Rooting Out Civil War Archives : ‘North and South’ Miniseries Inspires Record Searches

Is there a Yankee or a Rebel in your past? That’s what a lot of people are asking now, apparently inspired by a recent television miniseries.

Not only did ABC’s “North and South, Book II” win the network ratings war--all six episodes placed in the Top 10 Nielsen ratings--it sparked a renewed interest in Civil War history, according to spokesmen from the U.S. Army and the National Archives.

“It’s similar to the phenomenon that happened with ‘Roots,’ ” said Maj. Philip Soucy of the Army’s media department. “People at the genealogical survey (of the National Archives) just about went crazy with all the letters from people wanting to trace their families.”

Archives Deluged

Actually, officials at the National Archives were deluged with letters twice because of “Roots.” When the miniseries, based on Alex Haley’s book tracing his black ancestors in Africa, first aired in January of 1977, several thousand letters were received from people inquiring about their family backgrounds.

When the second miniseries, “Roots: The Next Generations,” appeared two years later, February, 1979, they then got several thousand more.

Local genealogical libraries, too, experienced a surge of requests from people trying to trace their families then.

“ ‘Roots’ really brought out the people. It was incredible,” said John Justice, assistant secretary of the Sons of the Revolution, which operates a library in Glendale. Although the Sons of the Revolution Library’s collection of historical books deals predominantly with the American Revolution, it also has an extensive Civil War section, with books of military records for both North and South, family histories, records from states, counties and towns.

“We have the largest genealogical collection open to the public in the entire Southwest,” Justice said, explaining that the Sons of the Revolution Library has more than 20,000 volumes of historical records. The library was started in 1893 in downtown Los Angeles and moved to Glendale in 1973. “People might be able to find Civil War information here easier than writing to the government.”

But people already are writing to the Army and to the National Archives in search of Civil War histories in their families.

“We were just swamped after ‘Roots,’ ” said Karl Weissenbach, a consultant at the National Archives in Washington. “And after the first ‘North and South’ (the first miniseries adapted from John Jakes’ book and aired in November) we got hundreds of letters.”

Weissenbach said that letters asking about Civil War veterans are starting to come in again now, following the recent airing of “North and South, Book II.”

“All it takes is something to spark the interest of the people,” the Army’s Maj. Soucy said. “And whatever that is, a TV show or a book, starts a flurry of activity.”

One of the problems in tracing either Yankee or Confederate ancestors, Soucy admitted, is finding where to look for them.

On a national level, the best place to start is with the Military Records Division of the National Archives in Washington, where records of all military personnel who served in U.S. armies from the Revolutionary War to 1917, when the United States entered World War I, are kept.

(Military records of veterans from 1917 on are kept at the National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Blvd., St. Louis, Mo. 63132.)

2,000-3,000 Letters a Week

“ ‘North and South’ isn’t causing anything as dramatic as ‘Roots’ did, but we’re receiving a lot more requests for Civil War records recently,” Weissenbach said. “A lot of people want to see if they had any family in the war. There’s a big demand for military records. We get 2,000 to 3,000 requests a week. After ‘Roots,’ it went up to 5,000 a week and that lasted a couple of months. People were looking for everything, passenger arrival records, census, military, pensions, everything we have.”

Weissenbach said that anyone wishing to locate Civil War veterans in their families should first write to the Correspondence Branch, Room 301, National Archives, Washington, D.C. 20408, and request NATF Form 80 to order a person’s military service record.

“They might want to send for two Form 80s,” he said. “One to request the military service record, the other to request the person’s pension file. You’re apt to find more in his pension file than in the regular military records.”

Requesting a pension record of a Civil War veteran from the National Archives applies only to former Union soldiers, though, according to Weissenbach.

“For the Confederate army, there is only a general index of all who fought,” he explained. “And there are no pension records of Confederate soldiers here, since they were given at the state level by the Southern states. The people trying to trace Confederate veterans would have to contact the state where the veteran lived after the war to find his pension record.”

Persons searching for Confederate records might also contact the Museum of the Confederacy, 1201 E. Clay St., Richmond, Va. 23219, or call the museum at (804) 649-1861.

