United States, Revolutionary War Compiled Service Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States

What is in Collection?
Index to compiled service records for approximately 80,000 soldiers who served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. The collection corresponds to the National Archives and Records Administration publication M881 and is part of Record Group 93 War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records. Each envelope/jacket contains information and cross references to original records relating to the soldier. The compiled service records are abstracts from muster rolls and pay rolls other records from the Revolutionary War.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Compiled Service Record index entries usually include the following information:


 * Name of soldier
 * Rank, regiment and commanding officer
 * State from which served
 * Date of commission or enlistment
 * Term of enlistment
 * Pay records
 * Type of records in file
 * NARA publication number, title, and roll number

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:


 * The name of your ancestor
 * The state where ancestor served
 * The date of enlistment

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in the requested information on the search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the individuals in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to look at the information on several individuals comparing the information about them to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names, or variations of their name, throughout their life.
 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s service record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the estimated age to calculate a birth date.
 * Use the age and location of the military unit to find the soldier’s family in census, church, and land records.
 * Continue to search the index and records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives who may have served in the same unit or a nearby unit.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, What Now?

 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Search the records of nearby military units.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation: Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):