On Feb 17 I sent an email request to the email link on http://www.sos.state.il.us/depts/archives/datcivil.html#photocopies requesting the Illinois Civil War records of William Nelson Downing and George Huff Downing. You may request two and must wait until you get the return before requesting two more. William is my gggrandfather. George is one of the many other relatives who served in the 106th but he served in a different company. I had all the information -- just wanted to test the service. On March 8 I received photocopies from the "Muster and Descriptive Roll" of the the two companies, the page which included each name. In my case that meant I got other Downings and also other relatives and names I know. My Harding, unfortunately, is not on either list. That's a short turnaround. The copies are NOT great and the bottom of the page is unreadable. It gives name, age, description [feet, inches, hair, eyes, complextion, marital status], occupation, nativity [town, county, state], joined for service and enrolled [when, where, by whom, period], mustered into service [when, where, by whom], residence [town, county, state, something I can't read by is blank], last paid [two columns], travelling [two columns], a couple other columns, all blank on my sheets and nearly impossible to read, mustered out [when, where, by whom], remarks. Get your magnifying glass to read. It is worth it since it is free. Check the Illinois Civil War database, find your ancestors, get your free information. Certified copies, which presumably are better, are available for a fee. The National Archives information is better but BUT it doesn't include that physical description. I happen to have photos of my CW ancestors but certainly no indication of height, eye color and so on. Cheryl Rothwell clrothwell@mindspring.com Coordinator, Logan County, ILGenWeb Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~illogan/loindex.htm Logan County mailing list> LOGAN-L-request@rootsweb.com Downing mailing list> DOWNING-L-request@rootsweb.com Harding mailing list> HARDING-L-request@rootsweb.com Downing query board> http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/FamilyAssoc/Downing Lucas query board> http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/FamilyAssoc/Lucas