SLAVE SOLDIERS FIGHTING FOR THE CONFEDERACY IN THE CIVIL WAR

Imagine being a slave and being told you will go to war, the Civil War, for the Confederacy, by the person who owns you! If a researcher finds that their ancestors who was enslaved was in the war, they may wonder "did he see action?"

The answer, generally but emphatically, is NO.  Confederate law prohibited it.  Yet, there were reports that this was so. And, there was always the possibility that a person who was forced to follow the troops as a cook or another useful supportive role could use that opportunity to escape or go north and join the Union Army! There is also another consideration. What if the person was a Free Person of Color and then joined up?

So, some of the things a researcher wants to do is to verify which company/troop the person fought in. Check the census or other records to see if that person reports being disabled or is not working for money after the war. Also see where they are living after that war. 

AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD TRUST : BLACK CONFEDERATES - TRUTH Excellent article!

Excerpt: Many Southern slaves took advantage of the fog of war to escape towards freedom. Before the Emancipation Proclamation was officially adopted, these escapes usually meant congregating around the Union armies that were operating in Southern territory. Vast columns of escaped slaves followed almost every major Union army at one point or another. These people, sometimes called “contrabands,” as in “confiscated enemy property,” frequently served as scouts and spies for the Union soldiers. 

...There were no black Confederate combat units in service during the war and no documentation whatsoever exists for any black man being paid or pensioned as a Confederate soldier, although some did receive pensions for their work as laborers.

... To be specific, in the “Official Records of the War of the Rebellion,” a collection of military records from both sides which spans more than 50 volumes and more than 50,000 pages, there are a total of seven Union eyewitness reports of black Confederates.

***

BUT THERE WAS AN EXCEPTION FOR A LITTLE WHILE

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE : ARMING THE ENSLAVED

Excerpt: Near 21st and Main Street in Richmond, Virginia, the first legally authorized African American Confederate soldiers were assembled and trained in the final weeks of the Civil War. Legislation passed by the Confederate congress on March 13, 1865, allowed for enslaved African Americans to be mustered and equipped on an experimental basis as combat soldiers. Before that date (less than a month before the end of hostilities in Virginia), Confederate law specified that only white men were permitted to serve as soldiers....

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ABANDONED COTTAGE

 

FREEDMEN'S MARRIAGE BUREAU RECORDS 1846-1867 : USING THE ANCESTRY TM GENEALOGY DATABASE : LET THIS FUEL YOUR HISTORICAL RESEARCH!

I've posted about the Freedman * Bank Records before, but did you know that the Freedman Bureau also kept a record of former slaves (and some "free colored") who married soon after they were free from enslavement? 

In the past I've also posted on some methodology for African-American research, stating first of all it is American research and one ought to proceed with going back as neatly as possible, using census records, both federal and state, if possible. If a researcher can find their people on the census after liberation, they have some names. Other than that, there may be some oral history in the family but one must be careful to accept stories without some proofing. Our African-American cautionary tale is that upon liberation, a person could choose to change their surname and some did more than once, wanting to feel comfortable with that surname, and sometimes various family members chose various names. That said, I wonder how often that happened.

I explored this database for a few hours recently and want to give you some information that may be helpful.

So for the purposes of this post I'm using the Ancestry TM genealogy database. To find the database called Freedman Bureau Marriage Records you want to go into NEW COLLECTIONS (WHICH ACTUALLY ALLOWS YOU TO SEARCH THE ENTIRE CATALOG, not just recently added collections. You will see to the top left the words CARD CATALOG.) Put the word Freedman in the keyword search. You will see that you can search the  U.S.,Freedman's Bureau Records, 1865-1878

Then to the right bottom it says U.S., Freedmen's Bureau Marriage Records 1845-1867 

Remember that the NATIONAL ARCHIVES of THE UNITED STATES is usually the original or primary source for databases.

While the other records held in the overall records can be interesting, because if you may be able to find out who a plantation owner was, I like to focus on marriages because you have twice the chance of recognizing someone as an ancestor - a bride or a groom.  This may give you the name of a female ancestor by her married and maiden name.

My first impression was that I was able to easily pull up records without knowing any particular name simply by putting in the state. I also tried common names such as Smith, Watson, or Jefferson.

