The collections in this module are being published digitally for the first time to deliver unique coverage of the Confederate Army and the Union Army. The Confederate Army records consist of Confederate Military Manuscripts sourced by ProQuest from the holdings of Virginia Historical Society; the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, Louisiana State University; the Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin; and the University of Virginia. The collections in the Confederate Military Manuscripts cover the perspective of an army commander or an administrative department down to the level of the private soldier, covering all aspects of their military service and experience, while also offering glimpses of life on the home front. Several previously unpublished collections of records of the Union Army are also integral to this module. Highlights include papers of spies, scouts, guides and detectives, including a series on Allan Pinkerton; records on military discipline from courts-martial, courts of inquiry and investigations by military commissions; and records of the U.S. Colored Troops.
Content Types: administrative records, books and reports, court documents, diaries and scrapbooks, family papers, financial accounts, general orders, government documents, military records, newspaper clippings, personal correspondence, professional correspondence, and more.
Subjects: African Americans in the Army, American Indians, Department of War, deserters, health and medicine, military camp life, military campaigns and battles, military communications, military discipline, military intelligence, military law, plantations, prisoners of war, Reconstruction, Southern political leadership, spies and war intelligence, state legislatures, surgeons and surgery, Trans-Mississippi West, and more.
Keyword Search Examples: Army of the Potomac, IX Army Corps, Robert E. Lee, United States Colored Troops, United Confederate Veterans Association, VI Army Corps.
Civil War Era Correspondence of the Judge Advocate General: Letters Received, 1854-1870
Civil War Era Correspondence of the Judge Advocate General: Letters Received, 1854-1870consists of approximately 10,000 pages of documents organized into 117 folders. While assembled for their relevance to the Civil War, both earlier and later records from 1854 to 1870 were included for their context in shedding light on the function of the judge advocate general within the army and the War Department. Folders are organized by a combination of subject matter, document type, and chronological span, and the sequence here reflects that of the original documents as collected by the National Archives. The collection is one of sixteen related collections assembled as a ProQuest History Vault module on the Civil War that includes papers of Confederate and Union officers; courts-martial case files; spies and war intelligence; the service of Black Americans in the Union Army; the Trans-Mississippi West; the Journal of the Congress of Confederate States; the Provost Marshal General's Bureau; the Judge Advocate General's Office; Southern political leadership; and collected holdings of selected major university research libraries. Documents within this collection are predominately letters and related court documents.
Confederate Military Manuscripts, Series A: Holdings of the Virginia Historical Society
Confederate Military Manuscripts, Series A: Holdings of the Virginia Historical Society contains some of the finest and most important manuscript collections from the Civil War. Coverage ranges from the perspective of an army commander or an administrative department down to the level of the private soldier, covering all aspects of their military service and experience. Yet the documents also delve into other components of war, particularly glimpses of the home front. Thus, this collection offers both breadth and depth, providing insights into virtually every facet of life in the Confederacy. The collection is comprised of 92 series, mostly formed as individual or family papers and some assembled around selected Civil War units and departments from among groups of papers in the stewardship of the Virginia Historical Society.
Confederate Military Manuscripts, Series B: Holdings of Louisiana State University
Confederate Military Manuscripts, Series B: Holdings of Louisiana State University offers a picture of the wartime Confederacy overwhelmingly from the viewpoint of the mass citizens. Their letters and diaries provide excellent insight into wartime Louisiana and Mississippi in the army, at home, and under Union occupation. The collection is comprised of more than 120 series, mostly formed as individual and family papers and some assembled around selected Civil War topics from among sundry groups of small papers in the stewardship of the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, Louisiana State University Libraries.
