Giles County, Tennessee
Southern Claims Commission Applications
The following is an index to Giles County claimants who filed with the Southern Claims Commission between 1871 to 1873 (following the end of the Civil War), claiming that their property had been taken by United States military personnel for use in the Civil War. Names and information were extracted from the state-wide index to claims filed with the Southern Claims Commission of Tennessee, which is based on Volume 55 of Record Group No. 56, General Records of the Department of the Treasury, at the National Archives. The indication as to whether the claim was allowed, disallowed, or barred is based on the book Southern Loyalists in the Civil War: the Southern Claims Commission by Gary B. Mills (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994).
According to the Tennessee State Library and Archives, "The claims include interesting detail about people and about the Civil War period in Tennessee. Each claimant was required to describe his losses in detail, and to prove his loyalty to the Union. Witnesses gave testimony in support of his allegations. The paperwork in the files is often extensive." (TSLA's Southern Claims Commission, Tennessee, Introduction and Index, which includes additional information for obtaining file copies). TSLA Archivist Chuck Sherrill, who extracted the Giles claims, adds:
Allowed: Claim was approvedDisallowed: Disallowed claims went all the way through the process of investigation, including the taking of testimony from witnesses. They tend to be much longer than barred claims. But in the end, the applicants were told that their claim could not be paid. The reasons were diverse, but in general the Commissioners felt that a true Union sympathiser in the South should be able to prove that he was persecuted for his sentiments.
Barred: Barred claims were those for which an original application was submitted, but upon the intitial work by the claims investigator it was found that the applicant was ineligible. The claim file was closed and went no further. Ineligibility usually occurred because the claimant was found to have sold supplies to the Confederate Army, or served in a Confederate unit. Those files usually contain only the application and a document stating why the person was barred.
