Carroll’s Yesteryears
26 July 1992
Intern takes on Civil War project
By Jay Graybeal
This past spring I received a phone call form Greg Goodell, an undergraduate student pursuing a degree in history at Johns Hopkins University. Greg is a graduate of South Carroll High School and has a deep interest in the history of the American Civil War.
He was looking into the possibility of doing an internship at the historical society, especially in his area of interest. For several years I had been casually collecting information about Civil War soldiers with the hope of compiling a list of veterans for researchers to consult. Greg eagerly agreed to undertake this project as a summer internship.
The project has two goals. The first is simply to develop a list of Civil War soldiers from Carroll County who served in the Union and Confederate forces. The next goal is to provide the historian with biographical data concerning these Carroll Countians. To accomplish these goals, we have designed a computer database containing nearly thirty categories for each individual soldier. IN addition to the categories of date of birth and date of death, the list will include residency in 1860, occupation, marital status, age and date of enlistment. This will allow a researcher to answer specific historical questions. For example, are there differences in the profiles of the volunteers of 1861-62 and the draftees of 1864-65? Entering the information in a database format also allows easy report production. We anticipate printing out reports by unit participation, locality, occupations and casualties.
There is a rich collection of primary and secondary sources at the historical society which provide valuable information for compiling the database. The records of Burns Post No. 13, Grand Army of the Republic provided names of 136 Union veterans from the county. “Marylanders in the Confederacy,” written by Daniel Hartzler, provided the names and units of over 90 known countians who served in the Confederate forces. “History and Roster of the Maryland Volunteers, War of 1861-5” provides a data on Union soldiers and sailors. Period newspaper articles, obituaries, church and cemetery records, and family histories provide additional information. Greg has visited the U.S. Army Military History Institute in Carlisle, Pa., and plans to visit the National Archives, Marine Corps Historical Center and Washington Navy Yard, Washington D.C.
Despite the wealth of sources, there is information on individual soldiers that we do not have and there are surely soldiers who do not appear in our records at all. If you have any information regarding a Carroll County Civil War veteran, please contact Jay Graybeal at the Society. We would greatly appreciate contributions from the community on this project designed to examine Carroll County’s role in the truly defining event of our national history.
Photo credit: Sarah Prine Andrew
Photo caption: Greg Goodell is an intern at the Historical Society of Carroll County. He is a history major at Johns Hopkins University.
