Finding Civil War Records

Everyone knows that finding military records can be a bit of a challenge at times. For example, I knew that my great, great, great grandfather was a Union soldier, our family has a picture of him that has been passed down through the generations. But for years I had no luck in finding any information about his military career. Then one day, I stumbled onto a name very similar to his only to discover that he had enlisted under that incorrect spelling of his name and never bothered to have it corrected.

Recently I discovered a website: The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System-(also known as CWSSS) www.civilwar.nps.gov/cwss/
This site states that it has information on 6 million soldiers from 44 states and territories. After reviewing, I have found this site incredibly helpful, informative and very user friendly and would like to take a moment to share my findings with you.

When you are on the CWSSS homepage, you will see many different links including the following: Soldiers, Sailors, Regiments, Cemeteries, Battles, Prisoners, Medal of Honor, and National Parks lined up neatly on the right hand side. Although I cant discuss in depth each one of these links due to the amount of information each one holds, I would like to take a moment to discuss a few.

The "Soldiers" link will take you to a page where you can enter what information you know about your relative. If the individual is listed, the results will return with the soldiers name, the side they fought on, their function, and their regiments name. If you do not have this bit of information, and they are listed, this could make obtaining the pension/military records from the NARA much easier to locate.

If you have African-American ancestors who were sailors during the Civil War there is a wonderful link on CWSSS: "Sailors" which allows you to search by name for your relatives. If you simply want to scan the names listed, you can click on "Sailor Origins" located on the Sailors page which will take you to a world map. Simply clicking on the area of interest will show you a list of names available for that area plus a bit of information regarding the individual.

The "cemetery" listing is a bit limited. Currently it only includes records of Popular Grove National Cemetery at Petersburg National Battlefield. However, if you do have a relative buried in this cemetery, the site states that they also have images of the headstones which could be a tremendous help.

The "prisoners" link is also a bit limited. Currently there are only two prisons listed: Fort McHenry (Confederate) and Andersonville (Union). A brief yet thorough description is given of each prison which is quite insightful.

If your relative was held at Andersonville, you could find a vast amount of information including: side, unit, regiment, state, function, company, rank, type, capture date, capture site, alternate name, and remarks (which in some cases has the parole date and place listed). If you only know the state in which your relative served and are unsure if they were a prisoner at Andersonville, simply put in the state and scroll through the list of names available.

If your relative was housed at Fort McHenry, the information available is a bit different. If you do find your relative, the information that will appear may include all or some of the following: type of prioner, unit name, date of registration, date of disposition, place of disposition, historical notes. If you are unsure if your relative was a prisoner at Fort McHenry, simply click the option for "Prisoner of War" by clicking the down arrow key near the "name" option and scroll through the list of names available.

CWSSS also has a link to a "Medal of Honors" page. The CWSSS states that they have all the Medal of Honor winners listed--simply type in your relatives name or if you would rather scroll through the list of names, simply type in a state and click the search key.

Also on the homepage there is a link entitled: "Researchers Toolbox". By clicking on this, another page will appear with some information for obtaining records from the NARA. On this page, there is also a link called "State Archives". This will take you directly to the NARA website. There you will find a list of respositories that house Confederate pension records. The states listed are: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North and South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. This can be extremely helpful if you are searching for your Confederate relatives.

As you navigate through the site, you will soon discover that there is a world of knowledge regarding the battles and soldiers listed on this site. There is simply too much for me to write all the details here on this one blog.

But as a final note, there is also a link on the homepage entitled: "The American Civil War". This site is absolutely incredible. It offers links to state by state databases where you can find photographs, information on battles, life during the Civil War, National Parks, etc. There is a vast amount of helpful information and is definitely worth taking a look at.

Almost everyone has a family member that fought or served in some way in the Civil War. Although some military records or copy requests may still be needed from the NARA or other state repositories, The Civil War Soldiers and Sailor System (www.civilwar.nps.gov/cwss/) and The American Civil War (http://cwar.nps.gov/civilwar/) are two incredible sites with a deep well of knowledge and information and are wonderful places to start!