The Key to 90,000 Civil War military trials, all the amazing stories lost to history – until now. Desertion, rape, murder, espionage, treason, drunken rages, and mutiny, are now fully available from a unique search engine.
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The National Archives in Washington, D.C., home to thousands of cubic feet of records, including 75,961 Union army courts-martial, 1,500 Union navy courts-martial, and over 5,000 Confederate courts-martial (the Confederacy burned most of their records). Until recently, there was no convenient way to search these records. |
Beverly A. Lowry and Thomas P. Lowry spent 10 years in the Archives, 5 days a week, reading the hand-written records and summarizing the trials, to make them available in a computer database which can be searched by multiple variables, including name, rank, regiment, crime, and locator number.
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Some sample factoids: Twenty-five Union brigadier generals were court-martialed. One hundred twenty-six captains were convicted of being drunk on duty. One thousand thirty-one Wisconsin soldiers were court-martialed. 1,883 Union soldiers were sentenced to be shot. |
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Here is Tom in the Reading Room at the National Archives, following all the rules:
• pencil only, no pen • only one folder open at a time • no jacket, hat, or brief case (all must be stored in a hall locker) • summarize a trial onto an Archive-provided 3 by 5 filing card • no food, drink, or chewing gum • conversation reduced to whispers (except upon the discovery of some especially bizarre bit of court-room testimony) |
The Index Project, was incorporated in 1995 and approved by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity,
a status renewed and confirmed in 2009. All donations to the Index Project are tax-deductible to the donor, as pre-scribed by law.
a status renewed and confirmed in 2009. All donations to the Index Project are tax-deductible to the donor, as pre-scribed by law.
