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Headquarters Branch • 1640 So. Lindbergh Blvd. • St. Louis, MO 63131
314.994.3300 ext 208 •
scollections@slcl.org
      
Southern
Claims Commission
Questions for Claimants and
Witnesses - Initial Version, 1871 |
Even though the questions were usually
microfilmed, the answers were not
written with the questions. Due to the
importance of knowing the questions,
we are including them here. A printed
copy of the questions is helpful while
reviewing the depositions.
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Questions for Claimants and
Witnesses:
Initial Version, 1871 |
Amended
Version, 1872 |
Final Version, 1874
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Listed
below is the initial set of questions
asked of claimants and witnesses. The result was 71 questions
that were numbered in two
groupings. The questions were grouped
somewhat by category. To see the questions
that were to be asked of one of
the categories listed below, click on that category. Otherwise, browse through
the questions transcribed in their
entirety on this page.
A
printer-friendly version of this initial version of
questions
is also available in PDF
format, 6 pages - 207 Kb)
Question
were group into two categories -
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QUESTIONS TO
BE ANSWERED BY CLAIMANTS UNDER OATH
- Where did you reside for six
months prior to the 1st
of April, 1861?
Where were you in person during the
said six months?
What was your business or
occupation during that period?
- Where did you reside from the 1st
of April, 1861, to the 1st
of June, 1865?
Where were you personally
during that period?
What was your business or
occupation during that time?
Did you change your residence
during that time? If so, when, and
where was your new residence?
- Did you ever pass beyond the
military or naval lines of the
United States and enter the rebel
lines?
If so, how often, when, where, and
for what purpose, and how long did you
stay within the Confederate lines on
each occasion?
- Did you ever take any oath or
affirmation to bear allegiance to
the so-called Confederate States, or
to aid or support them in any way,
or to "bear true faith",
or "yield obedience" to
them? If so, when and where? State
fully in regard to the same.
- Have you ever taken any amnesty
oath? If so, when, where, and under
what condition?
Have you been
pardoned by the President? If so,
when and where, and upon what
conditions?
- Were you ever directly or
indirectly, or in any manner,
connected with the civil service of
the so-called Confederate States? If
so, how, when, and where, in what
capacity and for what periods?
Was any oath required of you for
such service; and if so, what?
- Did you ever hold any office or
place of trust, honor, or profit
under the Confederate Government, or
under any of the States or
territories subordinate thereto? If
so, state the nature and character
of the office, the place at which
and the period for which you held
it?
- Did you hold any clerkship, or
have any agency or employment of any
kind, for, or under, or for the
benefit of the so-called Confederate
States? If so, state fully in regard
to the same.
- Were you ever, in any capacity, in
the military or naval service of the
so-called Confederate States, or of
any State or territory subordinate
thereto?
- Were you ever an officer or
soldier, sailor or marine of the
Confederate army or navy, or did you
ever furnish a substitute for the
Confederate army or navy, or were
you, directly or indirectly, in any
way connected with, or employed by
or under, or for either the
commissary department, quartermaster's
department, the medical department,
the engineer's department, the
ordnance department, the impressment
service, the provost marshal's
department, or any other bureau,
branch, or department of the
Confederate service?
Did you at any time have charge of
any stores or supplies for the use of
the Confederate army, navy, or
government, or the charge or care of
trains, team or teams, wagon or
wagons, vessels, boats, or other
craft, or munitions of war for the use
of the Confederate army or navy? If
so, state fully in regard to the same.
- Were you ever in any service,
employment or business of any kind
whatsoever for the Confederate
Government, or its army or navy?
Did you ever furnish any aid, or
any supplies or stores, or property of
any kind to or for the so-called
Confederate States, or any State in
rebellion, or to the army, navy,
militia, home-guards, armed forces, or
military organizations thereof, or for
any officer, soldier, or sailor
thereof? If so, state fully in regard
to the same.
Did you ever give any information
to any officer, soldier, or sailor of
the Confederate army or navy, or to
any person employed by, or for the
so-called Confederate States, or
acting on their behalf, or for their
benefit, which might aid in any way
any military or naval operations
carried on against the United States?
State fully in regard to the same.
- Were you in any manner employed in
the manufacture of munitions of war,
of clothing, of boots, shoes,
saddles, harness, or leather, of
equipment for soldiers, or of any
stores or supplies for the use of
the Confederate army or navy, or
were you in any way employed by, or
did you aid or assist others engaged
in such manufacture? If so, state
when and where, and by or for whom
you were so employed, and for what
period of time.
- Were you ever, directly or
indirectly, employed in the
collection, impressment, or
purchase, or the sale of stores,
supplies, or any property for the
use or benefit of the Confederate
Government, or any State in
rebellion, or the army, navy, or
other forces thereof?
Did you have any interest or share
in contracts with, or purchases for,
the Confederate Government, or its
army or navy, or any State in
rebellion, or its forces? If so, state
fully all particulars.
