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Civil War Genealogical
Resources, State-By-State
IN PART ONE OF AN EXCLUSIVE TWO-PART FEATURE ARTICLE,
DAVID A. NORRIS TAKES AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THE RESOURCES
AVAILABLE FOR TRACING YOUR CIVIL WAR ANCESTORS.
BECAUSE MOST CIVIL War soldiers
fought in regiments raised by
the states, many of our most
useful genealogical sources can
be found at a state level. Before
the war was over, some states
published rosters of their soldiers. Many state rosters were
published after the war. Most of
the early rosters were published
by state governments, and
recent researchers have compiled new rosters in the past
few decades. The digital age has
brought much Civil War information online from state
archives, as well as the major
online genealogical sites.
Following is a list of some help-
16 INTERNET Genealogy • February/March 2011
ful published and online
sources that concentrate on
particular states.
For useful resources on
many states and individual
regiments, check the US Army
Military History Institute’s
Finding Aids page at
www.ahco.army.mil/site
/finding_aids_brief.jsp and select
“Civil War Unit Bibliographies”.
The Library of Congress has a
Civil War unit bibliography at
www.loc.gov/rr/main/uscivilwar.
See also Janet B. Hewitt, ed.,
The Roster of Union Soldiers,
1861-1865, and The Roster of
Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865
(Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot
Publishing Co.), and for brief
information on Union units,
Frederick Dyer’s 1908
Compendium of the War of the
Rebellion (which has been
reprinted).
Google Books,
http://books.google.com and the
Internet Archive, www.archive.
org, have many of the public
domain books mentioned here,
as well as numerous regimental
histories.
State archives and libraries
have many manuscript collections dealing with the Civil War,
besides the online databases
listed here.
www.internet-genealogy.com
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Civil War Genealogical Resources, State-by-State
Alabama
• The Alabama State Archives’
Civil War Service Database at
www.archives.state.al.us/civilwar/
search.cfm lists each Alabama soldier’s unit, rank, date of enlistment, whether he was wounded
or killed, and whether or not there
is an Alabama Confederate pension. There is also some unit history information.
• National Archives’ Compiled
Military Service Records for
Alabama Confederate and Union
soldiers are available at
Footnote.com.
• Confederate Military History,
Extended Edition, Vol. 8: Alabama.
Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot
Publishing, 1988.
• Stewart Sifakis, Compendium of
the Confederate Armies: Alabama.
New York: Facts on File, 1992.
California
• Orton, Richard H. Orton, Records
of California Men in the War of the
Rebellion, 1861 to 1867.
Sacramento, California, J. D.
Young, 1890. Available at Google
Books.
• The California State Military
Museum has a useful page entitled “California and the Civil
War” at www.militarymuseum.org.
Colorado Territory
• The Colorado State Archives
offers their “Colorado Volunteers
Transcript of Records Index” at
www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit
/archives/military/trans/index.
html. Their “Colorado Civil War
Casualties Index” can be found at
Materials at the Connecticut State
Library is online at
www.cslib.org/civwar.htm.
• Catalogue of Connecticut Volunteer
Organizations with Additional
Enlistments and Casualties to July 1,
1864 … Hartford: Case, Lockwood
and Company, 1864. Available at
Google Books.
• William Augustus Croffut and
John M. Morris, The Military and
Civil History of Connecticut During
the War of 1861-1865 ... New York:
Ledyard Bill, 1869. Available at
Google Books.
Dakota Territory
• Footnote.com has National
Archives’ Compiled Military
Service Records for Union soldiers
Arizona Territory
• Footnote.com has National
Archives’ Compiled Military
Service Records for Confederate
soldiers of Herbert’s Battalion,
Arizona Cavalry.
Arkansas
• The Arkansas History
Commission offers two online
indexes, Arkansas Confederate
Pension Records, www.ark-ives.
com/documenting/confed_pensions.
asp, and Arkansas Confederate
Home Records, www.ark-ives.com
/documenting/confederate_homes.asp.
Also on the site are two indexes
related to a 1911 Confederate veterans’ reunion.
• National Archives’ Compiled
Military Service Records for
Arkansas Confederate and Union
soldiers are available at
Footnote.com.
