Application letters, registers, and lists used by the governor in managing the military appointment process. The majority of the records relate to the Civil War era. About that period there are numerous letters of application arranged alphabetically by surname; an undated volume (1/1/5-9, old Series 57) containing a list of “specially qualified applicants” with information about prior military service, as well as individuals who sought commissions in the 21st and 22nd Wisconsin regiments and who desired to be surgeons or recruiters; and an 1862 volume (1/1/5-7; old Series 55) containing lists of individuals who applied for commissions as field officers, quartermasters, regimental staff, commissary service, paymasters, surgeons, medical staff, nurses, chaplains, general service, and state agents, showing name and residence of applicant, by whom recommended and special qualifications. An 1864 volume consists only of lists of names.
The chronologically-arranged general register (was Series 53, 1/1/5-5) includes name, rank, residence, termination, and remarks about the officer. The regimental muster roll of officers is a convenient source of information about Wisconsin officers, the coverage for which is sometimes incomplete in the Adjutant General's Regimental Muster Rolls.
