Researching Military Records

There is a thrill in discovering an ancestor who was in the military—perhaps he was a privateer fighting for the American Revolution, a soldier marching into the gap at Cold Mountain or a pilot flying cover for the D-Day invasions. Wherever a military ancestor played a part in the forming of the United States, there is a special feeling for him. This article focuses on the American military records and in writing this article I have used the pronoun ‘he’ rather than ‘he/she’, although women have increasingly served in the military.

To begin you will need to know as much as possible about your ancestor: his full name, possible wars he fought in, whether he was Army or Navy or another branch, his unit and rank.

1. Full name: – last name [surname], first name and hopefully, middle name or initial. The use of middle names became common around the mid-1800s. For example, there are many William and John first names and the middle name or initial helps to eliminate duplicates.

2. Create a timeline: Create a timeline for your ancestor for the years he was between 18 and 40 along with the locality where he lived at the time. Then, using these websites—The War List¹ or The Indian Wars², list the various military actions that took place during that time period. Also, Plano Harrington Library has several reference books available about the various military wars

3. Branch of the military: You will need to determine which branch of the military your ancestor chose to enlist in: militia/National Guard, US Army, US Navy, US Marines, the Air Force, the Coast Guard or the US Maritime/Merchant Marine Service. The following is a general overview of when various military branches were established.

In 1670 Captain Benjamin Church organized a company of troops and designated them ‘Rangers’. This became the earliest American military unit. In 1747 the Rangers were incorporated into the British Army as “His Majesty’s First Independent Company of American Rangers,” demonstrating that though serving the crown, these were Americans soldiers. During the Revolution, the Rangers fought with the American militia and the Continental Army units. After the war, the Rangers were disbanded until the War of 1812 when they were resurrected and used along the frontier with the cavalry units. In 1942 the current US Rangers were established as commando units in the regular army.³

The first militia was organized by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1636 to fight the Pequot War of 1637. They were local units comprised of able-bodied men from 16 to 60 and were a type of a standing army that met regularly to train in the use of firearms and military maneuvers. In 1792, Congress passed a law that required all males between the ages of 18 to 45 to enroll in their state’s militia. These units became known as the volunteer militia and were the predecessors of the National Guard.⁴

The Continental Congress established the Continental Army on June 14, 1775. Most of the regiments in the new army were from the states’ former militia. On 2 June 1784 Congress ordered the discharge of all remaining men except for 80 caretakers for Fort Pitt and West Point as an economy measure. The next day, the Congress created the regular army and under Josiah Harmer, the First American Regiment, slowly organized and achieved permanent status as an infantry regiment of the new Regular Army.⁵

The United States Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which the Continental Congress established on 13 October 1775 by authorizing the procurement, fitting out, manning, and dispatch of two armed vessels to cruise in search of munitions ships supplying the British Army in America. After the Revolution the Continental Congress sold all the surviving ships of the Continental Navy and released the seamen and officers. It wasn’t until April 30, 1798 that Congress established the US Navy.⁶

The US Marines began on November 10, 1775 when the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia passed a resolution stating, "two battalions of Marines be raised" for service as landing forces with the fleet. The last of the Navy's ships were sold after the end of the Revolutionary War and the Marines went out of existence. It wasn’t until July 11, 1789 that the Marines were re-established.⁷

The Coast Guard began on August 4, 1790 when Congress authorized the Revenue Marine/the Revenue Cutter Service and the construction of ten vessels to enforce tariff and trade laws, prevent smuggling, and protect the collection of the federal revenue. The name was changed in 1915 under an act of Congress when the Revenue Cutter Service merged with the Life-Saving Service to become the US Coast Guard.⁸

The US Maritime Service’s first sea engagement was on June 12, 1775 and it is considered the start of the merchant marine's war role. The thirteen Colonies, having declared their Independence, had only 31 ships comprising the Continental Navy. To augment their naval power, they issued Letters of Marque on a per-voyage basis to privately owned; armed merchant ships and gave commissions to their masters as privateers. The privateers were contracted to search out British merchants, board them, take their cargo and capture their crews and passengers for whom they received bounty monies.

