The 1866 special census was required by the U.S. government as part of the "Reconstruction" process after the Civil War.  There are two separate schedules, "Colored" and "White".  

Unfortunately it contains fairly minimal information.  Only the head-of-household is listed by name.  Other members of the household are identified only by their sex and age.  The information is still valuable for pushing back beyond the 1870 barrier.  In  Talladega county I can identify approximately 70% of the heads of households that appear in the 1866 census in the 1870 Federal census index.

Images

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