Beginning United States Civil War Research

United States     U.S. Military      Civil War, 1861 to 1865



Steps

Many records are available to help you find information about your Civil War ancestor. The following are good steps to start:

Step 1. Identify an ancestor who may have served in the Civil War

 * - Ages: Most soldiers and sailors were between the ages of 18 and 40, so they would have been born between 1821 and 1846. Some were as young as 10 or as old as 70, which widens the birth years to between 1791 and 1854.


 * - Location: Soldiers came from all over the continental United States.[[Image:]]


 * Union States (25 states and 5 territories)
 * States= California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin
 * Border states (4 states were for the Union but had slaves. Many men served in the Confederacy instead of the Union)= Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, West Virginia
 * Territories=Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Utah, Washington


 * Confederate States (11 states and 3 territories)
 * States= Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia
 * Territories=Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma

Note: Every state had some men who fought for the Union, and some men who fought for the Confederacy.

Step 2. Identify the state where your ancestor lived around 1861.

 * Check the 1860 census for the town, county and state as well as family members. The following have digital versions of the 1860 census:


 * - FamilySearch
 * - Ancestry($)
 * - Heritage Quest ($)


 * Check state censuses. The following states had censuses between 1850 and 1870:

Step 3. Find your soldier's regiment and company
Your soldier's regiment and company are often needed to find his records and to recognize him in the records. Some ways to find his regiment and company are:


 * Civil War Soldiers and Sailors database to find your soldier with his a regiment and company.
 * You may find several soldiers who match your ancestor. If this happens, copy the information about all of them and continue searching to eliminate all but one.
 * - Look at each regiment Wiki page to find the county for the company or regiment. If some counties don't match what you know about your ancestor, this could eliminate some of the possible soldiers.


 * 1890 Census of Union Veterans and Widows of the Civil War
 * Along with the 1890 census, separate schedules were made of Union Civil War veterans or their widows. Confederate veterans were mistakenly listed as well. Surviving schedules include Washington D.C., the eastern half of Kentucky, and the rest of the U.S. States in alphabetical order Louisiana through Wyoming, Indian territories, and U.S. ships and navy yards.
 * For both veterans and widows, it gives soldier's name, rank, company and regiment.
 * Information the 1890 veterans schedules normally includes name, rank, company, name of regiment or vessel, date of enlistment, date of discharge, length of service, post office address, disability incurred, and remarks.
 * - Ancestry.com ($) has every name indexes and images to all veterans schedules except indexes to Ohio and Pennsylvania. 1890 Veterans Schedules (database on-line)
 * - FamilySearch.org has images only, but can browse by county at United States, 1890 Census of Union Veterans and Widows of the Civil War

==== Step 4. Check the wiki article for the regiment and company you found for each person that matched your search in the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors database (Step 3).

Find the county for the companies.

Step 5. Check sources listed on the following Wiki pages

 * - United States Civil War, 1861 to 1865 describes records and resourses on the national level.


 * - [state] in the Civil War describes state records and resources. See the list below for links to the state pages.


 * - The regiment article for the regiment of your soldier gives information about the regiment and its companies with links to the counties where the companies recruited men. For links to the regiment pages, see the table on the state page.


 * - The county page for the county where a company recruited men describes county records and resources. This is a good way to find records about an ancestor and his family.


 * - Begin a search for Union records describes major Union records.


 * - Begin a search for Confederate records describes major Confederate records.

Step 5. Internet Databases

 * Ancestry ($) has many records, both published and manuscript, about the American Civil War. For a list of many of these records, see American Civil War records on Ancestry.com


 * Footnote ($) is digitizing many of the Civil War records at NARA. For a list of several of these records, see American Civil War records on Footnote.com


 * FamilySearch Historical Record Collections is digitizing Civil War records. For a list of these records, see American Civil War records on FamilySearch.org

Decide what else you want to find.
Focus your research by deciding to find just one or two things, such as age, death date and place, pension record, or service record.

The chart, US Military Record Selection Table, shows which type of record has the various types of information you may want to find.

Online Classes about the Civil War

 * Beth Foulk, Civil War Genealogical Research, video, 46 min.


 * Russell Lynch, U.S. Military Records: Civil War, video, 35 min.

Note: The Research Wiki will eventually have information about each regiment including links to many Internet sites, lists of books, pictures, etc. If the Research Wiki does not yet have information about your ancestor's regiment, once you know the regiment and hopefully the company:


 * a. Search the Internet for the regiment or company using Google or another search engine.
 * b. Look for regiment histories using:


 * 1. Internet Archives
 * 2. Google Books
 * 3. Family Hisotry Library Catalog
 * A. Digital books
 * B. If the book you find in the catalog is not yet digital, try Interlibrary Loan through your public library.

Union Regular Troops
Union Regular Army in the Civil War

Union Volunteers in the Civil War

Veteran Reserve Corps in the Civil War

Confederate Regular Troops
Confederate Regular Troops in the Civil War

Ethnic Groups
African Americans, see United States Colored Troops in the Civil War

Native Americans in the Civil War

Norwegians in the Civil War