Illinois Military Records

United States Illinois   Illinois soldiers or veterans who came to Illinois after their military service are mentioned in military records created or maintained by federal, state, or county officials. A comprehensive description of both federal and Illinois state military records is:

Neagles, James C. U. S. Military Records: A Guide to Federal and State Sources, Colonial America to the Present. Salt Lake City, Utah: Ancestry, 1994. Ancestry is a trademark of Ancestry, Inc. (Family History Library book .) This book describes federal military records, then discusses each state individually. Pages 231–37 provide details of military records housed in various archives in Illinois, many of which are not microfilmed.

For each war listed below, additional federal sources are listed in Portal:United States Military Records. It contains search strategies and information to guide you to the best records for your objective.

Records Covering More than One War
An indexed source covering the nineteenth century conflicts through the Spanish-American War is:


 * Illinois. Adjutant General’s Office. Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois. Nine Volumes. Springfield, Illinois: Phillips Bros, 1900–1902. (Family History Library films –82 (indexes) and –90 (vols. 1–9). Volumes 1–8 contain the rosters of officers and enlisted men for the Civil War (1861–1866). Volume 9 contains a record of the services of Illinois soldiers in the Black Hawk War (1831–1832), the Mexican War (1846–1848), and the Spanish-American War (1898–1899). An appendix lists the services of the Illinois militia from 1810 to 1813. The index for each war lists each soldier’s name, rank, regiment, and company. It also gives the volume and page where the entry appears in the report. The first eight volumes for the Civil War are also indexed in:
 * Delap, Fred. "Database of Illinois’ Civil War Veterans." In Illinois State Archives [database online]. Springfield, Illinois: Illinois State Archives, 27 April 1999– [cited 15 July 1999]. Available online.

The index shows name, company, unit, and residence.

The Illinois State Archives has many original military records of various wars, such as muster rolls and other records of the Black Hawk War, the Mexican War, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American War. The archives maintain military databases at their Internet site, consisting of the Adjutant General’s report mentioned above, for the Civil War and Spanish-American War. Regimental histories for Illinois regiments in the Civil War are also in their collection.

The Civil War sparked interest in providing for disabled or elderly veterans of various wars. Records of national soldier homes, including the one in Danville, Illinois, are found in:


 * United States. Veterans Administration. Registers of Veterans at National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866–1937. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1988. (On 282 Family History Library films beginning with .) The original records are at the National Archives in Washington, DC. The records for the home at Danville, Illinois, are on 21 films (beginning with ) that cover the years 1898 to 1934. Danville, Illinois is indexed on films –3. Content varies, but the Historical Registers may list the soldier’s name, date and place of enlistment, rank, military unit, length of service, date and place of discharge, place of birth, age, physical description, religion, occupation, previous residence, marital status, nearest relative, pension, soldier home admission and discharge dates, disability, death date, or cause of death.

Admission registers of the state soldiers’ home at Quincy have been transcribed and indexed in:


 * Illinois Soldier’s and Sailor’s Home at Quincy, Illinois. Two Volumes. Thomson, Illinois: Heritage House, 1975; Owensboro, Kentucky: McDowell Publications, 1980. (Family History Library book ; vol.1 is on fiche [set of 2]; vol.2 is on fiche  [set of 2]) Indexed. Volume 1 contains admissions of Mexican War and Civil War veterans, 1887 to 1898. Volume 2 includes admissions of Mexican War, Civil War, and Spanish-American War veterans 1898 to 1908. The more than 8,000 entries may include name; age; company and regiment; state or country of birth; rank; hometown and county; occupation; whether married, widower, or single; and date of admission. The original case files of the Quincy Home veterans are available at the Illinois State Archives.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (833 South Spring Street, Springfield, IL 62794; telephone 217-782-6641) has files of veterans from the American Revolution through the most recent wars who are buried in the state. A copy of the file up to the Spanish-American War is:


 * Soldiers Burial Places in State of Illinois for Wars, 1774–1898. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1975. (Family History Library film –211.) The originals are at the Department of Veterans Affairs (formerly known as the Illinois Veterans Commission) in Springfield. The index cards give name, unit, war, next of kin, and location of grave.

Names from five national cemeteries in Illinois are in:


 * Illinois. Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans National Cemetery Records, Illinois. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1981. (Family History Library films –72.)

Original records are at the Illinois State Department of Veterans Affairs in Springfield. This source includes national cemeteries at Rock Island, Mound City, Alton, Graceland and Danville, Illinois.

Forts
Fort Armstrong --1816-1836

Fort Clark

Fort Dearborn

Fort Edwards

Fort Hamilton

Fort Massac

Fort St. Joseph

Revolutionary War (1775 –1783)
The Revolutionary War was fought long before Illinois became a territory in 1809. Many veterans, however, came to Illinois later and may be listed in:


 * Soldiers of the American Revolution Buried in Illinois: A Bicentennial Project of the Illinois State Genealogical Society. Springfield, Illinois: The Society, 1976. (Family History Library book .) The soldier’s birth date, death date, place of burial, spouse, and military service information are given for many entries.