• Confederate Military History,
Extended Edition, Vol. 14: Arkansas.
Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot, 1988.
• Stewart Sifakis, Compendium of
the Confederacy: Florida and
Arkansas. New York: Facts on File,
1992.
• For Arkansas Union troops, see
Report of the Adjutant General of
Arkansas for the Period of the Late
Rebellion, and to November 1, 1866.
Washington, D.C.: Government
Printing Office, 1867. Available at
Google Books.
www.internet-genealogy.com
Dr. Anson Hurd of the 14th Indiana Volunteers tends wounded Confederate soldiers near Keedysville, Maryland after the 17 September 1862 Battle of Antietam.
Many records available at a state level contain medical information about Civil
War ancestors. (Library of Congress)
www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives
/ciwardea.html. If you find an
ancestor, further information may
be ordered via instructions on the
site.
• John H. Nankivell, History of the
Military Organizations of the State of
Colorado, 1860-1935. Denver: W. H.
Kistler Stationary Company, 1935.
from the Dakota Territory.
• The South Dakota Historical
Society has data from an 1885
Civil War Veterans’ Census at
http://history.sd.gov/Archives/Data/
civilwar/default.aspx. Entries
include some Confederates who
moved to the Dakota Territory, as
well as Union veterans.
Connecticut
• The Connecticut State Library’s
Research Guide to Civil War
Delaware
• National Archives’ Compiled
Military Service Records for
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Civil War Genealogical Resources, State-by-State
Delaware Union soldiers are available at Footnote.com.
• The Delaware Public Archives
offers a listing of its Civil War
resources at http://archives.delaware
.gov/collections/civilwar/cw01.shtml.
District of Columbia
• For pensions for Confederate
soldiers from the District of
Columbia, see Maryland and
Virginia.
Florida
• National Archives’ Compiled
Military Service Records for
Florida Confederate and Union
soldiers are available at
Footnote.com.
• The Florida Memory Project of
the State Library and Archives of
Florida has placed their state’s
Confederate pension files online in
pdf form at www.floridamemory.
com/Collections/PensionFiles.
• Confederate Military History,
Extended Edition, Vol. 16: Florida.
Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot, 1988.
• Stewart Sifakis, Compendium of
the Confederacy: Florida and
Arkansas. New York: Facts on File,
1992.
• David W. Hartman and David
Coles, Biographical Rosters of
Florida’s Confederate and Union
Soldiers 1861-1865 (6 vols.).
Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot
Publishing Company, 1995.
Georgia
• National Archives’ Compiled
Military Service Records for
Georgia Confederate and Union
soldiers are available at
Footnote.com.
• The Georgia Archives’ site,
Georgia’s Virtual Vault, has
scanned many Confederate pensions and placed them online.
• Confederate Pension
Applications are available at
http://content.sos.state.ga.us/cdm4
/pension.php; Militia Enrollment
Lists, 1864 are searchable at
http://content.sos.state.ga
.us/cdm4/1864.php; and
Confederate Enlistment Oaths and
Discharges 1861-1864 are online at
http://content.sos.state.ga.us/cdm4/
confed.php.
• Confederate Military History,
Extended Edition, Vol. 7: Georgia.
Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot, 1988.
• Lillian Henderson, Roster of the
Confederate Soldiers of Georgia,
1861-1865 (6 vols.), Hapeville, GA:
Longino & Porter, 1959-1964.
Illinois
• The Illinois State Archives’
Illinois Civil War Muster and
Descriptive Rolls Database is
available at www.cyberdriveillinois.
com/departments/archives/datcivil.
html. Information on over 285,000
Illinois Union troops includes
detailed information on each soldier.
• Illinois, Military & Naval
Department, Report of the Adjutant
General of the State of Illinois.
Various multi-volume editions of
this work, containing rosters of
enlisted men and officers, are
available at Google Books.
Indiana
• The Indiana State Digital
Archives’ Indiana Civil War
Soldiers Database can be searched
by going to www.indianadigital
archives.org and selecting the database. Information, compiled by
“volunteers and staff from the
Indiana State Archives and the
Friends of the Indiana State
Archives”, includes 213,000 individual records.
