Florida Military Records

United States U.S. Military Florida Military Records

The United States Military Records article provides more information on federal military records and search strategies.

Many military records can be found at the Family History Library, the National Archives, and other federal and state archives. The United States research information provides more information about the federal records. For Florida, the following sources are also very helpful:

Forts

Forts were established through the authority of the federal government, to house and maintain the military.

• Fort Alabama
• Fort Apalachicola (Blount's fort or Fort Gadsden)
• Fort Barnwell
• Fort Barrancas -- Textual records of this fort, 1866-1940, including registers, reports, and correspondence, are in the National Archives and are described in Records of United States Army, Continental Commands, 1821-1920, under the section entitled Records of Posts, 1820-1940 (Record Group 393.7).
• Fort Basinger
• Fort Brooke 1824-82
• Fort Brooks
• Fort Caroline (French) 1564
• Fort Cooper
• Fort Drum
• Fort Dade
• Fort Dallas 1838-58
• Fort Defiance Presidio La Bahio)
• Fort Denaud
• Fort Drane
• Fort Fraser
• Fort Gadsden  1818-21 (Fort Apalachicola) 
• Fort Gardner
• Fort Hamer
• Fort Jefferson -- Textual records of this fort, 1844-1936, including registers, reports, and correspondence, are in the National Archives and are described in Records of United States Army, Continental Commands, 1821-1920, under the section entitled Records of Posts, 1820-1940 (Record Group 393.7).
• Fort Jupiter
• Key West Barracks -- Textual records of this fort, 1850-1910, including registers, reports, and correspondence, are in the National Archives and are described in Records of United States Army, Continental Commands, 1821-1920, under the section entitled Records of Posts, 1820-1940 (Record Group 393.7).
• Fort King 1827-43
• Fort King Trail
• Fort Lauderdale
• Fort Meade -- Textual records of this fort, 1850-1853, including registers, reports, and correspondence, are in the National Archives and are described in Records of United States Army, Continental Commands, 1821-1920, under the section entitled Records of Posts, 1820-1940 (Record Group 393.7).
• Fort Mellon
• Fort Myers -- Textual records of this fort, 1850-1858, including registers, reports, and correspondence, are in the National Archives and are described in Records of United States Army, Continental Commands, 1821-1920, under the section entitled Records of Posts, 1820-1940 (Record Group 393.7).
• Fort Micanopy
• Fort Morgan
• Fort Moultrie
• Fort Payton
• Fort Pierce 1838-42
• Fort San Luis
• Fort Scott
• St. Francis Barracks -- Textual records of this fort, 1871-1904, including registers, reports, and correspondence, are in the National Archives and are described in Records of United States Army, Continental Commands, 1821-1920, under the section entitled Records of Posts, 1820-1940 (Record Group 393.7).
• Fort St. Francis de Pupa
• Fort Taylor -- Textual records of this fort, 1844-1924, including registers, reports, and correspondence, are in the National Archives and are described in Records of United States Army, Continental Commands, 1821-1920, under the section entitled Records of Posts, 1820-1940 (Record Group 393.7).
• Fort Wacahoota
• Fort Walker

Colonial Wars

As a Spanish colony Florida was part of the War of Jenkins' Ear (1739–1748) which took place between Florida and the British colony of Georgia.

Service Records

• Military Service Records of Florida and Louisiana, 1787-1794. Hojas de Servicios Militares de América: Floridas y Luisiana, 1787-1794. FHL film 1156353 (in Spanish). For a surname index to these records, see Catálogo XXII del Archivo de Simancas, Secretaría de Guerra (Siglo XVIII), Hojas de Servicios de América. Family History Library book 946 M23e.
  

Revolutionary War (1775-1783)

The 1835 Pension Roll

On June 5, 1834, the U.S. Senate required the Secretary of War to submit a statement showing the names of pensioners who were on the pension rolls or had previously been on the pension rolls. For more information on the 1835 Pension Roll see Revolutionary War Pension Records. The 1835 Pension Roll for the Territory of Florida is available online:

• Report from the Secretary of War... Vol. III (Google Books)
• The Pension Roll of 1835, Vol. III (Ancestry) ($)

War of 1812 (1812-1815)

The War of 1812 between Britain and the United States confirmed the separate existence of the United States and the future Canada. Florida was under Spanish rule during the War of 1812. Records are available, however, for War of 1812 soldiers that later settled in Florida.

National Records

There are helpful nationwide records for soldiers of the War of 1812. For more information, see United States in the War of 1812.

Land Records

• Ayers, Linda. Florida. Some Military Land Grants For Soldiers of the War of 1812. (Free). (The USGenWeb Archives War of 1812 Project - Pensions, Rosters & Land Grants).  Search by county.(Accessed 11 May 2012). 

Pension Records

• Fold3, Florida War of 1812 Pension Files.(Free). Some soldiers that settled in Florida after the War are listed in the records. Alphabetical by surname. Incomplete as of 1 Jun 2012.
  

• War of 1812 Pensioners Living in Florida and Louisiana in the 1880's : and Others on the Roll Including Some Civil War Pensioners. (Wyandotte:Gregath, [199-?]). 38 pages. FHL Book 975.9 A1 no 195

Mexican War (1846-1848)

The Mexican War was caused by the annexation of Texas by the United States in 1845. Most volunteer regiments were from southern states. Records of Mexican War veterans might exist in a state where the veteran later resided.

