{"value"=>"<p>Files document claim applications made by soldiers, sailors, and family members of deceased servicemen for pensions, back pay, bounty, prize money, and other types of claims, #1-28,848 ¼. Most claim files were created by ANCA, but also included are files originally created by the USSC’s Special Relief Department, the Protective War Claim Association of the State of New York (PWCA), and other local agents, and incorporated into ANCA’s records by its staff. Each file constitutes one claim application for an individual soldier, sailor, or other claimants; files generally consist of a jacket or envelope containing documentation for an individual claim application.</p> <p>Files consist of documents produced and amassed in the process of applying for claims to the relevant federal government department, and obtaining and submitting evidence supporting the claimant’s entitlement to payment. In addition to claim jackets, documents present in files may include: claim application forms; communications from government and USSC departments; witness statements notarized by local clerks of court; copies of marriage, birth, and baptismal records; letters from claimants, providers of evidence, agents, and others supplying assistance to claimants; and soldiers’ letters to family members offered as proof of circumstances. Jackets and envelopes typically have notes on them regarding the status of claim application written by ANCA staff. Some jackets present have no enclosures; some files contain documents without jackets. Documentation is not necessarily inclusive; additional items concerning individual claims are found throughout Series I. Correspondence.</p> <p>Most claim jackets are pre-printed ANCA forms, long ends glued together at one side, which wrapped around folded documents to keep them together. Other types of jackets present include: pre-printed jackets from PWCA, similar to the ANCA forms; jackets from other local agents, which are either similar forms pre-printed with local agent names or plain paper wrappers; pre-printed jackets from the USSC’s Special Relief Department; and blank, business-size envelopes used as jackets. Jackets prominently display the name of the soldier or sailor upon whose service a claim was based; those names appear in the container list. Jackets also identify claim types; soldier or sailor’s service information; claimant name, when it differs from soldier or sailor, and address; forwarding information from local agent, including agent name, date claim taken, date forwarded to ANCA, date received by ANCA, and date acknowledged by ANCA; information regarding filing of claim application, including government department claim was filed in, filing date, and date ANCA received acknowledgment of filing; results of application, whether claim was allowed, rejected, or withdrawn, dollar amount of any payment; and reference to relevant entries in ANCA claim registers by volume and page number and to other claim record types.</p> <p>Jackets identify claims by various numbering schemes. ANCA jackets identify the number assigned to the application by the local agent who originally recorded it (“local agent number”); the claim number initially assigned to the application by ANCA staff (“office number”); and the number assigned to the application by the government department who handled it (“department number”). ANCA staff assigned a new claim number to each file across the series in 1866. These new claim numbers were generally written in blue pencil and placed prominently on the top front of the jacket (or folded document when no jacket was present). The numerical sequence of these new claim numbers generally follows alphabetical order; the alphabetical sequence has been maintained when the numerical sequence deviates from it. Some numbers are missing from this sequence; the sequence includes some fractional numbers; and in some cases, a claim number in blue pencil has been crossed out and replaced by a new number, also in blue pencil. Jackets were also generally stamped by ANCA staff with one or more markings in blue ink in an unidentified status system. The PWCA jackets included in this series were generally not assigned new claim numbers in this sequence, but rather appear as originally arranged, following the ANCA file for the same claim for the same soldier.</p> <p>Claim files are arranged alphabetically by surname of soldier or sailor upon whose service claim is based. When multiple soldiers and/or sailors share the same name, claim files are arranged as follows: volunteer Army units by state, regiment number, and company; regular Army units by unit type, regiment, and company; sailors by ship; and other service positions without explicit unit or ship information. This information is found on the jacket but is not identified at the container or file folder level.</p> <p>Handwriting is difficult to read on some jackets. Every effort has been made to transcribe names as close to appearance on jackets as possible. Alternate spellings of names on jackets may appear on other documents in file. For a small number of files, arrangement issues have been resolved as follows. When the name on a jacket has been crossed out and another written in, arrangement follows the name written in. When alternate spellings of a name have been written above the original name without cross-outs, arrangement follows the original name. When an alias is included next to the original soldier or sailor name, arrangement follows the original name; aliases are not included in the container list. When the soldier/sailor’s and claimant’s names have been transposed on the jacket, arrangement follows the soldier/sailor’s name.</p> <p>Approximately 33,400 files are present.</p>"}