These records consist of more than 100 printed circulars, general orders and special orders issued by both state and federal military officials during (or if after, related to) the Spanish-American War. They date 1898-1901. Twelve of them are general orders issued by the Adjutant General of Texas; 41 are special orders emanating from the headquarters of the Department of the Gulf in Atlanta, Georgia; 38 are special orders issued by either the War Department or the Headquarters of the Army in Washington, D.C. between July, 1898 and March, 1899.

In addition, there are a number of printed items, including the following: a proclamation by the Governor of Texas (April 25, 1898) [typescript]; rules for the preparation and settlement of claims, printed by the Treasury Department, Auditor for the War Department (August 10, 1898); Public Bill Number 209, an Act to reimburse the governors of states... (March 3, 1899); and Senate Document Number 260 from the 56th Congress, 1st Session, a letter from the Secretary of War concerning expenses of volunteers during the organization of the army for the Spanish War (March, 1900). Finally, there is a packet of assorted documents labeled Rules, Acts of Congress, General Orders, and Circular.

These records consist of regimental returns, descriptive lists of recruits, an officer's index, reports on officers, lists of rejected men, and petitions for demobilization, dating 1898-1901.

The regimental returns are seven oversized returns from the following regiments of Texas Volunteers: the 1st Infantry at Jacksonville, Florida (July, 1898) and Miami, Florida (August, 1898); the 2nd Infantry at Mobile, Alabama (May, 1898) and Miami, Florida (June, 1898); and the 1st Cavalry at Fort Sam Houston, Texas (June-August, 1898). Information contained on each return includes the following: stations of companies and names of company captains; numbers of officers and enlisted men present and absent, both by status (e.g., sick) and by rank; alterations (gain/loss) since the last monthly return; numbers of horses; absent enlisted men accounted for by name; a record of events; the commissioned officers (names, ranks, stations, and remarks); and alterations among enlisted men (name, rank, company, date, place, and remarks).

The descriptive lists of recruits, some on pre-printed forms and others on handmade forms, cover most of the companies in the 3rd Regiment of Texas Volunteer Infantry, and most of the troops in the 1st Regiment of Texas Volunteer Cavalry. Information contained on the forms varies, but normally includes the following: name, rank, age at enlistment, height, complexion, color of eyes, color of hair, where born (town or county, and state or kingdom), occupation, and enlistment data (when, where, by whom, and for what period). Other occasional information includes: residence, number of miles travelled from residence to place of rendezvous, marital status, name and address of parent/guardian/nearest relative, and to what date last paid. Pencil notations usually state Indexed. In addition, there are wrappers listing names under the heading correspondence, applications, etc. for each of the four infantry regiments and the cavalry regiment (dated 1898), plus other wrappers that list by name the descriptive and assignment cards of recruits assigned to the 3rd Texas Infantry since the original muster.

There is a volume labeled Index, Texas U.S. Volunteers, 4th Texas Infantry, with additional notations: Officers recorded in officers' roster--for officers and enlisted men see muster rolls; and Index No. 3. This alphabetical index gives only name and county.

The reports on officers include two documents. One is a list of infantry officers from all four regiments, giving company, city, name, rank, and comments (e.g., excellent, or good, promoted to major, or incompetent, lazy and intemperate.). The other is a report in chart form on officers of the 1st Infantry, dated October 1899; information includes: name, company, rank, regiment, whether a graduate, name of educational institution, whether formerly a member of the Texas Volunteer Guard, and whether an officer in the Texas Volunteer Guard, or rank on April 20, 1898.

The lists of officers and men rejected by the U.S. Medical Examiner, dating 1901 but referring to the mobilization of troops in 1898, includes information that varies from list to list: name, rank, residence, date enrolled (or date of assembly at rendezvous), date of rejection, number of days, rate of pay, and amount of pay. Several, in fact, are in the form of a payroll.

There are two petitions for demobilization or mustering out of companies (both dated September 1898), on the grounds that the war was nearly over. One was addressed to the Adjutant General of Texas, the other to the U.S. Adjutant General but forwarded to the Texas Adjutant General. These lists of signatures included 103 men of Company C, 3rd Texas Volunteer Infantry, and 92 men of Troop A, 1st Texas Volunteer Cavalry.

These comprise quartermaster and ordnance records of the Texas Volunteers for the Spanish-American War, 1898.

The quartermaster records include mostly invoices and receipts of quartermaster stores for individual companies, often joined on one form. In addition, there are returns, requisitions, vouchers, bills of lading, affidavits of responsibility, affidavits of loss, and correspondence.

The ordnance records include invoices and receipts of ordnance and ordnance stores, plus returns, affidavits of loss, and bills of lading.

These records consist of eleven letterpress books containing records of pay of recruits, in two groups, dating 1901-1902. The first group of letterpress books are actually receipts for pay vouchers, with a cover letter stating: Enclosed herewith I hand you a receipt [sic] filled out to cover the amount due you by the State of Texas for pay from the date of assembly of your troop....Please sign the receipt below and write your Post Office address...and a check will then be mailed to you for the amount named therein....Thomas Scurry. This is followed at the foot of the page by a receipt: Received from Honorable Joseph D. Sayers, Governor of Texas, the sum of $_____ in payment of the amount due me, [rank, company, regiment]. [Signature].

The second group of letterpress books record the actual payment, stating: Enclosed herewith please find check No._____ on the Austin National Bank for $_____ in payment of the amount due you for service.... These volumes have indexes, by the letter of the company rather than the name of the soldier.

In addition, there are a handful of documents relating to payments for other services relating to the Spanish-American War, dating 1898-1904. These include a memorandum for the routing of troops to Austin; payrolls for clerk hire, night guard, and labor necessary for transferring camp equipage to the U.S. Volunteers; and a bank statement for 1901.

These records consist of two types of Spanish-American War-related claims files, dating 1898-1901. The first of these are claims by the State of Texas against the United States, which were presented in 12 installments between 1900 and 1901. A typical installment package includes cover letters from the Treasury Department, Office of Auditor for the War Department in Washington, D.C., to Adjutant General of Texas Thomas Scurry; abstracts of vouchers; statements of differences; and explantations.

The second type of claim file is the individual claim presented to the State of Texas, which formed the basis for the first type of claim. A typical individual claim file includes correspondence concerning the claim; cover letters; affidavits; vouchers; and receipts for payment of the claim.