West Virginia Military Records



United States U.S. Military  West Virginia  Military Records

The United States 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. The United States Wiki article provides more information about federal records. For information on records from the colonial period to 1863, see the Virginia Wiki article.

The Archives and History Library has the original adjutant general's records for the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Indian Wars, Civil War (Union and Confederate), and Spanish-American War. These include muster and descriptive rolls, enlistment records, and correspondence.

Forts

 * Fort Fincastle
 * Fort Henry
 * Fort Randolph
 * Fort Vanmetre

Revolutionary War (1775-1783)
Two particularly helpful sources for West Virginia ancestors who participated in the Revolutionary War are:

Johnston, Ross B. West Virginians in the American Revolution. 1959. Reprint. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1977. This includes sketches of over 1,300 soldiers who lived in West Virginia at some time in their life.

Reddy, Anne Waller. West Virginia Revolutionary Ancestors Whose Services were Non-military. 1930. Reprint. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1963. This book lists persons in the Revolutionary Public Claims records who gave aid and support, “provisions and other necessaries”, to the revolutionary forces. Most of these patriots do not appear in other Revolutionary War sources.

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.

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

Civil War (1861-1865)
See West Virginia in the Civil War for information about West Virginia Civil War records, web sites, etc. with links to articles about the West Virginia 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.

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at: West Virginia, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 (FamilySearch Historical Records)

World War I (1917-1918)
Draft Registration Cards


 * United States. Selective Service System. West Virginia, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. National Archives Microfilm Publications, M1509. Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1987-1988. These cards have been digitized and are searchable online . See WWI Draft Records for more information.

West Virginia Veterans Memorial Archives Database

The West Virginia Veterans Memorial Archives Database contains information on deceased veterans from West Virginia that served in wars from WWI, WWI, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Gulf War.

World War II (1941-1945)
Biographies


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

West Virginia Veterans Memorial Archives Database

The West Virginia Veterans Memorial Archives Database contains information on deceased veterans from West Virginia that served in wars from WWI, WWI, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Gulf War.

Additional Military Records
Various rosters of soldiers for the French and Indian War, Indian Wars, Lord Dunmore's War, Revolutionary War, Whiskey Insurrection of 1794, War of 1812, Mexican War, and the Civil War, are in Virgil A. Lewis, The Soldiery of West Virginia. 1911, Reprint (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1978; Family History Library book 975.4 M2L). A separate index has been published. This book has also been reprinted (and updated through the Vietnam War) as Volume 9 of The West Virginia Historical Encyclopedia: Supplemental Series (see West Virginia History).