HDS' mission: continue to do what we have spent 40 people years doing - build the Civil War Research Database, fill the missing pieces of data from other sources, supplement what is already available, and provide our subscribers the most complete database of Civil War information.
American Civil War Research Database
American Civil War Research Database Home                                                              News and Commentary about the Database

 Manage Your Account Details
FIRST TIME DATABASE USERS - PLEASE CHECK
Database Status and read System Overview.


Skip below and proceed to Database

WELCOME to "News and Commentary about the Database"

With over 4.2 million records, we are nearing the end of phase #1 which is "get something on all the soldiers" (we still need to add naval records). We will be adding to these records from a variety of sources, including information from HDS subscribers. We are adding additional information to soldiers' records from the reprint of the "Confederate Veteran" magazine as well as several other sources.
In order to keep our subscriber records updated, please send to us any changes in your email address.
Help us personalize the Database. We want to add as much as we can about each soldier. If you have pictures, information, documents, etc about a soldier please send it to us so we can add it to the soldier's story. You can send us image files of pictures or documents, text files of letters, etc and we will incorporate them into the Database. Also, we will scan photos, documents, etc for inclusion into the Database and return them to you promptly. So please, help us build the Database and make it the most complete source of information about our Civil War soldiers.
Thank you to everyone that has sent information to us to add to the Database. We acknowledge by email everyone sending us information. If you didn't get an email acknowledgement back from us after sending us information please send it again. If you have information you wish to share with everyone about a family member, a regiment, etc. please e-mail or regular mail it to us at HDS, P.O. Box 35, Duxbury, MA 02331. Let us know if you wish the material returned.
Source of Information. The primary source(s) of information for each soldier's military record is displayed as part of the soldier's information. The complete Database bibliography lists the sources of information we are using to build the Database. You can access this page from various parts of the Database including the Home page at www.civilwardata.com.
State Selector. The page is divided into 2 sections: Union Regiments and Confederate Regiments. Within both sections are icons representing each state and terrritory as well as the Federal units types that the Database contains information about (not necessarily roster information). The color legend for the icons at the bottom of the page shows which states are completed, in process, or not started yet. Check the Database Status page for more information.

During the War there were Union regiments from each Confederate state, therefore, each Confederate state is listed under Union Regiments. Each border state is also listed under both categories. Other icons include: 'UC' for U.S. Colored Troops, 'VO' for US Volunteers (includes Sharpshooters), 'All Confederate and Union', 'All Confederate', and 'All Union'.

To change the State Selector simply click on the appropriate icon. The symbol in the top left corner of your screen will change to what you selected and its color will now be either blue or gray indicating whether you chose Union or Confederate units. 'All ...' symbols WILL NOT change colors.

On-going.

 A reminder - two wildcard characters ( * and ? )are available when conducting searches in the Personnel Directory. Wildcards will help expedite your searches of the Database when you are uncertain about spelling.
Single character wildcard. Use the '?' character in the middle of a name and the Database will return only a single character in its place. The character could be any letter or number or character from the keyboard. For example, if you enter the last name 'J?nes' into the personnel directory query, the Database will return a list of soldiers whose last name begins with J, ends in nes, and has one letter or character between the 'J' and 'nes' such as 'Janes', or 'Jones'.
Multiple character wildcard. Use the '*' character in the middle of a name and the Database will return unlimited number of characters in its place. The characters could be any letter or number or characters from the keyboard. Continuing the example above, if you enter the last name 'J*nes' into the query, the Database will return a list of soldiers whose last name begins with J, ends in nes, and has unlimited number of characters between the 'J' and 'nes'. In this type of query not only will 'Janes' and 'Jones' be listed, but 'Jaines', 'Jaynes', 'Joynes', etc. will be listed. A word of warning, searches using the '*' character can take a long time to complete and Database timeout errors are possible.

Help us reach new subscribers.

Refer a new subscriber to the Database and extend your own subscription by one month. When a new subscriber joins the Database family have him or her e-mail us and let us know you referred them to the Database and we will extend your subscription by one month for each new referral.

Thank you for your comments and your support.

 

Proceed to Database E-mail Historical Data Systems