Louisiana Military Records

The U.S. Military Records Wiki article provides more information on federal military records and search strategies. Many military records are found at the Family History Library, the National Archives, and other federal and state archives.

Online Resources
U.S. Military Online Genealogy Records provides more links for nationwide military record collections.


 * Louisiana Troops 1720-1770 Book ($)
 * Louisiana Draft Cards 1940-1959, ($), index.
 * USGenWeb Louisiana Military Resources - Wars After 1946.
 * Louisiana Soldiers in the War of 1812 Abstracts ($)
 * USGenWeb Louisiana Military Resources - War of 1812
 * USGenWeb Louisiana Military Resources - War Between the States.
 * Index.
 * Service Records of Confederate Soldiers at MyHeritage - index
 * Index.
 * Louisiana, Confederate Pensions, 1898-1950, ($), index/images.
 * Louisiana Confederate Soldiers Abstracts ($)
 * Louisiana State Archives Confederate Pension Applications Index Database.
 * USGenWeb Louisiana Military Resources - WW I.
 * Louisiana World War I Service Records, 1917-1920, images, no index.
 * 1917-1940 - at FamilySearch — index
 * USGenWeb Louisiana Military Resources - WW II.
 * Index and images.
 * Louisiana, First Registration Draft Cards, 1940-1945, ($), index.
 * Louisiana, Second Registration Draft Cards, compiled 1948-1959, ($), index.
 * U.S. Military Fatal Casualties of the Korean Louisiana
 * The Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Louisiana
 * Vietnam Casualty Lists - Louisiana
 * Vietnam Casualty Lists - Louisiana

Forts
Civil War Forts: Banks, Beauregard, Berwick, Bisland, Brashear, Buchanan, Buhlow, Burton, Chene, De Russey, Morganzq, Plaquemine, Randolph, Shreveport

Adaes, Presidio De Nuestra Senora Del Pilar De Los-- 1721-1772

Baton Rouge Barracks -- Textual records of this fort, 1822-1879, 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).

Jackson Barracks-- Textual records of this fort, 1850-1920, 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 Jackson and St. Philip-- Textual records of this fort, 1862-1872, 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 Jesup,

Fort Pike1816-1871

Fort Livingston-- 1814-1893

Fort Macomb1827-67

Post of New Orleans -- Textual records of this post, 1824-1887, 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 St. Jean Baptiste -- 1715-1819

Fort Saint Pierre

Additional Records:

The Adjutant General's Office (Building 53, Jackson Barracks Military Library, New Orleans, LA 70146-0330, Telephone: 504-278-8241) has records of state military units from the late 1700s to the present and twentieth century service files, but not federal records.


 * Louisiana historical military data, 1769-1984

Colonial Wars (1787-1794)

 * 1787-1794 Spanish military records for Florida and Louisiana are on Family History Library.

Published sources include:


 * Louisiana Troops, 1720-1770 Winston DeVille, Louisiana Troops, 1720-1770


 * Natchitoches Colonials: Censuses, Military Rolls and Tax Lists, 1722-1803, with two Revolutionary War service lists

Revolutionary War (1775-1783)
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. The 1835 Pension Roll of Louisiana, which includes Revolutionary War pensioners and heirs of War of 1812 casualties, is available online:


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

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, Louisiana in the War of 1812, for information concerning military records, histories, links to relevant web sites, etc. for Louisiana.

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

Indian Wars (1780s-1890s)
Second Seminole War (Florida War) (1836-1843)


 * "Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served During the Florida War in Organizations From the State of Louisiana" (NARA M239) (Worldcat) - Louisiana soldiers who served in the Florida War during the year 1836.


 * "Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served During the War of 1837-38 in Organizations From the State of Louisiana" (NARA M241) (Worldcat) - Louisiana soldiers who served in Florida in a campaign referred to by the records as the War of 1837-38.

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.


 * 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. (How to use this collection.)


 * 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.

An index to compiled service records is on. The service records have not been filmed and are available at the National Archives.

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

Civil War (1861-1865)
See Louisiana in the Civil War for information about Louisiana Civil War records, web sites, etc. with links to articles about the Louisiana regiments involved in the Civil War. The regimental pages 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 more about the soldiers and their families.

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

Wiki articlse describing online collections are found at:
 * Free Index; Images linked to Fold 3($)
 * Free Index; Images linked to Fold 3($)
 * Browseable images organized by surname.
 * at FamilySearch — index and images
 * War Photograph Album, 1862-1900 Civil War Photograph Album, 1861-1865
 * U.S. Southern Claims Commission Master Index, 1871-1880 Index only $


 * Louisiana, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers - FamilySearch Historical Records
 * Louisiana, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers - FamilySearch Historical Records

Spanish-American War (1898)
The Spanish-American War was largely fought in Cuba and the Philippines. Spanish-American War records might exist in the state from which the soldier served or in a state where the veteran later resided.

Indexes


 * (NARA T288). (FamilySearch) Free digital copy. The index covers veterans of the Civil War, Spanish‑American War, Philippine Insurrection, Boxer Rebellion (1900 to 1901), and the regular Army, Navy, and Marine forces. (How to use this collection.)


 * (FamilySearch) Free digital copy. (How to use this collection.)

An index to service records of Louisiana soldiers in the War with Spain is on. The service records are at the National Archives.

Click on the link to learn more about the Spanish American War.

World War I (1917-1918)
World War I was a global war fought on multiple continents with several nations involved. Over four million men and women served from the United States.


 * United States Selective Service System, Louisiana. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. National Archives Microfilm Publications, M1509. Washington, DC: National Archives, 1987-1988. ). Also available at:


 * at FamilySearch — index and images


 * at FamilySearch — index and images

See WWI Draft Records for more information.


 * World War I Collection Hermann Moyse Sr. World War I Collection Contains letters written by Hermann Moyse, Sr. (1891-1985), when he was a soldier in World War 1.


 * at FamilySearch — index and images


 * at FamilySearch — index

World War II (1941-1945)
 Draft Registrations  Fourth Registration 
 * -Free. Browseable images only. Includes men born 1897-1928.
 * On April 27, 1942, the Selective Service conducted the fourth of six draft registrations related to WWII. The "World War II Selective Service Draft Cards: Fourth Registration, 1942" is often referred to as the “Old Man’s Registration” or the “Old Man’s Draft" because it included men with a date of birth from April 28, 1877 to February 16, 1897. Since there is overlap in the WWI and WWII Selective Service registration, men born in the years 1877 to 1900 may have registered twice and have both WWII and WWI draft records.


 * (FamilySearch) - free
 * (images with partial index) (FamilySearch) - free


 * Also available at:


 * Ancestry ($)
 * Fold3 ($).

World War II United States Military Records provides additional information.

Korean War (1950–1953)
The Korean War was a conflict between North Korea (and its communist allies) and South Korea (with support of the United Nations, primarily the United States). See the Korean War wiki article for information on records and their availability.


 * Louisiana:Korean War bonuses, 1950-1953

Vietnam War (1964–1972)
The Vietnam War was a conflict between North Vietnam (and its communist allies) and South Vietnam (with support of its anti-communist allies, including the United States). See the Vietnam War wiki article for information on records and their availability.

National Guard

 * Louisiana National Guard. National Guard records, 1717-1955

Websites

 * National Archives