Confederate Military Manuscripts, Series C: Holdings of The Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin, Part 1: The Trans-Mississippi West
Confederate Military Manuscripts, Series C: Holdings of The Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin, Part 1: The Trans-Mississippi West comprises roughly 28,000 pages organized into nearly 600 folders. These manuscripts document the Confederate States of America (CSA) military experience west of the Mississippi River. Drawn from the holdings of The Center for American History of the University of Texas at Austin, this collection capitalizes on that institution's strengths in the areas of Civil War, Southern, and Western history. Manuscripts concerning the Western Theater in the Civil War are relatively scarce and this set provides researchers with unparalleled access to this fascinating chapter in American history. The collection is one of sixteen related collections assembled as a ProQuest History Vault module on the Civil War that includes papers of Confederate and Union officers; courts-martial case files; spies and war intelligence; the service of Black Americans in the Union Army; the Trans-Mississippi West; the Journal of the Congress of Confederate States; the Provost Marshal General's Bureau; the Judge Advocate General's Office; Southern political leadership; and collected holdings of selected major university research libraries.
Confederate Military Manuscripts, Series D: Holdings of the University of Virginia Library, Part 1: Albemarle County Historical Society Papers through James Family Papers
Confederate Military Manuscripts, Series D: Holdings of the University of Virginia Library, Part 1: Albemarle County Historical Society Papers through James Family Papers features 76 manuscript subcollections organized alphabetically from A (Albemarle County Historical Society Papers) through J (James Family Papers) and offers the Southern perspective on the Civil War in all its complexity. Generals, enlisted men, medical officers, chaplains, mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, loved ones, and black Americans, enslaved and free, in the service of the Confederate States of America (CSA) are all represented in these series. All speak to their reasons for fighting, their contributions to and sacrifices for the war effort, and their understandings of freedom and what it meant to be an American. In diaries, letters, official CSA records, and other papers, citizens of Virginia present a vivid picture of the conflict and the Confederate war effort brought to meet it. The collection is comprised of 76 series, mostly formed as individual and family papers and some assembled around selected Civil War topics from among sundry groups of small papers in the stewardship of the University of Virginia Library.
Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865
The U.S. Senate, in 1904, passed a resolution requiring the War Department to transmit to them a copy of the Journal of the Provisional and the First and Second Congresses of the Confederate States of America. ProQuest's Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865 consists of roughly 3,000 pages organized into seven folders that correspond to seven volumes documenting the Provisional Congress, House, and Senate of the Confederate States of America. Included are ordinances of secession from state legislatures; lists of delegates and their credentials; proceedings of open and secret sessions; texts of bills and resolutions; records of votes cast; communications to and from the Congress, including those relating to Jefferson Davis and his cabinet; and a record of the Confederate States of America Constitutional Convention.
Military Discipline during the Civil War: Courts-Martial Case Files from the Records of the Judge Advocate General
Military Discipline during the Civil War: Courts-Martial Case Files from the Records of the Judge Advocate General consists of approximately 11,000 pages of documents organized into nearly 500 folders at the National Archives and chronicles courts-martial, courts of inquiry, and investigations by military commissions that occurred between 1861 and 1866. These records were originally lost and not recovered by the Judge Advocate General until the early 1890s. Consequently, they are part of a different series than the tens of thousands of courts-martial that can be found in the main series of court-martial records at the National Archives. The files in this collection are arranged in numerical order based on the court-martial file number, which corresponds to a total of 505 cases. The collection is one of sixteen related collections assembled as a ProQuest History Vault module on the Civil War that includes papers of Confederate and Union officers; courts-martial case files; spies and war intelligence; the service of Black Americans in the Union Army; the Trans-Mississippi West; the Journal of the Congress of Confederate States; the Provost Marshal General's Bureau; the Judge Advocate General's Office; Southern political leadership; and collected holdings of selected major university research libraries.
