RESEARCHING YOUR CIVIL WAR
ANCESTORS
by Jayne McCormick
Where to Begin
You've found you have an ancestor who was in the Civil War...
First you will want to order NAFT (National Archives Trust Fund) forms 85 and 86
so you can send for his Pension/Bounty Land warrant Application and his Compiled
Military Service Record.
You can get the forms 2 different ways:
1) You may order them online at:
http://www.archives.gov/contact/inquire-form.html - click the little box in front of the form/s you want and then fill in any other information necessary, click on "Review Your Entries" If all your information is correct, click on "submit" I usually order the maximum number because you're bound to find others who served.
2) The forms can be obtained via snail
mail. Write to:
National Archives and Records Administration,
Attn: NWCTB
700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW,
Washington, DC 20408-0001.
If you don't know the regiment your ancestor was in, while waiting for the forms to arrive, you will want to check out the Civil War Soldier and Sailors System to see if your ancestor is there. If so, you will learn his Regiment, Company, rank when he mustered in and rank when he mustered out.
http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/ This is a National Parks Service website
and holds many Civil War records.
Normally you wouldn't think about the Parks Service
holding records, but this site is a must see.
If your soldier isn't listed, it does not mean he
didn't serve.
You might also check your local FHC, they have much of the same information that
is available in the Archives branches. Original records, however, are only
available at the National Archives. If it is at all possible, you really want to
make that trip. There is nothing like holding those originals in your hands.
Another option is The Roster of Union Soldiers: 1861 1865, Edited by Janet B.
Hewett; Published by Broadfoot Publishing Co., Wilmington, NC. There are 33
Volumes 3,000,000 names.
Connecticut/Rhode Island 1 volume
Delaware/New Jersey 1 volume
Pennsylvania/District of Columbia/Maryland 4 volumes
Missouri/Florida/North Carolina/Georgia/Alabama/
Mississippi/Louisiana/Texas/Arkansas/Kansas 2 Volumes
Illinois 3 volumes
Indiana 2 volumes
Iowa/Minnesota 1 volume
Kentucky/Tennessee 1 volume
Maine/New Hampshire 1 volume
Massachusetts/Vermont 2 volumes
Michigan 1 volume
New York 5 volumes
Ohio/West Virginia/Virginia 4 volumes
Wisconsin 1 volume
Regulars/Arizona/California/Colorado/Dakota/Nebraska/Nevada/
New Mexico/Oregon/Utah/Washington 2 volumes
U.S. Colored Troops 2 volumes
There is also Roster of Union Soldiers 1861-1865 CD-ROM VERSION.
The printed volumes can be purchased from Broadfoot Publication at $100 per
volume.... do the math, that's $3,300. Now if you don't want to spend that kind
of money, the CD-ROM Version which includes all 33 volumes, can be had for $650.
A real bargain, don't you think?
I found the volume for New Jersey & Delaware at our Historical Society Library.
If your soldier was Confederate, you need to check The Roster of Confederate
Soldiers 1861 1865 Edited by Janet B. Hewett, Published by Broadfoot
Publishing Co., Wilmington, NC. There are 16 Volumes of rosters assembled in
Surname Alphabetical order listing their Regiment and Company
Basic
Records
Compiled Military
Service Records (CMSR)
Each volunteer soldier, Union and Confederate has a Compiled Military Service
Record for each regiment in which he served (Cost $17). The CMSR contains basic
information about the soldier's military career. Form 86. Information that may
be included in these records are cards indicating whether a soldier was present
or absent during a certain period of time, date of the enlistment and discharge,
amount of bounty paid him. Other information, wounds received or hospitalization
for an injury or illness, enlistment papers, papers indicating capture and
release if he was a POW, his place of birth (if foreign born, it would give only
the country) may also be included.
There are NO compiled service records for Navy or Marine personnel. Contact:
Old Military and Civil War Records (CWCTB)
National Archives and Records Administration
700 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 10408-0001
The CMSR were compiled from original muster rolls and other records obtained
years later, to permit efficient checking of military and medical records in
connection with claims for pensions and other veterans' benefits. The
information included depended on the survival of Regimental records.
