Focuses on military records, but also includes city directories and other resources. Search and preview are free, but full view requires a subscription. Free trial available.
Large collection of historical US newspapers. Search and preview are free, but you will need a paid account to view the complete articles. Free trial available.
Search Freedmen's Bureau records at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. You can search by name, county, plantation, etc.
Hint: Simply searching Google for an ancestor's name can yield results from obituaries, full-text family history books in the public domain (from Google Books), and more. For best results, put the name in quotation marks, i.e. "Jane Brooks." Google searches work better on full names and less common names. To narrow results, include a state or city, i.e. "Michael Edward Stanton" Philadelphia.