Missouri in the Civil War

United States   U.S. Civil War    Missouri    Missouri Military    Missouri in the Civil War



Introduction
Missouri was a border state and sent many men to the armies on both sides. Nearly 110,000 men fought for the Union, while about 40,000 served the Confederacy. They fought both in Missouri and in other states. Many battles and skirmishes were fought within Missouri itself.

Missouri Military Units
Most units were numbered, however, some were named. See the table below for lists of the regiments, battalions, batteries, and unassigned companies.

The information in the lists of Missouri Military Units comes from the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors web site. That web site can also be searched by the name of a soldier.

Missouri Union Units by Number or by Name Union Units 1st-4th 5th-19th 20th-63rd A to G H to M N to Z

Missouri Union Units by Type of Unit Union Units Infantry Cavalry Artillery Home Guard Militia Other

Missouri Confederate Units by Number or by Name Confederate Units 1st-2nd <div style="padding-right: 5px; padding-left: 5px; float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 4px; width: 60px; padding-top: 5px; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(208,208,208); text-align: center">3rd-6th <div style="padding-right: 5px; padding-left: 5px; float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 4px; width: 60px; padding-top: 5px; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(208,208,208); text-align: center">7th-53rd <div style="padding-right: 5px; padding-left: 5px; float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 4px; width: 60px; padding-top: 5px; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(208,208,208); text-align: center">A-G <div style="padding-right: 5px; padding-left: 5px; float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 4px; width: 60px; padding-top: 5px; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(208,208,208); text-align: center">H-O <div style="padding-right: 5px; padding-left: 5px; float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 4px; width: 60px; padding-top: 5px; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(208,208,208); text-align: center">P-Z

Missouri Confederate Units by Type of Unit <div style="padding-right: 5px; padding-left: 5px; float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 4px; width: 85px; color: black; padding-top: 5px; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(208,208,208); text-align: center">Confederate Units <div style="padding-right: 5px; padding-left: 5px; float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 4px; width: 60px; padding-top: 5px; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(208,208,208); text-align: center">Infantry <div style="padding-right: 5px; padding-left: 5px; float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 4px; width: 60px; padding-top: 5px; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(208,208,208); text-align: center">Cavalry <div style="padding-right: 5px; padding-left: 5px; float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 4px; width: 60px; padding-top: 5px; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(208,208,208); text-align: center">Artillery <div style="padding-right: 5px; padding-left: 5px; float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 4px; width: 60px; padding-top: 5px; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(208,208,208); text-align: center">State Guard <div style="padding-right: 5px; padding-left: 5px; float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 4px; width: 60px; padding-top: 5px; height: 40px; background-color: rgb(208,208,208); text-align: center">Other

Civil War (1861-1865)
Missouri soldiers served in both the Union and the Confederate armies. Indexes to the service records are available at the Family History Library. The federal service and pension records are available at the National Archives in their research rooms or by mail.

Service Records
Compiled Service Records - The Compiled Service Records ($) (Footnote.com) of Confederate soldiers who served in organizations from the state of Missouri are available online. In the future, these records will be made available at no charge through the National Archives web site. The service records are also available at no charge at National Archives research rooms. The compiled service records consist of an envelope containing card abstracts taken from muster rolls, returns, pay vouchers, and other records. Service records may provide rank, unit, date of enlistment, length of service, age, place of birth, and date of death. For more information see Confederate Service Records.

St. Louis Public Library owns a copy of the NARA indexes and compiled military service records for Missouri Union and Confederate soldiers. SLPL also owns NARA's Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served With the United States Colored Troops, and provides lists of Missouri men who served in Illinois regiments and Missouri men who served in Kansas regiments on its website.

Pension Records
, both approved and disapproved, are available online and at the Family History Library (beginning with Family History Library film 1021101). They are also available at the Missouri State Archives.

Service Records
Compiled Service Records - The Compiled Service Records ($) (Footnote.com) of volunteer Union soldiers who served in organizations from the state of Missouri are available online. In the future, these records will be made available at no charge through the National Archives web site. The service records are also available at no charge at National Archives research rooms. The compiled service records consist of an envelope containing card abstracts taken from muster rolls, returns, pay vouchers, and other records. Service records may provide rank, unit, date of enlistment, length of service, age, place of birth, and date of death. For more information see Union Service Records.

St. Louis Public Library owns a copy of the NARA indexes and compiled military service records for Missouri Union and Confederate soldiers. SLPL also owns NARA's Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served With the United States Colored Troops, and provides lists of Missouri men who served in Illinois regiments and Missouri men who served in Kansas regiments on its website.