An earlier version has been microfilmed:


 * Walker, Harriet J., comp. Soldiers of the American Revolution Buried in Illinois: From the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, April, 1912–January, 1917 Inclusive and April, 1926–January 1927. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1973. (Family History Library film, item 3)

The 1835 Pension Roll for Illinois is available online at Ancestry.com ($).

Many patriots who came to Illinois are included in federal or national sources cited in United States Military Records.

War of 1812 (1812–1815)
The Family History Library has indexes to the federal service and pension files for the War of 1812. See United States Military Records for details and for sources not mentioned below.

An index for War of 1812 bounty land warrants for land located in Illinois is:

United States. General Land Office. Federal Land Records: 'Transcripts of the Locations of Military Warrants on Which Patents Have [Been] Issued Under the Acts of Congress Passed On and Since the Sixth of May, 1812 for Illinois; 1817–1819.' Springfield, Illinois: Office of the Secretary of State, Record Management Division, 1966, 1968. (FHL films 882927–29 [indexes] 899785, items 1–3 [transcription of military warrants vols. 807–8, 1817 to 1819.) The warrant numbers given in the index refer to:


 * United States. Veterans Administration. War of 1812, Military Bounty Land Warrants, 1815–1858. National Archives Microfilm Publications, M0848. Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1971. (Family History Library films –77.) (In order by warrant number, the warrants were issued for land in Arkansas, Illinois, and Missouri. Film includes an index to patentees under the Act of 1842.)
 * War of 1812 Bounty Lands in Illinois. 1840. Reprint, Thomson, Illinois: Heritage House, 1977; originally published, as House Document 262, 26th Congress, 1st Session, 1840. (Family History Library book ; film, item 7; fiche .)

Civil War (1861–1865)
See Illinois in the Civil War for information about Illinois Civil War records, web sites, etc. with links to articles about the Illinois regiments involved in the Civil War. The regimental pages often include lists of the companies with links to the counties where the companies started. Men in the companies often lived in the counties where the companies were raised. Knowing a county can help when researching the families of the soldiers.

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

Spanish-American War (1898–1899)
See sources listed under the subheading "Records Covering More than One War" at the end of this section.

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

United States. Selective Service System. Illinois, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918. National Archives Microfilm Publications, M1509. Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1987–88. (On 288 Family History Library films beginning with ).

To find a person’s draft card, it helps to know his name and residence at the time of registration, since the cards are arranged alphabetically by county, within the county by draft board, and then alphabetically by surname. Counties may have had more than one draft board.

Large cities like Chicago, however, had several draft boards. Find a person’s street address in a city directory, then find the draft board closest to that address. Draft board addresses for Chicago can be found in:

Second Report of the Provost Marshall General to the Secretary of War on the Operations of the Selective Service System to December 20, 1918. Selective Service Addresses for Major Cities. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1919. (Family History Library book ; fiche ).

A street map of Chicago for this time is on:

United States. ''Selective Service System. List of World War One Draft Board Maps''. Washington, D.C.: National Archives. (Family History Library film .) These maps are helpful in determining which draft boards were closest to where a person lived. Maps of some cities in this collection show the actual boundaries of the draft boards. For Chicago, however, it is necessary to pinpoint the ancestor’s street address on the map, then locate the address of each draft board until the closest ones are identified.

Polish volunteers all over the United States were recruited for the Polish Army in France, and many from Illinois are listed in United States (with some from Ontario, Canada) Recruits for the Polish Army in France, 1917–1919, cited in Illinois Minorities.

A pictorial history of soldiers with brief sketches and genealogical information is:

Fighting Men of Illinois: An Illustrated Historical Biography. Chicago, Illinois: Publishers Subscription, 1918. (Family History Library film, item 2).

Additional Military Records
There are other military records that are not available on microfilm at the Family History Library. Many original records are at the Illinois State Archives or one of the universities in the Illinois Regional Archives Depository System (IRAD). The Illinois State Historical Library also has many published military histories and records. See the "Archives and Libraries" section for addresses.

Soldiers’ discharge records, which contain service and discharge information, are often filed by soldiers upon completion of their service. They may be found at individual county courthouses or at regional IRAD depositories.

More military information and sources can be found in the Family History Library Catalog by using a Place Search under:

ILLINOIS- MILITARY HISTORY

ILLINOIS- MILITARY RECORDS

ILLINOIS, [COUNTY]- MILITARY RECORDS

ILLINOIS, [COUNTY], [TOWN]- MILITARY RECORDS

Web Sites

 * http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~xander/illinois-records.htm
 * http://www.germanroots.com/military.html