Chimborazo Microfilm Guide

GUIDE FOR USING THE CHIMBORAZO MICROFILM RECORDS AT RNBP.

The chaos in the original files at the National Archives virtually defies description. Over the years, the park staff has microfilmed many of the various ledger books that were used to document patients. The difficulty arises from the fact that some of the information therein overlaps. Furthermore, there are several different ways of tracking patients. Some records were kept by patient number, others alphabetically. As a final insult to the modern researcher, there were five divisions within the hospital, so each of the above variables may be multiplied by five times.

The type of information available from these registers varies. Most registers are by patient number, and usually list name, rank, company, regiment, date of admittance, nature of injury, and ultimate disposition. Some of the registers do not indulge in such detail, and confine themselves to just names, units and dates.

INDEX

For patients from October 1861 to August 1862, all divisions, see Box 5, File # 234 (which is near the end of the roll).

For patients from August 1862 to April 1864, all divisions, see Box 3, File # 52. This is the only material on this roll.

For patients from May 1864 to March 1865, all divisions, see Box 5, File #76, which is in the middle of this roll.

[N.B. There is one other index file that we possess. This is File #93, in Box 2, which is an index to all divisions for March-May l862, and thus overlaps File #234.

DIVISION # 1

For patients from June 1862 until November 1864, see Box 2, File #20. This can be found in the middle of the roll.

We also have in Box 2, File #65, a register for July-October 1862, which should be a complete overlap.

For patients from December 1864 until March 1865, see Box 2, File #71, which is closer to the front of the roll. This file has been accidentally duplicated, so also appears in Box 5, near the front.

We do not possess patient registers for this division for October 186l — June 19, l862.

We also have in Box 2, File #29, an index to patients received from January to July 1862.

DIVISION # 2

For patients from October 1861 until August 1862, see Box 2, File #55. This is toward the beginning of the roll.

For patients from August 1862 until April 1864, see Box 1, File #17. This file is toward the end of the reel, and is inexplicably concluded at the beginning of Box 2.

For patients from April 1864 until March 1865, see Box 2, File #75, which is toward the beginning of the roll.

DIVISION #3

For patients admitted from October 1861 until June 1862, see Box 4, File #21. This is toward the beginning of the roll.

For patients admitted from June 1862 until June 1863, see Box 5, File #105, which is at the very end of the roll.

For patients admitted June 1863—March 1865, see Box 4, File #53, which is in the middle of the roll.

We also have File #19, in Box 4, which covers the period June 1864 to March 1865, and overlaps File #53.

We also have in Box 4, an unnamed file that lists patients in 1862 and 1863 by ward. The only advantage of this is the legibility; everything is easy to read, so if one of the regular registers is fuzzy, one might check here for better details.

DIVISION #4

For patients admitted October 1861 until July 1862, see Box 1, File #22, which is toward the end of the roll.

For patients admitted August 1862 until May 1864, see Box 1, File #74, which is near the front of the roll.

For patients admitted May 1864 until March 1865, see Box 1, File #68, which is in the middle of the roll. This has been accidentally duplicated, and appears on Box 4, toward the end.

DIVISION #5

For patients admitted October 1861 until February 1863, see Box 4, File #23, which is toward the front of the roll.

For patients admitted February 1863 until October 1864, see File #70, which spans the end of Box 4 and the beginning of Box 5.

For patients admitted May until November 1864, see File #??, which is in the middle of Box 4.

File #228 lists names from May 1864 until March 1865, but is too dim to microfilm, so we are out of luck for the December 1864—March 1865 portion. Likewise for File #57, which covers March and April 1865.