• William H.H. Terrell, Report of
the Adjutant General of the State of
Indiana …Indianapolis: Samuel M.
Douglass, 1866, available at the
Internet Archive.
Iowa
• Iowa, Adjutant-General’s Office,
Report of the Adjutant General and
Acting Quartermaster General of the
State of Iowa (Des Moines, various
years). Available at Google Books.
• Lurton D. Ingersoll, Iowa and the
Rebellion ... (Philadelphia:
Lippincott, 1867.) Available at
Google Books.
• Iowa, Adjutant-General’s Office,
Roster and Records of Iowa Soldiers
in the War of the Rebellion Together
With Historical Sketches of Volunteer
Organizations, 1861-1865. Des
Moines, Iowa, E.H. English, 1908.
Available at Google Books.
Kansas
• The Kansas Historical Society’s
18 INTERNET Genealogy • February/March 2011
“Databases and Indexes” page at
www.kshs.org/p/databases-indexes-atkshs/10982 offers several online
Civil War databases.
• The “Kansas Adjutant General’s
Report, 1861-1865” is an index of
soldiers in Kansas volunteer regiments.
• “Kansas State Militia Records,
1861-1865” is a finding aid listing
the state militia units on two reels
of microfilm, which can be borrowed from the Kansas Historical
Society.
• “Civil War Veterans in Kansas”
has the names, regiments, and
places of residence for 28,000
veterans.
• “Grand Army of the Republic
(GAR) Posts in Kansas” lists the
local posts in Kansas as well as a
few in the Indian Territory. The
“Necrology of the Grand Army of
the Republic” indexes “13,000
individuals for whom a notice of
death was published in the
encampment proceedings of the
Grand Army of the Republic,
Department of Kansas”. Copies of
the relevant pages from the proceedings can be obtained from the
reference staff.
• Kansas, Adjutant-General’s
Office, Official Military History of
Kansas Regiments during the War for
the Suppression of the Great
Rebellion. Leavenworth, Kansas,
W.S. Burke, 1870. Available at
Google Books.
• Kansas, Adjutant-General’s
Office, Report of the Adjutant
General of the State of Kansas for the
Year 1864, Leavenworth, Kansas,
P.H. Hubbell, 1865. Available at
Google Books.
Kentucky
• National Archives’ Compiled
Military Service Records for
Kentucky Confederate and Union
soldiers are available at
Footnote.com.
• Confederate pension files, Union
and Confederate soldier service
records, and entries in the
Adjutant General’s Roster of the
Civil War (mainly for Union soldiers), are available from the
Kentucky Department of Libraries
and Archives’ Archives Research
Room, KDLA, P.O. Box 537,
Frankfort, Kentucky 40602-0537.
www.internet-genealogy.com
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Civil War Genealogical Resources, State-by-State
The request form is available
online at www.kdla.ky.gov/research
/military.htm. Fees for Confederate
pension files are $10 USD for
Kentucky residents and $15 USD
for out-of-state residents. Fees are
non-refundable, so the archives
advises, “If you have any questions concerning the availability of
records, please call us at 502-5648300, ext. 350 or ext. 345 before
submitting your request.”
• Kentucky Confederate pensions
are indexed in Alicia Simpson’s,
Index of Confederate Pension
Applications, Commonwealth of
Kentucky (1978), and Stephen
Douglas Lynn’s, Confederate
Pensioners of Kentucky: Pension
Applications of the Veterans &
Widows, 1912-1946 (2000).
• Confederate Military History,
Extended Edition. Vol. 11: Kentucky.
Wilmington, North Carolina,
Broadfoot Publishing Co., 1988.
• Kentucky, Adjutant-General’s
Office, Report of the Adjutant
General of the State of Kentucky:
Confederate Kentucky Volunteers,
War l86l-65. Frankfort, Kentucky:
State Journal Co., 1918.
• Stewart Sifakis, Compendium of
the Confederate Armies: Kentucky,
Maryland, Missouri, the Confederate
Units and the Indian Units. New
York: Facts on File, 1995.
• Union Soldiers & Sailors
Monument Association, the Union
Regiments of Kentucky. Louisville,
Courier-Journal, 1879. Available at
Google Books.
