Known by numerous titles–the American Civil War, the War of Northern Aggression, the War of Succession–the War Between the States continues to rank among the most important events in the lives of many of our mid-nineteenth century ancestors. Interest in discovering and understanding the events, the battles, and especially the people engaged in that bloodiest of wars, continues to grow at a near wildfire rate. And as we approach the 150th year since the first shots of that war were fired, 2011, true stories continue to come to life, honored in the words of soldiers and through the accounts and photographs brought to life through genealogical research.

To honor our Civil War ancestors means more than recounting the battles and the bullets. It must also include listening to the words of their letters and diaries, appreciating their images on postcard photographs, and hearing what their contemporaries thought of their efforts and how they were missed on the homefront. To honor. An awesome responsibility! And through the words of those who participated, such as James Morris Morgan, a Confederate reefer, we know how important honoring is.

My Dear Mother,
When the storm abated, the remains of the dead were recovered and taken to the navy yard where they were prepared for burial. The funeral, the next day, was one of the most impressive sights I ever witnessed. Ten thousand soldiers stood at "Present arms!" on either side of the road leading to the cemetery as the procession passed between them. First came a large number of priests followed by a military band playing the Dead March. Then came the twenty-one caissons bearing the bodies, each drawn by six horses, the coffins being covered by the much loved "Tri-Couleur." These were followed by a number of admirals and naval officers according to rank. These in turn were followed by six thousand sailors from the fleet.

Captain Maury was invited to attend the ceremony, and took me with him as his aide. We were given a place in the procession next after the admirals.

Arriving at the cemetery, we stopped in front of a great trench where all those gallant fellows were to be interred in one grave, except the young officer who had commanded the launch–he had a separate grave. His was the last coffin to be buried, and just as it was about to be lowered an aide-de-camp of the Emperor dashed up on horseback, and saluting Admiral La Rose, the ranking officer present, he presented him with an order from the Emperor and also a small package. Admiral La Rose read the order aloud. It commanded that the accompanying cross of the Legion of Honor should be pinned on the dead officer’s breast. The lid of the coffin was unscrewed, and in death the young fellow was decorated with the bit of metal he had doubtless so much coveted in life. The coffin was then lowered into the grave and the earth covered these martyrs to duty.

What is it that continues to drive individuals to research this epic in American history so thoroughly? One need look no further than the letters, diaries, and narratives of those who were involved in the fighting, those who assisted them, and those who suffered from their absence on the homefront. These personal documents can give the most hurried researcher cause for pause. The words paint vivid pictures and continue to stir deep emotions more than a century later. Clara Barton recalls:

I saw, crowded into one old sunken hotel, lying upon its bare, wet, bloody floors, five hundred fainting men hold up their cold, bloodless, dingy hands as I passed, and beg me in Heaven’s name for a cracker to keep from starving (and I had none); or to give them a cup that they might have something to drink water from, if they could get it (and I had no cup and could get none) . . . I saw two hundred six-mule army wagons in a line, ranged down the street to headquarters, and reaching so far out on the Wilderness Road that I never found the end of it; every wagon crowded with wounded men, stopped, standing in the rain and mud, wrenched back and forth by the restless, hungry animals all night–the dark spot in the mud under many a wagon told all too plainly where some poor fellow’s life had dripped out in those dreadful hours.

No other military engagement has involved such a large percentage of the United States’ population, and no other prolonged action has had such a lasting impact. While there is an ongoing debate over the exact numbers of participants in particular battles, numbers of dead and wounded, and numbers of participants in the entire war, no set of figures leaves one unimpressed. Frequently quoted statistics published by Thomas L. Livermore at the turn of the century indicate that the total of Union enlistees during the war numbered 1,556,678 while the total number of enlistees in Confederate armies was 1,082,119.¹

The totals, no matter the detail, leave one with a sense of disbelief that such a thing happened on our soil such a short time ago. The number of casualties for both famous and lesser-known battles are simply staggering. Below, an anonymous Southern soldier describes the Confederate retreat at the Battle of Shiloh (6 April 1862)–a battle where 3,000 men were taken prisoner of war, and losses on both sides were unbelievable. The Confederacy lost 11,000 men, and Federal forces lost 13,000.

