Union Volunteers in the Civil War

Introduction
The Union Volunteers are the union volunteers not connected to a state or territory.

Union Volunteer Units
Most units were numbered, however, some were named. See the table below for lists of the regiments, battalions, batteries, and other units.

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

Union Volunteer Units by Number or by Type  Union Units 1st-9th Infantry Cavalry Bands Gun Boats Engineers Other

Records

 * United States. Adjutant General's Office. Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers who Served in Organizations not Raised by States or Territories. (NARA M1290) "A typical index card gives the name of the soldier; his rank; battalion; regiment, company, or other organization to which he belonged; and the name of any other military unit in which he served"--Introd.


 * - On the 37 FHL films starting with are "14 alphabetical card name indexes to the compiled service records of volunteer soldiers who served in Union organizations not raised by states or territories, excepting the Veterans Reserve Corps and the U.S. Colored Troops."
 * - These organizations were:
 * U.S. Sharp Shooters
 * U.S. Volunteers Signal Corps
 * Pioneer Brigade (Army of the Cumberland), i.e.combat engineers
 * U.S. Veteran volunteers, engineers
 * U.S. Veteran volunteers, infantry
 * U.S. Volunteer Infantry
 * Confederate prisoners of War who enlisted in the U.S. Army
 * Brigade Bands
 * Indian Home Guards
 * Mississippi Marine Brigade/Marine regiment
 * Enlisted men transferred to the Mississippi Flotilla, February 21, 22, and 23, 1862
 * Departmental Corps (Department of the Monongahela)
 * Varner's Battalion of infantry
 * Captain Turner's Company


 * -"The compiled service records to which these indexes apply consist of a jacket-envelope for each soldier, labeled with his name and containing the cards and original records, if any, pertaining to him"--Introd. Service records are available at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Some records have been digitized and are available online.

For more information see Union Service Records.

Other Sources

 * 1861 - 1866 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index and images

Internet Sites

 * Garofalo, Robert and Mark Elrod, Civil War Bands,(accessed 2 August 2011), discusses Civil War bands generally and gives brief histories of several of the bands.


 * Beginning United States Civil War Research gives steps for finding information about a Civil War soldier or sailor. It covers the major records that should be used. Additional records are described in 'Florida in the Civil War' and 'United States Civil War, 1861 to 1865' (see below).


 * National Park Service, The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, is searchable by soldier's name and state. It contains basic facts about soldiers on both sides of the Civil War, a list of regiments, descriptions of significant battles, sources of the information, and suggestions for where to find additional information.


 * United States Civil War, 1861 to 1865 describes and explains United States and Confederate States records, rather than state records, and how to find them. These include veterans’ censuses, compiled service records, pension records, rosters, cemetery records, Internet databases, published books, etc.

Books

 * Kenneth E. Olson. Music and Musket. Bands and Bandsmen of the American Civil War. (Westport, CT.: Greenwood Press,1981). Libraries with book (WorldCat)


 * Francis A Lord and Arthur Wise. Bands and Drummer Boys of the American Civil War. (New York: Thomas Yoseloff,1966). Libraries with book (WorldCat)


 * Kenneth A. Bernard. Lincoln and the Music of the Civil War. (Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers,1966). Libraries with book (WorldCat)