"Researching African-American Military Records" Workshop - presented by Kelly Hamlin(Executive Director of Wolf Gap) in conjunction with Giles County Public Library.

Military records can be a gold mine of information for the researcher, and the vast majority of them are available online for free! This live program will demonstrate how to access military records for veterans from the Civil War through World War I, to include service records, pension records, veterans' census records, state service records, and more. This information will be useful even if you don't know yet whether you have a veteran in the family, as it will begin with the process of finding out whether someone served in the military. Military records provide fascinating details about a veteran's life before, during, and after their military service, and are an important addition to family and community histories.

This workshop will include a question-and-answer period for those attending live, but will also be recorded and made available for later viewing for those who register in advance. It will also provide a brief overview of the local history and genealogical resources available at the Giles County Historical Society and the Giles County Archives.

The workshop is presented by Kelly Hamlin, Executive Director of Wolf Gap. Wolf Gap is a Giles County nonprofit providing our community with unique and accessible learning opportunities, seeking the people and stories that too often "fall through the cracks" in history and nature education. Kelly has extensively researched the Giles County residents who joined the U.S. Colored Troops, and she is eager to share tips with her fellow researchers.