Locating a Union Civil War Soldier (1861-1865)

United States U.S. Military U.S. Civil War Locating a Union Soldier

If you have a male ancestor who was born in the 1830s or 1840s, you may use this guide to see if he served in the Civil War. Most who served were in their late teens or early twenties but could have been older or younger. Union state volunteer military units existed for every state except South Carolina, and these units kept records. To find records, you need to know at least:

the name of your ancestor
the state where your ancestor lived when the war started in 1861

Search service records to find the military unit

Military service records may give the rank, dates of service, place of residence prior to enlistment, age, place of birth, physical description, and date and place of death or discharge. To locate your Civil War soldier or sailor check the:

Military service records may give the rank, dates of service, place of residence prior to enlistment, age, place of birth, physical description, and date and place of death or discharge.

What you will need to get started

Service records are normally arranged by state, then by military unit, and then alphabetically by the serviceman's name. In order to find the service records you will need to determine the state from which he served, his military unit, and the name by which your ancestor was identified during the war.

Search the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database on the Internet. This easy-to-use database lists over 6 million Confederate and Union soldiers, and 18,000 African American sailors. The search engine finds names alphabetically.

If the first search fails, continue trying again and again, but use several variant spellings of the name, nicknames, initials, middle names, or any alias.If you find too many matching names, try to narrow the field by using clues from your knowledge of your ancestors, such as his place of residence, or relatives or neighbors that joined up with him. Also, each state's ". . . in the Civil War" page on the Wiki has a link to that state's military units regiment-by-regiment. That regimental list sometimes gives the place where they were first organized or discharged. The majority of regiments were raised mostly in one or two counties..

Sometimes the database shows the same person under more than one spelling of his name.

1. Each entry in the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors database has the potential to list each serviceman's:

regiment or battalion (always listed)
if Confederate or Union (always listed)
company
soldier's rank in
soldier's rank out
alternate name
National Archives source microfilm number (always listed)

2. Check each state for an index to the Compiled Military Service Records. These can be searched by name at fold3. This site is free at the FamilySearch Library. See also the FamilySearch Collection United States Civil War Soldiers Index, 1861-1865 See also United States Civil War Soldiers Index - Coverage Table - FamilySearch Historical Records They have also been copied into books located on the 3rd floor:

3.Janet B. Hewett, ed. The Roster of Union Soldiers, 1861 1865. 33 vols., Wilmington, N.C.: Broadfoot Pub., 1997–2000.Book. Find FS Library Book 973 M29h.

4. Look for your ancestor’s service record in the Compiled Military Service Records.
These records are available online at fold3. This website is free at the FamilySearch Library.
To order Civil War Service Records complete the NATF Form 86 National Archives Order for Copies or order the records online. If you order using Form 86 send your request to:

Old Military and Civil Records (NWCTB-Military),
Textual Archives Services Division,
National Archives & Records Administration,
700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20408-0001

5. Compiled military service records may be searchable in the National Archives catalog. See Carded Records Showing Military Service of Soldiers Who Fought in Volunteer Organizations During the American Civil War, 1890–1912 NAID 300398 and click on the link "Search within this Series.

6. Your ancestor may have served in the Regular Army or Navy. The following FamilySearch collectons include enlistments.

Search for your ancestor’s pension records

Pension records contain information on a soldier’s military service, wife and children, and place of residence. The Federal Government issued pensions to veterans and their widows who met the eligibility requirements. Not all veterans received a pension.

Find the application or pension numbers you need in order to request Union pension records (pension files). The actual files have not been microfilmed, but the indexes are available at the United States General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 FamilySearch], fold3 and Ancestry.com.

Search the index General Index to Pension Files, 1861–1934. It is alphabetical by the veteran's name.

If your ancestor was still alive between 1907 and 1933, search this index:

Veteran’s Administration Pension Payment Cards, 1907–1933.

Obtain copies of a pension file from the National Archives.

Complete the NATF 85 form, which is available online.
Send the completed form to the National Archives address listed below

Old Military and Civil Records (NWCTB-Military),
Textual Archives Services Division,
National Archives & Records Administration,
700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20408-0001

Pension records can also be ordered on online through the National Archives website.

Look for additional information about Civil War records in the National Archives on their Web site.

Search other sources.

Look for additional information about Civil War records in the FamilySearch Research Wiki. Search the topic [United States Civil War, 1861-1865]] and click on the link to Union records.

These can also be found in the FamilySearch Catalog under the name of the state and the topic Military Records—Civil War 1861 1865.

Search the records of veteran organizations and lineage societies.

If your ancestor survived the war, he may have joined a veteran’s organization like the Grand Army of the Republic. See the following article for additional societies Union Veterans' and Lineage Society Records

Robert B. Beath. History of the Grand Army of the Republic. New York, New York : Bryan, Taylor & Co., 1888, c1889 FamilySearch Digital Library

Look in the records of such organizations because they may provide biographical information about their members.
Check with the state archives, historical society, or state library for any available records of the state in which your ancestor lived after the war. *See the research outline for the state where your ancestor lived for the addresses. The following state collections have been published in Historical Records on FamilySearch:

A descendant of your ancestor may also have joined a lineage society like the Sons of Union Veterans, or Daughters of Union Veterans.

Contact their national headquarters for information.
Use the Sons of Union Veterans Web site: www.suvcw.org.

Guidebooks

Brian A. Brown, In the footsteps of the Blue and Gray : a Civil War research handbook Shawnee Mission, Kansas : Two Trails Genealogy Shop, c1996 FS Library 973 D27bab
Bertram Hawthorne Groene, Tracing your Civil War ancestor 4th ed. Winston-Salem, North Carolina : John F. Blair, c1995. FS Library 973 D27gb 1995
Stephen McManus, Civil War research guide : a guide for researching your Civil War ancestor Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania : Stackpole Books, c2003 FS Library 973 D27mcw
Nancy Justus Morebeck, Locating Union & Confederate records : a guide to the most commonly used Civil War records of the National Archives and FamilySearch Library North Salt Lake, Utah : Heritage Quest, c2001 FS Library 973 M23mL
Richard A. Sauers, How to do Civil War research Rev. ed. Conshohocken, Pennsylvania : Combined Pub., c2000, RFS Library 973 M27sc

Social Histories

Bell Irvin Wiley. The life of Billy Yank : the common soldier of the Union. Baton Rouge, Louisiana : Louisiana State University Press, 1983, c1980. FS Library 973 M2wb
James I. Robertson. Soldiers blue and gray. Columbia, South Carolina : University of South Carolina Press, c1988. FS Library 973 M2rj

Personal Narratives

John D. Billings, Hardtack and coffee, or, The unwritten story of army life : including chapters on enlisting, life in tents and log huts, Jonahs and beats, offences and punishments, raw recruits, foraging, corps and corps badges, the wagon trains, the army mule, the Engineer Corps, the Signal Corps, etc. Microfiche of original published: George M. Smith & Co., c1887 FS Library fiche 6083072