You raise a good point. I did a bit of research and indeed it does appear that the claims were from the citizens of the states that were in rebellion. Since the claims were filed 6 years after the close of the War, I would imagine that many of these people could have moved after the war and filed their claims from other states. But in your case, it seems the people you are researching were in KY the whole time.

Still I am intrigued by the fact that this document turned up in your ancestors military file, which means the slaveowner definately filed a claim with some government agency. In the congressional documents I do see where a number of states filed claims with the govt for compensation related to the Civil War and I wonder if some of this included, in part, the claims of their residents. Unfortunately, I have not looked at any of the documents related to state claims.

If I were you, I would consider posing the question to Reggie Washington at the Natl Archives or Tony Burroughs who recently put together a presentation on farmers, tenant farmers, and sharecroppers, in which he did significant research in the Southern Claims Commission records.

Tim