Military Records  TOP^

The men and women called to serve their country in military duty are a source of pride to their families and to our nation. Now, with databases containing more than 16 million names and thousands of government records available to search, researching your veteran ancestors has become easier than ever before. In the Military Records Collection, you can find enlistment dates, learn about famous battles, locate gravesites of war veterans, and discover the unique details of military service that will help you chronicle the stories of the lives of those who served in the United States military. Even if you don't have direct ancestors who were in the military service, you can discover information about your family. Often, fathers, siblings, or other family members may have served in the military and their records could contain information that will help in your research.

Types of RecordsTOP^
The Military Records Collection contains a variety of records. This section explains some of the types of records you might find:

Death Lists and Casualty Indexes
These records contain information on soldiers who were killed in action, or died from wounds received in military service.

Draft Records
These records contain information on individuals who registered for military drafts.

Pension Records
These records contain information about officers, disabled veterans, needy veterans, widows/orphans of veterans, and veterans that received a pension from the American government.
View an original Civil War pension record

Registration Cards
These cards contain information about the men who were required to register for a military draft.
View an original World War 1 draft card

Rosters
Rosters list the names of people who were assigned to specific military units.

Service Records
These records comprise the information that the government keeps on any soldier (for example, enlistment/appointment, duty stations and assignments, training, qualifications, performance, awards and medals, disciplinary actions, insurance, emergency data, administrative remarks, separation, discharge, retirement, and other personnel actions).

The Military Records Collection also contains interesting databases such as the Revolutionary War Courts-Martial database which tells the stories of the 3,315 men who were brought before a military court, and the American Civil War Battle Summaries database which contains short histories for some of the most important battles in the American Civil War.

Interesting Facts  TOP^

• Until the Spanish-American War, most military nurses were men.
• The 1900, 1910, and 1920 censuses have a category devoted to military personnel.
• Many valuable Revolutionary War documents were destroyed in 1800 by a fire at the War Department, and when the British captured and burned Washington D.C. in 1814.
• Approximately 14,000 Southern "rebels" filed "petitions of pardon"; these were primarily propertied people who were anxious to gain pardon and stave off possible confiscation of their land and other assets.
• American colonial governments granted pensions for disabled soldiers and sailors long before the American Revolution.

FAQ  TOP^

Do you have any tips for finding military records?
Before you start your search of the Military Records Collection, you might want to identify as much about your ancestor as you can. If you don't find military records in your search results when searching from the Military Records Collection homepage, access the military records databases individually.

What is the WWI Draft Registration Cards database?
In 1917 and 1918, approximately 24 million men living in the United States completed a World War I draft registration card. The World War I Draft Registration Cards database includes scanned images of actual draft registration cards. You can browse images by locality (state, county, city, draft board) or you can search the index using name, birth date, and birthplace.

• Full name
• Home address
• Date and place of birth
• Age, race, and country of citizenship
• Occupation and employer
• Physical description (hair and eye color, height, disabilities)
• Additional information such as address of nearest relative, dependent relatives, marital status, father's
birthplace, or previous exemption from service
• Signature

We hope to be able to post 1 to 2 million new images each month until the full 24 million image collection is complete. We are also currently working on manually indexing each of the draft registration cards. Each card will be indexed by name, birth date, and birthplace.

Is the Civil War Pension Index complete?
Due to deficiencies in the microfilm of the original source cards (e.g., faded and illegible writing) about 1% of the pension cards were not included in the Civil War Pension Index. It is possible that they may be rescanned and included at a later date if legible digital scans can be created. The microfilm rolls of these original source cards may provide additional data for these missing images. The Family History Library in Salt Lake City or The National Archives and Records Administration (microfilm #T288) are excellent sources for the complete collection on microfilm.

• Name of Soldier:
• Name of Dependant: Widow/Minor
• Service:
• Date Class:
• Filing: Widow/Minor
• Attorney:
• Remarks:

1. Name. Find out the veteran's full name including given names, surname, and nicknames.
2. Military Branch. Try to identify the branch of the military in which the individual served.
3. Time Period. Determine the specific time period in which your ancestor served their country.

Related Information  TOP^