Ancestry Magazine

Many genealogical researchers with Civil War ancestry have found themselves as intrigued with regimental history as they are with genealogy.

When I was a boy, I discovered among my father’s family papers two poems published as broadsides. They were written by my great grandmother, Sarah Gladden, concerning her brother Levi Gladden. The first poem was written upon his enlistment in a Civil War Regiment, the 66th Ohio Volunteer Infantry; the second poem was “On the death of Levi Gladden who fell at the battle of Port Republic June 9, 1 862.”

As time went on and I became more interested in family history, I discovered that two brothers of Sarah Gladden’s future husband were also members of the 66th. My curiosity was eventually sufficiently aroused to investigate the history of the regiment. I learned about the battle of Port Republic. As part of an outnumbered Union force, the 66th stubbornly defended an important Federal battery against Stonewall Jackson’s veterans until the full weight of their opponents’ numbers forced them to abandon the guns. This was where Levi Gladden met his death.

It was the first battle in which the 66th was engaged, and it cost the regiment its highest casualty rate of the war, a somewhat extraordinary fact given that the 66th was later to take part in the battles of Antietam, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, as well as Sherman’s Atlanta campaign.

Levi Gladden’s service records, copies of which were obtained from the National Archives, revealed the details of his fatal wound. His pension record file was invaluable in learning more about his parents, who applied for and received assistance based on the support young Levi had provided to them before the war.

But this chapter in family history opened up something else. The history of the 66th itself became a focus, not only as a context for individual experience but also as an extension into interesting new historical territory.

I know that I am no alone in this regard. Many genealogical researchers with Civil War ancestry have found themselves as intrigued with regimental history as they are with genealogy. This is, in fact, one of the more frequently encountered instances when genealogy leads an individual into related areas of historical interest.

Where does the researcher begin? Most good historical research libraries are likely to hold the basic sources for learning about the history of an ancestor’s Civil War regiment. For those with Union soldier s in their family tree, the place to start is Frederick Dyer’s COMPENDIUM OF THE WAR OF THE REBELLION, first published in 1908 and since reprinted. It contains a brief sketch of the history of each Union infantry, artillery, and cavalry unit, including those which were part of the United States Colored Troops. On the Confederate side, a similar work in progress is Stewart Sifakils’ multi-volume COMPENDIUM OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMIES. When completed, this series will provide the same basic coverage for Confederate regiments as Dyer provides for the Federal side.

Another genre containing histories of Union regiments, in addition to rosters, are the published state adjutant general’s reports. These are not found for the former Confederate states; however, there are some very good regimental history/roster publication series for the Southern states. Two especially noteworthy examples are under way and nearing completion: NORTH CAROLINA TROOPS 1861-1865 (Raleigh: State Dept. of Archives and History) and the VIRGINIA REGIMENTAL HISTORY SERIES (Lynchburg, Va.: H.E. Howard).

There is a universe of regimental histories, periodical articles, and reunion publications, as well as memoirs, diaries, and biographies in print. The key to this universe is Charles E. Dornbusch’s MILITARY BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE CIVIL WAR, originally published 1961-1972 in three volumes with a fourth supplemental volume in 1987. The heart of Dornbusch’s work, which should be found in any good reference collection concerned with American history, is a regiment-by-regiment bibliographic listing of published works concerning a unit or its members. While few libraries would have all or even most of the works listed in Dornbusch, the researcher armed with a Dornbusch citation can at least seek out the publication in question through library network catalogs and interlibrary loans.

Regimental histories should be of particular interest. The first wa ve of such histories were written largely by veterans themselves from the close of the war through the early twentieth century. The researcher is much more likely to find such a history for a Federal regiment (excluding, unfortunately, the 166 regiments of the United States Colored Troops) than for a Confederate one during this period.

These early histories were often sponsored by regimental reunion associations and are something of a mixed bag. Some are smoothly written narrative, while other histories are little more than reproductions of the official reports pertaining to a unit. Sometimes, extensive veteran recollections are inserted verbatim into the discussion of a particular battle or campaign. Another frequently encountered feature is a roster listing; these may include surprisingly extensive biographical and even genealogical information. In the absence of such a list, biographical sketches of the officers are sometime found.

After the Civil War generation had passed away, the writing of regimental histories became the task of succeeding generations of historians and veterans’ descendants. The centennial of 1961-1965 inspired a new period of writing and publishing. This interest was reinvigorated by Ken Burns’ televisions series on the war. A hallmark of that series was the use of first person narratives, of which there were many. Diaries, memoirs, and collections of letters began to see print soon after the war and have continued to appear in prodigious numbers, both in book form and as contributions to historical journals and magazines. Many of these are listed in Dornbusch’s bibliography under the regiment in which the soldier served. Taken together with a regimental history, thee personal narratives, help to fill in details and provide a sense of a regiment’s experience.

The boundary between regimental history and memoir is sometimes indistinct, as found in one of Ken Burns’ case studies, that of Tennessee Confederate Sa m Watkins who wrote “CO. AYTCH,” MAURY GRAYS, FIRST TENNESSEE REGIMENT; OR, A SIDE SHOW OF THE BIG SHOW. Even so, the writer of such a work is not under the constraints that may attend writing a history at the request of a reunion association. After describing the horrors of the battlefield of Chickamauga, Watkins observes wryly, “The dead are heroes, the living are but men compelled to do the drudgery and suffer the privations incident to the thing called ‘glorious war.’”

Although original editions of many of the early memoirs and regimental histories may be hard to find, many others have been reprinted. In addition, the earlier publications have been reproduced on microfiche by University Publications of America (UPA) and University Microfilms International (UMI), thus increasing their availability at many libraries.

Confederate researchers are especially fortunate 1932 and in being able to draw upon a Confederate veteran magazine published from 1893 to 1932 and called, appropriately enough, THE CONFEDERATE VETERAN. It contains much in the way of memoir and biography. All its volumes have been reprinted by Broadfoot Publishing, together with an excellent three-volume index, vastly increasing its value in researching both individual soldiers and units.

But the bedrock of most Civil War research is the OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE UNION AND CONFEDERATE ARMIES IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION, published from 1880 to 1900 by the U.S. War Department in 128 volumes and also reprinted by Broadfoot. Although the thorough indexing of this set is not likely to yield the name of an ancestor, it will probably guide the researcher to the official reports and correspondence pertaining to a unit’s activities.

Extensive works have been published concerning the war’s battles and campaigns, as well as works providing a general overview of the war. In this column, it would be impossible to attempt even a cursory survey of these materials. Even so, a few reference works may be especially helpful in enabling the researcher to contextualize a unit’s experiences within a particular battle or campaign. Mark M. Boatner III’s CIVIL WAR DICTIONARY (New York: Vintage, 1987) gives concise descriptions of military actions, while the Conservation Fund’s CIVIL WAR BATTLEFIELD GUIDE (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990) provides good maps and descriptions for all major — and some minor — battles and campaigns. Another source for articles on battles and campaigns (albeit from the perspective of only one side) is the recently published four-volume ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE CONFEDERACY (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993).

So, if you are a genealogist who has a Civil War ancestor, you should obtain whatever service and pension records are available. But don’t stop there. You may also be able to learn about the events surrounding an ancestor’s military experience and the experience of those who served with him. For, while history may be the accumulation of many individual stories, the individual stories cannot be fully appreciated outside their historical eent more dramatic and better documented than the Civil War.

David Thackery is a past curator of local and family history at the Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois. He spent many years developing one of the nation’s foremost genealogy collections and serving those who came to the library to use the collection.