Confederate Service Records

United States Civil War, 1861-1865

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Soldiers[edit | edit source]

Confederate soldiers may have served from a military unit raised by the Confederate Government or by an individual Confederate state. Most Confederate soldiers served with a unit raised in the community where they lived.

Regulations of the Army of the Confederate States

Compiled Service Records[edit | edit source]

The Compiled Service Records for Confederate soldiers were made by the United States Record and Pension Office in the War department, beginning in 1903. The Record and Pension Office made card abstracts from records in the War Department Collection of Confederate Records and from other borrowed documents. In addition to the cards, original documents that related only to the individual soldier were included.

The card abstracts were made from original muster rolls, returns, rosters, payrolls, appointment books, hospital registers, Union prison registers and rolls, parole rolls, and inspection reports. Service records may provide rank, unit, date of enlistment, length of service, age, place of birth, and date of death. The Compiled Service Records were made in an effort to obtain as nearly complete record of military service as possible at the time.

Related Articles

Claire Prechtel-Kluskens.Thank you, General Fred C. Ainsworth! NGS Magazine 37 #4 (October-December 2011): 54-57.
Claire Prechtel-Kluskens. Compiled Service Records. Part I: The records inside the CMSR Jacket. NGS Magazine 38 #1 (January-March 2121): 32-36.
Claire Prechtel-Kluskens. Compiled Service Records. Part II: The records outside the CMSR Jacket. NGS Magazine 38 #2 (April-June 2012): 32-38.
Claire Prechtel-Kluskens. Compiled Military Service Records. Part III: The record of events. NGS Magazine 38 #3 (July-September 2012): 28-31.
Claire Prechtel-Kluskens. Compiled Military Service Records. Part IV: Carded medical records. NGS Magazine 40 #4 (October-December 2014): 37-40.

See card examples and descriptions on Fold3.com.

The Compiled Service Records ($) (Fold3.com) of Confederate soldiers are available online. In the future, these records will be made available at no charge through the National Archives web site. Transcriptions of the records are available on FamilySearch. The service records are also available to access at no charge at any library that provides free access to Fold3.

The Family Search Historical Records online Collection has some confederate soldier records.

Compiled Service Records of Individual States[edit | edit source]

The following three collections are not needed if searching the entire collection Compiled Service Records available on Fold3.com. They are include in that database. If you are using the records of the individual states, however, the following three collections should also be searched as they are not included in the compiled service records of the individual states.

Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in Organizations Raised Directly by the Confederate Government. National Archives Microfilm Publication M258. (FS Library films 0880207–329) (Worldcat) (Fold3) ($) (FamilySearch). -- M258 includes records for the Indian Territory (Oklahoma). National Archives descriptive pamphlet M258.pdf
Index. NARA M818.
"Compiled Service Records of Confederate General and Staff Officers and Nonregimental Enlisted Men". National Archives Microfilm Publication M331. Includes those men performing staff duties. (FS Library films 0881105–379) (Fold3) ($) (FamilySearch). National Archives descriptive pamphlet M331.pdf
Index. NARA M818.
"Unfiled Papers and Slips Belonging to Confederate Compiled Service Records". National Archives Microfilm Publication M347. (FS Library films 1402001–442) (Fold3) ($) (FamilySearch). National Archives descriptive pamphlet M347.pdf

State	FHL Index	NARA	Pamphlet	FHL MicroFilm	Libraries^[1]	Fold3	FamilySearch^[2]
Alabama	Index	M311	pdf	0880330‑837	Worldcat	Fold3 ($)	FamilySearch
Arizona Territory	Index	M318	pdf	0536241	Worldcat	Fold3 ($)	FamilySearch
Arkansas	Index	M317	pdf	0880849–1104	Worldcat	Fold3 ($)	FamilySearch
Florida	Index	M251	pdf	0880103–206	Worldcat	Fold3 ($)	FamilySearch
Georgia	Index	M266	pdf	1499064–670	Worldcat	Fold3 ($)	FamilySearch
Indian Territory (Oklahoma)				See M258 above
Kentucky	Index	M319	pdf	1447468–603	Worldcat	Fold3 ($)	FamilySearch
Louisiana	Index	M320	pdf	1447604–975, 1473206–47	Worldcat	Fold3 ($)	FamilySearch
Maryland	Index	M321	pdf	1292663–84	Worldcat	Fold3 ($)	FamilySearch
Mississippi	Index	M269	pdf	1488026–452	Worldcat	Fold3 ($)	FamilySearch
Missouri	Index	M322	pdf	1500030–222	Worldcat	Fold3 ($)	FamilySearch
North Carolina	Index	M270	pdf	1381001–500, 1447001–80	Worldcat	Fold3 ($)	FamilySearch
South Carolina	Index	M267	pdf	1380691–95, 1447081–467	Worldcat	Fold3 ($)	FamilySearch
Tennessee	Index	M268	pdf	1499671–854, 1499856–1500028, 1527065	Worldcat	Fold3 ($)	FamilySearch
Texas	Index	M323	pdf	1501077–52	Worldcat	Fold3 ($)	FamilySearch
Virginia	Index	M324	pdf	1488678–9752	Worldcat	Fold3 ($)	FamilySearch

