Military • 118 Records • Uploaded March 10, 2025
This source is derived from Records of the Slave Claims Commissions Volume I. Register of Claims of the Delaware Commission and Volume III Journal of the First Maryland Commission by Michael Hait. The Slave Claims Commission was created by the War Department in late 1863, in order to compensate the owners of slaves who enlisted in the Union Army. Only Union-controlled slave states were eligible--Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, West Virginia, and Tennessee. General Order 329, issued on 3 October 1863, “authorized the enlistment of slaves with the written consent of their owners and the owners became entitled to compensation for the service of said slave into military service, not exceeding $300, upon filing valid deed of manumission & release and making satisfactory proof of title.” The Claimant would have to provide proof, such as enlistment of the enslaved, ownership of the enslaved, and Claimant's loyalty. Not all claims were approved, many claims were denied because of claimant's disloyalty to the Union.
Volume I, transcribed and abstracted by Hait, presents the claims registered by the Delaware Slave Claims Commission; Vol. III is not a register of claims, but rather a journal of the proceedings of the “Board of Claims.”
The list below shows the data fields included in this source. If a field is marked as Indexed, it is searchable.