The database includes many states including, according to the database:
Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. NOTE THAT WEST VIRGINIA DID NOT YET EXIST so Virginia included what is now West Virginia and South Western Pennsylvania below the Monongahela River. However, I think you will find that this does not mean ALL THE INFORMATION EVER COLLECTED IN EACH STATE but that in some way that state is represented in the collection.

We can learn from exploring the database, even if we do not have an ancestor who was enslaved or are unsure of who was.

For instance, there may be questions such as if a person lived with another (without marriage) and for how long, how they were separated (dead, forced, separated by war, sold away), and the skin color of parents, partners, and others (mulatto, black, dark, white, yellow, milk.) Unlike the census in which a census taker might make the decision to list a person's color as they see it or because of community notions, in this case the person themselves is probably reporting parents who are not in attendance. In some cases the percentage of African- Black a person was given.  The persons who are marrying may be asked how many children they had with others and you might find a comment that they 'unitedly had children.' Once in a while the name of a former partner may come up.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND : The records were kept where the marriage was performed.

Just as many people who are part of the LBGT community rushed to be married as soon as it was legal to, many formally enslaved people who had been partnered without marriage rushed to be married.  It is not unusual to find that a particular Minister of the Gospel married twelve couples in one day. Perhaps your research can include the name of the Minister which might lead to the name of a church, church records, even church graveyard records.

Even when the couple appear on a register, rather than an individual slip of paper or form (not standardized from one state to the next), their ages are usually listed. These are adults who were generally born twenty or more years earlier. I found one record that said both persons were "free people of color" and I wondered if that meant "last week' or 'all along.'

As well, some of these forms or handwritten documents ask where the person is from. There may be the name of a place other than where the marriage took place. But you may just find a fantastic clue that the man served in the military, and most likely that means in the CIVIL WAR on the Confederate side!  If you see a line of abbreviations such as Pot. Co. C. 60 *** where it could say the name of a town or county or plantation, that means you were just given the company/troop information. You can then find what battles they might have served in...

In my next post, I'm going to write about the Black soldiers who fought for the Confederacy.

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* (I'm aware that the bank records seem to have the Freedman spelling while the other records are in plural, Freedmen.)

AMERICAN ANCESTORS GENEALOGY DATABASE : NEW! NORTH AMERICAN - RECORDS OF ENSLAVED PEOPLE FROM PLANTATIONS and ESTATES 1765-1890

You may find that your local library has AMERICAN ANCESTORS GENEALOGY DATABASE.  To begin using this new database: According to my library, this database  includes birth, death, marriage, and census records of those who were enslaved as well as family members.

Go to 10 MILLION NAMES. 

This is a database in progress: CEDAR GROVE PLANTATION, a very large plantation, is the first plantation to be included and IT IS ARRANGED BY PLANTATION or ESTATE.

CEDAR GROVE PLANTATION is currently privately owned historical site in Huntersville, Mecklenburg, county, North Carolina and was built in the early 1830's by James G. Torrance.

There are a good number of posts and links of interest to those who have slavery in their family history here at ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY.  I look forward to using this database and would like to hear from those of you who use it!

You can pull up past posts about topics here by using the search feature to search or by clicking on the tab below the post, which should bring up all posts with that tag!

VALENTINE CUPIDS

 

The date on this card is supposed to be 1900 - 1910.

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE? TIME CAPSULES? LOVE LETTERS THAT TOOK DECADES TO ARRIVE IN THE MAIL? I LOVE THAT STUFF!

If you know about a Message in a Bottle that was washed ashore, or any Time Capsules that have been opened recently, or any Love Letters that took decades to arrive in the mail, I'd like to hear about them.  Comment!

I'm interested. I love that stuff!

TO MY SWEETHEART

 

RECLAIM THE RECORDS FOR NEW JERSEY

RECLAIM THE RECORDS- NEW JERSEY SEARCH

New Jersey - so near New York - is what I call a difficult state.  I do believe in privacy laws and I know there is good reason to have them. However, I have come to think that some town librarians in that state have basically been stubborn about allowing collections that should be available to be filmed or digitalized. New Jersey is a historically important Colonial state, involved in the American Revolution and the Civil War. Those records seem to be available. But more modern ones - not so!

