Civil War Research

As I prepare to wrap up, for now, research on three Union Civil War era brothers [Lewis, George and Charles] of my great-great-grandmother, Catherine Laubscher Wagner, I thought I'd offer a short post on researching Civil War ancestors.

What makes this trio a bit unique is that they were born in Baden [Germany]. First name variations [Lewis & Louis; George & Georg; Charles & Carl] and surname variations [Laubscher, Lobsher, Lobshire, Laubshire, etc.]. Also Lewis had a son, Otto, who fought for the Confederacy.

Here are some guidelines:
1. Check the census records to confirm that your ancestors were of age to serve. They should have been about 15 in 1860.

2. Check the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors database for your veteran's name. The more you know, the better, but name will suffice.
https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/soldiers-and-sailors-overview.htm

3. Check Fold3 [www.fold3.com] for Civil War records. [paid site] Also check Family Search [free] and Ancestry.com [paid]

4. Check state and local archives for information on your ancestor.

5. Search for other Civil War sites for records, unit histories and rosters, etc.

6. If your CW vet received a pension, order the complete file from the National Archives. It may be more economical to hire a DC area genealogist to go to the NARA and copy the file for you.

7. If the widow of your vet filed for a pension, order it as well. [see #6]

8. Order your ancestor's military service record from the NARA. [see #6] Fold3 is beginning to digitize Civil War records, so check that first.

9. Check with the family to see what photos, records, letters, etc. have been passed down. [Actually, this should be #1!]

 For Confederate records:

10. Start with #2 above.

11. Check websites [Fold3, Ancestry, Family Search, etc.] for available CSA records.

12. Check archives and libraries for the Confederate States [SC, NC, VA, TN, TX, AR, FL, AL, LA, MS, GA] & Border states [KY, MD, DE, MO] to see what pension, service and other records are available for Confederate soldiers.

13. Also [for both sides] check to see what prison camp records are available.

A note to researchers: Although admitting to having Confederate soldiers in the family tree may not politically correct nowadays, don't let that stop you from going ahead with your research. The Civil War happened. Many Southerners owned slaves and fought for the right to maintain their slave-based economic systems. Others fought because they were loyal to their home state of Virginia, North Carolina, etc. Some Northerners fought for the CSA. The border states saw men fight for both sides. Still others deserted and switched sides, or were captured and switched sides to avoid POW camps.  Accept all of this as fact, Be proud that your ancestors fought for the cause they believed in. 156 years after the fact, we may not agree with the decisions that they made, but those decisions were made based on the time they lived in, not our time. Accept the decision and be proud of the stand taken.

When I started teaching in Florida, I got a lot of "You're a Yankee!" My reply? "Yeah, we won the war, get over it!" :)- That's similar to my reply to those who rant about the CSA. It happened, get over it, or at least accept it. You sure can't change it!