Locating a Confederate Civil War Soldier (1861–1865)
United States 
U.S. Military U.S. Civil War Locating a Confederate Soldier
| United States Civil War, 1861-1865 | |
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| Getting Started | |
| General Topics | |
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| Confederate | |
| Personnel Types | |
Male ancestors who were born in the 1830s or 1840s and who lived in a southern state or the border states of Kentucky, Maryland, or Missouri, were most likely to have served in the Confederate forces in the U.S. Civil War. Most who served were in their late teens or early twenties but could have been older or younger. To find records, it helps to know at least the state from which your ancestor served.
- Desmond Walls Allen. Which Henry Cook? A Methodology for Searching Confederate Ancestors Prologue: Journal of the National Archives 27 #3 (Fall 1995): 286-289. FS Library 973 B2p v. 27 1995
Guide Books
- J. H. Segars, In search of Confederate ancestors : the guide. 2nd ed. Madison, Georgia : Southern Lion Books, c2005 FS Library 973 D27seg 2005
- James C. Neagles. Confederate research sources : a guide to archive collections Ancestry Publishing, c1997 FS Library 973 A3ne 1997
- 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, FS Library 973 M27sc
Social Histories
- Bell Irvin Wiley. The life of Johnny Reb : the common soldier of the Confederacy.Baton Rouge, Louisiana : Louisiana State University Press, 1984, c1970. FS Library 973 M2wL
- James I. Robertson. Soldiers blue and gray.Columbia, South Carolina : University of South Carolina Press, c1988. FS Library 973 M2rj
Service records
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. Some soldiers served in a military unit raised by the Confederate government rather than from one of the states.
On the Internet
Step A. 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.
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)
- If you find your ancestor in this Civil War Soldiers and Sailors database, make a copy of the information, and then look for the service record in Fold3. If you do not find the service record in Fold3, skip to Step 3.
Step B. Find the service record in Fold3, a subsidiary of Ancestry.com on the Internet. Fold3 shows images of service record card abstracts of entries of each soldier in original muster rolls, returns, rosters, payrolls, appointment books, hospital registers, Union prison registers and rolls, parole rolls, and inspection reports. These cards are arranged by state, by military unit, and then alphabetically by soldier's name.
To find an ancestor's card, open Fold3 to the Civil War Service Records > Confederate Records page, select the ancestors state, and then select his military unit within that state. You can then find the alphabetical list of soldiers' service record cards, and view individual cards.
- If you find an ancestor's card(s), make a copy, then note the source on your research log, update your family group record, and you are done with service record abstract cards. If you do NOT find the ancestor's card, you could continue the search by searching the microfilm version of the same records as follows:
On Microfilm
Step 1. If you know the state where your ancestor enlisted (but still need to find his regiment), search the following statewide alphabetical indexes on microfilm for your ancestor's name. Click the appropriate state's FS Library Film numbers blue link below to see the catalog entry showing which parts of the alphabetical index are on which films.
- If you find your ancestor in one of these statewide indexes, make a copy of the information, and skip to Step 3.
Step 2. If you do NOT know the state where your ancestor enlisted, search for your ancestor's name in the following microfilm index:
- Consolidated Index to Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers on
FS Library Films 191127 to 191661 (NARA M253).
- Consolidated Index to Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers on
- Make a copy of any information you find.
- Make a copy of any information you find.
Step 3. Search the compiled military service records. Once you know an ancestor was in a military unit raised by either (a) the Confederate government, or (b) a particular state, plus the name of his military unit, and the name by which he was identified during the war, you are prepared to look up his service records. Search by state (or by the Confederate government), by military unit, and then by soldier's name in the microfilms listed in the following table. Click on the appropriate state's FS Library Film number's blue link below to see the catalog entry showing which military units are on which films. In the catalog entry you may need to scroll past a beginning index before you come to the list of various military units.
Make a copy of the service record documents, record the results of the search on your research log, and update your family group record.
