Union Service and Pension Records

Portal:United States Military Records>United States Civil War, 1861 to 1865

Union Service Records

Union Army soldiers may have served in the U.S. Army, local militia units mustered into federal service, or volunteer regiments raised by the individual states. The length of service varied from 90 days to three years. Many soldiers also reenlisted, serving in more than one regiment. The Union Army and Navy enlisted over 2.3 million men, of which nearly 359,000 died in combat or from wounds and disease.

There is currently no master index to the names of soldiers who served in Union volunteer regiments. Individual indexes to state volunteer regiments are available on microfilm for every Northern state and every Southern state except South Carolina.

Most service records have not been microfilmed and are available only at the National Archives. For a listing of records available at the National Archives and at the Family History Library see Union Service Records .

Service Records of Sailors

For records of sailors who served in the Union Navy, contact the National Archives. The records have not been filmed and are available only at the National Archives in Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel. The weekly returns of enlistments, 1855 to 1891, are the records of most value for sailors, particularly those who served between 1855 and 1865. Entries list the sailor’s name, enlistment date, birthplace, age, occupation, personal description, date of or return of enlistment, and record of previous naval service. For additional sources see service records of Union sailors.