Civil War News
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June 2020
Battle of Kennesaw Mountain entry.
Fold3: Civil War Stories
Civil War Stories home page. Researching ancestors who fought in the American Civil War just got more engaging with the launch of ‘Civil War Stories’ from Fold3. While the service requires a subscription ($79.95 annually) to utilize all the rich features of this site, serious researchers will consider this a bargain! Fold3— working with their parent company Ancestory.com, Newspapers. com, Find a Grave, the American Battlefield Trust, and others— continues to develop an interactive method of tracking soldiers via the various battles they participated in. As noted in a recent blog from Fold3, when complete, one can learn of a soldier: “When did they muster in? Where did they fight? Who were the officers? By the time this project is complete, you’ll be able to map out your soldier’s movements throughout the war.” Starting with North Carolina soldiers, and then moving to the Empire State of New York, Fold3 will populate the database with soldiers from each state contributing troops to the war. For more information on the genesis of this project, visit https://blog.fold3.com/ introducing-civil-war-stories. The homepage for ‘Civil War Stories,’ shown above and found at https://www.fold3.com/regiment/?military.conflict=US+Civil+War&general.title.content.doc-type=BATTLE:Battle;REGIMENT:Regiment offers users the ability to select ‘All,’ ‘Battles,’ or ‘Regiments.’ For this exercise, this writer chose
battles and received a listing of all the significant engagements (412 battles listed as of late April 2020) during the conflict. Various sorting options exist; ‘A-Z’ may prove the most helpful at this stage, and the search bar allows one to input keywords and quickly locate the information sought. Let us look at what one will find when selecting the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. At this point, a user will need a subscription to drill into the results. A general overview of the battle greets the user. (See image.) Color graphics show the number of troops engaged, the respective commanding generals, and casualties from the action. Selecting the ‘Regiment’ tab at the top of the screen reveals the 320 units, that participated in the battle. Choosing a North Carolina regiment—the state Fold3 started with for this project—seems in order. Many sources exist in the regimental section, including a chronological listing of the various engagements the 28th NC participated in, their field officers, and the companies comprising the regiment. See the corresponding images shown. A helpful timeline assists in tracing the regiment’s movements during the war. Remember, this project remains a work in progress. Some current links do not work, as of this writing, but bookmark the site, check back often, and track the progress as Fold3 populates the database with soldiers! Next month, we
will investigate additional primary sources. Until then, good luck in researching the Civil War! Michael K. Shaffer is a Civil War historian, author, lecturer, instructor, and a member of the Society of Civil War Historians, the Historians of the Civil War Western Theater, and the Georgia Association of Historians. Readers may contact him at mkscdr11@gmail.com, or to request speaking engagements, via his website www.civilwarhistorian.net. Follow Michael on Facebook www.facebook.com/ michael.k.shaffer and Twitter @ michaelkshaffer.
June 2020
Civil War News
Engagements for the 28th NC Infantry.
Partial view of 28th NC Infantry timeline.
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