I'd go with the state archives first too, especially if you live in Alabama where you get a discount. The National Archives is behind due to the post office being closed in Washington, DC after the Anthrax was found from what I have been told. ----- Original Message ----- From: Augustyn1@aol.com Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 12:10 PM To: AL-CIVIL-WAR-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [AL-Civil War] Service and Pension Records... Regarding obtaining confederate service records. I waited months and months and months for the Archives to send my ancestors. I had simply given up for it was well beyond the timeframe they had written on the form. On the other hand, I requested my ancestor's Pension Record from the Alabama Archives. Not only did they send it within the 2 weeks they specified. They also were kind enough to include my ancestor's Service Record as well(even though I had previously received it from the Archives). AND, they included his 2 brothers service records who also fought in the war. AND, they also looked for their Pension records, too. They went above and beyond. So, after this experience, I would definitely go to the state archives first. ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237