By 1777 George Washington's armies totaled about 11,000 men. At the same time there were 11,000 privateers at sea intercepting British shipping in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and even between Ireland and England. About 55,000 American seamen served aboard the privateers. When captured by the British Navy, they were given a choice: join the British Navy or prison. Their captivity was aboard prison ships, mostly abandoned ships moored in New York harbor. About 11,000 privateers died of disease and malnutrition, their bodies dumped onto the mud flats of Wallabout Bay, where Brooklyn Navy Yard now stands. There are several genealogy books available listing these casualties.

Privateers were frequently used during the War of 1812. The War was fought with merchant ships, because the U.S. had almost no Navy.⁹

The United States Air Force was originally part of the Army Air Corp and became a separate military organization on September 18, 1947.

4. Regiment or Ship: Having determined which branch of the military your ancestor may have served in, it will be necessary to determine their regiment or ship for the majority of the record indexes are based on these categories. Knowing where your ancestor lived will help to identify the regiment or militia as these generally were drawn from the local population. The same would apply to the ship, especially with the Merchant marine, as local merchants tended to provide the necessary monies to outfit the privateers in the early eras. It is recommended that once an individual's regiment or corps has been identified a researcher's initial approach should be to the appropriate regimental or corps website or museum, which will provide more details about the specific regiment.

5. Military rank: The next step is to determine his rank in the unit, especially whether he was an officer or non-commissioned personnel. The dividing line of rank separates many of the military records.

1. Military Service Records. These provide a basic view of your ancestor’s service from the date of enlistment to the date of discharge, which units he served in, where he served, dates of promotions, and any specialized qualifications he earned. These service records are from the regular military. Depending upon the time period of service, the records may include payroll statement, muster rolls, hospital records, prisoner-of-war records, enlistment and discharge documents.

In 1800 and 1812 fires in the government records department destroyed most of the Army and Navy records for that period. In 1874, an effort was made to rebuild the records by collecting various military documents from several sources and creating a folder for each serviceman. These are called the Compiled Military Service records and are available for the American Revolution, War of 1812 and the Civil War.

2. Pension records and Veteran’s Claims. These are of veterans who applied for a pension or made a claim to the US government between 1775 and the present. Also the records and claims may be from the widow of the serviceman, or a dependent under the age of 16 of a deceased veteran. Among the records are the application and several depositions from friends and fellow servicemen who served with the applicant as well as a confirmation or denial from the Secretary of War regarding the date of service. Among the widow’s records are generally information about when and where the marriage took place and other confirming evidence of marriage, as well as various depositions and examiner’s records. The records are arranged alphabetically by veteran surname and can be accessed by using the name index that has been microfilmed as Old War Index to Pension Files (NARA T316, 7 rolls). The index also indicates the veteran's name, unit, and state from which the claim was made, and type of claimant, whether widow, child, or other heir.

Veterans’ claims increased during and after the Revolution. There were requests for payment for supplies, equipment and bonus monies. For example, among the town papers of Uxbridge, Massachusetts is a request for reimbursement for “One thousand, seven hundred and ten pounds it being money advanced to the several soldiers hereafter named [viz:]…for bounty and mileage money.”

There is a list of private claims to the House of Representatives of the US from the 1^st to the 31^st Congress, which along with the date are listed the names of the claimant, the claim, who brought it before the house, and how it was disposed. One claimant listed is a John Bowen (Mass.) for bounty on fishing schooner Joanna. The claim was laid on the table.

