Footnote’s “Civ War” Collection
Feb 20th, 2008 by sharbrough
Admiralty Records, Key West
Pirates of the Caribbean. These records cover prize, ransom, and salvage cases; suits to establish title to a ship independent of possession of the ship; possessory actions to recover ships; and a variety of maritime contracts and torts. (Most of the descriptions like this one all come from the Footnote catalog.)
Link to Footnote: Admiralty Records - Key West
Size Factor. 11,000 pages.
Cool Factor. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen the case of “United States v. 21 bales of cotton.” I’ll give you two guesses who won.
American Colonization Society
Back to the Future. The American Colonization Society was formed in Washington, DC, in 1817 to establish a colony in Africa for free people of color residing in the US. Most of the documents found here are letters between that colony, Liberia, and representatives of the Society.
Link to Footnote: American Colonization Society
Size Factor. over 300,000 pages.
Interesting spotlight. There are no user spotlights in this title yet.
Cool Factor. This title is free on Footnote.
Factoid. Liberia is the only foreign country with a capital named for an American president: Monrovia.
Brady Civil War Photos
Gone with the Wind. Mathew B Brady and many of the decade’s best photographers created the photographs in this collection. There are detailed portraits of notable men of the era, as well as photos of soldiers, living and dead, battlefields, scarred landscapes, and cities burned and bombed by invading troops.
Link to Footnote: Brady Civil War Photos
Size Factor. There are 6500 photos.
Interesting spotlight. Abraham Lincoln. There are many existing photos of Lincoln, including several in this publication.
Cool Factor. A picture is worth 1000 words, right? Oh, and these are free on Footnote, too.
Navy Survivor’s Certificates
Civil War Navy Pensions come in four flavors. There are pensions for the soldiers, called “survivors,” and pensions for widows of soldiers, called … um, “widows.” Pension applications that were not approved are called “originals,” and the approved ones are called “certificates.” These are the “survivor’s certificates” - meaning that they are approved pensions for sailors.
Link to Footnote: link
Size Factor. Herein are found 671,582 pages, representing 6% of the total.
Cool Factor. If you like seeing Washington’s and Jefferson’s letters related to affairs of state, this is a terrific place to browse.
Civil War Pensions Index
This publication contains index cards for pension applications of veterans who served in the U.S. Army between 1861 and 1917, including wars other than the Civil War. Records are sorted by units within regiments from each state in the Union.
Link to Footnote: Civil War Pensions Index
Size Factor. Herein are found 2.9 million pages.
Interesting spotlight. There is an index card for Chris Rock’s great-great-grandfather.
Cool Factor. These are organized by military organization. You can see all of the people who served in the outfit together.
Confederate Amnesty Papers
Applications for pardon were submitted to President Andrew Johnson by former Confederates excluded from the provisions of his amnesty proclamation of May 29, 1865, together with affidavits, oaths of allegiance, recommendations for executive clemency, and other accompanying papers.
Link to Footnote: Confederate Amnestry Papers
Size Factor. Herein are found just over 80,000 pages.
Confederate Soldier Service Records
These records contain card abstracts of entries relating to each soldier as found in original muster rolls, returns, rosters, payrolls, appointment books, hospital registers, Union prison registers and rolls, parole rolls, and inspection reports.
Link to Footnote: link
Size Factor. Herein are found more than 1.2 million pages.
Custer’s Court Martial
In 1867, George Armstrong Custer faced court martial on eleven charges, including absence without leave from his command, and conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline.
Link to Footnote: link
Size Factor. There are only 339 pages. You could read it on your lunch break.
Domestic letters of the Department of State
Miscellaneous correspondence by the State Department. This is not technically a Civil War title - it goes from 1790 to 1906. It includes this time period. Volumes 53-68 cover 1861-1865. These are copies of letters sent, for example, by Seward to Sec’y of War Stanton.
Link to Footnote: link
Size Factor. Herein are found 181,000 pages.
Cool Factor. Most of these letters are mindnumbling boring. Fortunately, that’s the nature of government correspondence. It’s a sign that life goes on normally.
It is informative to see that the wheels of the government continue to grind the grist of daily living when such weighty events are afoot. “I’m forwarding Mr Wilson’s letter.” I hoped to see, “The Queen says we are going to have to make cotton or make peace.”