When the forms arrive from NARA, I'm sure you'll want to get them sent off as
soon as possible. When filling out the Form 86, you
MUST
provide the veterans full name, the state from which he served, the war in
which he served or dates between which he served. If in Civil War, you must
specify Union or Confederate, and the kind of service (whether he was a
volunteer or regular). There is other information asked for and the more you can
provide the better off you will be in case there is another soldier with a like
or very similar name.
If you find your soldier was wounded or sick, you want to fill out another Form
86 and attach a note asking for the complete medical records. The same holds
true for court-martial records. Unless you ask specifically for these two types
of records, you will never even know they exist. When I send for any records,
I've always used a credit card. The turnabout time is quicker. This way you
don't wait for them to tell you they've found records. You, in turn then send
them a check, and you wait some more until the check clears the bank before they
send you what they've found.
Naval Information:
U. S. Naval War Records office: The War of the Rebellion: A compilation of the
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies 30 volumes. Washington,
DC: Government Printing Office 1880-1900. Reprint: Gettysburg, PA, National
Historical Society 1971-1972. Includes battle reports and correspondence of
Union and Confederate.
Pension Records
Most Union Soldiers, their widows or their children applied for a pension. If
there was a dependent parent, they may have also applied. NARA has indexed the
pension file, by microfilm publication T288, General Index to Pension Files,
1861 1934. It is available online, for a fee, from Ancestry.com. (If you have
a friend who subscribes, they might be willing to do a look up for you.)
On Form 85,
you must check whether you want the full pension application file for $37.00 the
Pension Documents Packet for $14.75, or the Bounty-Land warrant Application for
$17.25. NOTE:
Any Confederate
pensions were paid through the state from which the soldier served.
Minimum information for the soldier MUST be completed: full name, branch of
service, state from which he served, the war in which he served or dates between
which he served and whether he was a Volunteer or Regular. Other information you
should include if you can: Unit in which he served; if he was in the Army,
specify Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery or other: was he an officer or enlisted;
the Pension/Bounty Land file number; dates of birth and death, plus places if
known. It also asks for the name of the widow or other claimants usually minor
child or dependent parent.
The pension files contain more information about what the soldier did during the
war than does the CMSR. There may be information about a wound he received and
an affidavit from a comrade, stating he remembers what happened. In some of the
files I've gotten, there have been letters from friends and neighbors describing
how the veteran was affected from his time in the service... he has a limp and
isn't able to do his farm work. He suffers from arthritis. and other such
comments. Does this give you a clue that maybe you should ask for his medical
records?
A widow, to obtain a pension, had to provide proof of marriage. This could have
been a copy kept by county officials or there may be an affidavit written by the
minister or another person. In the case of my own ancestor, according to a
letter written by a Joseph Lippincott, Justice of the Peace, Burlington Co., New
Jersey on behalf of Rev. Miller Jones, former Pastor of the Baptist Church in
Bridgeport in Montgomery Co., PA states
"that on or about the Seventh day
of February in the year 1862 while officiating as Pastor of the said Baptist
Church in Bridgeport, at his residence in Bridgeport aforesaid, he joined in
marriage Mr. Eugene Griffith of said County of Montgomery, Penna and Miss
Josephine Carr of Chester County, PA.. that no record of said marriage was
made or kept by him in or for said Bridgeport Baptist Church, nor does he know
of any record whatever of said marriage being made or kept, he having no private
record thereof.. but he distinctly recollects the marriage by him and in his
presence of the said Eugene Griffith and Josephine his wife, on or about the day
aforementioned."
I've often wondered
how after several years, he could remember the date
For the application of the soldier's minor child, proof of marriage and proof of the child's birth had to be provided.
Substitutions:
The Union established a draft with the 1863 Enrolment Act. Section 13 allowed draftees to avoid service by paying a $300 commutation fee or by hiring a substitute. The commutation rule was abandoned the following year, but substitutions continued for the duration of the war.
