Introduction to the Texas Adjutant General Service
Records
The Service Records series combines both official
service record files from the Adjutant General's Office and alphabetical
files created by other agencies that contain records related to
an individual's service in a military unit. The information contained
in an individual's file varies considerably. Some files contain
only small strips of paper with one or two brief sentences while
others contain several lengthy, detailed records. Information
can include measurements of uniforms, payments for mustering-in,
warrants of authority, individual equipment records, general orders,
oaths of allegiance, pay vouchers, powers of attorney, and discharge
verifications.
The names listed in the index do not represent all
people who served in the various units, only those represented
in the records described above. If an individual is not found
in the index, it should not be assumed that they did not serve.
They are simply not represented in this particular records series.
Confederate States Army (CSA) records in this series
are primarily carbon and photocopies of the Texas Adjutant General's
request for service information from the United States Adjutant
General. The replies are not included in the files. The official
service records of the Confederate States Army are available at
the National
Archives and Records Administration. For more information
on these records and how to obtain them, please visit their Web
site.
How to Search the Database
The Texas Adjutant General's Service Records can be searched from
two pages: Search
by Name and Search
by Keyword.
The Search
by Name page allows a variety of searches and options. To search
by name, enter the last and first names in the search boxes. You
may also search by a first or last name, allowing greater
flexibility.
Additional search types are available in the Search Options box.
You can select from Begins Like, Exactly, and Find Any. Results
of a name search on House, A using each option, are given below.
Begins Like: 2 records found. House, A.; Houseton,
A.
Both begin with the House in the Last Name field and A in the First
Name.
Exactly: no records found.
The record for House, A. was not found because there was no period
after the A in the original search. Therefore, there is no exact
match.
Find any: 9 records found. Greathouse,
Charles; Greathouse, Horace; House, A.; House, Charles; House, Edward;
House, Frank; Houseton, A.; Shouse, Walter; Woodhouse, Nathan.
You will notice that each contains the string house
somewhere in the last name and the letter a in the first.
The name search, along with the search options, can be limited by
selecting a specific military organization. For example, if the
Smith you are seeking was known to have been in the Frontier Forces,
select that specific organization from the drop-down menu in the
Organization search area. Once Frontier Forces is selected, the
search finds only 3 Smiths despite the presence of more than 300
in the database. The dates of records associated with different
organizations can be seen by clicking on the View List of Military
Organizations link below the search box.
The Organization search can also be used to generate an alphabetical
list of indexed names associated with a particular military organization.
Leave all other fields blank and select that organization from the
drop-down menu.
The Call Number search provides a list of files linked to a specific
box and is generally used by staff.
The Search
by Keyword page allows searchers to conduct the broadest search.
Enter a word or sequence of letters and all name fields will be
searched. For example, a search on the word men will find all
first and last names that contain the combined letters men
in the first or last name.
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Results and Digital Images
The displayed results will provide the total number of records
found and include name, organization and call number. If a digital
image is available to be viewed, the last column will contain an
icon. Once you click on the icon, one or more images will appear
on the screen. You can either choose to display a larger version
of the image by clicking on the specific image or view full-sized
images in PDF format.
In order to view a PDF document you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader
loaded onto your computer. Adobe
Acrobat Reader 5.0 or higher will give best results. You can
download
it for free from the Adobe site.
If you have problems with Adobe Acrobat Reader, visit the Adobe
Web site for help. There you can find instructions for configuring
browsers, troubleshooting printer problems, and other issues related
to Adobe Acrobat.
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Issues with Image Quality
During digitization, every effort was made to obtain the best possible
image. The documents were created at a size of 300 dpi (dots per
inch) in order to show all of the detail that is visible in the
originals. In spite of these efforts, there were cases in which
the original documents were so faded that you may find that there
are details that are not readable even under magnification.
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