California Military Records

United States U.S. Military  California  Military Records

Benicia Arsenal

The United States Military Records Wiki article provides more information on federal military records and search strategies.

Many military records are at the Family History Library, the National Archives, and other federal and state archives. The United States Wiki article provides more information on the federal records. For California the following sources are especially helpful:

Forts
Alcatraz -- 1850, became a military prison in 1907, federal prison 1934-19

Fort Anderson-- 1862-1866


 * Benicia Barracks -- Textual records of this fort, 1849-1908, 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 Bidwell-- Textual records of this fort, 1864-1893, 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 Bragg1857 -- Textual records of this fort, 1859-1864, 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 Churchill
 * Fort Crook-- 1857 -1869
 * Fort Gaston -- Textual records of this fort, 1864-1892, 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 Guijarros-- 1795-1838
 * Fort Humboldt1853 -- Textual records of this fort, 1855-1857, 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 Independence-- 1862-1877
 * Fort Jones1852-1858
 * Fort Klamath-- in Oregon
 * Camp Lincoln-- Textual records of this post, 1857-1870, 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 McDowell-- Textual records of this fort, 1865-1890, 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). The  Fort McDowell Website describes the activity and history of Fort McDowell during the Spanish American War and subsequent years. Gives numbers of individuals processed during the different time periods, however it does not appear to give the names of those individuals.
 * Fort Miller-- 1851-1864
 * Fort Moore-- was located in what is now downtown Los Angeles. It was built by the First Iowa Volunteers (Mormon Battalion) in 1847 and was abandoned as a U.S. military installation in 1849. See Church News for week ending July 19, 2008.
 * Fort Reading--1852 -1870
 * San Diego Barracks-- Textual records of this fort, 1862-1903, 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).
 * Presidio of San Francisco-- Textual records of this post, 1856-1919, 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).
 * Sutter's Fort or Fort Sacramento-- 1841-1847
 * Fort Tejon-- 1854-1864
 * Fort Winfield Scott-- 1854-1914
 * Camp Wright, Round Valley-- Textual records of this fort, 1861-1882, 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 Yuma-- Textual records of this fort, 1858-1882, 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).

Civil War (1861-1865)


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

Indian Wars (1780s-1890s)

 * Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served During Indian Wars and Disturbances, 1815-1858 (Family History Library ).
 * Registers of Enlistments in the United States Army, 1798-1914 (beginning on Family History Library ).
 * Old War Index to Pension Files, 1815-1926 (Family History Library ).
 * Pension Index Files, Indian Wars, 1892-1926 (Family History Library ).

World War I (1917-1918)
Awards


 * California, World War I Soldier Citations, 1918-1921 (Ancestry) ($) - newspaper clippings announcing awards and citations.

Casualties


 * California, World War I Death Announcements, 1918-1921 (Ancestry) ($) - newspaper clippings reporting the deaths of California men and women.

Draft Records

World War I draft registration cards for men age 18 to 45 may list address, birth date, birthplace, race, nationality, citizenship, and next of kin. Not all registrants served in the war. For registration cards for California, see:


 * United States. Selective Service System. California. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. National Archives Microfilm Publications, M1509. Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1987-1988. (Beginning on Family History Library .)

To find an individual's draft card, it helps to know his name and residence at the time of registration. The cards are arranged alphabetically by county, within the county by draft board, and then alphabetically by surname within each draft board.

Most counties had only one board; large cities had several. A map showing the boundaries of individual draft boards is available for most large cities. Finding an ancestor's street address in a city directory will help you in using the draft board map. There is an alphabetical list of cities that are on the map. For a copy of this map see:


 * United States. Selective Service System. List of World War One Draft Board Maps. Washington, D.C.: National Archives. (FHL .)

Service Records


 * California, WWI Soldier Service Cards and Photos, 1917-1918 (Ancestry) ($) - Service cards may include service number, name, address, birthdate, race, years in California, birthplace, father's name and birthplace, mother's maiden name and birthplace, wife's maiden name, date of marriage, children, nearest relative, branch of service, place and date of registration, and place assigned. The biography on the next image also asks for the the signature, date and address of the person writing the biography.


 * Note - A brief biography of the individual is usually included on the next image. Also, photos were not indexed and the collection only has photos for surnames beginning with BAL-BON. The complete photo collection is available in the collection below.


 * California, WWI Soldier Photographs, 1917-1918 (Ancestry) ($) - photos of WWI soldiers from California.

Additional Records
The California State Archives has military records from the California Adjutant General's office dating from 1849 to 1945. These include papers of the California Militia from 1850 to 1916, registers of California Volunteers in the Civil and Spanish-American Wars, records of California National Guard Units, and enlistment records from World War I and World War II. The Family History Library has microfilm copies of some of these records from 1858 to 1923 on 35 rolls. Records from World War I that include name, biographical, geographical, and newspaper card files are on the last 17 rolls of this set.

Web Sites

 * http://www.militarymuseum.org/History.html
 * www.ancestry.com ($)
 * http://freepages.military.rootsweb.com/~xander/california-records.htm
 * http://www.archives.gov/