3. Draft Registration Cards: During the Civil War, the government enacted a draft registration law in March 1863. This required men between the ages of 20 to 45 to register with the local office. Three types of records were created:

There were three World War I draft registration periods: June 5, 1917, June 5, 1918 and September 12, 1918. Those men born between Sept 11, 1872 and September 12, 1900, who were not already in the military, were required to register for the draft, regardless of their declared nationality. The information included on each registration differs somewhat but the general information shown includes order and serial numbers (assigned by the Selective Service System), full name, date and place of birth, race, citizenship, occupation, personal description, and signature. If the person was not a citizen, they had to list their country of allegiance. As a result, these cards include almost any immigrant born between 1875 and 1900, whether they had been naturalized or not. You will need to determine the draft board number as these cards are filed by draft board within a state ¹¹

There were five periods for the World War II draft registration beginning with October 16, 1940 for all men between 21 to 36 years old. A third draft February 14-16, 1941 was for all men who were 20 before December 31, 1941, and not older than 45 by February 16, 1942. The fourth draft on April 25-27, 1942 was for all men who were 45 before Feb 16, 1942 and not older than 65 on or before the April 27, 1942. The next draft extended to men born after January 1, 1922 and before June 30, 1921, while the last draft in December 1942 included all men who were 18 by December 31, 1942. These cards include almost the same data as those of WWI. Each registrant was asked his full name, residence, mailing address and telephone number, birth date, birthplace, age, name of employer and place of employment, name and address of next of kin, and physical description. The cards are filed alphabetically by state.¹²

Until recently, the registration cards for this war were stored in the National Archives regional centers and were not generally accessible, but now some regional centers are processing them and making them ready for viewing by researchers. The cards that are publicly available are from the fourth registration done in 1942. For example, the Great Lakes regional archives at Chicago already has processed and made available the cards for Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Inquiries should be made at the regional archives nearest the place where registration occurred. Other Selective Service System documents of a local or regional nature, dating from 1940, may be found in some National Archives regional centers and sometimes fragments can be found among the holdings of state archives. Included in some of these holdings are lists of names of individuals who were sent to conscientious objectors' work camps in lieu of military service.

4. Bounty Land Warrants: The use of land grants to encourage enlistments or to reward a person who provided military service to the colony began in colonial times when the legislatures would give land for such service by passing a private act. The Continental Congress promised bounty land to soldiers of the Continental Army with the amount of land depending upon their rank and length of service. After the Revolution, several individual states also provided bounty land to their veterans. The national 1788 act provided that the veteran could sell his warrant and not wait to take the land, although not until 1830 did Congress provide federal lands where the bounty warrants could actually be used. However, the land provided was divided into large tracts. As the bounty warrants were for a small amount of land, i.e., a private could receive 120 acres, most of the warrants were sold to speculators who could thus accumulate the amount of land for a tract cheaply.

After the War of 1812, Congress enacted legislation to reward military service by entitling veterans to claim land in the northwest and western territories. This so-called "bounty land" was not granted outright to the veterans, but was instead awarded to them through a multi-step process beginning with a bounty land warrant

Bounty land warrants weren't automatically issued to every veteran who served. The veteran first had to apply for a warrant, and then, if the warrant was granted, he could use the warrant to apply for a land patent. The land patent granted him ownership of the land. Basically, the warrant was a piece of paper which stated that, based on his service, the veteran was entitled to X number of acres in one of the bounty land districts set up for veterans. These land districts were located on pubic domain land. The warrants, themselves, were not delivered to the veterans; the veteran actually received was a notification telling him that Warrant #XXX had been issued in his name and was on file in the General Land Office.

No bounty land was available for service after 1855. However, Civil War veterans received special homestead rights: in 1860 the right to claim 160 acres, in 1870 a veteran could claim 160 acres within railroad grant areas and by 1872 Congress allowed the veteran to deduct the years of service from the five-year residency required for homesteading.

Military research, by nature, requires multiple sources in order to locate and confirm data. When requesting a record, the more data you can provide, the easier it will be to locate the record. Among the varied types of sources, some will require a subscription to their website, such as Ancestry.com or a fee for a document, such as military service records. The websites listed are but a small sample of those available for military research. U.S. Military Records: A Guide to Federal and State Sources by James C. Neagles available at libraries is also very helpful^13.

