Locating a Confederate Civil War Soldier (1861–1865)

United States U.S. Military  U.S. Civil War  Locating a Confederate Soldier

Male ancestors who were born in the 1830s or 1840s and who lived in a southern state or the border states of Kentucky, Maryland, or Missouri, were most likely to have served in the Confederate forces in the U.S. Civil War. Most who served were in their late teens or early twenties but could have been older or younger. To find records, it helps to know at least the state from which your ancestor served.

 Guide Books
 * J. H. Segars,  In search of Confederate ancestors : the guide. 2nd ed. Madison, Georgia : Southern Lion Books, c2005 FHL 973 D27seg 2005
 * Brian A. Brown, In the footsteps of the Blue and Gray : a Civil War research handbook Shawnee Mission, Kansas : Two Trails Genealogy Shop, c1996 FHL 973 D27bab
 * Bertram Hawthorne Groene,  Tracing your Civil War ancestor 4th ed. Winston-Salem, North Carolina : John F. Blair, c1995 FHL 973 D27gb 1995
 * Stephen McManus, Civil War research guide : a guide for researching your Civil War ancestor Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania : Stackpole Books, c2003 FHL 973 D27mcw
 * Nancy Justus Morebeck, Locating Union & Confederate records : a guide to the most commonly used Civil War records of the National Archives and Family History Library North Salt Lake, Utah : Heritage Quest, c2001 FHL 973 M23mL
 * Richard A. Sauers, How to do Civil War research Rev. ed. Conshohocken, Pennsylvania : Combined Pub., c2000, FHL 973 M27sc

 Social Histories
 * Bell Irvin Wiley. The life of Johnny Reb : the common soldier of the Confederacy.Baton Rouge, Louisiana : Louisiana State University Press, 1984, c1970. FHL 973 M2wL
 * James I. Robertson. Soldiers blue and gray.Columbia, South Carolina : University of South Carolina Press, c1988. FHL 973 M2rj

Service records
Military service records may give the rank, dates of service, place of residence prior to enlistment, age, place of birth, physical description, and date and place of death or discharge.

What you will need to get started. Service records are normally arranged by state, then by military unit, and then alphabetically by the serviceman's name. In order to find the service records you will need to determine the state from which he served, his military unit, and the name by which your ancestor was identified during the war. Some soldiers served in a military unit raised by the Confederate government rather than from one of the states.

On the Internet

Step A. Search the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database on the Internet. This easy-to-use database lists over 6 million Confederate and Union soldiers, and 18,000 African American sailors. The search engine finds names alphabetically.


 * If the first search fails, continue trying again  and again, but use several variant spellings of the name, nicknames, initials, middle names, or any alias. 


 * If you find too many matching names, try to narrow the field by using clues from your knowledge of your ancestors, such as his place of residence, or relatives or neighbors that joined up with him. Also, each state's ". . . in the Civil War" page on the Wiki has a link to that state's military units regiment-by-regiment. That regimental list sometimes gives the place where they were first organized or discharged. The majority of regiments were raised mostly in one or two counties.

Sometimes the database shows the same person under more than one spelling of his name.

Each entry in the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors database  has the potential to list each serviceman's:


 * regiment or battalion (always listed)
 * if Confederate or Union (always listed)
 * company
 * soldier's rank in
 * soldier's rank out
 * alternate name
 * National Archives source microfilm number (always listed)


 * If  you find your ancestor in this Civil War Soldiers and Sailors database, make a copy of the information, and then look for the service record in Fold3. If you do not find the service record in Fold3, skip to Step 3.

Step B. Find the service record in Fold3, a subsidiary of Ancestry.com on the Internet. Fold3 shows images of service record card abstracts of entries of each soldier in original muster rolls, returns, rosters, payrolls, appointment books, hospital registers, Union prison registers and rolls, parole rolls, and inspection reports. These cards are arranged by state, by military unit, and then alphabetically by soldier's name.

To find an ancestor's card, open Fold3 to the Civil War Service Records &gt; Confederate Records page, select the ancestors state, and then select his military unit within that state. You can then find the alphabetical list of soldiers' service record cards, and view individual cards.


 * If you find an ancestor's card(s), make a copy, then note the source on your research log, update your family group record, and you are done with service record abstract cards. If you do NOT find the ancestor's card, you could continue the search by searching the microfilm version of the same records as follows:

On Microfilm

'''Step 1. If you know the state where your ancestor enlisted''' (but still need to find his regiment), search the following statewide alphabetical indexes on microfilm for your ancestor's name. Click the appropriate state's FHL Film numbers blue link below to see the catalog entry showing which parts of the alphabetical index are on which films.


 * If  you find your ancestor in one of these statewide indexes, make a copy of the information, and skip to Step 3.

'''Step 2. If you do NOT know the state where your ancestor enlisted,''' search for your ancestor's name in the following microfilm index:


 * Consolidated Index to Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers on       .


 * Make a copy of any information you find.

'''Step 3. Search the compiled military service records.''' Once you know an ancestor was in a military unit raised by either (a) the Confederate government, or (b) a particular state, plus the name of his military unit, and the name by which he was identified during the war, you are prepared to look up his service records. Search by state (or by the Confederate government), by military unit, and then by soldier's name in the microfilms listed in the following table. Click on the appropriate state's FHL Film number's blue link below to see the catalog entry showing which military units are on which films. In the catalog entry you may need to scroll past a beginning index before you come to the list of various military units.