Pension Records
Civil War Pension Index Cards - An of veterans who served in the US Army between 1861-1917 is available on FamilySearch. Each card gives the soldier’s name, application and certificate numbers, state of enlistment, and might include rank and death information. The majority of the records are of Civil War veterans, but the collection also includes records for veterans of the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, the Indian Wars, and World War I. For more information see Union Pension Records.

African-American Service Records
St. Louis County Library has placed on the internet An Index to Descriptive Recruitment Lists of Volunteers for the United States Colored Troops for the State of Missouri, 1863–1865 (NARA Microfilm Publication M1894 – 6 rolls)This index has 5,500+ entries and can be browsed either by recruits’ names or by slave owners’ names. The index provides the following information: • Recruit’s last name • Recruit’s first name • Age • Birth State • County of Birth • Slave Owner • County of Residence • State of Residence • Roll • Frame

The U.S. Congress allowed slave owners whose slaves were serving in the Military Service to request compensation for that slave. The claim was based on the slave's military service. Therefore The Index to Slave Compensation Claims found in the Compiled Service Records of U.S. Colored Troops, also provides information on the soldier. These records were placed in the soldier's military file.

Provost Marshal Papers The Missouri State Archives includes in their collection a group of papers called the Provost Marshal Papers. These are records from the Union Army War Department. Many of the records pertain to Confederate citizens and sympathizers. Some of them specifically deal with the confiscation and destruction of property in Missouri by Confederate forces in 1864. These records span 1861-1866 and an index to the Missouri portion of the records is available online.

Copies of the records can be obtained by contacting the Missouri State Archives. St. Louis Public Library owns the portion of the NARA microfilm set, Selected Records of the War Department Relating to Confederate Prisoners of War, 1861-1865, that includes prisoners at Alton and Camp Douglas in Illinois, and Myrtle and Gratiot Street Prisons in St. Louis.

The Provost Marshal papers are also available on FHL films 1449483-1449494, 1527305-1527404, and 1534697-1534778.

Other Sources
The following source information is from Bob Ferguson's web site, Finding Confederates in Missouri.

History Books

 * Jay Monaghan, Civil War on the Western Border, 1854-1865 (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1955). This highly readable book provides a clear and entertaining account of the Kansas-Missouri strife, before and during the war. Politics, social life, as well as battle actions are thoroughly covered. This may be your best introduction to big picture of the war in Missouri.


 * Albert Castel, General Sterling Price and the Civil War in the West (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1968). An interesting account of Price who is the most important military leader in Missouri Civil War.


 * Michael Fellman,Inside War, The Guerrilla Conflict in Missouri During the American Civil War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989). This book must be read by anyone searching for Missouri Confederates, but it is sometimes a difficult book. The author (a professor in Canada) has obviously completed a thorough research into this most difficult area. I, however, found that he also brings an attitude to the book. For Fellman, brutalities committed by Union forces are understandable; equal brutalize committed by pro-Southern bushwackers are always to be condemned. The continual repetition of these points become quite tiresome. However, the reader is given a very vivid description the almost unbelievable horror that innocent folks (as well as the combatants) had to endure during and after the war.


 * Carolyn M. Bartels, The Civil War in Missouri, Day by Day, 1861-1865 (Shawnee Mission, KS: Two Trails Publishing, 1992). This book consists of a chronologically ordered sequence of events in Missouri. The sources are many but not documented, however it does have a useful index.

Books to Get Your Search Started

 * Carolyn M. Bartels, comp., The Forgotten Men, Missouri State Guard (Shawnee Mission, KS: Two Trails Publishing, 1995). These are the soldiers and officers of the Missouri State Guard (or Home Guards) organized by Sterling Price. Her sources are National Archive records, and sources are referenced. The body of the text is organized as an alphabetical list of soldiers' surnames and a separate index lists other names found in the text. There is also a casualty list index by name and place. With over 7000 individuals, there is a very good chance that anyone will find at least one Confederate ancestor.


 * Carolyn M. Bartels, Missouri Amnesty (self published but available from Two Trails Publishing, undated). Upon the close of the Civil War, suspected pro-Southerners were required to sign an oath of allegiance to obtain a Presidential pardon. Some signed the oath, and some, including one of my ancestors and his son-in-law, refused to sign the oath and were denied the right to vote. Many were forced from their land; my ancestors living in a pro-Southern community did not suffer this disgrace. Bartels again uses National Archive records and she includes many copies of original documents.


 * Joanne C. Eakin and Donald R. Hale, Branded as Rebels (self published but available from Two Trails Publishing, 1993). The subtitle is "A list of Bushwackers, Guerrillas, Partisan Rangers, Confederates and Southern Sympathizers from Missouri during the War Years." I highly recommend it as a source of your more mysterious Confederate ancestors. Most entries are references to sources which range from National Archives records to contemporary newspaper articles. It is interspersed with photographs and inserts on historical events.