In this ride I saw more of human agony and woe that I trust I shall ever again be called to behold. The retreating host wound along a narrow and almost impossible road. Here was a long line of wagons loaded with wounded piled in like bags of grain, groaning and cursing; while the mules plunged on in mud and water, the latter sometimes coming into the wagons. Next was a struggling regiment of infantry, pressing on past the train of wagons; then a stretcher, borne upon the shoulders of four men, carrying a wounded officer; then soldiers staggering along, with an arm broken and hanging down or other fearful wounds. To add to the horrors of the scene, the elements of heaven marshaled their forces–a fitting accompaniment of the tempest of human desolation and passion which was raging. A cold drizzling rain commenced about nightfall, and finally turned to pitiless, blinding hail. I passed wagon trains filled with wounded and dying soldiers, without even a blanket to shield them from the driving sleet and hail which fell in stones as large as partridge eggs, until it lay on the ground two inches deep. Some three hundred men died during that awful retreat, and their bodies were thrown out to make room for others who, although wounded, had struggled on through the storm hoping to find shelter, rest, and medical care.

To join the ranks of those honoring their past by researching Civil War era participants, it is important to seek the best information–both in terms of quantity and quality. The best information can be found when one takes a comprehensive research approach. Endeavoring to uncover as many sources and to utilize the fullest range of documents possible will pay the most significant dividends. It is in uncovering these details that we will give our ancestors one of the highest honors–discovering and appreciating their efforts and those of their contemporaries.

To begin, a basic understanding of the War Between the States should be gleaned from the pages of sound general histories. There are many from which to choose. Important research contexts can be further established by exploring the pages of the encyclopedic tomes that deal with the use of military records in family history research. One of the best of these is a compilation by James C. Neagles entitled U. S. Military Records: A Guide to Federal & State Sources, Colonial America to the Present (Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry, Inc., 1994). The careful, state-by-state treatment of records and bibliographic compilations extant for this war assist in ensuring a comprehensive approach to this most important of our nation’s conflicts.

Three very important military records need to be explored when conducting Civil War genealogical research: service records, pension records, and regimental histories. These records provide the detail about a soldier’s life necessary for locating letters, diaries, and company histories.

When contemplating the use of service records, many often think only of official unit or company musters. In using a wider definition, though, more record possibilities become apparent, and typically more data is uncovered about particular soldiers. Prisoner of war records, state adjutant general reports, discharge records, rolls, rosters, and records of burial as well as company musters qualify as service records.

While some may claim these records provide rather sparse (or even non-existent) genealogical data or narrative, they can provide the careful researcher with important leads to other sources that may yield significant family data. The more details one knows about every aspect of an ancestor’s life, the more opportunities one has for uncovering data-laden documents. Hence, knowing the location where one’s soldier mustered into service, the date and place of burial, or his presence on a particular list or roll can shed light on other research possibilities.

It should be noted that service records are among the key documents in identifying all the units with which an ancestor was involved. And it is through this unit identification that the researcher can track down the histories and first-hand accounts that reside in such repositories as the Library of Congress and the United States Military Institute in Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Military pension applications can provide rich veins of data for researchers. In applying for a pension, the applicant typically had to demonstrate at least two important facts. First, through his testimony and that of witnesses and comrades, he had to prove his military service during the qualifying time period, battle, or war. Secondly, he had to provide evidence that he qualified under the terms of the particular pension or relief act under which he filed. As with other military engagements in our nation’s history, it is quite possible for a Civil War ancestor to prove he provided military service but fail to prove he qualified to receive a pension. Though the second criterion for receipt of a pension may not have been met, the quantity of genealogical data exposed during the application process is most consequential. And one’s ancestor could have still served most faithfully and valiantly.

When considering pension application possibilities for the War Between the States, one needs to remember that Federal pensions typically only went to Union troops. However, a number of former Confederate states provided pensions for their respective soldiers at the state level. The Confederate pension applications can be tremendous gold-mines of information–easily filling the descendants of Union veterans with jealousy!

While the expected testimony from comrades may not be present in the qualifying process for Confederate pensions, many of the questionnaires some former Confederate states sent to their surviving Civil War veterans are quite extraordinary. The length of the questionnaires as well as the nature of the questions asked make many of those documents rich sources of family history.