Military Intelligence during the Civil War: Provost Marshal Records on Spies, Scouts, Guides, and Detectives
Military Intelligence during the Civil War: Provost Marshal Records on Spies, Scouts, Guides, and Detectives is one of sixteen related collections assembled as a ProQuest History Vault module on the Civil War that includes papers of Confederate and Union officers; courts-martial case files; spies and war intelligence; the service of Black Americans in the Union Army; the Trans-Mississippi West; the Journal of the Congress of Confederate States; the Provost Marshal General's Bureau; the Judge Advocate General's Office; Southern political leadership; and collected holdings of selected major university research libraries. This collection, of roughly 12,000 pages and 1,800 folders, chronicles mainly Civil War experiences of men and women in the employ of the Union and Confederate governments who were tasked with gathering intelligence on military forces and civilian populations or who were tasked with maintaining law and order in border areas and military-occupied areas. The collection comprises four parts: Correspondence, Reports, Appointments, and Other Records Relating to Individual Scouts, Guides, Spies, and Detectives, 1861-1867, arranged alphabetically by surname of the individual; Monthly Statements of the Account of Detective Allan Pinkerton, April 1862-January 1863 and Reports of Detective Allan Pinkerton, April-May 1865, both arranged chronologically; and Correspondence, Reports, Accounts, and Related Records of Two or More Scouts, Guides, Spies, and Detectives, 1861-1866, arranged numerically according to a file system. Name entries in this collection have not been standardized, and researchers are encouraged to search alternate spellings to find all documents on an individual.
Nineteenth Century Southern Political Leaders, Series A: Holdings of the Virginia Historical Society
Nineteenth Century Southern Political Leaders, Series A: Holdings of the Virginia Historical Society centers broadly around southern political leaders during the Civil War and Reconstruction years but also includes eighteenth- and twentieth-century material. The collection is comprised of eighteen sub-collections of family and personal papers. Represented in the collection are Virginians from the 1730s to the 1970s, from many regions of the state--or rather states, with West Virginia having been carved out and admitted to the Union in the midst of the Civil War in 1863. Lawyers, judges, diplomats, physicians, merchants, members of the Virginia and West Virginia legislatures, military officers, members of the U.S. Congress, and leading officials appointed to federal offices account for the predominantly political focus, but social and family life, personal letters, and day-to-day business matters feature as well. Significant subjects and themes include diplomacy with Europe and South America, conflicts with Mexico, westward expansion, slavery, land ownership and rights, elections, political parties, Indian removal programs, development of coal lands, highways and canals and railroads, militia, taxation, national growth and admission of new states, veterans' pensions, foreign trade, international shipping, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and personal and national economies in response to the booms and busts of the nineteenth century.
Papers of Civil War Generals: Ambrose E. Burnside
Papers of Civil War Generals: Ambrose E. Burnside consists of roughly 19,000 pages of documents organized into 162 folders at the National Archives. With the exception of a single folder concerned with an army paymaster dispute over his wages in New Mexico from the early years of his career, all folders cover the Civil War years of 1861-1865 and are organized by a combination of subject matter, document type, and chronological span. The collection is one of sixteen related collections assembled as a ProQuest History Vault module on the Civil War that includes papers of Confederate and Union officers; courts-martial case files; spies and war intelligence; the service of Black Americans in the Union Army; the Trans-Mississippi West; the Journal of the Congress of Confederate States; the Provost Marshal General's Bureau; the Judge Advocate General's Office; Southern political leadership; and collected holdings of selected major university research libraries. Documents within this collection are predominately letters, telegrams, and field and battle reports.
Papers of Civil War Generals: Henry W. Halleck, Don Carlos Buell, and Benjamin F. Butler
Papers of Civil War Generals: Henry W. Halleck, Don Carlos Buell, and Benjamin F. Butler includes 11,000 pages of documents organized into 283 folders at the National Archives. The first four folders contain a detailed index for the correspondence received by General Halleck. The remaining documents are, with a few exceptions, organized by document type, such as letters and telegrams, and date. The majority of documents are telegrams received by the generals, while a few folders are comprised of letters received. Some folders also include dispatches sent by the generals. Folders throughout the collection are organized chronologically.
Papers of Union Staff Officers, 1861-1865, Part 1: A through G
No event in American history directly affected a greater proportion of the nation's population than the Civil War. Three million Americans fought in the war. More than 600,000 sacrificed their lives. The Civil War was not fought by professional soldiers--there were only 16,000 officers and enlisted men in 1861--but by men recruited from their hometowns into regiments or smaller local units. The activities and experiences of volunteer officers provide an important perspective on the prosecution of the war. Through this collection researchers will gain insight into the general, everyday life of staff officers during the Civil War. In addition, the documents cover districts and departments not geographically linked to war activities, thus allowing for research into officers' lives in areas in the Pacific and western frontier during the war.
