A team of more than 60 volunteers led by National Archives staff has crossed the 100,000 mark in a project to digitize Civil War widows’ pension files. Testimony in these files from fellow soldiers, widows, children, siblings, and bereaved parents describe the deceased soldier, and often give information about how they died. The letters also chronicle the effect of the war on family members and comrades who were left behind. Our volunteers are painstakingly preparing the documents for digitization while creating a searchable index.
The index and images are available at www.Fold3.com, in partnership with the National Archives. A second partner, FamilySearch, provides volunteers who create the digital images.
The National Archives holds 1.28 million case files of the dependents of Civil War Union soldiers who applied to the federal government for pensions. We’ve only just scratched the surface! Watch the video to see some their fascinating finds and hear some of the Civil War stories found in these files.