1. State libraries and archives can provide the researcher of military history with untold treasures. These are particularly good for local information, such as lists of state or local militiamen. Most such organizations have very useful Web pages that contain important finding aids, online catalogs to their collections, and searchable data files. This category would also include the Reconstruction Court records, which can provide information about a Confederate soldier. While a fire in 1973 at the National Personnel Record Center destroyed many of the records from World War I, many state archives have records of those who served from their state. After World War I, veterans had to register their discharge with the local county courthouse.

Examples include The New York State Library which has a small collection of links relating to military history including a link to "Military History of New York State Militia Forces and Personages," a set of links to significant military data pertaining to New York including numerous photographic images. The Tennessee State Library and Archives provides a "Military History" link under its "Tennessee History and Genealogy" section. Information on soldiers from Tennessee stretches from the Vietnam era back to the War of 1812.

2. National governmental organizations. The National Archives is one of the richest in documents on veterans’ military service records, pension records and bounty land warrants. The staff responds to inquiries submitted by mail, phone, e-mail, or fax. This is for single inquiries only, not extensive research. The National Park service has a website with an index of Civil War soldiers from both sides, if you have the name, branch of service and regiment.

3. State and County websites provide a listing of veterans from a state or county who have served in a military action. These are generally listed under war and regiment.

4. Military schools and colleges that maintain military collections. Among these are The Citadel, in Charleston, South Carolina, and Virginia Military Institute (VMI), in Virginia, as well as the Air Force Academy, Naval College, and West Point. A researcher can find an increasing number of diaries transcribed, and even digitized, on the Web sites of university libraries, military institutes, and other specialized repositories. The National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) is a good way to find diaries and letters hidden in repositories all over the country.

www.vmi.edu/archives/ Virginia Military Institute. You can search for a name in the genealogical resources where there are alumni biographical records and online class rosters. Their online historical rosters database is the best place to start your search. The database includes the names of all students who were enrolled at VMI—whether or not they graduated—through the Class of 1925. You can also confirm the attendance of an individual who may have enrolled after 1925 by contacting VMI.

http://library.msstate.edu/sc/manuscripts/CivilWar.asp Mississippi State University Libraries: Bibliography of Civil War Manuscripts: Special collections–soldier’s letters and family papers pertaining to the Southern War for Independence. From the home page, select Genealogy, then Collections, and then Civil War.

5. Museums: official histories of the armed forces, general histories, campaign histories and some technical works as well as numerous regimental histories can be found in the various military museums. For example, The Center of Military History has a list of Army Campaigns which contains names and dates of major battles; a “Master List of Army Records” which provides a list and location of available military records; and a Medal of Honor Recipients list dating from the Civil War to the present and which includes name, rank, organization, place and date of the circumstances that earned them the honor, where they entered the service, date and/or place of birth and a paragraph describing how the recipient won the citation.

7. Genealogy specific search engines. These have multiple links that you can follow for your specific ancestor. Among these are:

http://www.lineages.com/rooms/—The Military Research Room is a resource with historical information (war chronologies) and research tips that will help you find your ancestor's military records.

8. Private sponsored websites: Enthusiasts provide the largest group of websites, books and periodicals. These tend to be very specific and focus on a single topic, such as available records from the Creek War, regiment, or a ship.

9. Internet forums, such as RootsWeb Mailing Lists, provide informational data such as where can I find a record? You can either browse or register to receive a particular list. If you register for the list, you may email your question to the list. In time you will receive an answer to your question or you may also find ‘lost cousins’ from someone who is researching the same military ancestor that you are.

10. The Family History Library has military records on microfilm. Check the call number of the specific film that is needed from the online FHL catalog. You can order the microfilm from the nearest family history center for a small fee and can then view the film and print a copy of the record at the center.

