Rhode Island in the Civil War

Introduction
Rhode Island's quota was 23,778 men in 8 regiments of infantry, 3 regiments and a squadron of cavalry, 3 regiments of heavy artillery and one regiment of light artillery.

According to Wikipedia, Rhode Island furnished 25,236 soldiers to the Union Army. The men were organized into about 10 infantry regiments, 4 cavalry units, and 6 artillery units (including one Colored Troop).

The Wikipedia article,Rhode Island in the American Civil War, has additional information.


 * Robert Grandchamp. Rhode Island's Civil War dead : a complete roster.Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company Inc., Publishers, ©2020 FS Library 974.5 M2gra
 * Rhode Island. State Archive. Civil War enlistment papers for various Rhode Island military units, 1862 and 1864

Rhode Island Military Units
Most units were numbered, however, some were named. See the table below for lists of the regiments, battalions, batteries, and unassigned companies.

The information in the lists of Rhode Island Military Units comes from the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors web site. That web site can also be searched by the name of a soldier.

Rhode Island Military Units by Number or Type of Unit Union Units 1st-20th and A-Z Infantry Cavalry Artillery Colored Troops Unassign- ed Units

Records and Resources

 * Indexes to service (FS Library films 821940-46) and pension records of Union army soldiers are on film at the FamilySearch Library. The service and pension records are available only at the National Archives. For more information see Union Service Records and Union Pension Records.


 * A published roster of soldiers is in Rhode Island Adjutant General, Annual Report of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations For the Year 1865, 1866, Revised, Two Volumes. (Providence: E. L. Freeman, 1893-95); FamilySearch Library ; 1866 ed. on . This includes each soldier's residence, his date of enlistment, his dates of muster-in and muster-out, and regimental sketches.


 * Civil War enlistment papers for various Rhode Island military units, 1862 and 1864


 * Civil War Pension Index Cards - An of veterans who served in the US Army between 1861-1917 is available on FamilySearch. Each card gives the soldier’s name, application and certificate numbers, state of enlistment, and might include rank and death information. The majority of the records are of Civil War veterans, but the collection also includes records for veterans of the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, the Indian Wars, and World War I. For more information see Union Pension Records.


 * 1890 Census Veterans Schedules - The 1890 Census Veterans Schedules, the "Special Schedules of the Eleventh Census (1890) Enumerating Union Veterans and Widows of Union Veterans of the Civil War" (NARA M123) are available online for the state of Rhode Island. The schedules list Union veterans and their widows living in Rhode Island in 1890. For more information on the 1890 Veterans Schedules see Union Census Records.


 * Rhode Island. Adjutant General's Office. 'Names of officers, soldiers, and seamen of Rhode Island Regiments or belonging to the state of Rhode Island : and serving in the regiments of other states and in the regular Army and Navy of the United States, who lost their lives in the defense of their country in the suppression of the late rebellion.' (Bethesda, Maryland : University Publications of America, c1991, and 'Annual report of the Adjutant General of the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations for the year 1865.' (Providence [Rhode Island] : E.L. Freeman, 1893-1895),.


 * How to Order Military &amp; Pension Records for Union Civil War Veterans from the National Archives - by Cyndi Ingle Howells www.cyndislist.com

Other Sources
Accessgenealogy.com- Civil War Regiments, Rosters, and Muster Rolls

The American Civil War Homepage

Ancestry.org;- a paid subscription site with Military Records and Military Indexes

The Caleb Fiske Harris Collection on the Civil War and Slavery at the Providence Public Library

Civil War Battle summaries- Summaries of battles that were fought in the Civil War in alphabetical order

Civil War Index - Primary Source Material on the Soldiers and the Battles

Civil War Links- Soldiers &amp; Generals, and Unit Indexes

Civil War Reenacting Unites - Union Companies

The Cartes de Visit Album &amp; History of the First Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry R.I.D.M.Thumb Nail Civil War Biographies.

Don Toiani's regiments and niforms of the Civil War - by Don Troiani, Earl J. Coates, Michael J McAfee available at Google books

Researchonline.net

Fold3 - 31,923,107 records in Civil War Records

Frederickscurg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial, National Military Park, Virginia - The Bloodiest Landscape in North America

Digital Book Index - Free eBooks on Civil War Regiments

James River Publications Civil War

The Rhode Island Grand Army of the Republic Civil War Museum;

The Civil War Relicman Harry Ridgeway- sells authentic relices from the Civil War

Rhode Island at Gettysburg - Monuments

Rhode Island Civil War Facts - at n2genealogy.com

Rhode Island Civil War Round Table;

Rhode Island Genealogy - Military Records

Rhode Island Historical Society- Official records and personal diaries

Military Research helps

Genealogy.com GenForum

Genealogy Quest- Lists of Soldiers, Serving in Unites from Rhode Island

Sila's Reenacting links

MilitaryHistoryOnline

Mosocco.com

PBS.org- Images of the Civil War

Providence Public Library- Regiments Embarking at Providence for New York and Washington-Illustration

375th Essays Providence and Civil War - Providence and Civil War by Frank J. Williams, the chair of the Rhode Island Sesquicentennial Commemoration Commission.

Community College of Rhode Island;- CCRI professors share history of the Civil War, April 25, 2011

New Index to the Civil and military lists of Rhode Island - Two volumes in one, giving Christian and family names, arranged alphabetically. Read online.

The Civil War Zouave Database

The Civil War Archives Regimental History Research Room

The Civil War Archive Union Regimental Index for Rhode Island - a listing of all regiments that fought durint the U.S. Civil War

The Civil War Home Page - one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of Civil War related material available on the Internet.

Timeline of Events for African Americans in the U.S. Army

Union Army Regimental History Index

United States, Civil War Regimental Histories Index, Rhode Island

The Civil War Omnibus

Tewksburys in the Civil War- Lists people with the surname of Tewksbury who served in the Civil War

Memoirs of Rhode Island Officers who were engaged in the service of their country during the Great Rebellion of the South.- by John Russell Bartlett, the Secretary of State of the State of Rhode Island available on Google Books.com

Official Army register for September 1869 - by United States. Adjutant-General's Office. available on Google Books.com

Uniforms of the Civil War: An Illustrated Guide for Historians, Collectors, and Reenactors - Ron Field, Robin Smith available on Google Books.com

Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)
Grand Army of the Republic founded in 1866 - 1956, was the largest veteran’s organization in the country after the Civil War. It was a fraternal organization members were veterans of the Union Army, US Navy, Marines and Revenue Cutler Service who served in the American Civil War. The group supported voting rights for black veterans, and lobbied the U.S. Congress to establish veterans' pensions. In 1890 the membership was 490,000.

In 1888 there were 21 posts and 2,696 members in the state of Rhode Island

GAR Posts in the State of Rhode Island

Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War
With the death of the last member of the Grand Army of the Republic the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War was formed.