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Memorial Hall Library

Searching for U.S. Military Records

Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze

Military records can provide a wealth of information - if they exist and if you can find them!  Here is some basic information that will help with your search.

Looking for military records from before the American Revolution?  In most cases you'll have to check state archives and military historical societies covering the place your ancestor enlisted.  Some of these organizations have begun to digitize their records.  You might hit the jackpot and do all your researching from home or the library!

Records from the Revolution on are held at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Washington, D.C. and the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri.  Unfortunately, a fire at the NPRC in 1973 damaged or destroyed 16 to 18 million Army and Air Force records of personnel discharged from 1912-1964.  However, there are often alternate record sources for these former military service members.  If requested, the Center will try to reconstruct the files from these alternate sources.  

The federal government created Compiled Military Service Records, CMSRs, for soldiers serving in volunteer units in wars between 1775 and 1902.  These records have abstracts of information taken from original records at the Nation Archives and put on cards.  The information for each soldier may include the date and place enlisted, age at enlistment, place of birth, physical description, occupation, term of enlistment, date and location mustered, illnesses, wounds or desertion, date mustered out or died and correspondence.  If a soldier served in 2 different wars it is likely there are 2 separate CMSRs.

Only some CMSRs have been digitized, otherwise they are on microfilm.  If you aren't able to find your ancestor's records online you'll need to consult a service records index (there are many available online at sites like FamilySearch.org) in order to find the number of the record on microfilm so a copy can be ordered from the National Archives.  

CMSR Details

  • Revolutionary War (1775-1783)
    • All existing records have been indexed, microfilmed and digitized.
    • Many records were destroyed when the British burned Washington in 1814.
    • Use Fold3 (be flexible with name spellings and use the * to substitute for one or more letters in question).
  • War of 1812 (1812-1815)
    • These CMSRs haven’t been microfilmed or digitized – you’ll have to order a copy of your ancestor’s file from NARA.
    • Service was often for 3 to 9 months so few cards in the CMSRs for this war.
    • Ancestry.com has the full index to the War of 1812 service records.
    • Go to Ancestry's card catalog and type the main words in the collection title into the keyword search box
    • Once in the database type the person’s name.  You’ll learn his rank, company or regiment, and the “roll box” where the CMSR is located at the National Archives
  • Indian Wars and Mexican-America War (1816-1858)
    • Fold3 has digitized the Indian Wars Service Record Index.  In Fold3 select Mexican American and Early Indian Wars.  Click the Browse All link and select the index from the database list.  Use the box at the top of the page to search for your ancestor.  Order his service record from the National Archives.
    • Fold3 has digitized the Mexican War Service Record Index.
    • Fold3 has the full CMSRs for Arkansas, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas the Mormon Battalion.  If your relative is from another state you’ll need to request his records from NARA.
    • Ancestry.com’s database, Compiled Military Service Records for American Volunteer Soldiers, Mexican War, 1845-1848, is another version of the index.
  • Civil War (1861-1865)
    • Union Civil War CMSRs are indexed by state.  The files for more than 20 states have been microfilmed and/or digitized. 
    • All Confederate CMSRs have been digitized. 
    • Go to Fold3 (go.fold3.com/civilwar_records), scroll down and click the link for Union or Confederate service records.  Browse your state.  Enter a name in the search box.  If the file is there you can download it.  If not, order it from NARA.
  • Spanish-American and Philippine Wars (1898-1902)
    • The index for the Spanish-American War in 1898 is online. 
    • Go to FamilySearch.org and look for the United States Index to Service Records, War with Spain, 1898 (www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1919583).  Florida is not included so you need to request the file from NARA.  Digital images of Florida Spanish-American War CMSRs are on Fold3.
    • The index to the Philippine Insurrection is not available online (nor are the records).  If you want these records consider going to the National Archives or hiring a professional researcher.

Ordering a CMSR: To order a CMSR go to the National Archives site at http://archives.gov/forms.  Scroll down to (Pre-WWI) Military Service Records and use form NATF 86.  There is a $30 fee and the file takes 2 to 3 months to arrive.  

Pension Records are also available for those who served in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the Civil War.  The government required proof that the applicant qualified for benefits.  This created files filled with affadavits, letters, service confirmations, marriage records, physical exam and more.  Not everyone who served from 1775 to 1865 received a pension.  Pensions based on service, rather than death or disability, were generally unavailable until decades after the conflict ended so many veterans died before they could apply.  Also, some early pension records have been lost.  Note that if a soldier applied for a pension and then his wife applied for a widow's pension after his death the files will be together (and the maiden name is usually included). 

Pension Record Details

  • Revolutionary War pensions:
    • The government was cash poor and often gave bounty land grants instead of pension payments.
    • Pensions were initially restricted to officers, severely disabled veterans, and widows of men who died in the war.
    • Nearly all of the earliest pension files were destroyed in a War Department fire in 1800.  Another fire in 1814 claimed more records.
    • Surviving records are at NARA and are available online from Fold3, Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.
    • Ancestry.com has a database “American Revolutionary War Rejected Pensions” with files of rejected applications. 
  • Civil War pensions:
    • The first pension law for Union widows, orphans and disabled soldiers was enacted in 1862.
    • Until 1907, death and disability were the only grounds for a pension.
    • The Act of May 11, 1912 granted service-based pensions to most veterans of the Civil War and Mexican War. 
    • Confederate soldiers had to apply for a pension in the state they were currently living (this wasn’t necessarily the state for which he served during the war).

Ordering Pension Records

A list of local researchers is on the NARA site at http://archives.gov/research/hire-help.

A full fee schedule for NARA requests is at http://archives.gov/research/order/fees.html.

Best of luck with your research!