More than 1,600 Tennessee Civil War veterans completed questionnaires of more than forty questions between 1915 and 1922. Answers to the questions reveal a variety of data: nativity information for the person, his father and mother; property ownership; employment data; information about the regiment in which the veteran served (sometimes as complete as a short regimental history); slave owners’ behavior and treatment in Southern society; quality of life since the war; and details of one’s ancestry. These completed questionnaires are truly a genealogist’s dream.

Conducting thorough research requires placing one’s genealogical investigations in the proper historical context. As an example, some may never think of looking for African American pension records among Confederate pension applications. But if South Carolina is the state being researched, taking a look at the state in 1860 reveals a number of interesting facts. First, nearly 300,000 individuals of European descent lived in the state, but more than 400,000 slaves and nearly 10,000 free African Americans lived in South Carolina as well. Also, the majority of manual labor was being done and historically had been done by African Americans.

Hence, when tasks needed to be done to support the work of the Confederacy in South Carolina, a significant number of African Americans served. In her recent book, South Carolina’s African American Confederate Pensioners, 1923-1925 ², Alexia Jones Helsley transcribes the pension applications of hundreds of Confederate African American service personnel from South Carolina.

Using Helsley’s book we find that Yancy Reed applied for his pension on May 19, 1923, application number 164. He is an eighty-seven year old retired farmer. His wife is Jane and he is the son of Adline Thomas and Yancy Reid. Additional information indicates that he died 10 December 1931, was buried in Harbison Cemetery, and his death certificate number in the South Carolina Bureau of Vital Statistics is 18823. Noting the informant for this information, Adline Jones, could also be consequential in one’s research endeavors.

Intense and growing interest in the War Between the States has spawned hundreds of new and reprinted regimental histories. These wonderful works often carry the words of our ancestors in describing battles and daily life in the military. The clarity of their words brings the war to life for us. And in listening we begin to understand their thoughts and feelings and can truly honor them.

In just two passages from the Civil War Diaries of James W. Jessee ³ we experience a part of James’ life–the highs and the lows, the pain and the relief.

Thursday the 7th 1864
we arrived there about 9 a.m. halted a few minutes to get some water. some ladies had their negroes to carry water out to us. moved on out about a mile took Position on hill to wait for the Reg’ts to come up Planted Battery staff officers took ten men at Clinton Burnt house, and took the owner Prisnor, for firing at our Cavalry, as we went out, from the windows of the house. got quite a rest. Plenty of good water and 6 nice young ladies to look at quite a refreshing site. the column came up in about two hours. fighting all they way. we joined the Reg’t. here. soon moved on. Men completely fatigued out lay all along the road. seemed all most impossible to get them along at all. wagons all ahead ambulances full of wounded. left all that was mortaly wounded at "Clinton" quite a number of stragglers was picked up for the Rebs was right at our heels all the way. some time charging on our rear. had to halt every mile or so to rest. was nearly flickered out myself. marched barefoot all day. feet very sore...

Saturday the 30th 1864
Health good as usual Boys all well. weather warm. "very" Boys came flocking into camp Early this a.m. got out of Patience waiting for the Capt. and Mustering officer to come out. Arrived about noon formed Battalion in shade in Alphabetical order and commenced mustering them out By companies soon got through and Pronounced us Citizens of the United States again. thanked him. Capt gave us orders to report to City by 8 a.m. to morrow to sign Pay rolls most Boys walked to City some went it Racks &c staid and to took 6 p.m. train soon arrived at City went hunted up Boarding house found one near the west Depot. or what they Pleased to call one. and took boarding for a few days to wait the Pleasure of Pay Department night went up City Bought hat ($2.50) Kerchief ($1.00) and returned went to Bed. Jim

The simple words in these personal accounts and diaries can often be filled with such emotion that we are touched at our very core. John A. Cockerill, a sixteen-year-old regimental musician, wrote ⁴:

I passed . . . the corpse of a beautiful boy in gray who lay with his blond curls scattered about his face and his hand folded peacefully across his breast. He was clad in a bright and neat uniform, well garnished with gold, which seemed to tell the story of a loving mother and sisters who had sent their household pet to the field of war. His neat little hat lying beside him bore the number of a Georgia regiment. . . . He was about my age. . . . At the sight of the poor boy’s copse, I burst into a regular boo-hoo and started on.

Many documents concerning the War Between the States have been preserved and disseminated in official United States government document publications. One of the most frequently cited sources is The War of the Rebellion.⁵ It is a unique and massive collection of orders, letter, reports, etc. that chronicles many significant activities during the War Between the States. A few publishers have committed these hundreds of volumes to CD-ROM, making searching for individual-specific data and unit data more effective and comprehensive. For some events, the detail provided is astonishing.

