Virginia Military Records

United States U.S. Military  Virginia  Military Records



Forts

 * Post at Fredericksburg -- Textual records of this fort, 1866-1869, including registers, reports, and correspondence, are in the National Archives and are described in Records of United States Army, Continental Commands, 1821-1920, under the section entitled Records of Posts, 1820-1940 (Record Group 393.7).
 * Fort Harmar 1785-90
 * Fort Monroe -- Textual records of this post, 1823-1920, including registers, reports, and correspondence, are in the National Archives and are described in Records of United States Army, Continental Commands, 1821-1920, under the section entitled Records of Posts, 1820-1940 (Record Group 393.7).
 * Fort Myer-- Textual records of this post, 1861-1919, including registers, reports, and correspondence, are in the National Archives and are described in Records of United States Army, Continental Commands, 1821-1920, under the section entitled Records of Posts, 1820-1940 (Record Group 393.7).
 * Fort Nelson 1794-1824
 * Fort Norfolk 1794-1824
 * Fort Washington

Colonial Wars (1607-1763)
Complete military records do not exist for Virginia before the French and Indian War (1754-1763). Most of those that survive have been gathered and published in the following books:


 * Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1988.) .) This is a comprehensive list compiled from numerous primary and secondary sources. May give the soldier's name, military unit, residence, age, description, and occupation.
 * Crozier, William A. Virginia Colonial Militia 1651-1776. (New York, NY: Genealogical Association, 1905. Reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1982.) Digital version at - free;  Includes published rosters of soldiers listed in many sources such as land bounty certificates, militia rosters, or service records.
 * Eckenrode, H. J. List of the Colonial Soldiers of Virginia. 1917. Reprint, (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1974.) 1974; 1917 ed. on fiche ) This is an alphabetical directory of 6,700 soldiers and transcripts of the original sources of information.
 * Kegley, Mary B. Soldiers of Fincastle County, Virginia, 1774. (Dublin, Virginia: M. B. Kegley, 1974) ; ) The record is arranged by companies and gives name, number of days served, rate, and amount paid. This record includes an index.
 * Neville, John Davenport. Bacon's Rebellion. Abstracts of Materials in the Colonial Records Project. (Richmond, Va., 1976.) ;
 * Taylor, Philip F. A Calendar of the Warrants for Land in Kentucky, Granted for Service in the French and Indian War. 1917. Reprint, (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1967.) This contains an alphabetical list of soldiers (mostly from Virginia) who received warrants for bounty land in what is now Kentucky from about 1774 to 1789. The original warrant records are at the Kentucky Land Office (see Kentucky Land and Property).
 * Virginia Military Records: From the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, the William and Mary College Quarterly, and Tyler's Quarterly. (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1983.) This contains reprints and an index of articles originally printed in periodicals. Most of the articles deal with the colonial and revolutionary periods. May show the soldier's residence, enlistment, unit, pension application, and declaration.

Indian Warfare (Colonial Period)
There were many skirmishes with Indians in frontier regions of Virginia. In 1621, the Indians massacred many European settlers.

Several histories have been written about Indian warfare, including:


 * Addington, Luther F. Indian Stories of Virginia's Last Frontier.


 * Addington, Luther F. and Emory L. Hamilton. Indian Raids and Massacres of Southwest Virginia. Kingsport, Tenn.: Cecil L. Durham, [1981?]..


 * Hamilton, Emory L., Jeffrey C. Weaver, John C. Mullins, and Betty R. Mullins. Indian Forays on the Holston &amp; Clinch. Clintwood, Va.: Mullins Printing, 1992..


 * Withers, Alexander Scott, Reuben Gold Thwaites, and Lyman Copeland Draper. Chronicles of Border Warfare, or, A History of the Settlement by the Whites, of Northwestern Virginia, and of the Indian Wars and Massacres in that Section of the State with Reflections, Anecdotes, &amp;c. Clarksburg, Va.: J. Israel, 1831.
 * 1895 edition online at Google Books - free.
 * 1915 edition online at Internet Archive - free;.

Revolutionary War (1775-1783)
For a detailed guide to Virginia military organization, see: Virginia in the Revolutionary War.

Records of individuals who participated in the Revolutionary War can be found in published indexes, pension files, bounty land records, service records, and public service claims. Abstracts of many Virginia Revolutionary War pension records and unit rosters are available on the website Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution. A database of participants at Valley Forge, which includes many Virginians, is available online. The Battle of Camden website also includes details about many Virginia Revolutionary War soldiers (see American &amp; Brit Participants).

If you know the unit a person served in and are trying to determine where men for that unit were recruited, the following book can help:


 * Sanchez-Saavedra, E.M. A Guide to Virginia Military Organizations in the American Revolution, 1774-1787. (Richmond, Va.: Virginia State Library, 1978.).

