United States, Records of the Adjutant General’s Office (National Institute)

Records of the Adjutant General’s Office (RG 94), 1780s-1917
When war broke out between the states, Federal Officials recognized that perhaps “treason” was too strong a term and the death penalty too severe to place upon the large Southern population. Two alternatives were created by Congress-the acts of 31 July 1861 (12 Stat. 284) and 17 July 1862 (12 Stat. 589), that fixed penalties for crimes of “conspiracy” and “rebellion.” The latter act also provided for future pardon and amnesty by Presidential proclamation to be extended “to any persons who may have participated in the existing rebellion.”

President Abraham Lincoln declared an amnesty proclamation on 8 December 1863 which extended pardon to persons taking an oath to support the Constitution and the Union and to abide by all Federal laws. The benefits were extended to six classes of individuals:

1. civil or diplomatic agents or officials of the Confederacy,

2. persons who left judicial posts under the United States to aid the rebellion,

3. Confederate military officers above the rank of Army colonel or Navy lieutenant,

4. members of the U.S. Congress who left to aid in the rebellion,

5. persons who resigned commissions in the U.S. Army or Navy and afterwards aided in the rebellion, and

6. persons who treated unlawfully black prisoners of war and their white officers. A supplementary proclamation, issued 2 March 1864, added a seventh exception (persons in military or civilian confinement or custody) and provided that members of the excluded classes could make application for special pardon from the president.

President Andrew Johnson issued his first amnesty proclamation on 29 May 1865. Johnson adhered to Lincoln’s seven classes of persons and added several of his own. The amnesty papers relating to Johnson’s proclamations have been microfilmed:

Among those requesting amnesty was Mrs. Eliza C. Woodward of Milledgeville, Baldwin County, Georgia; she requested “to be allowed the benefits of the Amnesty Proclamation 19th May 1865”.

On that same day Mrs. Woodward took an oath to support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Union of the States there under.

Federal Courts-Martial (RG 153)
The Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army) contains case files of general courts-martial, courts of inquiry, and military commissions, 1809-1939. The textual records include eight volumes of copies of general courts-martial and courts of inquiry for 1808-1815.

Thomas P. Lowry best describes the process of accessing Civil War (Union) courts-martial cases:

James Neagles has compiled an index to courts-martial cases during the American Revolutionary War and names three incidences for men with the surname Woodward.


 * Woodward, Elijah. Colonel Shepard’s Regiment. Desertion and enlisting twice and receiving two bounties: 100 lashes for each offense and repay the bounties received.


 * Woodward, Elijah. Colonel Shepard’s Regiment. Using many names and enlisting many times: death by shooting-the order to be executed “on Thursday, the 11th of September, next, between the hours of 8 and 11 o’clock in the morning, on the bottom of the Common in Boston.”


 * Woodward (Woodard), Richard, Lt. Colonel Gridley’s Regiment of Artillery. Cowardice at the battle of Bunker Hill, mutiny: cashiered.

Resources
Beers, Henry Putney. The Confederacy: A Guide to the Archives of the Government of the Confederate States of America. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1986.

Bethel, Elizabeth. Preliminary Inventory of the War Department Collection of Confederate Records (Record Group 109). Additions and indexing by Craig R. Scott. Athens, Georgia: Iberian Publishing Company, 1994.

Bunch, Jack A. Military Justice in the Confederate States Armies. Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: White Mane Books, 2000.

Bunch, Jack A. Roster of the Courts-Martial in the Confederate States Armies. Shippensburg, Pennsylvania: 2001.

Lowry, Thomas P. Curmudgeons, Drunkards, and Outright Fools: The Courts-Martial of Civil War Union Colonels. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2003.

Lowry, Thomas P. and Jack D. Welsh. Tarnished Scalpels: The Court-Martials of Fifty Union Surgeons. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 2000.

Lowry, Thomas P. Tarnished Eagles: The Courts-Martial of Fifty Union Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 1997.

Munden, Kenneth W. and Henry Putney Beers. The Union: A Guide to Federal Archives Relating to the Civil War. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1986.

Neagles, James C. Summer Soldiers: A Survey and Index of Revolutionary War Courts-Martial. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, Inc., 1986.

Microfilm
The National Archives and Records Administration have several microfilm series relating to courts-martial cases, including the following:

Military courts (Courts-martial) are not limited to the federal armed forces or armed forces of the Confederacy. As we have previously seen, most states have, also, found it necessary to take disciplinary action against some of its solders.