Pension records
Pension records contain information on a veteran’s military service, wife and children, and place of residence. The federal government did not issue pensions to veterans who fought for the Confederacy. In an effort to compensate disabled veterans or widows, most southern states began paying pensions from state funds. Not all veterans or widows applied for or received pensions. By common consent former Confederate states agreed that pensions would be granted by the state in which the veteran or his widow lived at the time of application rather than by the state from which he served.[1] Therefore, you may need to search each state in which a veteran lived after the Civil War.
On the Internet
- Alabama, pensions 1862-1947 Ancestry
- Alabama, Confederate Pension Applications, ca. 1880-1930's FamilySearch
- Arkansas Confederate Pension Applications 1891-1936 Arkansas Digital Archives; pensions 1901-1929 FamilySearch
- Arkansas Ex-Confederate Pension Records, 1891-1939 - FamilySearch
- Florida pensions 1885-1955 FL Dept State; pensions 1885-1955 FamilySearch
- Georgia 1879-1960 GA Archives; pensions 1879-1960 Ancestry
- Georgia Confederate Pension Rolls, 1879-1920 FamilySearch
- Kentucky pensions 1912-1946 (by county) KY Archives; applications 1912-1950 (by number; index lacking) FamilySearch; pensions 1912-1930 Ancestry
- Louisiana pensions 1898-1950 LA State Archives; pensions 1898-1950 FamilySearch
- Mississippi applications 1889-1932 MS Dept of Archives and History; pensions 1889-1935 FamilySearch; applications 1900-1974 FamilySearch
- Missouri pensions 1911-1938 FamilySearch
- North Carolina how to access to online pensions NC State Archives; pensions 1885-1953 FamilySearch
- Oklahoma pension index pdf OK Dept of Libraries; pension index cards 1915-? ODL
- Oklahoma Confederate Pension Applications, 1879-1920 FamilySearch
- South Carolina various Confederate records including pensions 1888-1973 SC Archives
- Tennessee applications 1891-1965 TN State Library and Archives; applications 1891-1965 FamilySearch; applications 1891-1965 Ancestry
- Texas pensions 1899-1975 TX State Library and Archives Commission; pensions 1899-1875 Ancestry; pensions 1899-1965 Fold3
- Virginia pensions 1888-1978 Library of Virginia; pensions 1888-1978 Ancestry
The National Archives' Confederate Pension Records page on the Internet also provides a state-by-state list, and links to southern state archives which have pension records.
On Microfilm
It helps to know the state of residence of a veteran or widow after the war in order to search for a file on microfilm. The FamilySearch Library has microfilms (or books) of the Confederate pension files for each state.
- Alabama FS Library Film 1502476-1522003; At various libraries (WorldCat).
- Arkansas FS Library Film 1697692 item 2; FS Library Book 976.7 M22ai; At various libraries (WorldCat).
- Cleveland Co. At various libraries (WorldCat).
- Garland Co. At various libraries (WorldCat).
- Hot Spring Co. At various libraries (WorldCat).
- Independence Co. At various libraries (WorldCat).
- Logan Co. At various libraries (WorldCat).
- Marion Co. At various libraries (WorldCat).
- Washington Co. At various libraries (WorldCat).
- Florida FS Library Book 975.9 M2w; At various libraries (WorldCat).
- Georgia (Index) FS Library Book 975.8 M22w; At various libraries (WorldCat). (Pensions) FS Library Film 315678 +; At various libraries (WorldCat).
- Kentucky (Index) FS Library Book 976.9 M2k; At various libraries (WorldCat). (Applications) FS Library Film 1670795-1670844; At various libraries (WorldCat).
- Louisiana (Pensions 1912-1936) FS Library Film 1704156 Item 17; At various libraries (WorldCat). (Pensions 1924 and 1933) FS Library Book 976.3 M2dw; At various libraries (WorldCat).
- Mississippi FS Library Film 902556-904430; At various libraries (WorldCat).
- Missouri (Pension and soldier home applications) FS Library Film 1021101-1021127; (WorldCat).
- North Carolina (Applications and index) FS Library Film 1535033-1547719; Index at various libraries (WorldCat).
