First of all, I have been busy and very remiss in participating at Daily Kos. I was thrilled to see the new face of KOS and particularly excited to see the genealogy section - a big thanks for this.
I am new to genealogy, but have always been engaged in research, so it was relatively easy for me to get on board with research. However, nothing prepared me for my trip to the National Archives a/k/a NARA. I was staying with some friends in DC and they encouraged me to visit NARA, so I set out one cool morning on the Yellow Line. It was the week of the Inauguration. I was already excited, but had no idea what a deeply personal adventure was awaiting me.
I am almost hesitate to write about this experience, because maybe everyone already know these things - but I certainly did not know what a treasure of information I would find there.
Military pension files are absolutely amazing. I found extensive correspondence between my ancestors and the Federal Pension office for Civil War Veterans, Widows, and Children. I found a letter penned in my G-G-grandfather's own hand, written on the Fourth of July asking for a meager raise in his pension. He listed every battle that he fought in. He was declined for the pension - but to see him list his battles and write:
"As soon as Dr. Sanders the examining sergeant told me that he was or had bin a rebel soldier I give it all up at once. I was satisfied that he had no mercy on a Union soldier. If you cannot do any thing more on what evidence I have furnished I will have to calmly surrender. (sp. Currender) white which I never did when I was in the service."
I found another G-G-grandmother who actually had a general store owner "withhold" one third of her widow's pension - illegally. There was a major investigation by the feds to see if they could pursue this case as an example. Therefore some precious bureaucrat conducted an in-depth investigation, complete with depositions of these people in the mountains of Arkansas. This wonderful civil servant wrote a wonderful and descriptive report of the entire event. Unfortunately he also observed that there was so much corruption that local judges would probably not punish this rascal.
I was so amazed when I went upstairs to pick up this file and saw this giant stack of papers. Thanks to the National Archives, I was able to copy all of these documents. I was limited to only two days and had to go crazy on the photocopy machine. I could only glance at the papers as I frantically copied them but I could already tell that I had stumbled onto something great.
The other, more modest records were also wonderful. I hope to make the trip back and get into the American Revolution records as well, but the Civil War records were so massive and rich that I only had time to go through a part of those. Often documents are witnessed by neighbors and those documents helped solve a few mysteries for me as well.
The people that work at the National Archives are wonderful. There are some volunteers that are often retired government workers who share enthusiasm for genealogy and are really great at teaching people how to use the archives.
I would encourage everyone to take the opportunity to visit the research area.