September 17, 1862, was the bloodiest day in American military history. The Battle of Sharpsburg (also known as the Battle of Antietam), fought in Maryland near Antietam Creek, resulted in over 23,000 casualties. Accounts of the battle, written by Southern officers, can be found in the Confederate Casualty Reports on Fold3. Reports typically contain narratives…
Henry L. Wyatt, the “first Confederate soldier slain in battle,” died at the Battle of Big Bethel, in Virginia, on June 10, 1861. His service record confirms this, and that he was 19 years old when he enrolled as a private in Company A, 1st North Carolina Volunteers, less than two months earlier. It also…
Ashley Judd discovered some gruesome details about her ancestor Elijah Hensley’s service in the Civil War when she was featured on last week’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? Elijah served in the 39th Kentucky Infantry. His service record, available at Footnote, outlines his years of dedicated service to the Union Army when…
In a recent episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, Lionel Richie found listings for his great grandfather, a man his family never talked about, in the Nashville city directories for 1880 and 1885. The occupation and address information provided for John L. Brown led Lionel to learn of his ancestor’s importance in the…
If you tuned into Who Do You Think You Are? last Friday night, you watched Vanessa Williams discover some surprising family history within her great-great grandfather’s Civil War pension file. Her ancestor, David Carll, a black man from Oyster Bay, NY, was a private in Company I, 26th Infantry, U.S. Colored Troops (U.S.C.T.), in the…
Ellis Island opened its doors on January 1, 1892, to the first wave of the twelve million immigrants who would enter the United States over the next six decades. It became the main portal through which people of every ethnicity, religion, trade, and social status arrived in America in the early 20th century. In the…