Louisiana
• National Archives’ Compiled
Military Service Records for
Louisiana Confederate and Union
soldiers are available at
Footnote.com.
• The Genealogy & History
Section of the Louisiana State
Archives has an online
Confederate Pension Applications
Index Database at www400.sos.
louisiana.gov/archives/gen/cpa-alpha
.htm. Copies of the files can be
ordered on the website.
• Confederate Military History,
Extended Edition. Vol. 13: Louisiana.
Wilmington, NC, Broadfoot
Publishing Co., 1988.
• Stewart Sifakis, Compendium of
the Confederate Armies: Louisiana.
www.internet-genealogy.com
New York: Facts on File, 1995.
Maine
• The Maine State Archives has a
list of their Civil War holdings at
www.maine.gov/sos/arc/research/
civilwar2/index.html.
• Maine, Adjutant-General’s Office,
Annual Report of the Adjutant
General of the State of Maine,
Augusta, Maine: Stevens and
Sayward, various years. Appendix
“D” of the Annual Report of the
Google Books.
• Commission on the Publication
of the Histories of the Maryland
Volunteers During the Civil War,
History and Roster of the Maryland
Volunteers, War of 1861-5.
Baltimore, 1898. Available at
Google Books.
Massachusetts
• James Lorenzo Bowen,
Massachusetts in the War, 18611865. Springfield, Massachusetts:
These non-commissioned officers of the 19th Iowa Infantry were photographed in
New Orleans after their release from a Confederate prison at Camp Ford, Texas.
State-level records may tell you if an ancestor spent time as a prisoner of war.
Adjutant General of the State of
Maine, December 31, 1861 is available at the Internet Archive.
Maryland
• National Archives’ Compiled
Military Service Records for
Maryland Confederate and Union
soldiers are available at
Footnote.com.
• Stewart Sifakis, Compendium of
the Confederate Armies: Kentucky,
Maryland, Missouri, the Confederate
Units and the Indian Units. New
York: Facts on File, 1995.
• Confederate Military History,
Extended Edition. Vol. 2: Maryland.
Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot
Publishing Co., 1987.
• William Worthington
Goldsborough, The Maryland Line
in the Confederate Army, l86l-1865.
Baltimore, 1900. Available at
Clark W. Bryan, 1889. Available at
Google Books.
• Charles W. Hall, ed. Regiments
and Armories of Massachusetts: An
Historical Narration of the
Massachusetts Volunteer Militia,
with Portraits and Biographies of
Officers Past and Present. 2 vols.
Boston: W. W. Potter, l899-l901.
Available at the Internet Archive.
• Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and
Marines in the Civil War. 9 vols.
Norwood, Massachusetts: 19311935.
Michigan
• Some Archives of Michigan digital collections of Civil War material can be viewed at Seeking
Michigan, http://seekingmichigan.org
/discover.
• The Archives of Michigan’s
Military Sources Page at
INTERNET Genealogy • February/March 2011 19
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Civil War Genealogical Resources, State-by-State
www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-15354463_19313-126893--,00.html
includes the Principals and
Substitutes Index, which lists the
names and units of Michigan men
who enlisted as substitutes, as well
as the men who hired them to take
their places in the Union Army.
The Michigan Civil War Soldier
Images Database has about 1,400
photographs and images online.
• Also available through the
Archives of Michigan’s Military
Sources Page are two other online
indexes. The Sons of the Union
Veterans of the Civil War
(SUVCW) “Graves Database
Website” includes 60,000 entries
for Michigan Civil War soldier
burials, as well as soldiers from
other states who were buried in
Michigan. The “Grand Army of
the Republic Records Project —
Michigan” is an ongoing program
that lists Michigan veterans who
were in the GAR.
• Michigan Adjutant General’s
Office, Records of Service of
Michigan Volunteers in the Civil War.
Kalamazoo, MI: Ihling Brothers
and Everard, 1905. Available at
Google Books.
• Robertson, John, comp. Michigan
in the War. Lansing, MI: W.S.
George and Co., 1880. Available at
Google Books.
Minnesota
• Board of Commissioners on
Publication of History of
Minnesota in the Civil and Indian
Wars, Minnesota in the Civil and
Indian Wars. (2 vols.) St. Paul,
Minnesota: Pioneer Press, 1890
(Vol. 1) and 1893 (Vol. 2). Available
at Google Books.
