Indiana in the Civil War

United States   U.S. Civil War    Indiana    Indiana Military    Indiana in the Civil War

During the Civil War, Indiana raised about 210,000 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
During the Civil War, about 210,000 men served in the Union forces, mostly in the Army, thought 2,130 men served in the Navy. More than 60% of the Indiana regiments mustered and trained in the state capital of Indianapolis.

For more information, see the Wikipedia article, Indiana in the American Civil War.

Indiana Military Units
Most units were numbered, however, some were named. See the table below for lists of the regiments, battalions, batteries, and unassigned companies.

The information in the lists of Indiana Military Units comes from the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors web site. That web site can also be searched by the name of a soldier.

Indiana Units by Number or by Name Union Units 1st-16th 17th- 60th 61st- 124th 128th- 159th A to Z

Indiana Units by Type of Unit Union Units Infantry Cavalry Artillery Legions Colored Troops Unassign -ed Units

State Records
There are many Civil War records at the Indiana State Archives, and many are available at the Family History Library. For example:


 * Indiana Civil War Records. Salt Lake City,Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1988. (On 44 Family History Library films beginning with ). The cards are in alphabetical order. The originals are located at the Indiana State Archives at Indianapolis. The cards often provide the man’s age at enlistment (birth year is sometimes given), physical description (color of eyes and hair, and height), nativity (place of birth), occupation, his company and rank, when he enlisted, length of service, date and place mustered in, date and place mustered out, or death date if he died in the service.


 * Indiana Substitutes Hired for Civil War. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1988. (Family History Library film ). This alphabetical index has cards containing the name of the man who did the hiring, the name of the person he hired, and the company and regiment of the hired man. The original records are at the Indiana State Archives.


 * Indiana Adjutant General. Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Indiana. Eight volumes. Washington, DC: Library of Congress Photoduplication Service, 1989. (Family History Library fiche ). These volumes contain detailed information on the Indiana volunteer units. Volumes 2–8 contain rosters of officers and men by regiment and give the soldier’s name, with date, place, and cause of death in the war. Use the indexes listed above to find the person’s regiment.


 * Funk, Arville L. Hoosiers in the Civil War. Chicago, Illinois: Adams Press, 1967. (Family History Library book ). This contains Civil War historical information, maps of Civil War battles, and a list of the men from Indiana units who died in the Andersonville prison.

Indiana State Archives Records

 * Veteran Enrollments (1913–1922). An act passed in 1913 required township trustees to enumerate all persons living within the township who served in the army or navy during the Mexican, Civil, or Spanish-American wars, or who served in one or more enlistments in the U.S. Army or state national guard units. Later, this included World War I veterans. The law was repealed in 1922. The Indiana State Archives has seven 16–mm rolls, arranged alphabetically by county, thereafter by township, then by year. These begin with Indiana State Archives reel #3625. The records show name company regiment residence physical condition and for deceased veterans the names of widows and orphans. These microfilms are not at the Family History Library.


 * Veterans’ Grave Registrations. The Work Projects Administration (WPA) prepared indexes, by county, for 51 of Indiana’s 92 counties. The records are alphabetical by county and are at the Indiana State Archives. These are for Civil War, Spanish-American War, and World War I veterans. They are on cards, and have not been microfilmed. Cards are still being added to the file. There are over 100,000 cards showing name and cemetery.


 * Enrollment Lists of Draft of 1862. These records list all white men between ages 18 and 45. One set has the names of those men already enlisted, and the other mentions men who were eligible to enlist. The two sets of lists are arranged alphabetically by county, then township. They provide name, age, occupation, and deferment information. A few of these records are listed in the Family History Library Catalog under the county of residence.


 * Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Records of Civil War Veterans. By 1890 about 40 percent of the Union’s Civil War veterans were members of the Grand Army of the Republic. The descriptive books of each GAR post usually indicate each member’s name, age, rank, birthplace, residence, occupation, and enlistment and discharge information. The Indiana State Archives has the GAR records and a reference guide that can help you find the name of the post that may have been established in a particular town. The Family History Library has some of these records. The following book lists the posts alphabetically by town:


 * - Carnahan, J. Worth. History of the Easel-Shaped Monument and a Key to the Principles and Objects of the Grand Army of the Republic and Its Co-workers . . . Together With a List of All the G.A.R. Posts in the United States, Alphabetically Arranged by Towns, With Time of Meeting, etc... Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress Photoduplication Service, 1992. (Family History Library film ) This is a microfilm of the original book published in Chicago by Dux Publishing in 1893.

Service Records

 * United States Adjutant General’s Office. Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Indiana. Washington, DC: National Archives, 1964. (Family History Library films ). This provides the name of the soldier, his rank, and unit. This information can be used to obtain copies of the federal service and pension records, which are available only at the National Archives.

The compiled service records of Indiana soldiers have not been microfilmed and are only available from the National Archives. For more information see Union Service Records.

Pension 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.

Unit Histories
Unit histories of many Indiana regiments are on microfilm at the Family History Library. They often contain biographical information about soldiers of the unit. These are listed in the Family History Library Catalog under:


 * INDIANA- MILITARY HISTORY- CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865
 * INDIANA- MILITARY RECORDS- CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865

A book containing brief regimental histories for all Indiana regiments, together with a listing of diaries, letters, certificates, and other manuscripts pertaining to each regiment is:


 * Turner, Ann. Guide to Indiana Civil War Manuscripts. Indianapolis, Indiana: Indiana Civil War Centennial Commission, 1965. (Family History Library book ). This book lists regiments (6–152) and batteries (3–26). There is no index.


 * Indiana Commission on Public Records (Indianapolis, Indiana). Indiana Legion, 1861–1865, Index of Soldiers. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1988. (On 5 Family History Library films beginning with ). This card index was prepared by the Work Projects Administration (WPA) and is at the Indiana State Archives. The Indiana Legion was a Civil War state militia. The index cards provide the soldier’s name, regiment, duration of enlistment, dates of enrollment and mustering in, county, age, physical description, and date and location of discharge.

Soldiers’ Home Records
There is a federal National Home for disabled volunteer soldiers at Marion, Grant County, Indiana. The home is for veterans of various wars. The historical registers for 1890 to 1931 and an index for the same years are on the following microfilms:


 * United States. Veterans Administration. Registers of Veterans at National Homes of Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866–1937. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1988. (On 282 Family History Library films; the Marion County, Indiana, home is on 14 Family History Library films beginning with .) The index is on Family History Library film 1571582. The historical registers usually list birthplace, age, height, religion, occupation, residence, marital status, name and address of nearest relative, service history, pension, and date of admission information.

There is also a state-operated Indiana Veterans’ Home, located at Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, since about 1878. It cares for veterans and their spouses. The records are at the Indiana State Archives, and you can write to them for information.

Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s Home Records
See Indiana Orphans and Orphanages.

Other Sources

 * Indiana's Civil War 150th Commemoration (accessed 19 September 2011) has newspaper extracts, letters, journals, calendar of events, list of links to related Internet sites, etc.

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 476 posts and 23,533 members in the state of Indiana

GAR Posts in the State of Indiana

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.