Wisconsin Military Records

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Record Locations
Many military records are found at the Family History Library, the National Archives, and other federal and state archives. United States Military Records provides more information on federal military records and search strategies.

Archives in Wisconsin with holdings include:


 * Wisconsin Historical Society. The Archives Division has copies of draft records, muster rolls, state militia rosters, pension claims, and other materials.


 * Wisconsin Veterans Museum. The museum has letters, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, and other original papers and records from Wisconsin veterans and veteran organizations; recorded interviews with Wisconsin veterans from World War I through the present; and books, military manuals, newsletters, maps, posters, prints, and other published materials focusing on Wisconsin and American military history.


 * Wisconsin Veterans Museum 30 W Mifflin Street Madison, WI 53703 Telephone: (608) 267-1799 Website: Wisconsin Veterans Museum


 * The Department of Veterans Affairs. This department has restricted records for World War I and later wars. It also has a file of grave registrations.


 * Department of Veteran Affairs 201 W. Washington Ave. PO Box 7843 Madison, WI 53707 Telephone: 800-WIS-VETS (947-8387) Website: http://dva.state.wi.us/


 * Department of Military Affairs. This department has records pertaining to the National Guard in Wisconsin, primarily for the 1900s


 * Department of Military Affairs 2400 Wright St. Madison, WI 53708 Telephone: (800) 335-5147 or (608) 242-3000 Website: Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs

Forts
Forts were authorized by the federal government, built to house and maintain the military who were to assist in maintaining peace by enforcing treaties and providing protection to settlers.


 * Fort St. Antoine
 * Fort Howard
 * Fort Koshkonong
 * Fort Winnebago

Revolutionary War (1775-1783)

 * White, Virgil D. Genealogical Abstracts of Revolutionary War Pension Files. 4 vols. Waynesboro, Tennessee: National Historical Publishing Co., 1990–1992. (Family History Library book .) Volume four is an every-name index to volumes one to three. These volumes contain detailed abstracts with names, dates, and places mentioned in the Revolutionary War Pension files.
 * Revolutionary War Veterans, 1775–1784, Buried in Wisconsin. Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1975. This is a microfilm of a typescript. (Family History Library film item 9.) This lists 43 Revolutionary War soldiers and the states from which they came to Wisconsin.

See United States Military Records for DAR and SAR indexes, available at the Family History Library, to cemetery records of Revolutionary War soldiers.

War of 1812 (1812-1815)
The War of 1812 between Britain and the United States confirmed the separate existence of the United States and the future Canada.

There are nationwide records for soldiers of the War of 1812. For more information, see United States in the War of 1812.

Federal Records

Information about many Wisconsin soldiers can be found in federal records. See United States in the War of 1812 for links to databases and lists of many other War of 1812 records. Be sure to also check the list of record types, such as Pensions, on the left.

Explanation of the Major Record Types


 * Pearson, Thomas A., comp. Genealogical Records of the War of 1812: an Introduction and Selected Bibliography of Materials in the Collection of St. Louis Public Library. (St. Louis, Missouri: St. Louis Public Library, July 2004).

Pension Records


 * War of 1812 Pensioners in Wisconsin, 1883 (Free). Abstracted from the U.S. Pension Bureau's List of Pensioners on the Roll January 1, 1883, volume IV. Allen County Public Library has this online database searchable by name. Includes veterans and widows.


 * Hetzel, Bev. List of soldiers of the War of 1812 living in Wisconsin before 1883 (Salt Lake City, Utah: Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1998)

Winnebago War (1827)

 * Wisconsin soldiers who served in the Winnebago War (Wisconsin Historical Society) - Transcription of Wisconsin Muster Rolls from the Winnebago War. Lists Prairie du Chien and Green Bay militia units along with Menominee, Stockbridge and Oneida Indians that served.

Black Hawk War (1832)

 * Wisconsin soldiers who served in the Black Hawk War (Wisconsin Historical Society) - Transcription of Wisconsin Muster Rolls from the Black Hawk War. Lists soldiers in the 18 companies of "Iowa" militia (i.e., Iowa Co, Michigan Territory), plus the Menominee and Potawatomie warriors and one militia company raised at Green Bay.

Mexican War (1846-1848)
The Mexican War was caused by the annexation of Texas by the United States in 1845. Most volunteer regiments were from southern states. Records of Mexican War veterans might exist in a state where the veteran later resided.


 * Mexican War Index to Pension Files, 1887–1926. (NARA T317). Alphabetically arranged and includes the veteran’s name, rank, and unit; names of dependents; date of filing and application; certificate numbers; act filed under; and state from which application was made. Also available at:


 * (FamilySearch) Free digital copy. (Learn more.)


 * Robarts, William Hugh. Mexican War Veterans : A Complete Roster of the Regular and Volunteer Troops in the War Between the United States and Mexico, from 1846-1848… Washington, D.C. : Brentano’s, 1887. Digital version available at Internet Archive.

Click on these links to learn more about the Mexican War and about Mexican War pension records.

Civil War (1861 to 1865)
See Wisconsin in the Civil War for information about Wisconsin Civil War records, web sites, etc. with links to articles about the Wisconsin 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 more about the soldiers and their families.

The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database allows name searching for soldiers. The result set gives the regiments for the soldiers. Then you can check the Wiki regiment pages 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)
The Spanish-American War was largely fought in Cuba and the Philippines. Spanish-American War records might exist in the state from which the soldier served or in a state where the veteran later resided.

Indexes


 * (NARA T288). (FamilySearch) Free digital copy. The index covers veterans of the Civil War, Spanish‑American War, Philippine Insurrection, Boxer Rebellion (1900 to 1901), and the regular Army, Navy, and Marine forces. (Learn more.)


 * (FamilySearch) Free digital copy. (Learn more.)

Click on the link to learn more about the Spanish American War.

World War I (1917-1918)
World War I was a global war fought on multiple continents with several nations involved. Over four million men and women served from the United States.


 * United States. Selective Service System. Wisconsin, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1987–1988. (On Family History Library films beginning with film ) Also available at:


 * (FamilySearch) - free

United States World War I Draft Records provides additional information.


 * A published roster of soldiers who died during the war, arranged by branch of service and by county, is John Goodby Gregory, ed., Wisconsin's Gold Star List: Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Nurses from the Badger State. . . . (Madison, Wisconsin: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1925; Family History Library film 1; film ; fiche ).

World War II (1941-1945)
On April 27, 1942, the Selective Service conducted the fourth of six draft registrations related to WWII. The "World War II Selective Service Draft Cards: Fourth Registration, 1942" is often referred to as the “Old Man’s Registration” or the “Old Man’s Draft" because it included men with a date of birth from April 28, 1877 to February 16, 1897. Since there is overlap in the WWI and WWII Selective Service registration, men born in the years 1877 to 1900 may have registered twice and have both WWII and WWI draft records.


 * (FamilySearch) - free
 * (images with partial index) (FamilySearch) - free


 * Also available at:


 * Ancestry ($)
 * Fold3 ($).

World War II United States Military Records provides additional information.

Korean War (1950–1953)
The Korean War was a conflict between North Korea (and its communist allies) and South Korea (with support of the United Nations, primarily the United States). See the Korean War wiki article for information on records and their availability.

Vietnam War (1964–1972)
The Vietnam War was a conflict between North Vietnam (and its communist allies) and South Vietnam (with support of its anti-communist allies, including the United States). See the Vietnam War wiki article for information on records and their availability.