We are pleased to announce two new collections of Civil War records on Fold3: The Civil War Prisoner of War Records, 1861-1865, and Civil War Lists of Persons Employed in Army Hospitals, 1860-1865. These collections will provide new insights for Civil War researchers and family historians.

The Civil War Prisoner of War Records contains some 1.6 million records for both Union and Confederate POWs. Each soldier’s name is indexed and searchable. Please note when searching that the records often include a soldier’s initials rather than a full name (e.g., P. Jackson).

Confederate prisoners at Camp Douglas, Chicago, Illinois, in 1862

The records in this POW collection are organized by location, allowing you to search all records for a particular prison camp. The information contained within the records varies but can include name, regiment, place of capture, date of imprisonment, information on exchanged and paroled prisoners, release date, date of death, location of burial, list of effects, letters, and more.

Our second new collection contains the names of female nurses, cooks, and laundresses employed at Army Hospitals during the Civil War. This single volume is not a complete list and does not include all hospitals or all women who served in these roles.

Elmina P. Spencer, Civil War Army Nurse 

Each person is listed by name, but the record does not include what specific position was held or the dates of employment. The records reference other volumes and “Old Books,” but those books have not been identified or located.

This collection is divided by the hospital and includes the following hospital transport vessels: Atlantic, Baltic, Ben DeFord, Charles McDougall, D. A. January, Daniel Webster, J. S. Pringle, John Warner, Knickerbocker, and State of Maine.

This collection may serve as a starting point for further research on women’s contributions during the Civil War.

Explore these new Civil War records today on Fold3!