NF First steps when you begin research

[MackCW]

Hello all,

This is a question for those that have written about the Civil War or on any subject that requires research. How do you usually begin? With a general account to get a framework of an idea? The OR? Memoirs? Or does it just depend on the subject and whatever feels right?

I'm curious what your approaches are, especially since we have so many writers on this forum.

 

[Gary Morgan]

The glib answer is to look at what you know, then start looking for what you don't.

You're going to NEED to know the branch of the military your man was in. If it's the Army, you'll need to know the regiment and company. You can find these on Fold3, if you have a subscription, or Family Search if you don't (Family Search is free to use; Fold 3 and Ancestry are not, so that's usually where I start).

As long as you are on Family Search, you may as well see what else they have. The 1890 census of Civil War Veteran's and Widows is useful in finding out what happened to your guy after the war, and the census records are helpful in tracing his life before and after.

My next step WOULD be to send for his pension/compiled military service record. The former costs around $80; the latter, $30, except that the National Archives already had a couple months wait time BEFORE Corona happened, and it still not open yet. You'll be better off hiring someone to go look once they are back up and running.

Next, I would to the stupidly obvious step of googling the name and regiment. Then the name and the dates he lived. You can come up with all kinds of unexpected treasures that way.

Google to see if there is a regimental history, open it up online using Internet Archives and read about where the regiment was and what it was doing during the war.

Be sure to try alternate spellings if you come up blank. Records are only as clear as the penmanship of the person writing them and the deciphering ability of the person transcribing them.

And - another goofy idea - search for the name on Ebay. It's a long shot, but you never know (I found my great grandfather's glass negatives for sale there several years after my grandmother left them at the dump!). Leave a standing search for the name, so that if something does come up, they'll notify you.

Finally, ask for help on boards like this one. You might even find someone descended from you man posting here.

Hope this helps!

 

[Rhea Cole]

Step one is to narrow down what you are looking for; Person, place, thing, battle or campaign?

A timeline is very helpful. What were the order of events leading up to the event you are investigating.

if you have already made up your mind & are looking for citations that confirm your preconceived idea, you are wasting your time. Inductive logic inevitably leads to false conclusions.

Follow the evidence. The whole point of doing research is finding out things you don't know. Living with it can be a challenge. That is especially true of family history. A good friend of mine was nearly physically assaulted by two of his great aunts when he found out that g-g-grandpa had deserted the CSA army & marched to the sea with Sherman.

Do not use secondary sources. A popular book on the subject may be a starting point to inspire interest, but it is not a source. There are a world of Masters thesis & doctoral dissertations available online on just about any subject you can imagine.You may or may not agree with their conclusions, but the footnotes are a treasure trove. They have done the legwork, you will know where to look.

Read the original documentation yourself. Nothing cuts through Lost Cause distortions like reading the original 1858-1870 documents.

Cast a wide net. Gather as much as you can. Don't be discouraged because there is little or nothing to be found... welcome to the club. Some things are very difficult to document, some things never really existed & were made up later.

Have fun, I have been looking into a very thinly documented event for 20 years.

 

[Michael C. Hardy]

Hello all,

This is a question for those that have written about the Civil War or on any subject that requires research. How do you usually begin? With a general account to get a framework of an idea? The OR? Memoirs? Or does it just depend on the subject and whatever feels right?

I'm curious what your approaches are, especially since we have so many writers on this forum.

I start by seeing what is already out there. I enjoy writing about regiments and brigades. On the regimental level, I start by looking for published letters, diaries, and reminisces, or, older regimental histories. From there, it is off to various libraries to look at unpublished materials. Family files, family histories, or historical society newsletters sometimes contain letters and diaries as well. All the while, I am working through the compiled service records from the National Archives (I use fold3). Along the way, I dive into the Official Records and the Supplement to the Official Records, Battles and Leaders, Confederate Veteran, Southern Historical Society Papers, etc. (I mostly write about Confederates, but there are likewise volumes for Federals as well.) When I have all that compiled, I start looking at secondary material – books on battles, medicine, logistics, biographies of ranking generals, etc. I try and see what others have written and how my primary sources stack up against the traditional narrative.

 

[MackCW]

Awesome responses so far. Thanks so much!

