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Southern Claims Commission

The U.S. Congress created the Southern Claims Commission on 3 March 1871 in order to receive claims from loyal citizens of the southern states for property provided to—or destroyed by—the U.S. Army during the Civil War. Thousands of claims were filed. Many freed African Americans filed claims for property lost during the War. Far more freedmen and freedwomen filed testimony in the claims of their former slave owners. Even when they were not the subject of the claim, their testimony often provides insightful detail about their own lives. The original papers for approved, barred, and disallowed claims are held by the National Archives and Records Administration, among the records of the U.S. House of Representatives and of the Department of the Treasury. All of the barred and disallowed claim files and approved claims for a few states have also been transferred to microfiche, in multiple publications by state for approved claims, and for barred and disallowed claims. These microfiche publications have also been digitized and are available by paid subscription on Ancestry.com and Fold3. Fold3 has also digitized the paper claim files for approved claims in states not available on microfiche.

Southern Claims Commission - Mary Cowling Claim, page 1 Mary Cowling claim, no. 13131, April 1872; Barred and Disallowed Case Files of the Southern Claims Commission, 1871-1880, microfiche publication M1407 (Washington: National Archives and Records Administration), card 32.

Southern Claims Commission - Mary Cowling Claim, page 2 Mary Cowling claim, no. 13131; Barred and Disallowed Case Files of the Southern Claims Commission, 1871-1880, microfiche publication M1407 (Washington: National Archives and Records Administration), card 32.

Southern Claims Commission - Matthew A. Bolls Claim, page 1 Matthew A. Bolls claim, no. 14445, Settled Case Files for Claims Approved by the Southern Claims Commission; Department of the Treasury, Office of the First Comptroller; Records of the Accounting Officers of the Department of the Treasury, 1775-1978, Record Group 217; National Archives and Records Administration, Washington.

Southern Claims Commission - Matthew A. Bolls Claim, page 2 Matthew A. Bolls claim, no. 14445, Settled Case Files for Claims Approved by the Southern Claims Commission; Department of the Treasury, Office of the First Comptroller; Records of the Accounting Officers of the Department of the Treasury, 1775-1978, Record Group 217; National Archives and Records Administration, Washington.

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