Service Records of Union Sailors

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Service Records of Sailors
For records of sailors who served in the Union Navy, contact the National Archives. The records have not been filmed and are available only at the National Archives in Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel.

The weekly returns of enlistments, 1855 to 1891, are the records of most value for sailors, particularly those who served between 1855 and 1865. Entries list the sailor’s name, enlistment date, birthplace, age, occupation, personal description, date of or return of enlistment, and record of previous naval service. See the following for more information:


 * Baugh, Virgil E., comp. Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel. PI 123. Washington, D.C. 1960.

An index to sailors who enlisted between 1861 and 1865 is listed below:


 * Index to Rendezvous Reports, Civil War, 1861–65. National Archives Microfilm Publication T1099. (FHL films 1570558–88.) Entries contain the sailor’s name, ship or place of rendezvous, and date of enlistment.