Published Indexes

While there are several published sources on Virginia in the Revolutionary War, there is no comprehensive list of all Revolutionary veterans. The following are two major indexes that identify individuals listed in numerous records:


 * Gwathmey, John Hastings. Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution, Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, 1775-1783. Richmond, Va.: Dietz Press, 1938. Digital version at Ancestry ($); This lists approximately 64,000 individuals, including those individuals identified in the earlier publication by Eckenrode (below). Both the Gwathmey and Eckenrode sources must be used, because although they list the same individuals, Gwathmey refers to the Eckenrode index for source information.
 * Eckenrode, H. J. List of the Revolutionary Soldiers of Virginia. Richmond, Va.: D. Bottom, 1912. Digital version at Internet Archive; ; 1913 supplement: This helps identify approximately 35,000 Revolutionary soldiers from Virginia.
 * Douthat, James L. Virginia Soldiers in Northwest Territory - 1777. Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Mountain Press. Free online surname index and purchase details at Mountain Press website.

Pension Records

Virginia soldiers may have received a pension from the state or federal government. Pension records of Virginians may be found in the following:


 * Virginia Half Pay and Other Related Revolutionary War Pension Application Files. National Archives Microfilm Publication M910. (FHL films 1024434–42.) Records include the name; rank; amount of pension; death date; widow and children, if any; pension file number; some dates for wife and children, especially date of death of wife, and so on. Contains 279 pension application files.
 * Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files These files include pension applications from all the states. A published index to these files is Index of Revolutionary War Pension Applications, Revised (Washington, DC: National Genealogical Society, 1976;
 * Dorman, John Frederick, comp. Virginia 1958-1995 Revolutionary Pension Applications. 51 volumes. Washington, DC: N.p., 1958-1995. This abstracts the files of Virginia soldiers who received pensions or bounty land from the federal government. Only partially completed, with surnames A through Ha.
 * White, Virgil D. Genealogical Abstracts of Revolutionary War Pension Files. Four Volumes. Waynesboro, Tenn.: National Historical Publishing, 1990-1992. Abstracts based on selected records of pension application files. Some entries were from supplements to the complete files. Includes cross references to the Virginia Half Pay Claims and other state pensions or bounty land awards. Volume 4 is an every-name index for the 339,096 entries mentioned in the selected abstracts.
 * Clark, Murtie June. The Pension Lists of 1792-1795 With Other Revolutionary War Pension Records. Baltimore, Md., 1991. Helpful guide to pensioners who died before 1818.
 * Revolutionary War Pensions and Index (Virginia). A published index is Virginia Revolutionary War State Pensions (1980; Reprint, Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1982)  This abstracts the information found in the pension files of about 600 soldiers who received pensions from the state.

The 1835 Pension Roll

On June 5, 1834, the U.S. Senate required the Secretary of War to submit a statement showing the names of pensioners who were on the pension rolls or had previously been on the pension rolls. For more information on the 1835 Pension Roll see Revolutionary War Pension Records.


 * Report from the Secretary of War... Vol. II (Google Books)
 * The Pension Roll of 1835, Vol. III (Ancestry) ($)

Virginia Half Pay and Other Related Revolutionary War Pension Application Files, ca. 1778-1875.


 * These records relate only to officers from Virginia. They help identify names that might appear in other military records.

Applications for Bounty Land.

Shortly after the war, many Virginia families migrated to lands that are now in Kentucky and Ohio to claim military bounty land. Under various laws, veterans or their heirs could apply to Virginia or to the federal government for a warrant to receive bounty land. Those who served in the Virginia state line or in the continental line could apply.

Virginia Warrant Applications

(For land in Kentucky and the Virginia Military District in Ohio). The Virginia Land Office first issued warrants for land that is now in Kentucky. After 1792, when no more land was available in Kentucky, the Virginia Land Office issued warrants for land in the Virginia Military District of Ohio. This area in Ohio had been reserved for Virginia veterans when Virginia ceded all other claims in the Northwest Territory to the federal government.

Applications for Virginia bounty land warrants are at the Library of Virginia and on microfilm at the Family History Library. The approved application files are in Bounty Warrants, 1779-1860 ; index on for A-Payser and  for Pea-Z). These applications are also indexed by the Eckenrode source above. (Note that although these are titled “warrants” they are actually the papers submitted to receive a warrant.) Rejected applications are in Revolutionary War Rejected Claims and Index of Soldiers from Virginia, 1811-1851, index on  These manuscripts include certificates, powers of attorney, affidavits, and vouchers.

If an application was approved, the veteran or his heirs received a certificate that could be exchanged for a warrant. The Library of Virginia and the Family History Library have Virginia Land Office, Military Certificates, A-Z: July 14, 1782-August 5, 1876. These records are in alphabetical order on 38 Family History Library films,. These certificates are also filmed by number on. The certificates often give the number of acres, warrant number, and sometimes the solder's heirs—wife, children, grandchildren, brother, etc.


