Confederate Service Records

''United States U.S. Military Records  U.S. Civil War  Confederate Service and Pension Records   Confederate Service Records

Soldiers
Confederate soldiers may have served from a military unit raised by the Confederate Government or by an individual Confederate state. Most Confederate soldiers served with a Unit raised in the community where they lived.

Compiled Service Records
The Compiled Service Records for Confederate soldiers were made by the United States Record and Pension Office in the War department, beginning in 1903. The Record and Pension Office made card abstracts from records in the War Department Collection of Confederate Records and from other borrowed documents. In addition to the cards, original documents that related only to the individual soldier were included.

The card abstracts were made from original muster rolls, returns, rosters, payrolls, appointment books, hospital registers, Union prison registers and rolls, parole rolls, and inspection reports. Service records may provide rank, unit, date of enlistment, length of service, age, place of birth, and date of death. The Compiled Service Records were made in an effort to obtain as nearly complete record of military service as possible at the time.

See card examples and descriptions on Footnote.com.

The Compiled Service Records ($) (Footnote.com) of Confederate soldiers are available online. In the future, these records will be made available at no charge through the National Archives web site. The service records are also available to access at no charge at National Archives research rooms and any library that provides free access to Footnote.com.

Compiled Service Records of Individual States
The following three collections are not needed if searching the collection Compiled Service Records available on Footnote.com. They are include in that database.

If you are using the records of the individual states, however, the following three collections should also be searched as they were not included in the compiled service records of the individual states.


 * . National Archives Microfilm Publication M258. (FHL films 0880207–329.) (also available on Footnote) ($). Index. NARA M818.
 * . National Archives Microfilm Publication M331. (FHL films 0881105–379.) Include those men performing staff duties. (also available on Footnote) ($). Index. NARA M818.
 * . National Archives Microfilm Publication M347. (FHL films 1402001–442.) (also available on Footnote) ($).

Officers
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. 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.

Sailors
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.