God Bless the Compilers But Who Was N. A. Strait?

By Thomas P. Lowry · Originally published March 2018 · p. 19

Every serious student of the Civil War begins to accumulate reference works, by purchase, borrowing, or by sitting in the library. The voluminous Official Records (often called simply the OR) is now on searchable disk. E.B. Long’s Civil War Day by Day is an essential and inexpensive “must have.” Frederick H. Dyer’s two-volume A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, though expensive, is essential for studying northern armies. More advanced students might accumulate the eight volumes of Roy K. Basler’s Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln and the eight-volume Army Register of the Volunteer Force. Officers over a whole century can be found in Francis K. Heitman’s Historical Register and Dictionary of the U.S. Army. Students of the South will find a thorough summary of relevant books in John H. Wright’s two-volume Compendium of the Confederacy. The best-written single-volume narrative history of the Confederacy is Frank Vandiver’s Their Tattered Flags. For the writer seeking scrupulous accuracy in describing battle events, there is no substitute for Robert K. Krick’s Civil War Weather in Virginia, a compilation of temperature and precipitation every day, 1861-1865. Then we come to N.A. Strait’s Roster of All Regimental Surgeons and Assistant Surgeons in the Late War, with their Service, and Last-known Post-office Address, published in 1882. What was the purpose of this compilation and who was N.A. Strait? It all has to do with disability pensions in the Union Army. After the shooting was over, the North demobilized at an astonishing rate. Whole armies mustered out and scattered like leaves in the autumn wind. Soon hundreds of thousands of former Union soldiers filed for disability pensions. There was no centralized system of medical records. For testimony about his wartime injuries the soldier needed an affidavit from his regimental surgeon, who was … where? California? Oregon? Florida? Maine? An enterprising young clerk in the Pension Bureau set himself the task of locating these scattered sawbones. His technique is unknown but he began compiling the addresses of thousands of surgeons, which was endlessly useful in processing claims of wartime injury or illness. Strait’s vast files finally took book form in 1882, as noted, and are still available in two formats. The ULAN Press produced a direct photographic copy of each page. Some of the original was damaged and the result is hard to read, but most of it is useful. The book is organized by state, then by regiment. An example of a legible entry follows: “Pennsylvania, 63rd Infantry, McFadden, James. Asst. S. 104 Fairmount Ave., Philadelphia, Pa.” There are two other versions of Strait’s book. In the spring of 1989, Olde Soldier Books, Inc., reprinted the book, with an introduction and a name index, both by F. Terry Hambrecht, MD. About six months later, Jeremy Norman (Historyofscience.com) published his own version, with an independently-created index. The Army Register of the Volunteer Force also lists surgeons regiment by regiment and the typography is uniformly legible. Thus, we see the purpose and availability of Strait’s work, but what do we know of this long-forgotten compiler and author? To begin, his full name was Newton Allen Strait. In 1850, farmer Thomas Strait, age 29, was living in Troy Township, Bradford County, Penn., with wife Minerva, and sons Eli, age eight and Newton, age four. A decade later, Thomas was a lumberman in Fairfield, Lycoming County. Minerva still kept house; Eli was a laborer and Newton was fourteen. He was too young for the Civil War, but a “Record of Burial Place of Veteran,” compiled in a 1939 WPA project, says he served in the Union army. A Fold3 search of all New York and Pennsylvania solders found no Newton Strait. The National Park Service Soldiers and Sailors site has no Newton Strait. His Findagrave entry states that he married Rebecca Eliza Smith in 1860, at age fourteen. This is of doubtful accuracy. In 1899, he did marry “Helen.” In 1880, he was living in Washington, D.C., working as a clerk in the pension office. The 1890 census records no longer exist. In 1900, he was age 53, living on 13th Street in D.C., with 43-year old wife Helen, and two boarders, Mary Constantine and Sarah Rea. He was still a clerk at the pension office. The 1920 census shows him employed as “Librarian and Historian” at the Pension Bureau. He died June 1, 1922, and was buried in Wildwood Cemetery, Williamsport, Penn. With assistance by: Rev. Dr. Albert H. Ledoux; Robert K. Krick; Findagrave.com; and the F.T. Hambrecht and J.L. Koste Biographical Register of Physicians who served the Confederacy in a Medical Capacity (unpublished database).