Mississippi Military Records

United States U.S. Military  Mississippi  Military Records United States Military Records provides more information on federal military records and search strategies.

Many military records are found at the National Archives, the Family History Library, and other federal and state archives. For Mississippi, the following sources are also very helpful.

Forts
Fort Adams1798-1810, Fort Dearborn 1802-09

Post of Grenada -- Textual records of this post, 1867-1870, 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 McHenry1798

Post of Ship Island-- Textual records of this post, 1865-1870, 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 Warren-- Textual records of this fort, 1823-1883, 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).

Colonial Wars
Several sets of records of soldiers who served under French, Spanish, and English governments are available on microfilm at the Family History Library. They are in various languages and cover the years 1612 to 1794.

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, which includes Revolutionary War pensioners and heirs of War of 1812 casualties who ventured out into Mississippi, 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, Mississippi Territory in the War of 1812, for information concerning military records, histories, links to relevant web sites, etc. for Mississippi Territory.

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.


 * 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.

The service records, listed alphabetically by unit, are on film at the Family History Library. The original service and pension records are available at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

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

Civil War (1861-1865)


See Mississippi in the Civil War for information about Mississippi Civil War records, web sites, etc. with links to articles about the Mississippi 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.


 * 1861-1865 - at FamilySearch — index
 * 1889-1942 - at FamilySearch — images
 * 1900-1974 - at FamilySearch — images

Wiki articles describing online collections are found at:


 * Mississippi, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Mississippi, Civil War Service Records of Union 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. (Learn more.)


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

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. Mississippi, 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:


 * (FamilySearch) - free

See WWI Draft Records for more information.

An index to World War I army veterans, 1917 to 1918, is available at the Family History Library. The original index is at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Mississippi Digital Archives, "World War I Statement of Service Cards and Indices (Mississippi)" These digital images list military service, units, dates, promotions, wounds, etc for each Service member from Mississippi. It is especially useful because many of the original service records for these soldiers were destroyed in the 1973 fire.

World War II (1941-1945)
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.

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.

Additional Records
A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:


 * Mississipppi State Archives, Various Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)