California in the Civil War

During the Civil War, California raised almost 16,000 men for the Union. Their records can be found in state records shown on this page, unit records which may be found on the military unit pages (see below for links), or federal records. For ideas on how to begin searching for your Civil War ancestor, see Beginning United States Civil War Research.

Introduction
California supplied at least four cavalry units and nine infantry units to the Union Army (see below). Though these units stayed in the west, many California men went east and joined the Union Army there. California also sent gold east, replaced regular army forces stationed in the western territories, plus kept Southern California and the New Mexico Territory from the Confederacy. The United States War Department credited California with supplying 15,725 white men in the Union Army.

The Wikipedia article, California in the American Civil War, has more information about California's activities during the war.

Records and Resources

 * Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers who Served in Organizations from the State of California . The compiled service records of soldiers who served in organizations from the state of California have not been microfilmed and are only available from the National Archives. For more information see Union Service Records.


 * Civil War Pension Index Cards - An of veterans who served in the US Army between 1861-1917 is available on FamilySearch. Each card gives the soldier’s name, application and certificate numbers, state of enlistment, and might include rank and death information. The majority of the records are of Civil War veterans, but the collection also includes records for veterans of the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, the Indian Wars, and World War I. For more information see Union Pension Records.


 * Rosters. Annual Report of the Adjutant-General for the years 1863-1867 includes rosters of the various regiments and companies that served in the Civil War.


 * State Militia Index. Root Cellar (Sacramento Genealogical Society: Sacramento, California), California State Militia Index to Muster Rolls, 1851-1866. (Citrus Heights, California : Root Cellar-Sacramento Genealogical Society, 1999) 4 volumes,  with Unit Summary, 1851-1866


 * List of Volunteers. An exhaustive list of the Civil War volunteers is found in Richard H. Orton, Records of California Men in the War of Rebellion, 1861-1867 (Sacramento, California: State Office, 1890; Family History Library, ). An index to this list is J. Carlyle Parker, A Personal Name Index to Orton's "Records of California Men in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1867" (Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Company, 1978; FHL ).


 * Pompey, Sherman Lee. ''Civil War veteran burials from California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington regiments: buried in Colorado. (Independence, California : Historical and Genealogical Pub. Co., c1965),.

California Military Units

 * 1st Battalion, California Native Cavalry (Union) Organized at large in California March, 1863, to July, 1864. Mustered out April 2, 1866.


 * 1st Battalion Mountaineers, California Infantry (Union) Organized at large May 30, 1863, to March 16, 1864, for special service in Humboldt County. Attached to Humboldt District, Department of the Pacific. Battalion mustered out June 14, 1865.


 * 1st Regiment, California Cavalry (Union) First organized as a battalion of 5 Companies at Camp Merchant, near Oakland, California. Mustered out March 6 to October 19, 1866.


 * 1st Regiment, California Infantry (Union) Organized at large August to October, 1861. Company "K" organized February 12, 1862. Attached to Depts. of the Pacific and New Mexico. Duty in Districts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah until October, 1866. Mustered out October 21, 1866.


 * 2nd Regiment, California Cavalry (Union) Organized at San Francisco September 5 to October 18, 1861. On Powder River Expedition July to September and garrison duty in Utah until mustered out July 12, 1866.


 * 2nd Regiment, California Infantry (Union) Organized at San Francisco and Carson City September 2, 1861, to December 30, 1862. Regiment Mustered out July 2, 1866.


 * 3rd Regiment, California Infantry (Union) Organized at Stockton and Benicia Barracks September 15 to December 3, 1861. Duty at Camp Douglass, Camp Connor and in the District of Utah until July, 1866. Mustered out July 27, 1866.


 * 4th Regiment, California Infantry (Union) Organized at Sacramento, Placerville and Auburn September to October, 1861. Moved to Drum Barracks, and duty there until mustered out April 18, 1866.


 * 5th Regiment, California Infantry (Union) Organized in California September to November, 1861. Mustered out November 27 to December 14, 1864.


 * 6th Regiment, California Infantry (Union) Organized at San Francisco October 21, 1862. Regiment mustered out October 25 to December 20, 1865.


 * 7th Regiment, California Infantry (Union) Organized at large October to December, 1864. Regiment moved to District of Arizona June, 1865, and duty there, stationed at various posts, until June, 1866. Mustered out June 28, 1866.


 * 8th Regiment, California Infantry (Union) Organized by companies between November 17, 1864 and February 27, 1865. The regiment mustered out October 24, 1865.


 * Mounted Detachment, California Infantry (3 months, 1861) (Union) "Compendium of the War of the Rebellion" by Frederick H. Dyer contains no history for this unit.

Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)
Grand Army of the Republic founded in 1866 - 1956, was the largest veteran’s organization in the country after the Civil War. It was a fraternal organization members were veterans of the Union Army, US Navy, Marines and Revenue Cutler Service who served in the American Civil War. The group supported voting rights for black veterans, and lobbied the U.S. Congress to establish veterans' pensions. In 1890 the membership was 490,000.

In 1888 there were 116 post with 6,236 members.

GAR Posts in the State of California

The FamilySearch Catalog list records of the California Grand Army of the Republic

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
With the death of the last member of the Grand Army of the Republic the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War was formed.