Alice Bureaucracy is always the safe answer. I can guess that it may have been used to separate immigrants who fought from natural born citizens --- also it might have been important to know who might bear watching, i.e. someone from the South fighting for the North -- But probably the best reason is the same one we use nowadays, birth registration is one of the few ways to certify who a person really is. Mike Alice Gayley wrote: > In answering the previous message, I recalled something I've wondered about for some time. > I found the following at the National Archives and extracted the soldiers from PA for my PA in the Civil War website: > List of Federal Troops Captured at Reams Station on August 25, 1864 and Received at Confederate Military Prisons in Richmond, August 27, 1864. Record Group 249, No. 129. > The Confederates recorded the following data items for each prisoner: Name, Rank, Regiment, Company, and Birthplace. My question is why did they record the place of birth? > I'd appreciate any insight any of you have to offer. > Thanks, > Alice Gayley >

Thanks, Mike. Bureaucracy went through my mind too. One thing I forgot to mention; they didn't record the state of birth. For U.S. born soldiers, the notation was simply U.S. For all others they entered the country where they were born: England, Ireland, Italy, etc. Alice ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Ruddy" <mpruddy@gmail.com> To: <civil-war@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, November 12, 2007 12:48 PM Subject: Re: [CIVIL-WAR] Confederate Prison Records > Alice > Bureaucracy is always the safe answer. I can guess that it may have been > used to separate immigrants who fought from natural born citizens --- > also it might have been important to know who might bear watching, i.e. > someone from the South fighting for the North -- But probably the best > reason is the same one we use nowadays, birth registration is one of the > few ways to certify who a person really is. > Mike > > Alice Gayley wrote: >> In answering the previous message, I recalled something I've wondered >> about for some time. >> I found the following at the National Archives and extracted the soldiers >> from PA for my PA in the Civil War website: >> List of Federal Troops Captured at Reams Station on August 25, 1864 and >> Received at Confederate Military Prisons in Richmond, August 27, 1864. >> Record Group 249, No. 129. >> The Confederates recorded the following data items for each prisoner: >> Name, Rank, Regiment, Company, and Birthplace. My question is why did >> they record the place of birth? >> I'd appreciate any insight any of you have to offer. >> Thanks, >> Alice Gayley >> > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > CIVIL-WAR-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >