Tracing Your Civil War Ancestors

SESSION: T247

DATE & TIME: Thursday, 03 May 2018, 2:30 p.m.

Information on soldiers’ military experience is available from federal, state, and local records. Military pension, G.A.R., and other records are examined. Examples will show the value of researching military records for muster cards, P.O.W. records, awards issued, and bonus papers, such as enlistment and discharge papers. Pension records are the “box of chocolates” of the National Archives. Even when no pension was granted, there may be affidavits, letters, family Bible pages, photographs, and vital records in the application process.

Company K of the Michigan Sharpshooters (The “Indian” company)

SESSION: F307

DATE & TIME: Friday, 04 May 2018, 8:00 a.m.

This entire company was composed of soldiers from the Ojibwa (Chippewa), Ottawa, and Potawatomi tribes of Michigan. After guard duty at Camp Douglas in Chicago, they saw action at the Battle of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. Although Native Americans served in regiments for both North and South armies, this company was unique. Forming this company ran into the same societal resistance that Colored Troops experienced. Included are photographs of several soldiers.
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James N. Jackson is past-president of several Michigan societies, and in 2006 he received the Lucy Mary Kellogg Award from the Michigan Genealogical Council for “Significant Contribution to Genealogy and History.” He has been building his website, Michigan Biographical Index at www.michlist.com since 2003 and has a cumulative full-name index merging more than one thousand Michigan publications and manuscripts. There are now more than four million citations – available for free with no registration – with users from all over the world. While most sources are Michigan related, there are several works that include the Great Lakes region, including the five-volume set of the “List of 1883 Pensioners” which lists all military widows and veterans.