The Southern Claims Commision submitted to Iberville Parish Archives
by Billie Grunden with permission from Elizabeth Nitschke Hicks


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The Southern Claims Commission: A little known source of genealogical
information

by Elizabeth Nitschke Hicks, November 1996

The Southern Claims Commission was created by Congress in 1870 as a
result of pleas from citizens who had sustained losses during the
Civil War (1861-1865). This commission addressed claims (for personal
property only) from residents of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia,
Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas,
Virginia, and West Virginia. The Southern Claims Commission appointed
local commissioners to hear these claims, determine the authenticity
of the claim, and decide if indeed the claimant had been loyal to the
Union during the war. Yes, you read correctly: The claimant had to
answer that he/she had been loyal to the Union and had not provided
aid of any kind in support of the Confederacy. Before you say, "Not MY
southern ancestor!" you should consider that people did what they had
to do to receive compensation for losses suffered during the war. Many
southerners did not consider it "lying" to "lie" to a Yankee
(especially a bureaucrat). 

A case in point is that of the Reverend Isaac Madison Hicks, claim
#11,760, of Bibb County, Alabama. Rev. Hicks was a Baptist preacher,
had been a county tax collector, and had an eldest son, Joseph Newton
Hicks, who fought as a member of the 8th Alabama Cavalry for the
Confederate cause. This is not the type of person one would expect to
file a claim, but the National Archives has 44 pages of sworn
testimony of Rev. Hicks and two witnesses. This particular claim gives
an account of General James H. Wilson’s troop movements in the march
to Selma and tells of Union soldiers taking horses, feed, and cooked
food from the slave quarters and burning crops but sparing Rev.
Hicks’s house because he was a Mason. Supporting testimony was given
by a witness who says he is Rev. Hicks’s son-in-law. Another witness,
a former slave, gives an account of seeing one of the stolen horses
and saddle "under a Union soldier near Selma." Both whites and blacks
filed claims and gave testimony in support of claims made by others. 

There are three types of claims: 

·	Allowed. The U.S. paid the claim, and the only records that survive
are the name of the claimant, place of residence, and amount paid. 

·	Barred. Claim was either filed too late or the commissioners ruled
the claimant a Confederate supporter. In this case, only the name,
place, and description of loss are given. 

·	Disallowed. Claim was not paid, but for reasons other than late
filing or the fact that the claimant was a Confederate supporter. 

A disallowed claim is the type you hope to find, as it gives the most
information for the genealogist and/or historical researcher. Rev.
Hicks’s claim was this type. You will get the claimant’s answers to 80
questions asked by the commissioners as well as the answers given by
the claimant’s witnesses. Both claimant and witnesses were asked,
"What is your name, your age, your residence and how long has it been
such, and what is your occupation? If you are not the claimant, in
what manner, if any, are you related to the claimant or interested in
the success of the claim?" A few other examples of questions asked
were "Where were you born? If not born in the United States, when and
where were you naturalized? Produce your naturalization papers, if you
can. Did you have any near relatives in the Confederate army or in any
military or naval service hostile to the U.S.? If so, give names, ages
on entering service, present residence, if living, what influence you
exerted, if any, against their entering the service, and in what way
you contributed to their outfit and support." For female claimants,
"Are you married or single? If married, when were you married? Where
does your husband reside, and why is he not joined with you in this
petition? How many children have you? Give their names and ages...."
Witnesses were asked, "In whose favor are you here to testify? How
long have you known that person altogether, and what part of that time
have you intimately known him? Did you live near him during the war,
and how far away? What was the public reputation of the claimant for
loyalty or disloyalty to the U.S. during the war? If you profess to
know his public reputation, explain fully how you know it, whom you
heard speak of it, and give the names of other persons who were
neighbors during the war that could testify to his public reputation."
I think you get the idea of how these claims can provide very helpful
and interesting information. 

How do you determine if your ancestor had a claim and how do you get
it? There are three finding aides to these claims at Clayton. The
first is an index (on microfilm) from the National Archives titled
Consolidated Index of Claims Reported by the Commissioner of Claims
Southern Claims Commission 1871-1880 (cabinet 48, drawer 8). The
second and third are books by Dr. Gary B. Mills: Civil War Claims in
the South, An Index of Civil War Damage Claims Filed Before the
Southern Claims Commission, 1871-1880 (GEN 973.7 M657 USA) and
Southern Loyalists in the Civil War (GEN 973.7 M657 USA). All these
indexes give the name of the claimant, the claim number, and state.
The first book also gives the claimant’s county of residence. Once you
find your ancestor’s name and claim number, write to the General
Reference Branch, National Archives, Washington, D.C. 20408. Be sure
to specify that this is a Southern Claims Commission claim, give the
name of the claimant, the state, and the claim number. Send no money.
The National Archives will reply with the number of pages and the cost
for obtaining the claim file. You have 30 days to send for the claim
before it is re-filed. 

If you do not find your ancestor listed, try this technique: Go to the
1860, 1870, or 1880 federal censuses, write down the names of your
ancestor’s neighbors (head of households) 5 to 10 households before
your ancestor on the census and the same number of households
following. Then see if any of these neighbors had claims and send for
them. There is a very good chance your ancestor was one of the
witnesses for the neighbor. 

These claims are a good source of genealogical and historical
information for ancestors in the "burned counties," and if a claimant
died during the claim process, often the heir(s) took up the claim.
The heir(s) would then have to prove their relationship to the
deceased claimant using Bible records, depositions, etc., all of which
may hold valuable genealogical information. 

In some cases, the claim was sent to the U.S. Court of Claims. If this
happened with your ancestor’s claim, the National Archives will notify
you of this and will send you a new case number to use to pursue the
claim from the U.S. Court of Claims (Index Section, 717 Madison Place
NW, Washington, D.C. 20005). All this may sound complicated, but all
you have to do is send in the initial request and follow the
instructions. The last claim I requested took about three months,
including the time taken for the National Archives to locate the
claim, the time taken to notify me of the cost—they accept credit
cards—and the time taken to respond to my order for the claim. But
believe me: It is worth the effort! 

END