This year (2025) marks the 160th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War, and genealogists and historians are still sorting through records created during this devastating conflict. While the notable people and personalities have been thoroughly documented and discussed, the stories of the everyday people serving in and out of uniform have been nearly forgotten.
Luckily, several new sets of military service, correspondence and hospital records are a few typed words away from being available to genealogical researchers! Transcription projects like these are crowd-sourced and are a great way to read, review and preserve records for current and future researchers. Many of the names and stories recorded in these documents have not been seen for decades and can provide essential information lost to time.
If you have not been part of a transcription project before, do not be afraid to participate! All you need is a computer, an internet connection and a keen eye for reading cursive script. You do not need to be a fast typist, and you aren’t required to deliver perfect transcriptions. There will always be questions, mistakes and inaccurate readings in historical items.
All of these projects have an arbitration team reading and reviewing submissions, so any mistakes you might make will be corrected at a later date. Capturing as much accurate information for each document is the goal, and every completed page brings us all closer to learning and discovering new stories and experiences hidden in history.
Civil War Bluejackets
While you may be familiar with the Civil War army and cavalry soldiers, you may not be familiar with the stories of thousands of men serving in the Union and Confederate navies. Navel men were known as Bluejackets due to their distinctive uniforms, and their service extended to warships, ironclads, steam-powered vessels, blockade duty and all-out warfare on the high seas.
With your help, the project will create a database containing the details of every sailor recorded on surviving Civil War muster rolls from U.S. vessels. Taken on every ship every few months during the war, these musters recorded each man’s vital statistics – including their name, age, birthplace, physical description and former employment. Most of this information is not readily available online, which makes this a new and exciting trove of information rarely seen before.
United States Colored Troops
The United States Colored Troops (USCT) were comprised of regiments of African American soldiers and officers who served in the Union Army. While men of color, both free and enslaved, served in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, over 180,000 African American soldiers enlisted to perform military service during the Civil War. A majority of men who enlisted served in infantry, cavalry and artillery units, and proved their valor and capability during combat. The backgrounds and life experiences of USCT soldiers varied widely, and during their wartime service, they experienced unequal pay and racial prejudice on and off the battlefield.
The Kentucky Historical Society is hosting a large-scale transcription project of enlistment and muster rolls for the men serving in three military districts. While some pages of this project are complete, some additional arbitration is needed to make this collection available to the public. You can find another collection of the commonwealth’s USCT records online at the Kentucky U.S. Colored Troops Project.
Kentucky USCT Pension Files
The Sister Thea Bowman Society in Louisville, Kentucky, is committed to documenting men and women of color buried in a segregated section of the St. Louis Cemetery. The organization is seeking volunteers to transcribe pension files for the men who served in Kentucky’s United States Colored Troops.
Pension files provide a depth of information not found in other civil registration or religious record sets. Many pensions include personal letters, documents, photographs, affidavits and information for spouses and children. A large number of documents are transcribed and are in need of review and arbitration, which provides an opportunity for descendants searching for their USCT ancestors to gain early access to these records.
Carded Service Records of Hospital Attendants, Matrons and Nurses, 1861-1865
Did you know you can transcribe records for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)? NARA houses a prodigious array of our nation’s records dating from before the American Revolution to the present day. Due to the sheer amount of records stored across the country, NARA created the Citizen Archivist mission website to recruit volunteers to assist with transcribing previously under-researched record sets.
One project that will help uncover information on the role of women in the Civil War relates to service records of hospital matrons and nurses. During the Civil War, thousands of women stepped into the roles of matrons and nurses to care for wounded soldiers. Most did not have formal training and were entering into service from their roles as mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts and grandmothers.
These cards are formatted to record payment, so while there are limited personal details, there is the potential to locate female ancestors based on location and date. This is a worthwhile project for anyone interested in learning more about the role of women during wartime and the type of services they rendered.
The Citizen Archivist website has more cool projects to check out! Whether you want to learn more about the government’s investigations into UFOs, Freedmen’s Bureau correspondence or World War II Submarine Patrol records, you never know what you will on this site!
Recommended Non-Fiction Reads
When taking a break from these transcription projects, you may want to add these new library books to your reading list!
