ELLINWOOD, CHARLES N. Autograph Manuscript, approx. 100 pp, folio, the Presidio, San Francisco, December 1871 to March 6, 1876 with leaves dated October-November 1871 laid down to rear blanks, being a "Record of Examinations by Pension Surgeons," leaves generally clean, adhesive residue and staining to laid down pages, bound in half calf, hinges weak, wear and loss to spine.

During the Civil War, Congress passed legislation making pensions available to veterans with disabilities and wounds received during wartime. Military physicians, such as Dr. Charles Ellinwood, were charged with assigning veterans a "rate of injury" and issuing a certificate for the pension board. In this album, Dr. Ellinwood records each soldier's name, rank, company and regiment, physical description, and degree of injury before assigning a rate of disability, usually given as a percentage (1/4, ½, 5/8, total). The album represents a trove of information about the health and welfare of California veterans, most of whom suffered the effects of gunshot wounds, but who also presented with broken bones, hernias, and eye injuries at an alarming rate.