- Were you ever engaged in blockade
running or illicit traffic, or
intercourse between the lines, or
were you ever in any way interested
therein?
Did you ever have any interest or
share in any goods, wares,
merchandise, stores, or supplies
brought into or exported from the
so-called Confederate States during
the war? If so, state fully all
particulars.
- Did you leave the so-called
Confederate States between 19th
of April, 1861, and 19th
of April, 1865? If so, when and how
did you leave; where did you go; for
what purpose; how long were you
absent; in what business were you
engaged while absent, and when and
to what place did you return in the
so-called Confederate States?
- Were you the owner, or part owner,
or in any way interested in any
vessel used in navigating the ocean
to or from any port in the
Confederacy, or upon any waters in
the Confederacy; if so, what
vessels, when and where employed,
and in what business.
- Were you ever arrested by the
Confederate Government, or by any
officer, soldier, or other person
professing to act therefor, or for
any State in rebellion; if so, when,
where, by whom, and how long were
you kept under arrest; how did you
get released?
Did you, for the sake of being
released, or upon release, take any
oath of any kind to the Confederate
Government; if so, what?
[Put the same questions as to
arrest by the United States
Government, etc.]
- Was any of your property ever
taken by the Confederate
authorities, or by any officer,
soldier, or other person acting or
assuming to act on their behalf, or
in behalf of any State in rebellion;
if so, what property, when and for
what use, and have you received pay
therefor?
- Were you ever threatened with
damage, or injury to your person,
family, or property on account of
your Union sentiments; if so, state
when, by whom, and what the threats
were?
- Were you ever molested or in any
way injured on account of your Union
sentiments? If so, state fully all
the particulars.
- Did you ever contribute anything
- any money or property
- in aid of
the United States Government, or in
aid of the Union army or cause? If
so, state fully as to the same.
- Did you ever do anything
for the United States Government or
its army, or for the Union cause
during the war? If so, state fully
what you did?
- Had you any near relatives in
either the Union or Confederate
armies; if so, state who and how
related to you.
Did you contribute anything to
supply them with military equipments,
or with money? State fully as to the
same.
- Have you owned any Confederate
bonds, or any interest or share
therein; or had any share or
interest in any loans to the
Confederate Government; or did you
in any way contribute to support the
credit of the so-called
Confederate States during the late
rebellion?
- Have you ever given aid and
comfort to the rebellion? If so,
state fully all the circumstances.
- Were you ever engaged in making
raids into the United States from
Canada, or engaged in destroying the
commerce of the United States in the
lakes and rivers adjoining Canada?
- Were you ever engaged in holding
in custody, directly or indirectly,
any persons taken by the rebel
Government as prisoners of war, or
any persons imprisoned or confined
by the Confederate Government, or
the authorities of any State in
rebellion, for political causes; if
so, when, where, and under what
circumstances; in what capacity were
you engaged, and what was the name,
rank, and command of your principal?
- Were you ever a member of any
society or association for the
imprisonment, expulsion, execution,
or other persecution of any persons
on account of their loyalty to the
United States, or did you ever
assist in such acts?
- Were you ever a paroled prisoner
of the United States; if so, when
and where, and by whom paroled?
- Have you ever held any office in
the Army or Navy of the United
States? Were you educated by the
United States at the Military
Academy at West Point, or at the
United States Naval Academy?
- Did you ever receive any pass from
any officer of the Confederate
Government, or from any person
having or assuming to have authority
to issue the same; if so, who gave
you the pass; for what purpose; for
what period of time; did you sign or
swear to any promise or obligation
in order to get it, or swear or
promise to "bear true faith and
yield obedience to the Confederate
States;" did you use the pass,
and for what purpose?
- Are you or were you under the
disabilities imposed by the
Fourteenth Article of the Amendments
to the Constitution of the United
States?
Have you held any office under the
United States Government since the
war; if so, what office; and did you
take the (so-called) "iron-clad" oath?
- At the beginning of the rebellion
did you sympathize with the Union
cause, or with the rebellion? What
were your feelings and what [was]
your language on the subject? On
which side did you exert your
influence and cast your vote? What
did you do, and how did you vote?
How did you vote on ratifying the
ordinance of secession?
After the "ordinance" of
secession was adopted in your State
did you adhere to the Union cause, or
did you " go with the
State?"
- In conclusion, do you solemnly
declare that, from the beginning of
hostilities against the United
States to the end thereof, your
sympathies were constantly with the
cause of the United States; that you
never, of your own free will and
accord, did anything, or offered, or
sought, or attempted to do anything,
by word or deed, to injure said
cause or retard its success, and
that you were at all times ready and
willing, when called upon, or if
called upon, to aid and assist the
cause of the Union, or its
supporters, so far as your means and
power, and the circumstances of the
case permitted?