Make a copy of the service record documents, record the results of the search on your research log, and update your family group record.

Pension records
Pension records contain information on a veteran’s military service, wife and children, and place of residence. The federal government did not issue pensions to veterans who fought for the Confederacy. In an effort to compensate disabled veterans or widows, most southern states began paying pensions from state funds. Not all veterans or widows applied for or received pensions. By common consent former Confederate states agreed that pensions would be granted by the state in which the veteran or his widow lived at the time of application rather than by the state from which he served. Therefore, you may need to search each state in which a veteran lived after the Civil War.

On the Internet


 * Alabama pensions 1862-1947 Ancestry
 * Arkansas Confederate Pension Applications 1891-1936 Arkansas Digital Archives; FamilySearch
 * Florida pensions 1885-1955 FL Dept State;  FamilySearch
 * Georgia 1879-1960 GA Archives; pensions 1879-1960 Ancestry
 * Kentucky pensions 1912-1946 (by county) KY Archives;   (by number; index lacking) FamilySearch;  pensions 1912-1930 Ancestry
 * Louisiana pensions 1898-1950 LA State Archives;   FamilySearch
 * Mississippi applications 1889-1932 MS Dept of Archives and History;  FamilySearch;   FamilySearch
 * Missouri FamilySearch
 * North Carolina how to access to online pensions NC State Archives;  FamilySearch
 * Oklahoma pension index pdf OK Dept of Libraries; pension index cards 1915-? ODL
 * South Carolina various Confederate records including pensions 1888-1973 SC Archives
 * Tennessee applications 1891-1965 TN State Library and Archives;  FamilySearch;  applications 1891-1965 Ancestry
 * Texas pensions 1899-1975 TX State Library and Archives Commission; pensions 1899-1875 Ancestry; pensions 1899-1965 Fold3
 * Virginia pensions 1888-1978 Library of Virginia; pensions 1888-1978 Ancestry

The National Archives' Confederate Pension Records page on the Internet also provides a state-by-state list, and links to southern state archives which have pension records.

On Microfilm

It helps to know the state of residence of a veteran or widow after the war in order to search for a file on microfilm. The Family History Library has microfilms (or books) of the Confederate pension files for each state.


 * Alabama ;.
 * Arkansas ;.
 * Cleveland Co..
 * Garland Co..
 * Hot Spring Co..
 * Independence Co..
 * Logan Co..
 * Marion Co..
 * Washington Co..
 * Florida ;.
 * Georgia ; . ;.
 * Kentucky ; . ;.
 * Louisiana ; . ;.
 * Mississippi ;.
 * Missouri ;.
 * North Carolina ;.
 * Oklahoma ; . ;.
 * South Carolina ; See also each individual SC county.
 * Tennessee ; . ;.
 * Texas ; . ;.
 * Virginia ;.

Soldier homes
Many states North and South maintained soldier homes for needy veterans. Records of these homes can provide biographical, family, and military service information on its applicants and inmates. The Family History Library has soldier home related records for some, but not all Confederate soldier homes in every formerly Confederate state except North Carolina. For further details and links see US Military Old Soldiers Home Records.

 Family History Library Catalog
 * Tennessee Confederate Soldier's Home. Soldiers' Applications for admission, 1889- ca. 1965
 * Robert E. Lee Camp Confederate Soldiers' Home. Virginia. Applications for admission, 1884-1941
 * Robert E. Lee Camp Confederate Soldiers' Home. Virginia. Registers of residents, 1885-1939

 FamilySearch Historical Records 

Veterans' organizations
Read the Confederate Veterans and Lineage Society Records page for help in finding information on veterans' organizations and lineage societies.


 * If an ancestor survived the war, he may have joined a veterans' organization like the United Confederate Veterans.
 * Look in the Confederate Veteran, 40 vols. (Nashville, Tenn.: United Confederate Veterans, 1893-1932). . . This was their official publication from 1893 to 1932. Indexed in Confederate Veteran Magazine, 1893-1932. Cumulative Index, 3 vols. (Wilmington, North Carolina: Broadfoot Pub., 1986). ..
 * Check the records of veteran’s organizations because they may provide biographical information about their members. For example, some UCV rosters of membership for the years 1895 to 1899 are on ..
 * Check with the state archives, historical society, or state library for any available veterans' organizations records of the state in which your ancestor served or lived after the war. See the Archives and Libraries  section of each state's Wiki page for these addresses.

Lineage Societies
A descendant of your ancestor may also have joined a lineage society like the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Contact their national headquarters to learn about this organization. See their web site at United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Other Sources
Use the Military Records section for the state's Wiki page in which your ancestor enlisted to find other military papers, such as state rosters, Adjutant General’s reports, regimental or unit histories, and county histories.

You can also find these sources in the FamilySearch Catalog Place Search under the name of the state and the topic


 * [State] — Military Records — Civil War, 1861–1865

Look for additional information about Civil War records in the FamilySearch Research Wiki at:


 * United States Civil War 1861 to 1865, Part 1
 * United States Civil War 1861 to 1865, Part 2