Papers of Union Staff Officers, 1861-1865, Part 2: H through P
No event in American history directly affected a greater proportion of the nation's population than the Civil War. Three million Americans fought in the war. More than 600,000 sacrificed their lives. The Civil War was not fought by professional soldiers--there were only 16,000 officers and enlisted men in 1861--but by men recruited from their hometowns into regiments or smaller local units. The activities and experiences of volunteer officers provide an important perspective on the prosecution of the war. Through this collection researchers will gain insight into the general, everyday life of staff officers during the Civil War. In addition, the documents cover districts and departments not geographically linked to war activities, thus allowing for research into officers' lives in areas in the Pacific and western frontier during the war.
Papers of Union Staff Officers, 1861-1865, Part 3: Q through Z
No event in American history directly affected a greater proportion of the nation's population than the Civil War. Three million Americans fought in the war. More than 600,000 sacrificed their lives. The Civil War was not fought by professional soldiers--there were only 16,000 officers and enlisted men in 1861--but by men recruited from their hometowns into regiments or smaller local units. The activities and experiences of volunteer officers provide an important perspective on the prosecution of the war. Through this collection researchers will gain insight into the general, everyday life of staff officers during the Civil War. In addition, the documents cover districts and departments not geographically linked to war activities, thus allowing for research into officers' lives in areas in the Pacific and western frontier during the war.
Provost Marshal General's Bureau during the Civil War: Papers of Colonel L. C. Baker and Correspondence and Reports Relating to Policemen and Fraud
Provost Marshal General's Bureau during the Civil War: Papers of Colonel L. C. Baker and Correspondence and Reports Relating to Policemen and Fraud consists of approximately 15,000 pages of documents organized into 80 folders at the National Archives. Folders are organized into three series: two related to investigation of fraud and other misconduct, and a third related to police operations as an aspect to these investigations; the series divisions, however, are only broadly instructive, without a clear delineation of subject matter or document types or organizational structure behind each series. Folder titles as applied by the National Archives are similarly broad, meant to provide a sense of sequence more than a summary of content. Indeed, many folders are a mix of investigation case files and materials about the administration and internal operations of the bureau. The collection is one of sixteen related collections assembled as a ProQuest History Vault module on the Civil War that includes papers of Confederate and Union officers; courts-martial case files; spies and war intelligence; the service of Black Americans in the Union Army; the Trans-Mississippi West; the Journal of the Congress of Confederate States; the Provost Marshal General's Bureau; the Judge Advocate General's Office; Southern political leadership; and collected holdings of selected major university research libraries. Documents within this collection include investigatory reports, affidavits and testimony, professional correspondence within the department and public inquiries concerning ongoing claims and investigations, and assorted army general orders and special orders.
Records of U.S. Colored Troops, Part 1: Letters Related to Recruitment of African Americans, 1863-1865
Records of U.S. Colored Troops, Part 1: Letters Related to Recruitment of African Americans, 1863-1865consists of approximately 17,000 pages of documents. The War Department organized the Colored Troops Division in May 1863, and the functions of the division included all matter pertaining to the recruitment, organization, and service of black troops and officers. This collection consists of only the documents for 1863-1865 of the series, "Letters Received Relating to Recruiting, 1863-1868." This series consists of letters, reports, and related papers in "jackets." These "jacketed" documents are tri-folded with an outer cover, or jacket, with identifying information. The documents are arranged chronologically by year, then by initial letter of the soldier's surname, and then numerically by registration number; ProQuest has then consolidated documents into nearly 100 alphabetical folders. The collection is one of sixteen related collections assembled as a ProQuest History Vault module on the Civil War that includes papers of Confederate and Union officers; courts-martial case files; spies and war intelligence; the service of Black Americans in the Union Army; the Trans-Mississippi West; the Journal of the Congress of Confederate States; the Provost Marshal General's Bureau; the Judge Advocate General's Office; Southern political leadership; and collected holdings of selected major university research libraries.