- Oklahoma (Index) FS Library Fiche 6046932; At various libraries (WorldCat). (Applications) FS Library Film 1001529-1001548; At various libraries (WorldCat).
- South Carolina At various libraries (WorldCat); See also individual SC county in the FamilySearch Catalog including Anderson County, veterans and widows applications for pensions, 1916-1956;Charleston County, soldiers and widows pension rolls, 1916-1959; Edgefield County, veterans and their widows pension records, 1919-1924;Fairfield County, Pension records of Confederate veterans and their widows, 1889-1891;Laurens County, pension roll and record, 1898, 1933-1968;Pickens County, pension rolls and widows, 1922-1956; Spartanburg County, pension records, 1889, 1896, 1916-1935; Union County, veterans and widows pension applications, 1919-1920; York County, pension record, 1896-1964
- Tennessee (Index) FS Library Film 873919; At various libraries (WorldCat). (Applications 1891-1965) FS Library Film 978497 +; At various libraries (WorldCat).
- Texas (Index) FS Library Book 976.4 M22w; At various libraries (WorldCat). (Applications) FS Library Film 960279 +; At various libraries (WorldCat).
- Virginia FS Library Film 1439763 +; At various libraries (WorldCat).
Soldier homes
Many states North and South maintained soldier homes for needy veterans. Records of these homes can provide biographical, family, and military service information on its applicants and inmates. The FamilySearch Library has soldier home related records for some, but not all Confederate soldier homes in every formerly Confederate state except North Carolina. For further details and links see US Military Old Soldiers Home Records.
FamilySearch Catalog
- Tennessee Confederate Soldier's Home. Soldiers' Applications for admission, 1889- ca. 1965
- Robert E. Lee Camp Confederate Soldiers' Home. Virginia. Applications for admission, 1884-1941
- Robert E. Lee Camp Confederate Soldiers' Home. Virginia. Registers of residents, 1885-1939
FamilySearch Historical Records
- Arkansas Confederate Soldier Home,1890-1963
- Florida, Old Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Home records, 1888-1938
- Georgia Confederate Home Records, 1901-1930
- Missouri, Confederate Pension Applications and Soldiers Home Applications, 1911-1938
- South Carolina, Confederate Home Records, 1909-1958
Veterans' organizations
Read the Confederate Veterans and Lineage Society Records page for help in finding information on veterans' organizations and lineage societies.
- If an ancestor survived the war, he may have joined a veterans' organization like the United Confederate Veterans.
- Look in the Confederate Veteran, 40 vols. (Nashville, Tenn.: United Confederate Veterans, 1893-1932). At various libraries (WorldCat). FS Library Book 973 B2cv. This was their official publication from 1893 to 1932. Indexed in Confederate Veteran Magazine, 1893-1932. Cumulative Index, 3 vols. (Wilmington, North Carolina: Broadfoot Pub., 1986). At various libraries (WorldCat). FS Library Book 973 B2cva index.
- Check the records of veteran’s organizations because they may provide biographical information about their members. For example, some UCV rosters of membership for the years 1895 to 1899 are on FS Library Films 1710607 items 10–20 and 1710608. At various libraries (WorldCat).
- Check with the state archives, historical society, or state library for any available veterans' organizations records of the state in which your ancestor served or lived after the war. See the Archives and Libraries section of each state's Wiki page for these addresses.
Lineage Societies
A descendant of your ancestor may also have joined a lineage society like the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Contact their national headquarters to learn about this organization. See their web site at United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Other Sources
Use the Military Records section for the state's Wiki page in which your ancestor enlisted to find other military papers, such as state rosters, Adjutant General’s reports, regimental or unit histories, and county histories.
You can also find these sources in the FamilySearch Catalog Place Search under the name of the state and the topic
- [State] — Military Records — Civil War, 1861–1865
Look for additional information about Civil War records in the FamilySearch Research Wiki at:
References
- ↑ Confederate Pension Applications in Arkansas Digital Archives (accessed 22 February 20201).