National Archives Soldier Research
Affordable professional research provided on soldiers from the Revolution
through the Spanish American War, specializing in Civil War soldier records.

                                National Archives Soldier Research

We offer affordable professional research on soldiers from the American Revolution through the Spanish-American War, specializing in Civil War soldier records. 

There are two types of records for Federal soldiers.  One is the Compiled Military Service (CMSR) Record.  Each soldier will have a CMSR for each unit he served in.  If he served in the 5^th New York Infantry and later served in the 146^th New York Infantry—he will have a separate CMSR for each, the information does not overlap.  These records are cards with notes on each muster period (every two months)—they will show if the soldier was present or absent during that period as well as any special notes such as if the soldier had leave, was due bounty money, or if the owed money to the government.  Also in this folder are usually his enlistment papers, discharge papers, hospital records, final statements, prisoner of war records, and description of the soldier.  Then there is any military correspondence such as request for furlough, court-martial papers, or assignment to special duty.  On rare occasions, we’ve found photographs of soldiers in these records. 

Some Federal CMSR’s or now on microfilm—otherwise the copies are made from the original documents.

            The other type of record is a Pension File.  These are files that were built on invalid soldiers or on family members that were dependent upon the soldier for support.  Not all soldiers have Pension Files.  If a soldier was wounded or disabled in some way from military service, he could apply to receive a pension.  There are usually doctor reports, affidavits from comrades attesting that the disability was a result of military service.  These records are where you find family information—marriages, a list of children, letters from family, genealogical information, etc.  If the soldier has died, widows, children, parents, and sometimes brothers and sisters, tried and did draw the soldiers pension.  Sometimes the requests were rejected, but there are still files because all the information that was sent in trying to obtain a pension was saved in these files.  I’ve found soldier letters, photographs, and on a few occasions, diaries, in these files—you really never know what you will turn up.  Most pension files are around 20 or 30 pages, although 40 to 50 pages is not uncommon. 

Confederate soldier only have the CMSR which are on microfilm.

             If you don’t have many details on your Civil War ancestor, we can assist you in finding them.  Please provide the soldier’s name and, if known, his unit, and state of enlistment in the form at the top of this page.