Have fun with RECLAIM THE RECORDS and see what's new!

*** As a note. New Jersey research often links to New York and Pennsylvania, as well as some other states. Check especially when your ancestors lived hear state borders!  For instance, one ancestor who lived their life in New Jersey, spent their last years in a Pennsylvania retirement home and their death certificate was from Pennsylvania.

*** The New Jersey State Archives may be helpful.

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USING NEW JERSEY AS AN EXAMPLE : THE HISTORIC STATE : STATE CENSUS ADVENTURE #5

  Some of my ancestry lived in New Jersey. New Jersey is a rather difficult state due to privacy laws and such. I remember years ago sending money orders to New Jersey for the death and other records that would "prove" what I had come up with and they were returned. Basically, if I didn't already know the information, then I could not have that information. Other researchers have told me about dealing with New Jersey (as well as New Mexico) and basically this is why I check certain paid databases every few months to see what, if anything, has shown up.

Here is our list of state census.

New Jersey - 1855, 1865, 1875, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915.

History of New Jersey : Lenape Native Americans first, then Dutch and Swedish settlements.

NJ GOV STATE ARCHIVES START PAGE

Excerpt: State Censuses (1855 – 1915)

 • Taken every 10 years on years that ended with a 5 (1855, 1865, and 1875 are incomplete).

 • Certain individual counties have been indexed: Hunterdon County in 1875; Monmouth County in 1875 (available on-line at the Monmouth County Archives web site); and 1885 Camden (excluding city)

• Searchable database for Atlantic and Passaic Counties in 1885 available on our web site. These counties are the only ones we search through the mail. 

• Complete 1895 State Census is available on www.ancestry.com.

• The indexes to 1885, 1905 and 1915 State Censuses are available on www.familysearch.com.

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OTHER RESOURCES FOR NEW JERSEY might be found through the genealogy activist group RECLAIM THE RECORDS:

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ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY

 

CONFUSING LISTING OF GREAT-GREAT GRANDMA'S SURNAME(S) : QUESTIONS FROM READERS of ANCESTRY WORSHIP - GENEALOGY

Readers please note that I've changed the names given by this reader due to a need for privacy.

Q: I'm looking at some information on the Internet that was added to a genealogy database by someone else, someone I don't know. This concerns my great-great grandmother in Arkansas. My great-great grandmother is listed as Mary Johnson, Formerly Marie Smith. Someone else posted Mary Johnson was Formerly Marie Walker. What does this mean?

Thanks,

Alice

A: Hello Alice. 

I find the way that information was posted as a bit strange - and confusing - as if the postings came from stories or rumors rather than genealogy research. "Formerly" could mean this was a previous surname or previous married name. And as you found the same woman also listed by someone else as "Formerly" with yet another surname, it could be that your great-great grandmother was married twice. Also this could indicate an informal or formal name change. Or an adoption.

Let's go over this:

First, we cannot believe everything that is posted on the Internet or on databases that offer individuals to post their research (or family stories or rumors), especially when no documents are attached, especially because I see these errors uploaded to multiple genealogy sites.

Secondly, the history of name changes in Arkansas is that informal (common law) name changes were recognized for some time, even when the process of legal (court ordered) name changes was introduced in 1851. In other words, she could have changed her name because she wanted to, without being married, widowed, or divorced, and without a legal proceeding.

So, I would suggest that you try to get a birth certificate or church record of her birth/baptism and see what it says. I would also suggest you try to get a death certificate or cemetery/funeral home document. And of course, any evidence of her marriage or marriages through marriage certificates. I trust you have traced her back as far as you can go with census records as well. 

1830 is the first Federal Census for that state and you can also check the State Census' which were done in 1823,1829.1865, and 1911. 

There are better ways to indicate that a woman is being listed by her maiden name.

Instead of the word "formerly"

Marie "Mary" Johnson née Marie Smith

Marie "Mary" Johnson born Marie Smith

Marie "Mary" Smith - Johnson

Marie "Mary" Smith, wife of Jed Johnson

Mrs. Marie "Mary" Johnson, born Marie Walker

Ask yourself, which of these forms is least confusing and most informative!

Keep Researching!

Christine

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