Civil War Principals and Substitutes Index
http://www.michigan.gov/hal/0,1607,7-160-17445_19273_19313-125416--,00.html
Exemptions, Substitutes and Enrollments
http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1994/winter/civil-war-draft-records.html
Regimental
Histories:
Now
that you know what regiment your soldiers was in, you will want to know the
history of the regiment/regiments he was in. However, just because it says the
Regiment was involved in a certain battle, does not mean your ancestor was in
that battle.
Union:
Compendium of the
War of the Rebellion by Frederick H. Dyer, 3 Volumes with a complete set of
Regimental Histories in Volume III, available online at
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mruddy/dyer.htm
Confederate:
Compendium of the Confederate Armies by Stewart Sifakis @1992 Published by
Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group. There are 10 volumes each featuring
different states or groups of states as follows:
Virginia
Tennessee
Alabama
Florida and Arkansas
North Carolina
Louisiana
Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, and Indian Units
Mississippi
South Carolina and Georgia
Texas
Other helpful
sources
U. S. Army Military History Institute
ATTN: Historical Services Division
23 Ashburn Drive
Carlisle Barracks
Carlisle, PA 17013-5008
http://www.carlisle.army.mil/
Photo search:
http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi/PhotoDB.html
The following site has MANY Civil War links Rosters, Histories, Battlefields,
etc
The American Civil War Homepage
http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html
Civil War Links
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mruddy/clayton2.htm
includes links to The Civil War Center, Civil War Mail Members websites, Civil
War Rosters, John Henderson Freeman Diary, Dyer's Compendium, Confederate
Military History: What is CMH? Official Records: What is the OR? Substitutes and
Conscripts, Civil War List Success: Julie Bright, Smith Family Letters, 32nd TN
CSA, The Civil War Homepage, Civil War Ancestry Genealogy Help Page, Cyndi
Howell's Civil War Research Links, The Fenian Brotherhood, Search Texas
Pensioners List, People interested in specific units, soc.history.war.us-civil-war,
Civil War Reenactors Homepage, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and Sons of Union
Veterans
Cemetery Index - US
Civil War Center
http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/cwc/projects/cemindex.htm
Many of the following cemeteries have searchable databases.
Barrancas National Cemetery (FL)
Bay Pines Cemetery (FL)
Camp Butler National Cemetery (IL)
Camp Chase National Cemetery (OH)
Chalmette National Cemetery (LA)
Chattanooga National Cemetery (TN
City Point National Cemetery (VA)
Cold Harbor National Cemetery (VA)
Confederate Stockade Cemetery at Johnson's Island (OH)
Cornet Cemetery, Cass County (TX)
Cypress Hills (NY)
Danville National Cemetery (KY)
Fairhaven Memorial Park and Mortuary (CA)
Fayetteville National Cemetery (AR)
Finn's Point (NJ)
Fort Harrison National Cemetery (VA)
Fort Snelling National Cemetery (MN)
Glendale National Cemetery (VA)
Grafton National Cemetery (WV)
Lexington National Cemetery (KY)
Mill Springs National Cemetery (KY)
Mobile National Cemetery (AL)
Mount Olivet Cemetery (LA) (currently incomplete)
Philadelphia National Cemetery (PA)
Richmond National Cemetery (VA)
Santa Ana National Cemetery (CA)
Seven Pines National Cemetery (VA)
St. Augustine National Cemetery (FL)
Union Mound Cemetery (MD)
Generals' Burial Listings
They are updating all the time so be sure to go back often.
NARA Genealogists/Family Historians Civil War Records
http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/military/civil-war/index.html#mail
Making of America
No serious study of the American Civil War is complete without consulting the
Official Records.
Affectionately known as the "OR" ...
Author:
United States. War Department
Title:
The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union
and Confederate Armies
Other
Title: Official records of the Union and Confederate armies,
Publisher: Government Printing Office.
Place of Publication: Washington
Two different ways to access the OR:
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/moa_browse.html
http://ehistory.osu.edu/USCW/library/or/list3.cfm
JUST REMEMBER. THE
MORE ACCURATE AND COMPLETE THE INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE, THE BETTER CHANCE YOU
HAVE OF RECEIVING THE FILES.
As you all know in your research, there may be more than one person with a like
or similar name
