Confederate Service and Pension Records

Portal:United States Military Records&gt;United States Civil War, 1861 to 1865

Confederate Govenment and State Service Records
Confederate service records may be on found in Confederate government records or they may be found in Confederate state records. Most Confederate soldiers served in a unit organized at the state level. These service records are maintained by each state that was part of the Confederacy. Soldiers usually served from their state of residence, but could have enlisted from any state within the Confederacy. This also is true concerning pension records. Veterans requested a pension from the state where they lived at the time of application--not the necessarily the state they enlisted and served under. See Confederate Service Records for more information.

Confederate Sailors' Service Records
The source below is a guide to Confederate naval sources: Moebs, Thomas Truxton. Confederate States Navy Research Guide. Williamsburg, Virginia: Moebs Publishing, 1991. (FHL book 973 M2moe.) Contains biographical sketches of Naval and Marine officers, naval histories of Confederate naval vessels, and a subject bibliography of sources.

The following card collection has information about sailors and Marines abstracted from original documents, such as hospital, prison, and parole records:

Confederate Naval and Marine Personnel Records. National Archives Microfilm Publication M260. (FHL films 0191662–8.)

Published muster rolls and statistical data on ships are in Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies, Vol. 1, Series II. The muster rolls list name, grade, and ship. For additional information look under “General Reference Sources” in this section.

For information about Marines see the following:

Donnelly, Ralph W. Service Records of Confederate Enlisted Marines. Washington, D.C.: Ralph W. Donnelly, 1979. (FHL book 973 M2dr.) Entries list name, company, enlistment date, and place along with brief service histories.

Confederate Officers' Service Records
For biographical sketches and other information about officers in addition to the service records, see the following:

Allardice, Bruce S. More Generals in Gray. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 1995. (FHL book 973 H2all.)

Crute, Joseph H. Confederate Staff Officers, 1861–1865. Powhatan, Virginia: Derwent Books, 1982. (FHL book 973 M2cru.) Arranged alphabetically by general. Includes birth and death year; rank, commands, or positions held; and their staff by name, rank, staff assignment, and date of appointment.

Donnelly, Ralph W. Biographical Sketches of the Commissioned Officers of the Confederate States Marine Corps. Washington, DC: Ralph W. Donnelly, 1983. (FHL book 973 M2do.) Entries include list, name of officer, parents, birth date, service history, marriage, and death information.

Dudley, William S. Going South: U.S. Navy Officer Resignations and Dismissals On the Eve of the Civil War. Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Foundation, 1981. (FHL book 973 M2du.) The appendix contains information about officers and is arranged by rank. It includes the following: name, date resignation was tendered, date resignation was accepted or dismissed, state of birth, state appointed, state citizenship, date of Confederate states name appointment, Confederate states navy rank.

Estes, Claud. List of Field Officers, Regiments and Battalions in the Confederate States Army, 1861–1865.1912. Reprint, Mattituck, New York: J. M. Carroll &amp; Company, 1983. (FHL book 973 M2lo.) Contains name, rank, and unit.

Krick, Robert K. Lee’s Colonels: A Biographical Register of the Field Officers of the Army of Northern Virginia. Third Edition. Dayton, Ohio: Press of Morningside Bookshop, 1990. (FHL book 973 D36kca is for the 2nd ed.) Arranged alphabetically and contains name, date, and place of birth; some entries identify wife. The appendix contains an additional list of 3,524 field officers by name, identifying rank, and unit.

Office of Naval Records. [http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titledetails&titleno=186510&disp=Register+of+Officers+of+the+Confederate+%20%20&columns=*,0,0 Register of Officers of the Confederate States Navy, 1861–1865. 1931].''Reprint, Mattituck, New York: J. M. Carroll &amp; Company. (FHL book 973 M3ro.) Arranged alphabetically by name. Some entries list the state of birth, state appointed from, service history, and rank.''

Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. (FHL book 973 M2wa.) Contains brief sketches of military service with some pictures and birth and death information.

