51st Regiment, Indiana Infantry

Brief History
This Unit was organized at Indianapolis, Indiana, and mustered in December 14, 1861. It had duty at Green Lake and San Antonio till December. They mustered out at San Antonio, Texas December 13, 1865.

For more information on the history of this unit, see:


 * The Civil War Archive section, 51st Regiment Infantry, (accessed 9 May 2012).
 * The Wikipedia article, 51st Regiment Indiana Infantry, (accessed 21 June 2012).

Companies in this Regiment with the Counties of Origin
Men often enlisted in a company recruited in the counties where they lived though not always. After many battles, companies might be combined because so many men were killed or wounded. However if you are unsure which company your ancestor was in, try the company recruited in his county first.


 * Officer and Non-Commissioned Office - see Roster
 * Company A - many men from Hendricks County - see Rosteron page 509
 * Company B - many men from Newton, Jefferson, Clinton, and Crawford counties - see Rosteron page 511
 * Company C - many men from Hendricks County - see Roster on page 513
 * Company D - many men from Howard and Hancock counties - see Roster on page 515
 * Company E - many men from Knox County - see Rosteron page 518
 * Company F- many men from Shelby County - see Rosteron page 520
 * Company G - many men from Miami County - see Rosteron page 522
 * Company H - many men from Knox County - see Roster on page 524
 * Company I - many men from Shelby County - see Rosteron page 526
 * Company K - many men from Sullivan County - see Rosteron page 529
 * Unassigned Recruits - see Rosteron page 530

The list of companies with their counties and their rosters are on the 51th Regimen, Indiana Infantry on CIVIL WAR INDEX web site. (accessed 21 Jan 2011)

Other Sources

 * Beginning United States Civil War Research gives steps for finding information about a Civil War soldier. It covers the major records that should be used. Additional records are described in ‘Indiana in the Civil War’ and ‘United States Civil War, 1861 to 1865’ (see below).


 * National Park Service, The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, is searchable by soldier's name and state. It contains basic facts about soldiers on both sides of the Civil War, a list of regiments, descriptions of significant battles, sources of the information, and suggestions for where to find additional information.


 * Indiana in the Civil War describes many Confederate and Union sources, specifically for Indiana, and how to find them.. These include compiled service records, pension records, rosters, cemetery records, Internet databases, published books, etc.


 * United States Civil War, 1861 to 1865 describes and explains United States and Confederate States records, rather than state records, and how to find them. These include veterans’ censuses, compiled service records, pension records, rosters, cemetery records, Internet databases, published books, etc.


 * The Civil War Archive. (accessed 13 Dec 2010) Website with histories of the Indiana Regiments.


 * List of Indiana Civil War regiment (accessed 13 Dec 2010) List of Indiana Regimental that are on Wikipedia.


 * Union Army Regimental History Index (accessed 14 Dec 2010) Index Of Regimental Histories: Artillery, Cavalry, Infantry, and other units, states Alabama to Indiana


 * Hartpence, Wm. R. History of the Fifty-First Indiana Veteran Volunteer Infantry A Narrative of Its Organization, Marches, Battles and Other Experiences in Camp and Prison; from 1861 to 1866. (Harrison, Ohio: Hartpence, 1968.) FHL US/CAN Film 1550170 and (Bethesda, Maryland : University Publications of America, c1993),  other library  Google books


 * Roach, Alva C. The prisoner of war, and how treated (51st Indiana Infantry Regiment). (Bethesda, Maryland : University Publications of America, c1993),