US, Missouri, St. Louis--Military Records, 1916-1939

Diann Cox

Is the date at the top of the form good for enlistment date?

erutherford

Does the top of your batch look like this?

The Field Help (Purple Question mark) next to Enlistment Day/Month/Year, has a hierarchy for Enlistment Date:

Many types of events may have been recorded. In the enlistment fields, type information only about the following events, according to this priority list. (If multiple events were mentioned, use the one highest in the priority list.)

1. Date of enlistment.
2. Date of events indicated by words such as "appointed," "mustered," or "inducted."
3. Date of discharge or retirement.
4. Date when a roll was taken or roster was created.
5. Date when the soldier or sailor was wounded.

Going by the hierarchy for this particular batch, #4 will be the Enlistment Date.

maryellenstevensbarnes1

Hi @Diann Cox Please provide the Batch Code for the roster you are indexing - the Batch Code is the combination of letters and numbers found in the [Brackets] after the batch title; @John Empoliti has an excellent discussion about indexing the enlistment dates for the US Missouri military rosters, so I am tagging him to answer this question

John Empoliti

Hi @Diann Cox .

As @maryellenstevensbarnes1 has said and @erutherford has implied, we need to see your batch to give you the most accurate answer. The short answer is - that the date at the top of the page might be "good enough" for a given soldier. Read on for important details.

As an Indexer, you decide what to index in the Enlistment Date fields (month, day, year) on a soldier-by-soldier (i.e., entry-by-entry) basis. Look at the Field Help for Enlistment Date that @erutherford has quoted:

Many types of events may have been recorded. In the enlistment fields, type information only about the following events, according to this priority list. (If multiple events were mentioned, use the one highest in the priority list.)

1. Date of enlistment. (the gold standard) JE
2. Date of events indicated by words such as "appointed," "mustered," or "inducted."
3. Date of discharge or retirement.
4. Date when a roll was taken or roster was created. ("good enough" if a higher priority date is not available) JE
5. Date when the soldier or sailor was wounded.

So, if any soldier's actual enlistment date (#1) is not available, nor dates of priority #2 or #3, then you should index the roll or roster date (priority #4) in the "Enlistment Date" fields for that soldier. We usually find it at the top of the page in a context that resembles the image @erutherford shared.

Saying it another way, if any soldier has a higher priority date listed than the roll or roster date, you are obliged to index it in the "Enlistment Date" fields.

Another conclusion: if none of the soldiers on your batch page have a date of type #1, #2, or #3, you may and should index that one Roll or Roster date (priority #4) at the top of the page in the "Enlistment Date" fields for all of them.

But don't forget that if your batch page doesn't have a roll or roster date, one of the earlier reference images might have the first page of the roll or roster with the date you need.

Diann Cox

Thank you for answering my question. Yes, the batch did have the date at the top and that is the date I used for enlistment.

John Empoliti

You’re welcome for my addition to the already excellent advice.