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Civil War Records Blog

  • Finding the Hidden Clues in a Pension File

    by Brian Rhinehart
    One of the most common questions I encounter at Civil War Records pertains to whether pension files yield direct evidence of an ancestor's parentag...

  • The Homestead Acts: A Family Historian's Guide

    by Brian Rhinehart
    The Homestead Acts were a series of laws passed by the United States government between 1862 and 1916 that granted free land to settlers. These law...

  • Naturalization papers in a Homestead packet

    by Brian Rhinehart
    I love when records show up in places you wouldn’t necessarily expect. This 1870 naturalization record was found in the homestead packet for Thoma...

  • Rare Finds in a Pension File!

    by Brian Rhinehart
    Another interesting find in a Civil War pension file at the National Archives! This pension had one of the rarest of finds, an actual photo of the ...

  • Clues hiding in plain sight

    by Brian Rhinehart
    Did you know there are two versions of the pension index cards online? Ancestry has one version and Fold3 has another. Between the two, there may b...

  • Belle Isle Prison Camp

    by Brian Rhinehart
    Union soldiers who were captured during battle were sent to various prison camps across the Confederate states. One of these prison camps, Belle Is...

  • Missing: One Medal of Honor

    by Brian Rhinehart
    Yet another interesting find at the National Archives! Allan Dougall was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery at the Battle of Bentonville i...

  • Civil War Letters

    by Brian Rhinehart
    Another exciting find at the National Archives! I rarely have time to look at my own family’s records there, but I slipped in a couple of requests ...

  • He Got Bounty Land WHERE???

    by Brian Rhinehart
    He got bounty land WHERE??One thing that throws a lot of people off is when they see their War of 1812 ancestor getting bounty land in a part of th...

  • Dear Mr. President

    by Brian Rhinehart
    Sometimes the denied pensions contain the best information

  • Union Troops in Southern States

    by Brian Rhinehart
    Did you know that almost every state in the south had organized regiments in the Union Army in the Civil War?   While many southern residents fa...

  • Genealogical value of the US Colored Troops Pensions

    by Brian Rhinehart
    Genealogical research into the lives of African Americans before the Civil War can present a unique set of challenges. Many of those who were held...