 * Bounty Land Warrants for the U.S. Military District of Ohio (for land in the United States Military District of Ohio and the Virginia Military District of Ohio). Two indexes are on Applications to the federal government for bounty land are interfiled with the pension application files described above (also see Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files). Those who received warrants for bounty land from the federal government could claim land in the Military Districts of Ohio and later in other areas of the public domain.

Bounty Land Grants.

The individual who received a warrant may have claimed the land himself or may have sold his warrant to someone else. See United States Land and Property and United States Military Records for more information about the process of obtaining a land grant.

Lands Granted in Kentucky (Virginia warrants).

Those who surrendered their warrants for land in what is now Kentucky are listed in Virginia Grants, 1782-1792 The original grants are at the Kentucky Land Office in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Two indexes that include these grants are:


 * Brookes-Smith, Joan E. Master Index: Virginia Surveys and Grants, 1774-1791. Frankfort: Kentucky Historical Society, 1976.
 * Jillson, Willard Rouse. The Kentucky Land Grants: A Systematic Index to All of the Land Grants Recorded in the State Land Office at Frankfort, Kentucky, 1782-1924. Louisville, Kentucky: Standard Printing, 1925. ; 1971 edition on and

Copies of the warrants are found in Military Warrants, 1782-1788 ). The original records are at the Kentucky Land Office in Frankfort, Kentucky. These are indexed by Willard Rouse Jillson, Old Kentucky Entries and Deeds: A Complete Index to All of the Earliest Land Entries, Military Warrants . . . (1926; reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1969)

Lands Granted in the Virginia Military District of Ohio (Virginia Warrants).

An estimated 64 percent of Virginia's bounty land claims were granted in the Virginia Military District of Ohio. The Ohio Land Grant Office (c/o Auditor of State, 88 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215) has some records of these land grants.


 * Brumbaugh, Gaius Marcus. Revolutionary War Records: Virginia Army and Navy Forces with Bounty Land Warrants for Virginia Military District of Ohio, and Virginia Military Scrip, from Federal and State Archives. Washington, D.C., 1936. Digital version at - free.

A significant collection of survey records and other information about this district is also at the Illinois Historical Survey Collection at the University of Illinois Library in Urbana. These are indexed in volume 4 of:


 * Clifford Neal Smith, Federal Land Series: A Calendar of Archival Materials on the Land Patents Issued by the United States Government. . . . Chicago, Illinois: American Library Association, 1972. This book indexes land grants in the Virginia Military District of Ohio and may show survey number, acreage, survey book page numbers, county, or township.

The surrendered warrants and related papers were sent to the General Land Office in Washington, DC, and are now at the National Archives in Warrants Surrendered for Land in the Virginia Military District of Ohio. The National Archives also has an alphabetical index, numerical register, and survey register that can help you find a warrant in this collection. These records are not on microfilm or at the Family History Library.

Lands Granted in the U.S. Military District and Other Public Domain Areas (U.S. Warrants).

The records of these land grants are described in United States Land and Property.

Service Records.

Those who served in the Virginia state or continental line may be listed in Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War and in General Index to Compiled Military Service Records of Revolutionary War Soldiers  This is at the National Archives and the Family History Library. May provide the soldier's or sailor's unit which can help to find pension records but does not give information about other members of the soldier's family.


 * White, Virgil D. Index to Revolutionary War Service Records. Four Volumes. Waynesboro, Tennessee: National Historical Publishing, 1995.

For a list of regiments, where they were raised, service dates, officers, and brief unit histories, see:


 * Sanchez-Saavedra, E. M. A Guide to Virginia Military Organizations in the American Revolution, 1774-1787. Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1978. This book may provide information useful for obtaining pension records.

The Library of Virginia also has various pay records, militia records, court martial records, appointments of officers, petitions, and other helpful sources.

Muster Rolls

The Muster Roll Project, sponsored by the Valley Forge Legacy, has reconstructed muster rolls for the 1st-15th Virginia Regiments and the 1st-2nd Virginia State. Their collection is available for free online.

Public Service Claims.

Private citizens may have taken claims or petitions to the county courthouse for compensation for crops, cattle, weapons, and labor used by the military during the war. These county records have been collected in:


 * Revolutionary War Public Service Claims Recorded in County Court Booklets. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1954. ; indexes on films

The approved claims were recorded in:


 * Revolutionary War Public Service Claims, Commissioners Books, 1783. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1954. The index to both sets of films is on . The original records are at the Library of Virginia.

Loyalists

For a list of white loyalists in Williamsburg during the Revolution, see:


 * Kelly, Kevin P. "The White Loyalists of Williamsburg," The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter, Vol. 17, No. 2 (1996). Digital version at Colonial Williamsburg.