Union Soldiers by State

Locating soldiers who fought for the Union is easier because during the Civil War, the Union Army recruited geographically, so its soldiers were automatically listed according to the state from which they enlisted. The Confederate Army lists at the National Archives are not by state.

“It takes a lot of time, though,” Weissenbach said. “First they send for the form, then after they send in the form with as much information as they can come up with--where they enlisted, what company and regiment, anything like that that they can find--it will take us from four to six weeks to locate the records.”

Little wonder. It is estimated that about 2.7 million men served from 1861 to 1865 in the War Between the States. The figure could be higher than that, because estimates of the Confederate forces range from 600,000 to 1.5 million. The United States lost more men in battle in the Civil War--about 650,000 died--than in any other war in its history, including World War II.

Weissenbach said that anyone interested in genealogical research can go to Room 400 at the National Archives in Washington to conduct a search.

There are 11 regional branches of the National Archives across the country where people also may search for records of Civil War veterans.

In Southern California, a person may write to Director of the National Archives, Los Angeles Branch, 24000 Avila Road, Laguna Niguel, Calif. 92656-6719, or call (714) 643-4220 for assistance in beginning a family records search.

Microfilmed Indexes

But the regional National Archives branch in Laguna Niguel has microfilmed indexes of military records of soldiers, both Union and Confederate, who served from California, Arizona and Nevada only. Civil War military records from other states must be obtained from Washington, or from other regional branches.

The regional office also has U.S. Census records from 1790-1910 that might be helpful in searching for ancestors, said Suzanne Dewberry, one of three archivists at the regional office. There are some records available from the 1890 census, but most were destroyed by fire in 1922.

In Los Angeles, the Southern California Area Genealogical Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has on microfilm Civil War military records, pension records and casualty records from all states, as well as the census roles from 1790-1910.

The local Mormon library, a branch of the Genealogical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, is at 10741 Santa Monica Blvd. and is open to the public. The phone number is (213) 474-9990.

Complementary Libraries

“The Mormon library’s census collection and other records complement what we have here as far as county and family histories go,” said Justice of the Sons of the Revolution. “I’ve used both in searching for my own family genealogy.”

The Sons of the Revolution Library’s phone number is (818) 240-1775.

Because of the recent fire, the Los Angeles Central Library is closed and its large genealogical collection--about 40,000 manuscripts, books, magazines and microfilm--has not been relocated.

Other sources persons might try, according to Justice, are national Civil War organizations, both Union and Confederate.

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (P.O. Box 24, Gettysburg, Pa. 17325; phone, (717) 225-3579) does not keep military records, but may have other helpful documents pertaining to the Union role in the Civil War. It also has a Civil War grave registration committee.

Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865, maintains a national museum of Civil War books, mementos and heritage records. It is at 503 S. Walnut St., Springfield, Ill. 62704; phone, (217) 544-0616.

The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States has a war library and museum of Union forces during the Civil War at 1805 Pine St., Philadelphia, Pa., 19103. It maintains a 10,000-volume library on Civil War history and biographical archives. Its phone number is (215) 735-8196.

Confederate Societies

In addition to the Confederate museum in Richmond, Va., there are several Confederate societies that might assist with Southern historical data from the Civil War.

Sons of Confederate Veterans (P.O. Box 5164, Southern Station, Hattiesburg, Miss. 39401; phone, (601) 268-6100) maintains a small library of Confederate materials. It was founded in 1896.

United Daughters of the Confederacy, founded in 1894, has a 2,500-volume library primarily covering the Civil War and is located at 328 North Blvd., Richmond, Va., 23220. The UDC’s phone number is (804) 355-1636.

At the Confederate Research Center in Hillsboro, Tex., Hood’s Texas Brigade Assn. maintains a library of 3,500 volumes on the Civil War, 100 of those pertaining to Hood’s Texas Brigade. Its address is P.O. Box 619, Hillsboro, Texas 76645; phone, (817) 582-2555.

“Searching for family records really can be fun,” said Sons of the Revolution’s Justice. “It’s very much like a Sherlock Holmes case, except that you’re tracing people who have been dead a hundred years or so.”