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United States U.S. Military  U.S. Civil War  Locating a Confederate Soldier

Male ancestors who were born in the 1830s or 1840s and who lived in a southern state or the border states of Kentucky, Maryland, or Missouri, were most likely to have served in the Confederate forces in the U.S. Civil War. Most who served were in their late teens or early twenties but could have been older or younger. To find records, it helps to know at least the state from which your ancestor served.

Service records
Military service records may give the rank, dates of service, place of residence prior to enlistment, age, place of birth, physical description, and date and place of death or discharge.

What you will need to get started. Service records are normally arranged by state, then by military unit, and then alphabetically by the serviceman's name. In order to find the service records you will need to determine the state from which he served, his military unit, and the name by which your ancestor was identified during the war. Some soldiers served in a military unit raised by the Confederate government rather than from one of the states.

On the Internet

Step A. Search the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database on the Internet. This easy-to-use database lists over 6 million Confederate and Union soldiers, and 18,000 African American sailors. The search engine finds names alphabetically.


 * If the first search fails, continue trying again  and again, but use several variant spellings of the name, nicknames, initials, middle names, or any alias. 


 * If you find too many matching names, try to narrow the field by using clues from your knowledge of your ancestors, such as his place of residence, or relatives or neighbors that joined up with him. Also, each state's ". . . in the Civil War" page on the Wiki has a link to that state's military units regiment-by-regiment. That regimental list sometimes gives the place where they were first organized or discharged. The majority of regiments were raised mostly in one or two counties.

Sometimes the database shows the same person under more than one spelling of his name.

Each entry in the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors database  has the potential to list each serviceman's:


 * regiment or battalion (always listed)
 * if Confederate or Union (always listed)
 * company
 * soldier's rank in
 * soldier's rank out
 * alternate name
 * National Archives source microfilm number (always listed)


 * If  you find your ancestor in this Civil War Soldiers and Sailors database, make a copy of the information, and then look for the service record in Fold3. If you do not find the service record in Fold3, skip to Step 3.

Step B. Find the service record in Fold3, a subsidiary of Ancestry.com on the Internet. Fold3 shows images of service record card abstracts of entries of each soldier in original muster rolls, returns, rosters, payrolls, appointment books, hospital registers, Union prison registers and rolls, parole rolls, and inspection reports. These cards are arranged by state, by military unit, and then alphabetically by soldier's name.

To find an ancestor's card, open Fold3 to the Civil War Service Records &gt; Confederate Records page, select the ancestors state, and then select his military unit within that state. You can then find the alphabetical list of soldiers' service record cards, and view individual cards.


 * If you find an ancestor's card(s), make a copy, then note the source on your research log, update your family group record, and you are done with service record abstract cards. If you do NOT find the ancestor's card, you could continue the search by searching the microfilm version of the same records as follows:

On Microfilm

'''Step 1. If you know the state where your ancestor enlisted''' (but still need to find his regiment), search the following statewide alphabetical indexes on microfilm for your ancestor's name. Click the appropriate state's FHL Film numbers blue link below to see the catalog entry showing which parts of the alphabetical index are on which films.


 * If  you find your ancestor in one of these statewide indexes, make a copy of the information, and skip to Step 3.

'''Step 2. If you do NOT know the state where your ancestor enlisted,''' search for your ancestor's name in the following microfilm index:


 * Consolidated Index to Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers on       .


 * Make a copy of any information you find.

'''Step 3. Search the compiled military service records.''' Once you know an ancestor was in a military unit raised by either (a) the Confederate government, or (b) a particular state, plus the name of his military unit, and the name by which he was identified during the war, you are prepared to look up his service records. Search by state (or by the Confederate government), by military unit, and then by soldier's name in the microfilms listed in the following table. Click on the appropriate state's FHL Film number's blue link below to see the catalog entry showing which military units are on which films. In the catalog entry you may need to scroll past a beginning index before you come to the list of various military units.

Make a copy of the service record documents, record the results of the search on your research log, and update your family group record.

Pension records
Pension records contain information on a veteran’s military service, wife and children, and place of residence. The federal government did not issue pensions to veterans who fought for the Confederacy. In an effort to compensate disabled veterans or widows, most southern states began paying pensions from state funds. Not all veterans or widows applied for or received pensions. By common consent former Confederate states agreed that pensions would be granted by the state in which the veteran or his widow lived at the time of application rather than by the state from which he served. Therefore, you may need to search each  state in which a veteran lived after the Civil War.