• Mexican War Index to Pension Files, 1887–1926. (NARA T317). FHL films 0537000–13 Alphabetically arranged and includes the veteran’s name, rank, and unit; names of dependents; date of filing and application; certificate numbers; act filed under; and state from which application was made. Also available at:
  

• United States, Mexican War Pension Index, 1887-1926 (FamilySearch) Free digital copy. (Learn more.)
  

• Robarts, William Hugh. Mexican War Veterans : A Complete Roster of the Regular and Volunteer Troops in the War Between the United States and Mexico, from 1846-1848… Washington, D.C. : Brentano’s, 1887. FHL book 973 M2rwh Digital version available at Internet Archive.
  

• James, Russell D. Too Late for Blood: Florida Volunteers in the Mexican War. (Westminster, Maryland: Heritage Books, c2005). Historical summary of the five volunteer companies raised in Florida for service in the war with Mexico. Includes muster rolls and lists of deaths, discharges, pensions, and bounty land warrants.
  

Click on these links to learn more about the Mexican War and about Mexican War pension records.

Indian Wars (1780s-1890s)

The library also has an index to Indian Wars pension files, 1892 to 1926 (Family History Library microfilms 821610-21). The index includes those soldiers who served between 1817 and 1898. The actual pension files have not been filmed and are only at the National Archives.

Second Seminole War (Florida War) (1835-42) and Third Seminole War (1855-58)

Only the service records for soldiers from the state of Florida have been microfilmed:

• Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Florida during the Florida Indian Wars, 1835–1858 National Archives Microfilm Publication M1086. (FHL films 6019538;1303446-500;1303296-297;1313918-23) (FHL 63 films) (Worldcat) (Ancestry)-($)

An index to these records is also available, See Index to Compiled Military Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served during Indian Wars and Disturbances, 1815–58.

Civil War (1861-1865)

Confed Monument St Augustine.jpg

See Florida in the Civil War for information about Florida Civil War records, web sites, etc. with links to articles about the Florida regiments involved in the Civil War. The regimental articles often include lists of the companies with links to the counties where the companies started. Men in the companies often lived in the counties where the companies were raised. Knowing a county can help when researching the families of the soldiers.

The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System allows name searching for soldiers. The result set gives the regiment for the soldiers. Then you can check the regiment page to determine counties. Often knowing the counties that had men in a regiment will help you determine if a soldier was your ancestor.

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

Florida, Service Records of Confederate Soldiers of the Civil War (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Spanish-American War (1898)

The Spanish-American War was largely fought in Cuba and the Philippines. Spanish-American War records might exist in the state from which the soldier served or in a state where the veteran later resided.

Indexes

• United States, General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 (NARA T288). (FamilySearch) Free digital copy. The index covers veterans of the Civil War, Spanish‑American War, Philippine Insurrection, Boxer Rebellion (1900 to 1901), and the regular Army, Navy, and Marine forces. (Learn more.)

• United States, Index to Service Records, War with Spain, 1898 (FamilySearch) Free digital copy. (Learn more.)

The compiled military service records of volunteer soldiers who served in the Florida Infantry are at the National Archives and the Family History Library (Family History Library microfilms 1314126-38). Published rosters are found in Soldiers of Florida in the Seminole Indian Civil and Spanish-American Wars (Live Oak, Florida: Democrat Book and Job Print, 1909; Family History Library book 975.9 M2s; also on microfilm 988193).

Click on the link to learn more about the Spanish American War.

World War I (1917-1918)

World War I was a global war fought on multiple continents with several nations involved. Over four million men and women served from the United States.

• United States. Selective Service System. Florida, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. National Archives Microfilm Publications, M1509. Washington, DC: National Archives, 1987-1988. (On Family History Library microfilms beginning with film 1556849). Also available at:
  

• United States, World War One Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 (FamilySearch) - free

See WWI Draft Records for more information.

World War II (1941-1945)

Draft Registration

On April 27, 1942, the Selective Service conducted the fourth of six draft registrations related to WWII. The "World War II Selective Service Draft Cards: Fourth Registration, 1942" is often referred to as the “Old Man’s Registration” or the “Old Man’s Draft" because it included men with a date of birth from April 28, 1877 to February 16, 1897. Since there is overlap in the WWI and WWII Selective Service registration, men born in the years 1877 to 1900 may have registered twice and have both WWII and WWI draft records.

• United States, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 (Image Browse) (FamilySearch) - free
• United States, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 (images with partial index) (FamilySearch) - free

Also available at:

• Ancestry ($)
• Fold3 ($).

Other Records

• United States. War Department. World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing, State of Florida. FHL film 988193 Item 2

World War II United States Military Records provides additional information.

Korean War (1950–1953)

The Korean War was a conflict between North Korea (and its communist allies) and South Korea (with support of the United Nations, primarily the United States). See the Korean War wiki article for information on records and their availability.

Vietnam War (1964–1972)  

The Vietnam War was a conflict between North Vietnam (and its communist allies) and South Vietnam (with support of its anti-communist allies, including the United States). See the Vietnam War wiki article for information on records and their availability.

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