Officers[edit | edit source]

The "Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army..." by Francis B. Heitman lists U.S. Army officers who joined the Confederate Army and the highest rank they attained.

1861 - 1865 United States Confederate Officers Card Index, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images

Biographical Sketches

For biographical sketches and other information about officers in addition to the service records, see the following:

More Generals in Gray
Confederate Staff Officers, 1861–1865
Includes birth, death year; rank, etc. Includes staff.
Biographical Sketches of the Commissioned Officers of the Confederate States Marine Corps
Includes names of officer, parents, birth date, service history, marriage, and death information.
Going South: U.S. Navy Officer Resignations and Dismissals On the Eve of the Civil War
The appendix contains information about officers and is arranged by rank.
List of Field Officers, Regiments and Battalions in the Confederate States Army, 1861–1865
Contains name, rank, and unit.
Lee’s Colonels: A Biographical Register of the Field Officers of the Army of Northern Virginia
The appendix contains an additional list of 3,524 field officers by name, identifying rank, and unit.
Register of Officers of the Confederate States Navy, 1861–1865
Some entries list the state of birth, state appointed from, service history, and rank.
Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders
Contains brief sketches of military service with some pictures and birth and death information.

Sailors[edit | edit source]

Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System[edit | edit source]

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

Government Records[edit | edit source]

U.S. Navy Department. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. 30 Volumes. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1894–1922. National Archives Microfilm Publication M275. (FS Catalog book 973 M2unr; films 1490058–88) Similar to the official records of the armies, it is known as the ORN (Official Records . . . Navy). Its two series contain reports and correspondence on the Northern blockade of Southern ports and on matters concerning the Confederate Navy. Volume 1, series II has an index to Union and Confederate ships, statistical data, and muster rolls of confederate vessels.

The following is an index to this set:

Knox, Dudley W. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion . . . General Index. . . . 1927. Reprint, New York, New York: Antiquarian Press, 1961. (FS Library book 973 M2unr index; film 0924604 item 2.) Alphabetically arranged with reference to series and volume number. The page number is located by searching the index in the specific volume referred to in the general index.

Confederate Naval and Marine Personnel Records (FS Library 191662-8) (NARA M260) has information about sailors and Marines abstracted from original documents, such as hospital, prison, and parole records.

Other Resources[edit | edit source]

Thomas Truxtun Moebs Confederate States Navy Research Guide: Confederate naval imprints described and annotated, chronology of naval operation and administration, marine corps and naval officer biographies, description and service of vessels, subject bibliography Williamsburg, Virginia : Moebs Publishing Co., c1991 FS Library 973 M2moe contains biographical sketches of Naval and Marine officers, naval histories of Confederate naval vessels, and a subject bibliography of sources.(Worldcat)

Service Records of Confederate Enlisted Marines (Worldcat) lists name, company, enlistment date, and place along with brief service histories.

Wiki articles describing the FamilySearch online collections above are found at:

For Further Reading[edit | edit source]

Desmond Walls Allen. Which Henry Cook? A Methodology for Searching Confederate Ancestors. Prologue 27 (Fall,1995):
John P. Beeben." Confederate Court-Martial Records: An Alternate Research Strategy for Missing Case Files." NGS Magazine 41 # 1 (January-March 2015): 36-40. FS Library 973 D25ngs
Marie Varrelman Melchiori.Searching for Confederate Soldier Records at the National Archives. NGS Magazine (July, August, September, 2005):15-18.
John M. Sacher, Confederate Conscription and the Struggle for Southern Soldiers Louisiana state University Press, 2022

References and Notes[edit | edit source]

↑ Some of the Worlcat links may show both book and microfilm formats held. The book refers to the pamphlet that describes the microfilmed records and the microfilm format refers to the actual service records. Check with the library to be sure they have the actual records.
↑ Transcriptions only - no images.

[1] Some of the Worlcat links may show both book and microfilm formats held. The book refers to the pamphlet that describes the microfilmed records and the microfilm format refers to the actual service records. Check with the library to be sure they have the actual records.

[2] Transcriptions only - no images.

[1]

[2]