Muster-Out Roll, Eleventh Rhode Island Volunteers

Measurement: 21 x 31 inches.

COMPANY I, ELEVENTH RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEERS, FINISHES ITS FEDERAL SERVICE IN THE CIVIL WAR.

UNION MUSTER-OUT ROLL.

Large, two-sided 31” by 21” muster-out roll for Company I of the 11th Rhode Island Volunteers, Captain Joseph A. Kendrick commanding the company. The 11th RI was a nine-months regiment organized at Providence, Rhode Island, and mustered into Federal service on October 1, 1862. The regiment was commanded by Colonel George E. Church, who had just been promoted from being Lieutenant-Colonel of the 7th Rhode Island Volunteers. Although there is no mustering-out date on the document, the regiment is officially listed as having mustered out July 13, 1863.

For most of their service, the 11th RI served in the 22nd Army Corps, manning the defenses of Washington, D.C. The extensive system of fortifications protecting the Union capital had made it the most heavily fortified city on earth by the time the 11th served there. Their time was divided between service in the lines at Washington and Alexandria, and, from January to April 1863, as guards for the Convalescent Camp. Later, the regiment participated in a few expeditions to destroy Confederate rail lines and served in the siege of Suffolk from April 19 to May 4, 1863. Compared with many other Union regiments, service in the 11th RI was fairly safe: Only 8 men died during their term of service, all from disease.

The muster-out roll contains the hand-written particulars of every member of the company, listing the 1st and 2nd lieutenants, 5 sergeants, 8 corporals, 80 privates, and three individuals whose rank and position is unlisted, possibly servants or medical personnel. Every man’s age, date of enlistment, and most recent pay amounts are noted, as well as special entries for equipment lost or damaged, and one for a man left behind in a Suffolk hospital. An intriguing and detailed record of a Union infantry company in mid-1863, at the height of the Civil War.