On the Internet


 * Alabama pensions 1862-1947 Ancestry
 * Arkansas pensions 1891-1939 AR History Commission; pensions 1901-1929 FamilySearch
 * Florida pensions 1885-1955 FL Dept State; pensions 1885-1955 FamilySearch
 * Georgia 1879-1960 GA Archives; pensions 1879-1960 Ancestry
 * Kentucky pensions 1912-1946 (by county) KY Archives; applications 1912-1950 (by number; index lacking) FamilySearch;  pensions 1912-1930 Ancestry
 * Louisiana pensions 1898-1950 LA State Archives; pensions 1898-1950 FamilySearch
 * Mississippi applications 1889-1932 MS Dept of Archives and History; pensions 1889-1935 FamilySearch;  applications 1900-1974 FamilySearch
 * Missouri pensions 1911-1938 FamilySearch
 * North Carolina how to access to online pensions NC State Archives; pensions 1885-1953 FamilySearch
 * Oklahoma pension index pdf OK Dept of Libraries; pension index cards 1915-? ODL
 * South Carolina various Confederate records including pensions 1888-1973 SC Archives
 * Tennessee applications 1891-1965 TN State Library and Archives; applications 1891-1965 FamilySearch;  applications 1891-1965 Ancestry
 * Texas pensions 1899-1975 TX State Library and Archives Commission; pensions 1899-1875 Ancestry; pensions 1899-1965 Fold3
 * Virginia pensions 1888-1978 Library of Virginia; pensions 1888-1978 Ancestry

On Microfilm
You must know the state of residence of a veteran or widow after the war in order to search for a file on microfilm. The Family History Library has microfilms (or books) of the Confederate pension files for every state except Louisiana.


 * Alabama ;.
 * Arkansas ;.
 * Cleveland Co..
 * Garland Co..
 * Hot Spring Co..
 * Independence Co..
 * Logan Co..
 * Marion Co..
 * Washington Co..
 * Florida ;.
 * Georgia ;.
 * Kentucky ;.
 * Louisiana
 * Mississippi ;.
 * Missouri ;.
 * North Carolina ;.
 * Oklahoma ;.
 * South Carolina ;.
 * Tennessee ;.
 * Texas ;.
 * Virginia }


 *  Return to the Register of Federal United States Military Records, volumes 2 and 4 in the US/Canada Reference area to obtain the film numbers for the pension files and indexes for every state except South Carolina. Use the table of contents in the front to find the pages for your state. Write the film number below.


 * Film Number_________________________________

The film numbers for the pension records for South Carolina can be found using the Place Search in the Family History Library Catalog under South Carolina and the topic Military Records—Civil War, 1861–1865—Pensions

The National Archives Web site www.archives.gov/research/military/civil-war/civil-war-genealogy-resources/confederate/pension.html provides a state-by-state list (and links to) southern state archives which have pension records.

Soldier homes
Many southern states maintained soldier homes for needy veterans. Records of these homes can provide biographical, family, and military service information on its applicants and inmates. The Family History Library has records on microfilm for the homes in Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, South Carolina, and Virginia. To find the film numbers, use the U.S. Military Records Research Outline, pages 39–40.

 Search other sources. Consult the research outline for the state in which your ancestor enlisted to find other military records, such as state rosters, Adjutant General’s reports, regimental or unit histories, and county histories.

You can also find these sources in the Family History Library Catalog under the name of the state and the topic Military Records—Civil War, 1861–1865.

Look for additional information about Civil War records in the FamilySearch Research Wiki at www.familysearch.org. Search the topic United States Civil War and click on the link to Confederate records.

Veteran organizations
Read the U.S. Military Records Research Outline (34118), pages 42–43 for help in finding information on veteran’s organizations and lineage societies.


 * If your ancestor survived the war, he may have joined a veteran’s organization like the United Confederate Veterans.


 *  Look in the Confederate Veteran, 40 vols., FHL Book 973 B2cv. This was their official publication from 1893 to 1932.


 *  Check the records of veteran’s organizations because they may provide biographical information about their members. Some rosters of membership for the years 1895 to 1899 are on FHL Films 1710607 items 10–20 and 1710608.


 *  Check with the state archives, historical society, or state library for any available records of the state in which your ancestor served or lived after the war. See the research outlines of these states for the addresses.

Lineage societies. descendant of your ancestor may also have joined a lineage society like the United Daughters of the Confederacy.  Contact their national headquarters to learn about this organization.  Use their web site at www.hqudc.org/.