Confederate Pension Records
Pensions were granted to Confederate veterans, widows, and orphans by the former Confederate states. Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia have posted indexes and some links to images of Confederate pension records.The Family History Library has an excellent collection of available Confederate pension records. Those for the following states are available on film at the Family History Library:


 * Alabama (FHL films starting with 1502476).
 * Arkansas (FHL films 1722443–563.) The following are indexes to these films:
 * Ingmire, Francis T. Arkansas Confederate Veterans and Widows Pension Applications. St. Louis, Missouri: F. T. Ingmire, 1985. (FHL book 976.7 M28f.) Entries include the following information for the veteran or widow or both: name, application number, military unit of service, application date, county, and death date.
 * Allen, Desmond W. Arkansas Confederate Pension Applications . . ., Two Volumes. Conway, Arkansas: Arkansas Research, 1991. (FHL book 976.7 M22adl; film 1697962 item 2.) Contains the name of the veteran or widow or both, company, regiment, year of application, and death date.
 * Florida (FHL films 0006717‑6885). These records are indexed in:
 * White, Virgil D. Register of Florida CSA Pension Applications. Waynesboro, Tennessee: National Historical Publishing, 1989. (FHL book 975.9 M2w.) Entries are listed alphabetically and include unit of service; widow’s name including maiden name; county of residence, and number of pages in file.
 * Georgia (FHL 634 films). Index. (FHL films 1493047–85.) These records are indexed in:
 * White, Virgil D. Index to Georgia Civil War Confederate Pension Files. Waynesboro, Tennessee: National Historical Publishing, 1996. (FHL 975.8 M22w.) Arranged alphabetically and contain name of veteran, military unit, widow’s name or witnesses, and county of residence. Covers pensions paid to veterans and widows from 1879 to 1960.
 * Kentucky (FHL films 1670795–844). These records are indexed in:
 * Simpson, Alicia Simpson, compiler. Index of Confederate Pension Applications, Commonwealth of Kentucky. Frankfurt, Kentucky: Division of Archives and Records, 1981. (FHL book 976.9 M2k.) Arranged alphabetically by the name of applicant, veteran, or widow, county of residence, date application was received, and application number
 * Louisiana. Application Record for Pensions, 1898–1944 (FHL films 1412743–44); Record of Pensioners of the State of Louisiana, 1898–1940. (FHL films 1412742–43); and Louisiana Confederate Veterans Pensions, 1912–1936. (FHL film 1704156 item 17.
 * Mississippi (FHL 94 films).
 * Missouri (FHL films 1021101–27). These records are indexed in:
 * Fox, Peggy Barnes, compiler. and editor. Missouri Confederate Pensions and Confederate Home Applications Index. Hillsboro, Texas: Hill College Press, 1996. (FHL book 977.8 M2fp.) Arranged alphabetically and includes the name of the veteran and the county of residence.
 * Oklahoma (FHL films 1001529–48). These records are indexed in:
 * Index to Applications for Pensions from the State of Oklahoma. . . . Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Oklahoma Genealogical Society, 1969. (FHL book 976.6 M24o; fiche 6046932.) Alphabetical by name with application and reel number.
 * South Carolina. The Family History Library has pension-related material for veterans residing in the following counties: Abbeville, Anderson, Charleston, Cherokee, Chester, Edgefield, Fairfield, Lancaster, Laurens, Lexington, Pickens, Spartanburg, Union, Williamsburg, and York. For film numbers, look in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:
 * South Carolina. The Family History Library has pension-related material for veterans residing in the following counties: Abbeville, Anderson, Charleston, Cherokee, Chester, Edgefield, Fairfield, Lancaster, Laurens, Lexington, Pickens, Spartanburg, Union, Williamsburg, and York. For film numbers, look in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

SOUTH CAROLINA - [COUNTY] - PENSIONS

SOUTH CAROLINA - MILITARY RECORDS- CIVIL WAR -PENSIONS


 * The National Archives has a list by state of where the original Confederate Pension Records are located with information of the dates when the pensions began.

Some veterans received artificial limbs. The following publication provides information on available records.


 * McCawley, Patrick. Artificial Limbs for Confederate Soldiers. Columbia, South Carolina: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1992. (FHL book 975.7 Al no. 109.) Contains an index to artificial limbs vouchers and applications. The entries include name, county, year, folder number, and item number.
 * Tennessee (FHL 181 films). These records are indexed in:
 * Index to Tennessee Confederate Pension Applications(not published), 1964. (FHL book 976.8 M24t; film 0873919; fiche 6051232.) Arranged in three parts: veteran, widow, and colored applications. The entries contain the name of applicant, county of residence, unit served, and application number.

FamilySearch Historical Records Collections
Online collections containing these records are located in FamilySearch.org.

Wiki articles describing these collections are found at:


 * Arkansas, Confederate Pension Applications (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Louisiana Confederate Pension Applications (FamilySearch Historical Records)