Soldiers Record
The Chicopee Soldiers Record is a handwritten ledger containing the records of service of almost 600 men from Chicopee who served in the Civil War. Each soldier's page contains a detailed account of their service, which includes information not found in US military records. To mark the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, this website was created to display the scanned copies of the Soldier's Record.
The Soldiers Record ledger is housed in the local history collection of the Chicopee Public Library. All pages in the volume have been scanned and are available for viewing on this site. Transcription of the handwritten pages is an ongoing project.
The Reference Department would like to thank our hard working and dedicated library volunteer John Golonka for his contributions to this project. His enthusiasm and commitment to the project has made all the difference.
An 1898 article in New England Magazine had this to say about the Soldiers Record:
In the care of the city clerk is a record book of which our citizens may well be proud. It is in the hand-writing chiefly of George D. Robinson, and gives silent testimonial to his diligence and fidelity, and also to the love he bore to those whose service and patriotism he recorded. This manuscript volume contains the names, as far as the compiler could obtain them, of all citizens of Chicopee who served in the army and navy, of those who were assigned to the town by the state, and of non-residents who enlisted as a part of the Photo of Mr. Stearns's Home town's quota. His regiment, the period of his service, a list of the engagements in which he took part and in every case where the necessary information could be gained, a brief sketch also of each man's life, are given. The list contains the names of 529 residents of Chicopee who served in the army, and of 38 who were in the navy, with the name of the ship in which each served. This volume was compiled under the direction of the city. It is a story of camp and march and battle, of hospital and prison, of suffering and death, a glorious record of devotion and heroism, from the war's sad beginning to its end, of our citizens, who left the farm, the store, the loom, the lathe and the forge, to defend the Union.
Source: The City of Chicopee, by Collins G. Burnham: pp. 361-379 p. 377; The New England magazine, Vol 24, Iss. 3, Published by New England Magazine Co., May 1898