Title: Frederick A. Bird Papers and Photographs
Inclusive Dates: 1861-1903

Creator:

• Bird, Frederick A.

Call Number: WVM Mss 7

Quantity: 0.9 linear ft. (2 archives boxes, 1 flat box, and 2 oversized folders) of papers and 0.2 linear ft. (1 folder, 3 oversized folders, and 1 negative flap) of photographs.

Repository:

Wisconsin Veterans Museum
Have questions? Contact the Reference Archivist

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Veterans Museum (Map)

See the catalog entry for current shelf locations and additions.

Abstract:

Papers and photographs of Frederick A. Bird, who served as a quartermaster for the 20th Wisconsin Infantry during the Civil War. The majority of the collection consists of the quartermaster records compiled and collected by Bird from 1863 through the end of the war in 1865. The records document the types of supplies an infantry regiment used during the war as well as the frequency with which they used them. They also provide the terminology used to describe these supplies in the mid-nineteenth century. The supplies include clothing, tools, weapons, camp equipment, and pack animals. Some correspondence describes the wound Bird received at the battle of Prairie Grove and his need for time off to recover. A blank parole form for Confederate soldiers shows the conditions to which captured Rebels had to agree in order to be released from captivity. The draft exemption certificate reveals that men could avoid the draft if the had a documented medical condition. Photographs include various portrait poses of Bird in Union uniform and post-war shots with his G.A.R. pin prominently displayed.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.wvm-mss00007

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Frederick A. Bird was born in Madison, Wisconsin on September 22, 1839. He enlisted in August 1861 in response to Governor Randall's call for the state to raise five more regiments in addition to the eight already forming. Bird joined Colonel Charles Harris' 11th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment and was appointed as the regimental quartermaster sergeant. In November 1861 Governor Randall appointed him assistant quartermaster with the rank of second lieutenant. Bird joined Company B, 20th Wisconsin Infantry as it was forming in July 1862. Bird was wounded during the assault on a Confederate battery at Prairie Grove, Arkansas on December 7, 1862. He was placed on detached service where he served first as regimental and then as brigade quartermaster. Rejoining the 20th Wisconsin in 1863, he participated in the capture of Vicksburg and the regiment's campaigns in Alabama, Texas, and Louisiana. Bird mustered out with the regiment on July 14, 1865 and returned to Sun Prairie, Wisconsin where he took up farming. He was active in the Grand Army of the Republic. He died in Madison in 1922.

The papers of the Frederick A. Bird are divided into two series, Papers and Photographs.

Papers (1862-1868) consist largely of the quartermaster records compiled and collected by Bird from 1863 through the end of the war in 1865. The records document the types of supplies an infantry regiment used during the war as well as the frequency with which they used them. They also provide the terminology used to describe these supplies in the mid-nineteenth century. The three main categories of supplies are clothing, camp and garrison equipage; ordnance and ordnance stores; and quartermaster stores. In addition to those forms, others pertain to stationery, animals, and forage. The multiple forms relating to animals and their care show the importance of horses and mules to the Union army for transportation. Other records of interest document how Civil War quartermasters recorded supplies that were lost or destroyed, transferred to officers, or that arrived in insufficient quantities. This series also contains some correspondence, mostly relating to the filing of reports. There are several letters describing Bird's wound and supporting the fact that he needed to be excused from service during recovery. A blank parole form for Confederate soldiers shows the conditions to which captured Rebels had to agree in order to be released from captivity. The draft exemption certificate, filled out for a man named Thomas Cutler, reveals that men could avoid the draft if the had a documented medical condition.

Photographs (1861-1903) included various portrait poses of Bird from 1861 to 1903. Two photographs show him in his uniform and others, taken in later years, show him with his G.A.R. pin prominently displayed. The collection also includes a circa 1898 photograph of Bird with G.A.R. Dept. of Wisconsin Commander C.H. Russell and Assistant Adjutant General J.W. Curran in what appears to be the Department headquarters in Madison. Also included is one copy negative taken of a photograph in the collection showing three mounted portraits of Bird showing him from 1861, 1862, and 1903.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Wisconsin, undated. This collection was previously known as Accession Number: Record Group 7. Additional materials purchased from Thomas McCrory, Oshkosh, WI; Accession Number: Mss 2006.308

Processing Information

Processed by Jonathan Nelson in 2001; processed with additions by Russell Horton in 2006.

	Series: Papers
Box   1 Folder   1	Correspondence, 1862-1866
Box   1 Folder   2	Regarding wound, 1862-1863
Box   1 Folder   3	Draft exemption certificate, 1865
Box   1 Folder   4	Envelopes, circa 1864-1865
Box   1 Folder   5	Inspection report, 1865
Box   3 Folder   1	Muster rolls, 1864
Box   1 Folder   6	Orders, 1863-1865
Box   1 Folder   7	Parole form (for Confederate soldiers), 1865
Box   1 Folder   8	Post-war papers, 1867-1868
	Subseries: Quartermaster records	⇧
Box   1 Folder   9	Articles lost or destroyed, 1863-1865
Box   3 Folder   2	Articles lost or destroyed (oversized), 1863-1865
Box   1 Folder   10	Articles transferred to officers, 1864-1865
Ov   21 Folder   12	Articles transferred (oversized), 1863-1865
Box   1 Folder   11-13	Clothing, camp and garrison equipage, , 1863-1865
Box   3 Folder   3	Clothing, camp and garrison (oversized), 1863-1865
Box   1 Folder   14	Commissary property, 1864-1865
Box   3 Folder   4	Commissary property (oversized), 1864-1865
Box   1 Folder   15	Deficiency reports, 1864-1865
Box   1 Folder   16	Forage, 1865
Box   3 Folder   5	Forage (oversized), 1865
Box   1 Folder   17	Ordnance and ordnance stores, 1863
Ov   20 Folder   7	Ordnance (oversized), 1863
Box   1 Folder   18	Public animals, wagons, and harness, 1865
Box   3 Folder   6	Public animals, wagons and harness (oversized), 1863-1864
	Quartermaster's stores
Box   1 Folder   19	1863-1864
Box   2 Folder   1	1865-1866
Box   3 Folder   7	Oversized, 1863-1865
Box   2 Folder   2	Special requisitions, 1863-1865
Box   2 Folder   3	Stationery, 1863-1865
Box   3 Folder   8	Stationery (oversized), 1863-1864
	Series: Photographs	⇧
Ph   1 Folder   2	Frederick A. Bird [4] , 1861-1903
PhOv   10 Folder   3	Oversized [1] , circa 1890
PhOv   29 Folder   9-10	Oversized [2]
PhOv   33 Folder   1	G.A.R. group photograph [1] , circa 1898
	Negatives
PhN   5 Folder   5	Copy negative of portrait identified in collection [1] , circa 1980