I've got a pretty firm grasp of my ancestors and how they lived etc. Even some items that have been passed down through the family that I might share one day. John Marr was shot in the back at Gettysburg when his regiment was ordered to about face and march away from Wofford's Georgians. His brother, Patrick, was with the 16th Vermont that flanked Kemper's brigade during Pickett's Charge and he was detailed to help clean up the battlefield.

I just recently got back into the study of the Civil War so I was just curious how you all went about it. I've never tackled a subject for a book and doubt I will but I'm always fascinated by the author's process.

 

[Michael C. Hardy]

Awesome responses so far. Thanks so much!

I've got a pretty firm grasp of my ancestors and how they lived etc. Even some items that have been passed down through the family that I might share one day. John Marr was shot in the back at Gettysburg when his regiment was ordered to about face and march away from Wofford's Georgians. His brother, Patrick, was with the 16th Vermont that flanked Kemper's brigade during Pickett's Charge and he was detailed to help clean up the battlefield.

I just recently got back into the study of the Civil War so I was just curious how you all went about it. I've never tackled a subject for a book and doubt I will but I'm always fascinated by the author's process.

I guess the biggest thing is just keep reading. Even though I have been at this a long time, I am always learning something new.

 

[rpkennedy]

Once I have a topic, I put together an outline which could be by topic or perhaps in a chronological order. Once I have the framework, I go to primary sources first and then good secondary sources that could lead to more primary sources that I did not have to begin with. Using this information, I begin to fill out the outline until that I feel that I have enough for my topic (there will always be more so one must be flexible to add or subtract information as needed).

Ryan

 

[Gary Morgan]

For me, I wasn't particularly "into" the Civil War beyond what I needed to know to teach it. My first three books were all on exotic birds (published by Barron's under my "maiden" name). Then someone showed me a diary from Andersonville and the only blank in the diary were the names of the Raiders who were hanged. I needed to fill in the blank. Easy, right? Except that it turned out that there were seven names for six guys. Trying to sort THAT out led to all kinds of interesting adventures and ultimately, a book.

Because of this, I've got to travel, I've met amazing people, and I've actually spent five nights INSIDE Andersonville National History site and had experiences that most people don't get to have. Even if I hadn't sold the book (I probably would have self published anyway), researching it was a really remarkable experience.

 

[John Hartwell]

Remember that the real value of a secondary source is in its footnotes and bibliography. If either is thin or absent, it's a story book, not a history.

 

[MackCW]

Remember that the real value of a secondary source is in its footnotes and bibliography. If either is thin or absent, it's a story book, not a history.

Love this quote and someone told me something similar years back.

 

[lupaglupa]

I've been working on my third family history. I start with what I know about the individuals, then move out from that to new things about them. Then I read about the world they lived in. What was happening in that city while they lived there? What outside influences may have made them choose to move/stay? It's just adding new facts and lots of color.

 

[Gary Morgan]

I start with what I know about the individuals, then move out from that to new things about them. Then I read about the world they lived in. What was happening in that city while they lived there? What outside influences may have made them choose to move/stay? It's just adding new facts and lots of color.

When I was in college, I was in the last class that CW Biographer Stephen Oates taught. He used to refer to this as "putting flesh on the bones."

 

[Lubliner]

Just by asking specific questions here on the Forum can be a good start. Many here are involved with related searches and are helpful when asked. I take notes of what I track and try to weigh out the logistics of how something occurs. Plenty of information can be deduced just by understanding basic factors involved. @Cody C. Engdahl has done some remarkable inquiries trying to determine facts.
Lubliner.

 

[lelliott19]

I've got a pretty firm grasp of my ancestors and how they lived etc. Even some items that have been passed down through the family that I might share one day. John Marr was shot in the back at Gettysburg when his regiment was ordered to about face and march away from Wofford's Georgians. His brother, Patrick, was with the 16th Vermont that flanked Kemper's brigade during Pickett's Charge and he was detailed to help clean up the battlefield.

Did your John Marr serve in the 17th US Regulars? Here's a couple of newspaper articles I found in a quick search. None of them mention John, but still interesting.

The Portland Daily Press. (Portland, ME), July 10, 1863, page 2.

