United States, National Archives, Southern Claims Commission

An Act of Congress, approved March 3, 1871, provided that the President nominate three commissioners of claims (to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate) to receive, examine, and consider the claims of "those citizens who remained loyal adherents to the cause and the government of the United States during the [Civil] War, for stores and supplies taken or furnished during the rebellion for the use of the army of the United States in states proclaimed as in insurrection against the United States". By an act approved May 11, 1872, this clause was extended to include property used by the Navy. The commissioners were to satisfy themselves of the loyalty of each claimant; certify the amount, nature, and value of the property taken or furnished; report their judgement on each claim in writing to the House of Representatives at the beginning of each session of Congress; hold their sessions in Washington; and keep a journal of their proceedings and a register of all claims brought before them. The Act provided further that of the claims within its provisions only those presented to the commissioners could be prosecuted, and that all others were to be barred.

The Commissioners of Claims - Asa Owen Aldis of Vermont, President; James B. Howell of Iowa; and Orange Ferriss of New York--met in Washington on March 16, 1871, with Charles F. Benjamin as Chief Clerk. The volume of their work was soon proved to be so great that they were authorized by an Act of May 11, 1872, to appoint special commissioners to administer oaths and affirmations and take depositions of witnesses, and special agents to investigate pending claims, procure evidence, and examine witnesses. The special commissioners were local appointees, confined to hearing small claims. The special agents were travelling investigators of both large and small claims.

All papers collected by commissioners and agents were sent to the Commissioners at Washington, who were responsible for making recommendations on all claims. They had received 22,298 claims by March 3, 1873, which had been set by an Act of Congress approved on that date as the last day on which new claims could be presented to the Commissioners. They were occupied with the investigation and settlement of these claims until March 1880 when the last of the claims were reported to Congress. The whole amount of the claims was $60,258,150.44, of which only $4,636,920.69 was approved and paid. Of the 22,298 claims, only 7,092 satisfied the rigid tests of sworn statement and cross-examination in proving both the sustained Unionism of the claimant throughout the war and the validity of his claim.

Most Southerners were disdainful of the work of the Commission, stemming from the anticipation that most of their claims would be denied. The Commission was characterized, in many minds, as a "mill of mischief and fraud". It was denounced as "an organized fraud which had paid millions to men who were false to their country in her need, or perjured themselves for gold when the danger was past".

An Act of June 21, 1879, terminated the Commission effective March 10, 1880, and gave the Department of the Treasury responsibility for liquidating the business of the Commission. administrative History

Alphabetical Geographical Lists of Claims, 1871 - 1873
The first two volumes of this series include the names of the claimants and of the county or town of their residence. These volumes also have clippings from contemporary newspapers inside their covers listing the claims before the Commission.

In the second volume each entry has been marked through with a colored pencil. A note on the flyleaf indicates that green means that the case was rejected; blue means the case was allowed; and red means the case was barred for non-prosecution.

The third volume shows the Southern Claims Commission case number and sometimes the State involved.
 * NAID 6256575

Registers of Claim Cases Heard by the Commissioners, 1871 - 1880
This series contains registers that show the names and addresses of the claimants, the dates and case numbers, the natures and amounts of the claims, the amounts of the claims allowed, the names of the attorneys, the dates the claims were heard and reported to Congress, the dates of the private acts granting payment, and the dates of the filings of the papers with the Third Auditor.
 * NAID 6256588

Name Indexes to the Registers of Claim Cases, 1871 - 1873
This series contains name indexes to the regsiters of claims cases. Each entry lists the name and, usually, the State of the claimant and the number of his claim.
 * NAID 6256845

Register of Claims, 6/6/1871 - 6/17/1871
This series contains information about claims made by Southerners regarding property that had been taken by the Army. Included is the date, case number (2,001 - 2,500), name of person making the claim, the location of their residence, what property had been taken, the amount of money claimed, the amount paid, the name of the claimant’s attorney, and the court proceedings.
 * NAID 12008935

Disallowed Claims Files, 1871-1880
Congress retained the barred and disallowed claims, appropriated the funds to pay those allowed, and sent the allowed case files to the Treasury Department for settlement and custody. Generally, claims for goods destroyed out of military necessity were disallowed because those losses were considered fortunes of war. The Commissioners disallowed $55 million in claims. They authorized $4,636,229.75 in claims.
 * National Archives Identifier: 6256845
 * These are included on Microform Publication(s): M1407
 * Pamphlet FHL Book 973 J53m no. 1407
 * Online: Fold3 Southern Claims – Barred and Disallowed

Barred Claims Files, 1871–1880
Congress retained the barred and disallowed claims, appropriated the funds to pay those allowed, and sent the allowed case files to the Treasury Department for settlement and custody.
 * National Archives Identifier: 562208
 * General Note(s): The Commissioners of Claims had no final jurisdiction in the cases they considered, but were required to report their decisions, sending along the completed case files in annual increments to Congress for appropriate action.
 * Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically by name of claimant.
 * These are included on Microform Publication(s): M1407
 * Online: Fold3 Southern Claims – Barred and Disallowed