United States, National Archives, Southern Claims Commission

This article will benefit from an explanation in this section as to why this agency created records in so many record groups.

Administrative History
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 Records, 1871 - 1880
This series consists of briefs of letters received and copies of letters sent by the Southern Claims Commissioners; copies of rules and regulations adopted; data on appointments made, cases heard, and other business transactions; and copies of seven general reports of the Commissioners. These latter reports are known to be rare.
 * NAID 5634625

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

Letters Received, 1871 - 1880
This series consists of letters received from the Secretary of the Treasury, the First Comptroller, and other Treasury officers; the Attorney General and other Justice Department officers; judges and other officers of the Court of Claims, and other claimants, attorneys, and other persons relating to the Commission's criteria for "loyalty," methods of taking testimony, the use of Treasury and Justice Department records, statements from informers on the loyalty of claimants, the appointment of special commissioners to hear and collect testimony in various parts of the South, applications for positions with the Commission, and the closing of the Commission.
 * NAID 6254992

Letters Received from Special Agents, 1871 - 1880
This series consists of letters received from special agents of the Commission making weekly reports on their activities and itineraries, requesting leave, announcing retirement, and dealing with personnel matters; reporting on conversations held with witnesses and claimants; relaying information about the loyalty of claimants; and furnishing further information on reports already submitted.
 * NAID 6256529

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

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

Selected Papers Relating to Claims, 1871 - 1900
This series contains statements concerning disloyal claimants, memorandums of supplies furnished to plantations in the South by Treasury Department Special Agents during the Civil War, and affidavits concerning the loyalty and activities of attorneys representing the claimants.

The papers dated before 1880 are probably fugitive enclosures from the letters received by the Commission in the series "Letters Received from Special Agents of the Commission, 1871 -1880," (ARC Identifier 6256529).
 * NAID 6256546

Summary Reports on Individual Claims Sent to the Congress, 1871 - 1875
This series consists of reports that give the name and address of the claimant, the nature and amount of the claim and the amount allowed, and remarks on the quality of the evidence furnished and the reasons for accepting or rejecting it.
 * NAID 6256544

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
 * These are included on Microform Publication(s): M1407
 * Pamphlet FHL Book 973 J53m no. 1407
 * Online: Fold3 Southern Claims – Barred and Disallowed

Family History Library Holdings

 * Barred and disallowed case files of the Southern Claims Commission 1871-1880 : National Archives microfilm publications pamphlet describing M1407