Pennsylvania PowerPortal

The Pennsylvania State Archives are now on-line with easy internet access to about 200,000 images of historical records on Pennsylvanians who participated in the Revolutionary War, the Spanish-American War and World War I. You can see these images from your web browser software at: www.phmc.state.pa.us and they are easily printed out on your home computer.

Governor Tom Ridge has pushed hard on his concept of “friction-free” state government. Pennsylvania residents can now renew their drivers licenses, photo ID’s and vehicle registrations over the internet. A host of other initiatives have made technology a key part of the state’s economic development efforts. The new state license plates even carry the state’s Web address on each vehicle.

The resources currently available at the website include digitized images of the Revolutionary War Military Abstract Card file, the Spanish American War Veterans’ Card File of United States Volunteers and the World War I Service Medal Application Cards. Work is now in progress to add the Civil War Veterans’ Card File and the Mexican Border Campaign Veterans’ Card file, but no date for their public release has been set.

The Revolutionary War Records are a unique new resource for genealogists. They are arranged alphabetically by the surname of the soldier, with details about his service in the Pennsylvania Militia, the Pennsylvania Line or the Navy. Each entry includes the name and rank of the soldier, whether the duty was “active” or “inactive,” the county of residence, the battalion in which he served, and a clear reference to the archival record from which the information was extracted. Each card states whether a specific record “proves active duty” or suggests the possibility that the soldier was on “inactive duty.” This distinction is of significance when making application for membership to some lineage organizations.

According to the state website’s explanatory material, the entry “Active Duty” indicates that the soldier saw active duty in either the Pennsylvania Militia or the Pennsylvania Line, while “Inactive Duty” indicates that the soldier did not necessarily see “action.” Associators were volunteers who comprised the Military Association, a civilian reserve designed to repel any invasion of Pennsylvania, until the collapse of the Association in the winter of 1776-1777. The Pennsylvania Militia was organized, to repel invaders, in March, 1777, by an Act of the Assembly that required compulsory enrollment by constables of all able-bodied white males between the ages of 18 and 53. The “Flying Camps” were special battalions of Pennsylvania Line troops that were recruited from the Pennsylvania Associators. “Rangers” were soldiers who served long periods of enlistment to protect the frontier against Indian incursions.

Entries for “Depreciation Pay Certificates” apply to soldiers who served in the period 1777-1780 when the currency was depreciating and the men were paid in Continental Bills of Credit which quickly lost value. To compensate for such depreciation, each soldier who remained in service on the Pennsylvania Line until 1781 was awarded a substantial sum in Depreciation Pay Certificates which were both interest bearing and negotiable.

In addition, at the end of the war arrears and allowances due were met by issuing to each soldier still in service a number of interest-bearing final settlements called “Pierce’s Certificates” (named after the paymaster who issued them).

Some cards show a certificate number that relates to the Militia Loan of 1784-1785. This loan program was established to pay individuals for services and goods provided during the Revolutionary War who still had not been reimbursed by that time.

(Not all of these certificate numbers will yield additional information beyond what is on the image in this database.)

None of the Revolutionary War Veterans’ cards in this database apply to military duty after November 1783.

For example, the entry for Henry Zimmerman of Lancaster County, shows that he was on active duty for the Pennsylvania Militia for 25 days from July 3 to July 28^th, 1781, in the 3^rd Battalion, 3^rd Class. He is listed on the Muster Roll of 5 July 1781 and the record source is cited as Militia Operations 1781, “Military Accounts” Records of the Comptroller General or Auditor General, A (5), VII, 250. The image ends with the statement, “The Basic Record Proves Active Duty.”

The Spanish American War Veterans’ Card File was created by the Pennsylvania Office of the Adjutant General in 1941 from information taken from official records of the United States War Department. The card images show the name of the veteran, race, residence, place and date of birth, date and place of enlistment, military organization to which attached, rank, and dates of service overseas in either Cuba or the Philippines. Comments at the bottom of the card often provide additional information about the soldier’s discharge or about his record of prior military service.

For example, the card for Frederic GIBSON, shows that he was a resident of Philadelphia when he enlisted on 29 August 1899, at the age of 21 years, 8 months. He had been born in Tracy, Ohio. He was assigned to Company G, 11^th US Volunteer Cavalry. He served in the Philippines from 5 October 1899 to 8 September 1900, on which date he died at Santa Cruz, Laguna Province, of illness “in the line of duty.”

On the other hand, the card for Ralph C. G-----, a resident of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, states that he enlisted in Lancaster, PA, on 18 May 1901. He had been born in Marietta PA on 12 November 1879. He was assigned to Company K, 28^th US Infantry, with the rank of Private. He saw no foreign service, because he deserted on 18 October 1901 while stationed at Vancouver Barracks in Washington State. (Name suppressed in this newsletter for the sake of his descendant!)

The final database currently available at the Pennsylvania website has entries from the World War I Service Medal Application Cards. Veterans of that war and their survivors could apply for these medals in accord with the Act of April 21, 1937, P.L. 331, Sections 1 and 2. The information includes the name and serial number of the veteran, place of residence at the time of entry into service, the date and place the veteran entered into service, rank, military unit to which attached, place and date of honorable discharge, and the signature of the applicant. The reverse side of each card shows the name of the veteran or survivor applying for the medal and the address to which the medal was to be mailed. Each application had to be accompanied by sixty cents to pay for the cost of the medal.

If you have trouble accessing these new databases, stop by the Fiske Library and ask for assistance from one of our volunteers.

Gary A. Zimmerman

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