• Minnesota, Office of the
Adjutant General, Annual Report of
the Adjutant General of the State of
Minnesota, for the Year Ending
December 1, 1866, and of the Military
Forces of the State from 1861 to 1865.
St. Paul, Minnesota: Pioneer
Printing Company, 1866. Available
at the Internet Archive.
Mississippi
• National Archives’ Compiled
Military Service Records for
Mississippi Confederate and
Union soldiers are available at
Footnote.com.
• The Mississippi Department of
Archives and History has microfilmed the Confederate pension
files for that state. For information
on Mississippi’s Confederate pension records, search their online
catalog at http://mdah.state.ms.us/
arrec/catalog.php.
If you can’t visit the state
archives and would like to make a
research request, visit their
Research Request page at
http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/refreq.
php. The staff will conduct one
hour of research without charge
for Mississippi residents, or will
do the same for out of state residents for a $27 USD fee. Patrons
will be notified of the copying
costs, which will be extra.
• Mississippi’s Confederate pensions are indexed in Betty C.
Wiltshire’s Mississippi Confederate
Pension Applications. Carrollton,
MS: Pioneer Publishing Co., 1994.
Confederate Military History,
Extended Edition. Vol. 9:
Mississippi. Wilmington, NC:
Broadfoot Publishing Co.
• Stewart Sifakis, Compendium of
the Confederate Armies: Mississippi.
New York: Facts on File, 1995.
Missouri
• National Archives’ Compiled
Military Service Records for
Missouri Confederate and Union
soldiers are available at
Footnote.com.
• The Missouri State Archives has
a rich collection of Civil War material online. They have a guide to
their Civil War resources at
www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/
civilwar/intro.asp.
• The archives’ “Soldier’s Records:
War of 1812 - World War I” at
www.sos.mo.gov/archives/soldiers
includes listings for Union and
Confederate soldiers. Successful
searches yield pdf images of file
cards encapsulating the soldier’s
career. Among the listings are
hard-to-find records of militia and
emergency troops.
• The Missouri Provost Marshal’s
Database at www.sos.mo.gov/
archives/provost has 67,000 entries
relating to civilian arrests and
other matters handled by the
Union provost marshals of
Missouri.
20 INTERNET Genealogy • February/March 2011
• For genealogical research
requests, including Missouri
Confederate pensions or
Confederate Soldiers’ Home applications, see the Missouri State
Archives’ E-mail Policy and
Procedures Page at www.sos.mo.gov
/archives/resources/email.asp. The
page has instructions for sending a
request by e-mail or mail. You will
receive a reply, letting you know
what records are available for your
ancestor, and what the cost will be.
• Confederate Military History,
Extended Edition. Vol. 12: Missouri.
Wilmington, North Carolina:
Broadfoot Publishing Co.
• Stewart Sifakis, Compendium of
the Confederate Armies: Kentucky,
Maryland, Missouri, the Confederate
Units and the Indian Units. New
York: Facts on File, 1995.
• Missouri, Office of the Adjutant
General, Report of the Adjutant
General of Missouri for the Year 1864.
Jefferson City: W.A. Currie, Printer,
1865. Available at Google Books.
• Missouri, Office of the Adjutant
General, Official Register of Missouri
Troops for 1862. St. Louis: Adjutant
General’s Office, 1863. Available at
Google Books and the Internet
Archive.
Nebraska Territory
• National Archives’ Compiled
Military Service Records for
Nebraska Union soldiers are available at Footnote.com.
• Nebraska, Adjutant General’s
Office, Report of John R. Patrick,
Adjutant-General of the State of
Nebraska to the Governor of the State
of Nebraska, January 1, 1871. Des
Moines, IA: Mills and Company,
1871. Includes information on
Nebraska soldiers during the Civil
War. Available at Google Books.
Watch for Part Two in the
April/May issue of Internet
Genealogy!
IG
David A. Norris is a regular contributor to Internet Genealogy,
and is the author of the newlyreleased Tracing Your Civil War
Ancestors.
www.internet-genealogy.com