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.