History


 * Eckenrode, H.J. The Revolution in Virginia. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1916. Digital version at Google Books.
 * Selby, John E. The Revolution in Virginia, 1775-1783. Williamsburg, Va., 1988.

War of 1812 (1812-1815)
The War of 1812 between Britain and the United States confirmed the separate existence of the United States and the future Canada. See the Wiki article, Virginia in the War of 1812, for information concerning military records, histories, links to relevant web sites, etc. for Virginia.

There are helpful nationwide records for soldiers of the War of 1812. For more information, see United States in the War of 1812.

Mexican War (1846-1848)
The Mexican War was caused by the annexation of Texas by the United States in 1845. Most volunteer regiments were from southern states. Records of Mexican War veterans might exist in a state where the veteran later resided.


 * United States. Adjutant General’s Office. Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served during the Mexican War in Organizations from the State of Tennessee. Washington D.C.: National Archives, 1965. . This includes regimental returns, a record of events during the war, and company muster rolls.


 * Campbell, William B. Mexican War Letters of Col. William Bowen Campbell of Tennessee, Written to Governor David Campbell of Virginia, 1846-1847. Nashville, Tenn.: Tennessee Historical Magazine, 1915. Free digital copy.


 * Furber, George C. The Twelve Months Volunteer; or, Journal of a Private in the Tennessee Regiment of Cavalry, in the Campaign in Mexico, 1846-7. Cincinnati, Ohio: J.A.U.P. James, 1849. Free digital copy.


 * Mexican War Index to Pension Files, 1887–1926. (NARA T317). Alphabetically arranged and includes the veteran’s name, rank, and unit; names of dependents; date of filing and application; certificate numbers; act filed under; and state from which application was made. Also available at:


 * (FamilySearch) Free digital copy. (Learn more.)


 * Robarts, William Hugh. Mexican War Veterans : A Complete Roster of the Regular and Volunteer Troops in the War Between the United States and Mexico, from 1846-1848… Washington, D.C. : Brentano’s, 1887. Digital version available at Internet Archive.


 * Johnson, William Page. Off to War, The Virginia Volunteers in the War with Mexico, or Fuera de Guerra, La Virginia Volentarios en la Guerra con Mexico. Westminster, Md.: Willow Bend Books, 2002.

Click on these links to learn more about the Mexican War and about Mexican War pension records.

Civil War (1861-1865)



 * See Virginia in the Civil War for information about Virginia Civil War records, web sites, etc. with links to articles about the Virginia regiments involved in the Civil War.


 * The regimental articles often include lists of the companies with links to the counties where the companies started.


 * Men in the companies often lived in the counties where the companies were raised. Knowing a county can help when researching the families of the soldiers.

Please add any other information about Virginia in the Civil War to the Virginia in the Civil War Wiki page. Thank you.


 * For information about African American troops, see United States Colored Troops in the Civil War to learn about the regiments and units that served from Virginia.


 * The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System allows name searching for soldiers. The result set gives the regiment for each soldiers. Then you can check the regiment page to determine counties. Often knowing the counties that had men in a regiment will help you determine if a soldier was your ancestor.

Old Soldiers Homes (1870s-1940s)
The Southern Branch National Military Home in Hampton and the Virginia Confederate Soldiers' Home (a.k.a. Lee Camp Soldiers' Home) in Richmond serviced many military veterans between the 1870s and 1940s. US Military Old Soldiers Home Records identifies various types of records created concerning folks admitted to these homes.

World War I (1917-1918)
A published roster of soldiers who died in the war is:


 * Haulsee, W. M., F. G. Howe, and A. C. Dayle, comps. Soldiers of the Great War. Three Volumes. Washington, DC: Soldiers Record Publishing Association, 1920. .) Virginia soldiers are listed in Volume 3. Gives the soldier's name, residence, rank, cause of death, and includes pictures.

An additional source of historical information is:


 * Virginia Military Organizations in the World War: with Supplement of Distinguished Service. Richmond, Virginia: N.p., 1927. Digital version available on FHL catalog entry.


 * United States. Selective Service System. Virginia, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1987-1988. These cards have been digitized and are searchable online. See WWI Draft Records for more information.


 * WWI Sites

World War II (1941-1945)
For a list of 8,777 war dead, see:


 * Hemphill, W. Edwin, ed. Gold Star Honor Roll of Virginians in the Second World War. Charlottesville, Va.: Virginia World War II History Commission, 1947. County-by-county list of the soldier's name, rank, service branch, and nearest surviving relative.

Ancestry has World War II enlistment records. ($)


 * A series of books entitled "Young American Patriots", published shortly after the war, documented the service of soldiers from different states including Virginia. The series of books included photos and a short biography of some of the soldiers from the state.

Web Sites

 * Library of Virginia
 * German Roots
 * Cyndi's List
 * Access Genealogy