Scouting for Civil War Veterans

If your family has lived in the United States for a while, it’s possible that one of your ancestors served in the Civil War. The best place to start a family history search is with your parents and grandparents. Ask them to tell you everything about your family, as far back in time as they know. Interview other family members who might have collected information about your family tree. If you have an old family Bible, check to see if anyone has written the names and birthdates of ancestors there.

Your parents’ birth certificates will state your grandparents’ names, birthdates, and birthplaces. Using this information, you can send away for the birth certificates of your grandparents from the states where they were born, and find out about their parents. With luck, you can go far back in time. Perhaps you’ll find that you have an ancestor who lived during the time of the Civil War. If that person was a young man in the 1860s, there’s a chance he was a soldier.

The Civil War Archives of the state your ancestor lived in may be able to tell you something about his unit and his military record. Ask a librarian to help you find the address of that state’s archives. Send them a letter with a self-addressed, stamped envelope to ask how to get military or pension records. If your ancestor filled out a pension application, you may get a copy of that, which will tell the battles he fought in and if he was wounded or imprisoned. If you find out the regiment your ancestor served in, you may be able to gather information about that regiment’s history in some of the many books about the Civil War,

The National Archives, for a $10 fee, will search for military or pension records if you know your ancestor’s full name and his military unit. To get copies of the forms for this search, write to the National Archives, NNRG-C, Washington, D.C., 20408.