Lincoln Assassination Papers
These records relate to the investigation of persons suspected of involvement in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (April 14, 1865). They contain copies of correspondence received and sent by the military commission investigating the assassination; summaries of evidence of possible use in the trial; proceedings of and exhibits used in the court martial (May 9-June 29, 1865); and a record of the trial published in the newspaper Daily National Intelligencer (May 16-June 30, 1865).
Link to Footnote: link
Size Factor. Herein are found 12,000 pages.
London Times
A highly-regarded publication since its first edition in 1785, “The Times” of London, England, is respected for its coverage of politics, foreign events, and public opinion. Its reputation and standards have shaped the way news is reported today.
Link to Footnote: link
Size Factor. Herein are found 95,000 pages.
Cool Factor. Have you ever wondered what other people were saying about you? If you’re an American, and you’ve only heard the version of events taught in high school, you might find the contemporary papers enlightening.
Factoid: The title at Footnote indicates that there are papers from 1788 to 1820. But there are also areas that cover the Civil War and WWI here.
Navy Widow’s Certificates
Here are about 20,000 Approved pension applications of widows and other dependents of US Navy veterans who served between 1861 and 1910, not available in other Civil-War-era collections.
Link to Footnote: link
Size Factor. Herein are found 1.5 million pages.
Cool Factor. This is the first government entitlement that a woman could have for herself. Think about it. A woman could have a direct payment from the federal government, instead of a benefit given to her husband, father, or brother. They wouldn’t get the vote for 50 more years, but they could get a check. This is somewhat the opposite of “Taxation without representation” — it’s “Welfare without representation.”
PA Archives
The Pennsylvania State Archives published 10 series of historical records in 135 volumes, covering the initial colonial settlement through the Civil War.
Link to Footnote: link
Size Factor. almost 118,000 pages.
Constitutional Amendments
After the US Bill of Rights was created in 1791, only seventeen amendments have been added to the US Constitution. Under each title in this publication are documents provided by the states that ratified a particular amendment. Several came from this period, including freedom and citizenship for slaves.
Link to Footnote: link
Size Factor. almost 10,000 pages.
Southern Claims Commission
In the 1870s, southerners claimed compensation from the US government for items used by the Union Army, ranging from corn and horses, to trees and church buildings. These testimonial files include first-person accounts of how civilians survived the war, detailed circumstances regarding loss of property, and accounts of each family’s history and loyalty to the Union cause.
Link to Footnote: link
Size Factor. There are 350,000 pages, and counting.
Cool Factor. The claims take the form of questionnaires, consisting of about 50 questions related to identity, property loss, and loyalty. Each person had to have five witnesses who also answered questionnaires, testifying as to the loss and the loyalty of the claimant. Take the case of Joseph Wyatt, of Albemarle County, Virginia (case #48805), who gave his deposition on 25-May-1874.
“I was a slave up to 1860, at which time I bought myself, for six hundred and fifty dollars. I belonged to Philip Geatman, of Mathews County Virginia. I followed boating on the J R & K canal after that.”
One of the witnesses is Isaac Lucas, who says, “My name is Isaac Lucas. My ages is 47 years. My occupation is farming. The claimant married my neice. I was not present and did not see any of the property taken. I believe all that is charged was taken, because they were taking all the supplies they could find. The Army was commanded by General Sheridan and camped there about four days. It was in the month of March 1865, when they left they went toward Richmond.”
Territorial Case Files of the US District Courts of Utah 1870-1896.
During the time that Utah was a territory, there were four district courts: Salt Lake City, Ogden, Provo, and Beaver. Case files typically contain a complaint stating plaintiff’s cause of action, an answer by the defendant, and summons. Cases found within this title concern a variety of crimes including robbing the mails, illegal voting, violations of liquor and tobacco tariff laws, cohabitation, illegal fencing, trespassing, land disputes over preemptions and homesteads, defrauding the federal government of tax, and embezzlement.
Link to Footnote: link
Size Factor. Almost 35,000 pages.
Cool Factor. There is a case file for “unlawful cohabitation” against Brigham Young (I’m not sure which Brigham Young it was). It’s interesting that the courts had a pre-printed form for plural marriage. As spotlighted on Footnote by burnsfamily, “Just fill in the blanks and start the questioning.”
Pages: 1 2
The Confederate Service are for the most part on line now, what about the Union records? Are there plans to load them also, or am I missing something? I would love to see the 2ND NC Mounted Union Infantry Reg up.