See the post from Leslie Anderson sharing good information on Black Family Research. Free to download.
This 32-page guide by Reginald Washington (now retired from the National Archives)
is a must. It’s free. Just click on the image and download it.
Family Tree Girl
Dr. Shelley Viola Murphy
Black Family Research: Records of Post-Civil War Federal Agencies at the National Archives
4 responses to “Black Family Research: Records of Post-Civil War Federal Agencies at the National Archives”
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I have an instance of a (light-colored) black man becoming part of a (white) Indiana regiment in the Mexican-American War. I think this might be a “first” or at least highly unusual. Any ideas how I can determine this?
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I am not sure I get what you are saying but if you are saying that a light skinned black man passed for what, I get it. But I would not be surprised.
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I would like to know more
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He wasn’t passing. He was known as a black man. He served as a cook for a company in the 5th Indiana Volunteers in the Mexican War. The men in the company were paying him out of their pockets. When they were in Mexico, they petitioned their superiors to enlist him, which was done in Mexico City on Dec. 31, 1847 (confirmed on the adjutant general’s roster). After he mustered out, he received bounty land in Indiana (confirmed in bounty warrants and BLM land records). After that, I don’t find any records I can be sure of. He is in Indiana in 1850, listed as Mulatto in the census.
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Family Tree Girl 
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