These came from what is now available at the National Archives on microfilm and identified as the Compiled Military Service Records. I have a printed copy of the 1912 War Department cemetery list but I understand this is now available on CD.

Anything that is on-line has been transcribed by someone else (even Ancestry.com lists) and you are at their mercy relative to transcription errors and mis-interpretations about the information found. Any serious research into the Civil War service of individual soldiers has to start with the Compiled Military Service Records of that individual. These are available from the National Archives and from State Archives.

Pension applications are the next important source of information about a given individual. Confederate pensions were based upon financial need and were paid to resident veterans by the states that supplied soldiers to the Confederate army plus Oklahoma. Confederate pension records are to be found in the state archives (the veteran's state of residence at the time of filing a claim, not the state to which his Confederate service was credited). Federal army pensions for Civil War service were paid by the Federal government and these records can be found in the National Archives as well as state archives. Pension application claims need to be subjected to some rigorous analysis and tested against known historical facts. Memories faded over time, and some claims were exagerated to insure that the veteran got his pension.

There are private research services such as the one advertised on this Message Board which will research both the CMSR and pension records. This private service also contributes to meeting the cost of maintaining this board.

Good luck with your research!

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