Fold3 HQ

U.S. Civil War Collection Free in June

Today we have opened our entire U.S. Civil War Collection for free to the public for the entire month of June. For the past three years we have worked with the US National Archives to create the largest repository of Civil War documents on the web featuring over 30 million documents, photos and maps.

The original documents found in this collection provide a different perspective of the “war between the states”. Major events as well as accounts from individuals are brought to life on our Civil War page. You will find the following records in our Civil War collection:

U.S. Civil War

  • Union and Confederate Soldier Service Records
  • Widow’s Pension Files
  • Emancipation Documents and Slave Records
  • Confederate Amnesty Papers and Citizen Files
  • Lincoln Assassination Investigation and Trial Papers
  • US Civil War Photos and Maps

Our collection is not just a repository of records, we also incorporate community contributions and interactions to enhance these documents. Many of registered Footnote users have added comments, insights and information that significantly increase our understanding of these events and the people involved.

10 Comments

  1. John says:

    The 1860 Census appears as one of your record collections on the Civil War page, but when you search it, those records are still categorized as premium. Is this an oversight?

  2. Peter says:

    John, Thanks for finding that. It should be free now.

  3. Bill Brobst says:

    Dear Footnote.com

    I’m very disappointed in your Civil War Collection in helping me research my 80-90 Brobst ancestors who served in the Civil War.

    Only 38 dcouments were revealed when ancestry.com and my other online sources gave me many more than that. I will admit that in those 38 were many documents I had not seen for Joseph Brobst from KY. But I was hoping to see much more quantity and quality for the 80-90 Brobsts

    I am interested in subscribing, but not with such meager results. Please explain what is wrong or what I’m doing wrong. Thanks and feel free to call 301-515-9933 to discuss.

    Best,
    Bill Brobst

  4. Jeff Bernard says:

    I was surprised to see no Maine entries. Were there no Civil War records for Maine (I suspect not). Or is this just “to be filmed” in the future?

    Thanks.

    Jeff

  5. Gene Kuechmann says:

    Four of my Wilder great-uncles served in the Union army – 3 from Ohio, 1 from Illinois. I copied their records when I was in Washington a few years ago. But they are not in the Footnote collection. Is there a reason the Ohio and Illinois records have not been digitized?

  6. Kay Dean says:

    I found an index on Ancestry.com for the Civil War soldier I wanted. On Footnotes, I can’t find the pension index that I saw on Ancestry.com. Has the 49th Indiana Infantry not been made digital on Footnotes, or am I not searching right? I want to continue after my free trial, but I am not sure when everything I want will be put on.

  7. Krista says:

    Jeff and Gene – There are still several Union states that have not yet been digitized. The service records for Ohio, Illinois, and Maine are among the states that are only found on paper. They may be available in the future, but at this time they are not found on Footnote.

  8. Bobby H Collum says:

    The Free Civil War records was a great place to find
    my Great Grandfather and his participation in it. Thanks
    to Footnote all the dedication and hard work put into this project.I tried to print them so I could give to my Grand Kids, but they will not print. please tell me what file extension are on these records or what software I need to
    print them..

  9. Peter says:

    Bobby, these are JPEG files. For some folks, the file extension doesn’t show up when they save them. If you save the files to your computer and then add .jpg to the end of the file name, they should work just fine.

    If you could send us some details about your system (Windows or Mac version, IE, Firefox, or other browser version) it might help us find a solution for the problem. You can send them to [email protected].