In part two of volume twenty-six in the second series of the "official records" one can find an amazingly detailed recounting of the events that lead to the court-martial proceedings involving the 19th and 24th Illinois Regiments. A researcher can obtain a near building-by-building accounting of who was living in the affected area of Athens, Alabama.

The following accounting was made over several pages:

A party of soldiers entered the dwelling of Milly Ann Clayton, ransacked it, and threatened to kill her; they moved on to the office of R. C. David, plundered it of more than one thousand dollars, and destroyed many books and testaments including Bibles; a party entered the domicile of two females, M. E. & S. B. Malone, and carried off any valuables, jewelry, and money they found while "destroying and spoiling the furniture" of the house without reason; the properties of Thomas S. Malone, William D. Allen, Madison Thompson, J. F. Lowell, John F. Malone, Samuel Tanner, Jr., and D. H. Friend were treated with similar disregard; the wife of R. S. Irwin was commanded to cook dinner for the troops while they made "indecent and beastly propositions" to the entire family and terrorized the female members; and then Mrs. Hollingworth, Mrs. Charlotte Hine, J. A. Cox, P. Tanner, William Richardson, J. H. Jones, George R. Peck and John Turrentine all had their properties damaged.

The information one can glean not only of the misdeeds of the soldiers, but of the identity, and personal and real property of the residents of Athens, Alabama is most impressive. Clearly, military records can document much more than the lives of military personnel.

Whether in the above noted set of "official records" or in the bowels of archives and historical societies all over the country, the official communiqués of military units and commanders can provide amazing and important insights on the military activities. The human side of the War Between the States, the deeply felt emotions, and the strongly held convictions ring clear. In reading Judah P. Benjamin’s instruction to Brig. General John H. Winder, CSA, there is no mistaking the clarity.

War Dept., Richmond, Nov. 9, 1861

Sir:
You are hereby instructed to choose by lot from among the prisoners of war, of highest rank, one who is to be confined to a cell appropriate to convicted felons, and who is to be treated in all respects as if such convict, and to be held for execution in the same manner as may be adopted by the enemy for the execution of the prisoner of war, Smith, recently condemned to death in Philadelphia.

You will also select thirteen other prisoners of war, the highest in rank of those captured by our forces, to be confined in the cells reserved for prisoners accused of infamous crimes, and will treat them as such as long as the enemy shall continue so to treat the like number of prisoners of war captured by them at sea, and now held for trial in NY as pirates.

As these measures are intended to repress the infamous attempt now made by the enemy to commit judicial murder on prisoners of war, you will execute them strictly, as the mode best calculated to present the commission of so heinous a crime.

Your obedient servant,
Judah P. Benjamin
Act. Sect. of War,
Conf. States of America

Many individuals are answering the call to honor their Civil War ancestors by researching, thoroughly documenting, and publishing information both in print and over the Internet. Projects of all types are not only being explored, but are actually being accomplished. Individuals are publishing regimental histories–some are more completely exploring already chronicled units, and some are bringing to life for the first time the stories of the lads from a particular company.

During the 1990s, many state archives have concentrated on placing searchable data files and photographic collections documenting the War Between the States on their respective Web pages for convenient access by researchers. At the national level, the Utah Genealogical Society, the Federation of Genealogical Societies, the National Park Service, and the National Archives are marshaling volunteers from around the country, on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line, to create one of the largest online military data files, the Civil War Soldiers System. This data file will be available at no cost to researchers.

The amount of data available to one searching for a veteran in the War Between the States is truly overwhelming. The careful researcher can find a lifetime’s worth of sources to explore, and much more becomes available literally every day. Heroes are hidden on every page and, through our genealogical research we can recall and rehonor our heroes.

2. Helsley, Alexia Jones. South Carolina’s African American Confederate Pensioners,1923—1925. Columbia, SC: South Carolina Dept. of History & Archives, 1998.

3. Civil War Diaries of James W. Jessee, 1861—1865, Company K, 8th Regiment of Illinois Society. Normal, IL: McLean County Genealogical Society, 1997.

4. Reluctant Witnesses: Children’s Voices from the Civil War. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998.

5. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, DC: GPO, 1886.