At 11:22 AM 7/11/2003 -0400, Patricia wrote: > >> http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss > >Where does one find the film where a film number is listed. Will the film >have any further information? The film numbers given in the database entries of the Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System are references to microfilmed indexes to Compiled Military Service Records (CMSRs), available from the National Archives (NARA). For example, the entry "Roll M232_23" refers to NARA micropublication M232, in roll 23 within that publication (each micropublication is usually on multiple rolls of microfilm). Unfortunately, the creators of the CWSSS used references to the *indexes* and not to the actual CMSRs on film, so once you looked up a particular soldier in that microfilmed index, you would need to order another microfilm to see the actual CMSR. For more about CMSRs and how to order them, see: http://www.archives.gov/research_room/genealogy/military/civil_war_records.h tml For more about ordering microfilms from NARA, see: http://www.archives.gov/publications/how_to_order_microfilm.html The Compiled Military Service Records can have some very interesting information in them, or not much at all. About the only thing you can be certain of finding are listings of each time the soldier appeared by name in unit muster rolls, which will give you an idea of when he was present with his unit, which will give you some idea of what actions he may have been in. You may also find enlistment papers and entries from company descriptive books which will include age, height, hair color, eye color, and complexion. If the soldier died in service, there should be a casualty report. Whether the info in the CMSR is worth the expense will depend on how much you already know about the soldier and how important he is to your research. If he is someone in your direct line or is collateral to one of your "problem" families, the CMSR may provide that key clue that helps you solve the problem. Or it may not. I hope this helps you. Chuck Bennett