More good stuff at NARA. The author of this message is a professional researcher, I believe. Valorie -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Civil War Records at National Archives Date: Mon, 15 Mar 1999 11:34:43 EST From: RalphK@aol.com To: GenTips-L@rootsweb.com Recently a GenTipper asked about researching Civil War Military records. Since I have done a great number of Civil War soldier research projects I thought this question must have had my name on it. These comments apply to the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) in Washington DC. This subject is very complex and covers a large amount of records. There are several kinds of records of interest to the genealogist and family historian. I will divide these into two basic groups; they are (1) Union Records and (2) Confederate records. Many, but certainly not all, of these records are on film. Most of the useful records are also indexed but sometimes not very well. (I) Union Records (A) Regular Army (1) Registers of Enlistments (2) Muster Rolls (3) various returns from Posts and Regiments (B) Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers (1) Compiled Service Records (Military Record) (2) Movements and histories of Volunteer Union Organizations (no genealogical info to speak of but interesting if you would like to know what your soldier did during the war) (C) Records that pertain to both Regular and Volunteer soldiers (1) Pension Application Files (2) Index to General Correspondence of the Record and Pension Office (3) Records of the Adjutant Generals Office (II) Confederate Records, record pertaining to service only (pension records are held by the various states) (A) Compiled service records, state indexes and consolidated index (many records where lost) (B) Records relating to Confederate and Marine Personnel (C) Selected Records of the War Department Relating to Confederate Prisoners of War. (D) Confederate States Army Casualties: Lists and Narrative Reports. (E) Records of Confederate Movements and Activities There are many more records that could be added here but few that could provide the genealogical information of the ones mentioned above. The National Archives has the following web pages that will provide details about Civil War records held by NARA. Civil War Records http://www.nara.gov/genealogy/civilwar.html Confederate Pension Records http://www.nara.gov/genealogy/confed.html Military Service records on Microfilm http://www.nara.gov/publications/microfilm/military/service.html More information at my web site. URL listed below. Good luck in your searches. Remember, one step at a time, backwards. Ralph Komives ________ http://members.aol.com/RalphK/DocumentSearch.html Document Searches in Washington, D.C. Area and Annapolis, MD.