Southern Claims Commission
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The Southern Claims Commission (SCC) was an organization of the executive branch of the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
government from 1871 to 1880, created under
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...
. Its purpose was to allow Union sympathizers who had lived in the Southern states during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, 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 West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...
,
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
,
North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
,
South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
,
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
,
Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
,
Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
,
Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...
,
Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
,
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
, and
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
) 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 war Southern 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 The Battle of Antietam ( ), also called the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the Southern United States, took place during the American Civil War on September 17, 1862, between Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virgi ...
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,

in St. Louis County Library. Many of the NARA descriptive publications are online at this website including the next item. * St. Louis County Library,

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.
National Archives
holding images scanned by Fold3. The claims are searchable, but most records are not transcribed (images only). {{Authority control United States government oversight of the American Civil War Southern Unionists in the American Civil War Defunct agencies of the United States government Reconstruction Era 1871 establishments in the United States Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant Reparations