Book Description

A dream come true for researcher and genealogist alike. Tim McKinney has enriched West Virginia Civil War history with his books on the The Civil War In Fayette County, Robert E. Lee at Sewell Mountain: The West Virginia Campaign, and Robert E. Lee and the 35th Star, all within the brief span of tem years. Now, his Civil War Almanac, an outgrowth of his researches into the nation's most tragic war, will place historians, genealogists, Civil War enthusiasts, and other informed readers still more deeply in debt to him. In this, the first of two volumes, McKinney sets high expectations for the usefulness his work and raises keen anticipation for the second volume. Major sources for identifying Civil War veterans from West Virginia include the 1890 Civil War Veteran Census, which includes nearly 14,000 veterans, who had worn either the Blue or the Gray, and were still living in West Virginia in 1890, along with their names, regiments, and periods of service. For many of the veterans there are also special remarks. The 1890 Confederate Index provides names and counties of residence of 1,097 Confederate veterans turned up by extensive research by the author; listings of both Union and Confederate veterans by county of residence; Civil War service medals Of Union veterans identified in the 1890 Census, many of which remain unclaimed at the West Virginia Division of Archives and History; a compilation of West Virginia Confederate soldiers and citizens who died in Federal prisons or military hospitals; an index to records of the Southern Claims Commission, which identifies more than 200 West Virginians who sought compensation from the United States for confiscated or stolen property, and transcribes as examples case files from Greenbrier and Jefferson Counties; and identification, with name, county, and regiment of ore than 160 physicians of the Blue and Gray who were from West Virginia. McKinney's compilations are of interest in their aggregate, but they provide detail that makes the soldier a person rather than a mere number. by Otis K. Rice, Professor Emeritus of History, West Virginia University Institute of Technology