Daily National Republican. (Washington, DC), July 10, 1863, page 3.

 

[Tom Elmore]

I notice from the NPS' Soldiers/Sailors database that Patrick Marr, Jr. is listed as a fifer with the 16th Vermont. It's a rather select group. Take a look at: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/fifers.168473/#post-2191207

By the way, I don't see a John Marr listed as a Gettysburg casualty in the reference, Union Casualties at Gettysburg, by Travis W. Busey and John W. Busey. He might not appear if his wound was superficial or if it did not prevent him from remaining with his regiment.

 

[19thOhio]

Find a question you really want to answer and then be ready for an adventure.

 

[Cody C. Engdahl]

Just by asking specific questions here on the Forum can be a good start. Many here are involved with related searches and are helpful when asked. I take notes of what I track and try to weigh out the logistics of how something occurs. Plenty of information can be deduced just by understanding basic factors involved. @Cody C. Engdahl has done some remarkable inquiries trying to determine facts.
Lubliner.

Thank you, I have and this site has been a fantastic resource.

 

[Cody C. Engdahl]

I start with general descriptions of events and people and then to crawl down specific rabbit holes as I need to. As flip as it may sound, I might first read a Wikipedia account of a battle or a historical figure and then look at the sources cited for further reading. I also do google searches for things like "books on Chickamauga." Once I start finding titles, I check reviews to see if it's a generally well-respected account. I'll try to find it in my library. You can often do an inter-library loan if your library doesn't have it.

Probably the best thing I do is visit the actual battle sites. You can read lots of firsthand accounts and scholarly descriptions but nothing beats walking the ground, seeing the views, and imagining the action happening right where you stand.

I write historical novels. I plot out my books first with a general outline of the real historical events along with my characters' stories that will intertwine with the real history. I make sure I have a good general understanding of the history before I get started, but I don't get real specific in my research about something in particular until I get to that part in my writing. I kind of research as I go. Lots of times I don't know what I need to know until I need to know it. That usually happens in the midst of writing. I'll stop and say something like, "How would that work back then?" That's typically what prompts me to ask the question here, as @Lubliner said. This site is great for that. I can ask real specific questions and count on well-thought-out answers from very knowledgable people within an hour.

I always finish my books with a "Historical Note" section. This is where I tell the reader what was real and what was my invention. I can also add interesting facts and stories that didn't make it into the narrative. I think this is important to build trust with the readers. It's always important to get the historical parts absolutely spot on. Civil War buffs know their history and can spot something untrue very quickly. I also list my sources at the end of my books so people can read more if their interested and maybe also to prove I did my homework.

 

[lupaglupa]

As flip as it may sound, I might first read a Wikipedia account of a battle or a historical figure and then look at the sources cited for further reading.

I was taught in library school that starting with a general source is great - no need to feel bad for using Wikipedia or other reasonably reputable online material. At the end of your project you will have many more specific sources but an easily accessible jumping off point is terrific.

One thing I did when working the reference desk was direct adults to the non-fiction section of the children's stacks. There are some great writers for kids and their books are often very well written and just long enough for someone hoping to begin study in a subject. A 125 page overview of something, e.g. Gettysburg, is often a better start than a long, detailed non-fiction work that focuses on one aspect of the battle. Those detailed works are great when you are further in, but at the beginning getting the whole picture really helps.

 

[MackCW]

I notice from the NPS' Soldiers/Sailors database that Patrick Marr, Jr. is listed as a fifer with the 16th Vermont. It's a rather select group. Take a look at: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/fifers.168473/#post-2191207

By the way, I don't see a John Marr listed as a Gettysburg casualty in the reference, Union Casualties at Gettysburg, by Travis W. Busey and John W. Busey. He might not appear if his wound was superficial or it did not prevent him from remaining with his regiment.

Yes! He was a fifer. Another family member still has the fife he carried at Gettysburg. When the 16th Vermont's term of service was up he re-enlisted as a soldier in the 9th Vermont.

John's wound might of been superficial and that's good to know. Tragically, he was killed in 1872.

Summary of article on right: After several hours of drinking John Marr and several other quarrymen got in an argument over who would pay the next round. Shot accidently by Martin Devenary in a street fight outside a friends house.