If your Downing [or any other ancestor] served in the Civil War from Illinois you can go to http://www.sos.state.il.us and search for him. [There are 46 Downings listed from all over the state.] If you read the information about state records you can find out how to obtain records for anyone from Illinois who served in the 19th century wars. More and more states are including Civil War information on their USGenWeb pages. If you know of a state that has such information let us all know. Cheryl Rothwell clrothwell@mindspring.com Logan County, ILGenWeb, coordinator http://www.rootsweb.com/~illogan/loindex.htm Logan County mailing list> LOGAN-L@rootsweb.com Downing mailing list> DOWNING-L@rootsweb.com