Oregon Military Records

Portal:United States Military Records&gt;Oregon

The U.S. Military Records Research Outline provides more information on federal military records and search strategies.

Many military records are found at the Genealogical library, the National Archives and other federal and state archives. The United States Research Outline provides more information on the federal records. For Oregon the following sources are also very helpful.

Forts
Fort Dalles 1850 -1867

Fort Harney 1867-1889

Fort Henrietta 1855-1856

Fort Hoskins 1856-1865

Fort Klamath -- Textual records of this fort, 1864-1890, including registers, reports, and correspondence, are in the National Archives and are described in Records of United States Army, Continental Commands, 1821-1920, under the section entitled Records of Posts, 1820-1940 (Record Group 393.7).

Fort Lane 1853-56

Fort Lee

Fort Miner

Fort Orford 1851-56 -- Textual records of this fort, 1851-1856, including registers, reports and correspondence, are in the National Archives and are described in Records of United States Army, Continental Commands, 1821-1920, under the section entitled Records of Posts, 1820-1940 (Record Group 393.7).

Camp San Juan Island -- in Washington

Fort Stevens -- Textual records of this fort, 1865-1922, including registers, reports and correspondence, are in the National Archives and are described in Records of United States Army, Continental Commands, 1821-1920, under the section entitled Records of Posts, 1820-1940 (Record Group 393.7).

Fort Umpqua -- 1856 -1862

Fort Vannoy--1855-1856 Rougue River War

Fort Vancouver -- in Washington

Camp Warner -- Textual records of this fort, 1866-1874, including registers, reports, and correspondence, are in the National Archives and are described in Records of United States Army, Continental Commands, 1821-1920, under the section entitled Records of Posts, 1820-1940 (Record Group 393.7).

Fort Walla Walla -- in Washington

Fort Yamhill -- 1856 -1866

Indian Wars (various years)
Published rosters of soldiers and a history of the Indian Wars is found in: Frances Fuller Victor, Early Indian Wars of Oregon, compiled from the Oregon archives and other original sources : with muster rolls (Salem: F. C. Baker, state printer, 1904).

Pension files are housed at the Oregon Historical Society, and an index is available on the internet.

Civil War (1861-1865)
A published roster that provides each volunteer's name, rank, dates of service, place of enlistment, place of birth, age, occupation, and company is M.A. Pekar and Edna Mingus, comps., Soldiers Who Served in the Oregon Volunteers, Civil War Period, Infantry and Cavalry (Portland, Oregon: Genealogical Forum of Portland Oregon, 1961; Family History Library book 979.5 A1 No. 16 also 979.5 M2p; film 928088 item 8; fiche 6051234).

A published list of deaths reported to the Oregon department of the Grand Army of the Republic is Jane Myers, Honor Roll of Oregon Grand Army of the Republic, 1881-1935 (Cottage Grove, Oregon: Cottage Grove Genealogical Society, 1980; Family History Library book 979.5 A1 No. 53).

The Family History Library has an index to service records of Union Army soldiers (Family History Library film 821947) and a nationwide index to pension records. The actual service and pension records are available only at the National Archives.

Civil War Pension Index Cards - A free Internet index to pension applications of veterans who served in the US Army between 1861-1917 is available on FamilySearch Record Search. Each card gives the soldier’s name, application and certificate numbers, state of enlistment, and might include rank and death information. Other wars, of that time period, may be included.

On line records can be located by using a search engine and the keys words such as "Civil War History".

Spanish-American War (1898)
A published roster of soldiers that provides name, age, place of birth, occupation, physical description and service is C. U. Gantenbein, The Official Records of the Oregon Volunteers in the Spanish War and Philippine Insurrection, 2nd ed. (Salem, Oregon: J.R. Whitney, 1903; Family History Library fiche 6051175).

The Oregon State Archives has the following:


 * Early service records from the Indian Wars
 * National Guard records through 1920
 * Records of the Roseburg State Soldiers' Home
 * An index to World War I veterans
 * World War I files from the State Historian of the Defense Council (biographical questionnaires)
 * Records of the state bonuses and loan applications of World War I veterans

World War I (1917-1918)
World War I draft registration cards for men ages 18 to 45 may list address, birth date, birthplace, race, nationality, citizenship, and next of kin. Not all registrants served in the war. For registration cards for Oregon, click here or see:

Microfilm records of registration cards for Oregon are located at the Genealogical Forum of Oregon. They have created an index, which is available on their website.

WARNING: Be aware that when the original cards were microfilmed, a section for Portland were omitted. Repositories holding the microfilmed copies do not have thse records. The original cards are housed at the National Archives Southeast Division, in Atlanta, Georgia, and photocopied records of the missing section are available at the Genealogical Forum of Oregon, in Portland.