Arkansas Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Arkansas

What is in the Collection?
This collection includes Union Civil War services records from 1861 to 1865, who served in organizations from Arkansas.

For each military unit the service records are arranged alphabetically by the soldier's surname. The Military Unit field may also display the surname range (A-G) as found on the microfilm. This collection is a part of RG 94, Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780s - 1917, and is National Archive Microfilm Publication M399. Index courtesy of www.fold3.com (Previously known as Footnote.com).

Service records were kept for each soldier. Those records, or their abstracts, were compiled into individual files. Each envelope/jacket contains information and cross references to original records relating to the soldier.

This index was created to provide quick access to compiled service records. The information in this index is quite reliable. However, keep in mind that even though this index is very accurate it still may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings or misinterpretations.

Collection Content
The records include abstracts of entries relating to the soldier as found in the following original records:


 * Name of soldier
 * Dates of service
 * Age of soldier
 * Military unit and branch of service

Other information may include:
 * Muster rolls
 * Returns
 * Rosters
 * Payrolls
 * Appointment books
 * Hospital registers
 * Union prison registers and rolls
 * Parole rolls
 * Inspection reports

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The papers are organized into individual files which usually include the following:


 * A jacket-envelope for each soldier, labeled with his name, rank, and the unit in which he served
 * A card (or cards) with abstracts of entries from original muster rolls, returns, rosters, payrolls, appointment books, hospital registers, parole rolls, and inspection reports
 * The originals of any papers relating only to the particular soldier

The index to these records contains the following:


 * Jacket name
 * Soldier’s full name
 * Year
 * Age (often estimated)
 * Military unit served in
 * Type of records in file
 * NARA publication number, title, and roll number

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search you will need to know:
 * The name of the soldier.
 * The age of the solider.
 * The residence of the soldier.
 * The military unit in which the soldier served.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in the requested information in the boxes on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors 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 compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor. 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 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?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for alias names, nicknames and abbreviated names.
 * Search the records of nearby localities.

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):