California Military Records: Difference between revisions

Many military records are at the Family History Library, the National Archives, and other federal and state archives. The United States Research Outline provides more information on the federal records. For California the following sources are especially helpful:

The Family History Library has an index to compiled military service records of Union Army volunteers from California (881609-15). The compiled military service records and the pension records have not been microfilmed and are only available at the National Archives. The Family History Library has the pension index on microfilm.

An exhaustive list of the Civil War volunteers is found in Richard H. Orton, ''Records of California Men in the War of Rebellion, 1861-1867'' (Sacramento, California: State Office, 1890; FHL book 979.4 M2a; film 1000133 item 4; fiche 6051180). An index to this list is J. Carlyle Parker, ''A Personal Name Index to Orton's "Records of California Men in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1867"'' (Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Company, 1978; FHL 979.4 M2a Index).

The California State Archives has military records from the California Adjutant General's office dating from 1849 to 1945. These include papers of the California Militia from 1850 to 1916, registers of California Volunteers in the Civil and Spanish-American Wars, records of California National Guard Units, and enlistment records from World War I and World War II. The Family History Library has microfilm copies of some of these records from 1858 to 1923 on 35 rolls. Records from World War I that include name, biographical, geographical, and newspaper card files are on the last 17 rolls of this set.

http://www.militarymuseum.org/History.html

http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~xander/california-records.htm