Southern Claims Commission
Introduction A claims application from South Carolina in the collections of the National Archives and Records AdministrationThe '''Southern Claims Commission''' (SCC) was an organization of the executive branch of the United States government from 1871 to 1880, created under President Ulysses S. Grant. Its purpose was to allow Union sympathizers who had lived in the Southern states during the American Civil War, 1861–1865, to apply for reimbursements for property losses due to U.S. Army confiscations during the war.
Application process Southerners from 12 states (West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas) filed claims with the Southern Claims Commission from 1871 to 1873 if they:# were loyal to the United States during the Civil War# had supplies '''''officially''''' taken by or furnished to the U.S. Army in the warSouthern Loyalists (those who were Union sympathizers) made 22,298 claims. Only 32 percent of the claims (7,092) were approved for payment. The claimants used the testimony of their neighbors as evidence of their U.S. loyalty and property losses. The applications of claimants (successful or not), testimony, and the SCC papers provide excellent historical background information about Southern life during the Civil War.=== Required records ===Although only a few people per county qualified for a settlement, the application papers of the Southern Claims Commission typically include questions mentioning hundreds of their neighbors. Neighbors of all races, and classes were questioned and discussed in SCC records, potentially including::* personal descriptions, and accounts of events during the war:* military records of claimants, or their relatives:* letters, diaries, and family Bible records:* wills, property inventories, and probate records=== Example claim ===In one such account, following the Battle of Antietam and during the winter of 1862–1863, a brigade of General William B. Franklin's VI Corps, totaling about 3,000 troops, camped on the  New Baltimore, Virginia farm of Julia F. Claggett along the Warrenton Turnpike and Georgetown Road. The soldiers appropriated food stores and supplies, seized horses, pigs, and cattle, cut down  of woodland, tore down barns and fences for fuel and torched what remained. E. C. Weaver, formerly an Orderly Sergeant in Company K, 121st New York Vols., Bartletts Brigade, had been present. He testified to the Commission:Julia Claggett filed a claim valued at $7,322.50 ($ in ) with the Southern Claims Commission in 1871.They allowed her only $3,091 ($). She still owed the prior owner Joseph Horner $8063.57 (about $) and she was forced to sell the farm at a loss to Gustavus Richard Brown Horner, her deceased husband's cousin.
References
External links * Gary B. Mills, " U.S. Southern Claims Commission Master Index, 1871–1880" on Ancestry.com. * " Southern Claims Commission" in FamilySearch Research Wiki. Includes an advanced search strategy for genealogists. * St. Louis County Library, " Researching Southern Claims Commission Records" in St. Louis County Library. Many of the NARA descriptive publications are online at this website including the next item. * St. Louis County Library, " Geographical List of Southern Claims Commission Claimants" in St. Louis County Library. Use this list to find all the applicants in a given county. *  Fold3, a subscription site, available at some libraries, has an index to SCC records.