11. Local libraries. The genealogy section usually has locality specific data about veterans that have served from the area. The librarian is a good source for asking for information on a specific topic, such as what militia group from here served in the Civil War? Also many libraries are part of an inter-library loan program in which you can borrow books from other libraries and, if available, they will be sent to your home library for your use.

http://dallaslibrary.org/ the Dallas Public Library–one of the top ten genealogy library collections in the US

http://www.cooklib.org/Genealogy/4military.htm Cook Memorial Library military sites go back to the French and Indian war with some rosters available for that war and up to the Vietnam War including a list of some servicemen believed to be held in Russia from the Vietnam era.

12. Veterans Cemeteries: If your ancestor was a casualty due to war wounds, there are specific websites that may list him. Among these are Arlington Cemetery, American Battle Monuments, and Veterans Cemeteries. The American Battle Commission maintains a listing of those interred at the American military cemeteries overseas and those Missing in Action from World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

13. General Search engines. Usually entering an inquiry such as [US +”(name of war” +veteran] will provide multiple websites for research. Ex: US +WWII +veterans. If you are looking for a specific state, replace the US with the state’s name, i.e., Texas +WWII +Veterans

14. Organizational publications: The publications of genealogy societies and patriotic organizations are another group of records frequently bypassed in the pursuit of military data about our ancestors. The records of these organizations, though, can offer great amounts of identifying information about veterans. Most researchers are familiar with the larger patriotic organizations such as the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. However, smaller, not so well know organizations also collect, preserve, and disseminate military information.

Information on how to obtain a record may be provided on the website or a telephone call can solicit the information. Generally the organization will request that you obtain their form for requesting the record. Other times, a written request that provides the data required and the reason for requesting the record will suffice. A fee will usually be required for copying the record. When corresponding with non-governmental agencies, be sure to enclose a SASE (Self Addressed Stamped Envelope)

10. The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy, pp 290-294. Edited by Loretto D. Szucs and Sandra H. Luebking, Chapter 9, "Research in Military Records," by John Cerny; revised for the current edition by Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck and David Thackery (Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry, 1997)

Recommended citation:
"Researching Military Records," by Clare Molina. Collin County, Texas History and Genealogy Webpage by Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries, Inc., <http://www.geocities/genfriendsghl> [Accessed Fri February 13, 2004].

GENEALOGY FRIENDS OF PLANO [TEXAS] LIBRARIES, INC.

SUPPORTING GLADYS HARRINGTON LIBRARY, THE LARGEST GENEALOGY COLLECTION IN THE COUNTY

Researching Military Records

Send mail to GenFriends@comcast.net with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2004 Genealogy Friends of Plano [Collin County, Texas] Libraries, Inc.
Post Office Box 860477, Plano, Texas 75086-0477, USA

Genealogy Friends Activities and Events

Genealogy Friends of the Plano Library, Inc. is a non-profit organization certified under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. All contributions are directed to the improvement and expansion of the Gladys Harrington Library Genealogy Section.

Last modified: April 19, 2004

GENEALOGY FRIENDS OF PLANO [TEXAS] LIBRARIES, INC.

SUPPORTING GLADYS HARRINGTON LIBRARY, THE LARGEST GENEALOGY COLLECTION IN THE COUNTY

Researching Military Records

Send mail to GenFriends@comcast.net with questions or comments about this web site. Copyright © 2004 Genealogy Friends of Plano [Collin County, Texas] Libraries, Inc. Post Office Box 860477, Plano, Texas 75086-0477, USA

Genealogy Friends Activities and Events

Genealogy Friends of the Plano Library, Inc. is a non-profit organization certified under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. All contributions are directed to the improvement and expansion of the Gladys Harrington Library Genealogy Section.

Last modified: April 19, 2004

Send mail to GenFriends@comcast.net with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2004 Genealogy Friends of Plano [Collin County, Texas] Libraries, Inc.
Post Office Box 860477, Plano, Texas 75086-0477, USA