To access the American Civil War Research Database you need a user name and password. When you subscribed online using the secure order form you received this information as part of your credit card receipt. NOTE: You need an internet browser that supports JAVA scripting and Accepts Cookies.
To access the Database click on the 'MEMBERS' button. Depending upon which internet software browser and version you are using a small authorization box similar to 
those below will appear. If an authorization box does not appear you will need to contact your browser software provider for assistance -- this is a problem with your browser software and not with the HDS website or with the American Civil War Research Database.
Enter the user name you were given when you subscribed into the field asking for user name. This is not your name such as John Smith or Jane Doe. The user name is 5 characters long, begins with a letter, and will be a combination of letters and numbers. All letters in the user name are lower case.
Enter the password you were given when you subscribed into the field asking for password. Your password begins with 'hds' and is followed by 5 numbers. Again, like the user name, all letters are lower case. Click on 'OK' after you have completed this step and proceed to the Database.
Occasionally, you may be given a user name that the subscription staff person read incorrectly. For example, you may be told that the user name contains a letter 'l' (as in Letter) or letter 'o' (as in Orange) when it should have been the number '1' or number '0'. We apologize for any problems this may cause. You may want to try substituting characters if you feel this could be the cause of your authorization problem.
MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER 4.0 USERS PLEASE NOTE. You may receive the following message when trying to sign on: 'Internet Explorer cannot open the internet site http://www.civilwardata.com/Login/login.exe. The connections with the server was reset.' If you do get this message try clicking on the 'MEMBERS' button a second time.
Your user name and password are activated immediately once you subscribe. If you continue to have problems with your authorization codes you should contact HDS by email at