What Are the U.S. Navy Muster Rolls?

U.S. Navy Muster Rolls

Muster Rolls were quarterly lists of enlisted naval personnel that were taken on every vessel during the Civil War. During the conflict, five different forms of pre-prepared muster sheets were issued by the Navy. The fields on each varied slightly between 1861 and 1865, but included those listed below. You can look at the original Muster Rolls on the National Archives website, where they are organised by ship, by clicking here.

The text you will be transcribing in Phase 2 of Civil War Bluejackets will relate to information provided under one of the following headings, which represent the different elements of sailor detail that was captured on the Musters:

– Ship’s Number
Each crewman was given a ship’s number, a numeric designation which allowed him to be uniquely identified. It normally is the first piece of information detailed on a muster sheet.

– Name
The name of the individual crewmen, with surname first and then forename. Officers did not always get the men’s names right when entering them, particularly if they were immigrants.

– Date of Enlistment
The date the sailor entered the Navy. Officers often used abbreviations for the month, and frequently employed “” in these fields to denote “same as above” in their entries. Sometimes an officer used the space for something else, e.g. writing that a sailor transferred to the army.

– Term of Enlistment
The length of time a sailor entered the Navy for. In most instances this was either for a period of 1 year or 3 years- and it was most often recorded numerically. Some sheets will also include “yrs” in abbreviated form.

– Rating
This is the naval rating (rank) that the sailor held aboard the vessel. These will often be abbreviated. For a glossary of some of the most common ratings (ranks) and abbreviations see the “Ratings” section located in the “Common Terms, Locations & Abbreviations” section of the Field Guide.

– Where Enlisted
This indicates where the sailor joined. While it will often list a specific city or vessel, this field can also sometimes contain information like “in the Army” if a sailor had been transferred from that branch.

– Where Born, City, Town or County
There can be some variance in the entries placed here- sometimes there is crossover between what was entered in this field and the “Where Born, State” field (see below). Although meant to denote where a sailor was born, previous research has indicated that the location specified can sometimes change during an individual’s military career, so as well as giving us important nativity information, this information might also help us to better track and identify when and where changes like this occur.

– Where Born, State
There can be some variance in these entries, particularly with immigrants. Sometimes they just gave these men’s country of origin, e.g. “Germany” or “Ireland.” Abbreviations were often used for locations, e.g. “Penna” for “Pennsylvania”.

– Age
The age of the sailor, most commonly given in numerals. We are interested in discovering the age variations among the sailors and also in potentially tracking discrepancies through the linking of the Musters with other records. Previous research has shown that some men lied about their age, some claiming they were older and some claiming they were younger in order to enlist.

– Personal Description- Occupation
The occupation that the sailor held prior to their naval enlistment. These are often abbreviated. In the case of formerly enslaved African Americans, you will often encounter the term “Contraband” here, which was shorthand for “Contraband of War”, a term employed during the conflict that reflected the classification of the enslaved as property- something affirmed by the Supreme Court’s infamous Dred Scott decision in 1857 (you can read more about that here). During the Civil War, the “property” of those in rebellion against the United States was deemed contraband, and so did not have to be returned to the Confederacy.

– Personal Description- Eyes
The colour of a sailor’s eyes was also provided in order to help identify him. These usually follow a small number of variables, e.g. “blue”, “brown”, “hazel”, “black” etc.

– Personal Description- Hair
The description of hair, which is usually given as a colour, e.g. “brown”, “fair” etc. For African American and black sailors, hair was sometimes recorded not by colour but by perceived appearance- one of the most common terms you will encounter in this vein is “woolly”.

– Personal Description- Complexion
These three elements, eye colour, hair colour/type and complexion type were designed to give an indication of what a sailor looked like. The abbreviation “do” for ditto was often used in the physical description. There can be a lot of variance in the terms you encounter in these fields, especially for African American sailors. For example, African Americans can be described as “black” “negro” or “mulatto” under complexion, while their hair is sometimes not given as a colour, but as a description, e.g. “woolly”.

– Height
The height of the sailor was expressed in feet and inches. Fractions were frequently used when making these entries.