skip navigation links

Research > Guides > Your Family History > Military records

Military records

Sometimes it's useful to hunt down information about relatives' military careers.

Carrol, one of Janet's co-workers knew that an ancestor had been in the military during the Civil War. Janet recommended the Cyndi's List genealogy Web site, where Carrol found a section on U.S. Military which had information on "How to order Military and Pension Records for Union Civil War Veterans from the National Archives."


One of the many documents Carrol received when she ordered the military and pension records of one of her ancestors.

When she received the file, it included the enlistment papers that gave his height, hair and eye color. It also included the papers he had filled out to collect his pension, which listed the names of the wife and children of his first marriage and of his second marriage. Through this information, Carrol was able to contact his youngest daughter, who was living in the small California town listed on the pension papers.

Related Resources

Books

Multnomah County Library has resources on federal military records and how to use them. Use the library catalog with keywords like "genealogy military " to find tiitles like:

Related Web sites

Genealogy Spot
http://www.genealogyspot.com/features/militaryrecords.htm
Helps you research military records.
Military Collection
http://www.usigs.org/library/military/links
From the United States Internet Genealogical Society, thissite contains information about military records and how to use them in genealogical research.