II. QUESTIONS
AS TO THE TAKING OR FURNISHING OF THE
PROPERTY, TO BE ANSWERED BY THE CLAIMANT
AND HIS WITNESSES UNDER OATH.
- Were you present when any of the
articles of property specified in
the claimant's petition were
taken?
- Did you see any of them
taken? If so, specify the articles
you saw taken.
- Did you see any of the articles
named in the petition taken, other
than those you have specified?
- When and where and by whom were
the articles taken, which you say
you saw taken?
- Who were present when you saw them
taken?
- Was any United States officer,
either commissioned or
non-commissioned, present at the
taking? If so, state his name, rank,
regiment, and the command to which
he belonged. Did he order the
property to be taken? Did he say
anything about the taking?
- Describe how the property was
taken, and give a full account of
all you saw done, or heard said,
upon the occasion of the taking.
- How was the property removed, by
soldiers, or in wagons, or in what
manner? State fully as to each
article taken and removed.
- To what place was it removed? Did
you follow it to such place, or see
it, or any portion of it, at any
such place, or on its way to such
place?
How do you know the place to which
it was removed?
- Do you know the use for which the
property was taken? What was the
use, and how do you know it? Did you
see the property so taken used by
the United States army? Did you see
any part of the property so used?
State fully all you know as to the
property or any of it having been
used by the army; and distinguish
between what you saw and know, and
what you may have heard from others,
or may think, or suppose, or infer
to be true.
- Was any complaint made to any
officer on account of such taking?
If so, state the name, rank, and
regiment of the officer. What did he
say about it? State fully all
that he said.
- Was any voucher or receipt for the
property asked for; if so, of whom
asked? State name, rank, and
regiment. Was any receipt or paper
given? If so, produce it, or state
where it is and why it is not
produced.
If no voucher or receipt was given,
state why none was given, and if
refused, why it was refused; state all
that was said about it.
State fully all the conversation
between any officer or other person
taking the property, and the claimant
or any one acting for him
- Was the property or any of it
taken in the night-time? At what
hour of the day, (as near as you can
tell,) was it taken? Was any of the
property taken secretly, or so that
you did not know of it when taken?
- When the property was taken was
any part of the army encamped
in that vicinity? If so, state how
far from the place where the
property was taken, and what was the
company, regiment, or brigade there
encamped.
How long had it been encamped there?
How long did it stay there, and when did it leave?
Had there been any battle or
skirmish near there, just before the
property was taken?
Did you know the quartermasters, or any of them, or any other officers of
the army for whose use the property is supposed to have been taken?
- Describe clearly the condition
of the property when taken, and all
that tends to show its value at the
time and place of taking.
Thus, if corn, was it green, or ripe? Had it been harvested? Was it in
the shock or husked, or shelled? Where was it?
If grain, was it standing; had it been cut; was it in shocks; or in the
barn or in stacks; had it been threshed?
If horses, mules, or cattle, state when they were taken, how taken, and
fully their condition, age, and value. Have you talked with claimant about
their value?
- What means have you of knowing quantity
taken? How much did you see taken
and removed? What quantity was taken
in your presence? As to
quantity distinguish carefully as to
what you saw and know, and
what you may think or believe
from what you have heard from
others.
- If you have testified as to the
taking of wood; how do you
know it was taken? How do you know
the quantity? Was it measured? By
whom? What was the kind, quality,
and value of the wood? Was it taken in
the tree, standing? Or had it
been cut? Where was it taken?
- If rails were taken; did you see
them taken; how taken; in wagons, or by soldiers? To what place taken?
How do you know, and what do you know as to the quantity taken? Were
the rails new or old?
Did officers try to prevent their
being taken? Was any complaint made to
officers on account of the taking?
- Do you know, suppose, or believe
that the property described in each
item was taken for the actual use of
the army, and not for the
mere gratification of individual
officers or soldiers already
provided by the Government with such
articles as were necessary or proper
for them to have?
- Do you know, suppose, or believe
it was taken in consequence of the
failure of the troops of the United
States to receive from the
Government in the customary manner,
or to have in their possession at
the time, the articles and supplies
necessary for them, or which they
were entitled to receive and have?
- Do you know, suppose, or believe
that it was taken in consequence of
some necessity for the articles
taken, or similar articles; which
necessity justified the officers or
soldiers taking them?
- Do you know, suppose, or believe
it was taken for some purpose so
necessary, useful, beneficial, or
justifiable as to warrant or require
the Government to pay for it?
- Do you know, suppose, or believe
that it was taken by, or under the
order or authority of some officer,
or other person connected with the
army, whose rank, situation, duties,
or other circumstances at the time
authorized, empowered, or justified
him in taking it, or ordering it to
be taken.
(The witness must be caused, in
answering the five preceding questions,
to state fully, clearly, and carefully,
his or her various reasons for the
knowledge, supposition, or belief
entertained with respect to each
question.)
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Modified:
31 July 2008
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