Military Records – Finding Your Soldier

by Kory L. Meyerink, AG, FUGA

Military records can be some of the most helpful sources in the pantheon of genealogical records. However, they can also be some of the most difficult and disappointing records, regardless of which war a relative served in, or for which side.

This article is a brief overview of some of the key concepts that each researcher should keep in mind when tracing relatives in military records. While many records vary from country to country, and from war to war, there are some virtually universal truths that apply to all.

Must Know the Unit
Remember, military records were not created for the genealogist. They are the records created during the course of wars and other military action, and were designed to help the officers do their job. Hence, since most military organizations are organized around a succession of units (Army-Division-Regiment-Company-Battalion-Troop etc.), the records they generate will reflect those divisions.

For the average soldier, the company or battalion level will generally have created the most records. Higher-level units tend to include general orders, correspondence, and other information, which may identify only a few persons by name. However, the local unit needs to have a record of every soldier: Who they were, when they enlisted, how well, and where, they served. Typically this information appears in muster rolls. Some simply say the soldier showed up at a muster. Others provide a description or other identifying information (such as age, height, birth place, etc.).

Wherever, and however the records were preserved, they will almost always be organized according to individual units. This is what makes them so difficult to use. Thus, the first task of most researchers is identifying the unit a relative served in. This may come from family sources, military or local histories, or from indexes or other sources.

Benefit Records Are Better Than Service Records
Aside from descriptive rolls, or enlistment registers, most records created during military service do not provide much information about individual soldiers. This is what makes them so disappointing. However, if the soldier received some benefit for service, especially a pension, there will usually be much more information in those records. First, the soldier will have to prove he served, and second, that he is entitled to the benefit. This often means providing family, economic, and heath information. This is what makes such records so helpful.

Recent Wars Generally Have Better Records
As with most other genealogical records, those created more recently are usually more complete. In the 1600s and 1700s, society was not as organized, fewer persons could write, and communication was mostly local. Fewer records were made during such wars, and many of them have not survived the intervening centuries. Thus, you can expect more, and better, records from the U.S. Civil War, than from either the U.S. Revolution (also a civil war) or the French Revolution, which were 70 to 85 years earlier. Expect even fewer for the English “Great Rebellion,” which also had relatively less battlefield action then the later civil wars.

Civil Wars Were Usually Fought by Volunteers
In a Civil War, neither the established government nor the rebellion (or revolutionary) government has much real authority. Indeed, government authority is usually one of the key points of such wars. Hence, most such governments do not have a well-organized method for recruiting soldiers. Any laws requiring service are likely to be under dispute. Drafts are usually ineffective, although often attempted.

Therefore, the bulk of civil wars (and most other wars) are fought by volunteers. A country’s regular (standing) military may not be large enough to fight a major war without the addition of volunteers, especially if large numbers of the soldiers break away to fight with the rebellion. A government’s most effective recruitment tools are the impassioned speeches to fight for the cause, and this is what encourages men to volunteer.

The commanding staff (officers) is usually from the standing military, but expect your relative to have been a volunteer. Sometimes they were “volunteered” at gunpoint by armed guards, but the effect was the same. The records for volunteers are simply not as good or as comprehensive, as those for the officers.

Records Were Kept at Different Levels
We often think of military records as a federal level (highest government jurisdiction) record. While wars were fought by the highest-level government (the King, Congress, Parliament, etc.), records also exist at the more local level. Often local militia units (like today’s National Guard) were usually part of the war effort, and those records may be at the county level. State (province, department, etc.) governments may have also created records detailing participation by their citizens.

Different records, kept by different governments, are found today in different places. State and national archives usually have the original records. Where possible, the Family History Library has microfilmed many such records, and any one can access them through a local Family History Center (visit <http://www.familysearch.org> for more details).

The Winning Side Has Better Records
This is especially the case with Civil Wars. When a war takes place wholly within a country, one side is generally utterly defeated (the U.S. Revolution is an exception, due to geographic distances). In the process of vanquishing the opponent, the winning side may be very destructive, and that may include the records as well. Also, as one side faces loss after loss, they become less concerned with even keeping records of what is happening. Gunpoint volunteers may not even get recorded before they are forced into battle.

The losing side also has little opportunity to pay any kind of benefit to their soldiers, which further diminishes the available records. Thus, many stories of brothers fighting brothers in a civil war may be true, but may not be able to be proven from military documentation.

Historical Background is Essential
When beginning research on a soldier, the typical family historian has only a basic understanding of any war an ancestor may have fought in. It is important to understand the nature of the war, who fought whom and why. Learning where the battles were fought is crucial. If most of the action in the French Revolution took place in and near Paris, then families living in Normandy may not have been heavily involved.

Understanding the dates of the wars, and the scope of citizen participation will also influence your research. If a relative was too young, or too old, do not spend time seeking military records, unless you have more certain proof. This will vary from side to side. In the U.S. Civil War, the northern (Union) soldiers were typically aged 18 to the late 20s. However, the southern soldiers (Confederacy), having a smaller population to draw from, may have ages ranging from 14 to 45 or more.

In most European wars, the aristocratic families usually fought on the side of the established government, while the “intelligentsia” and common citizens often fought for the rebellion.

Local History Has Important Answers and Clues
Your ancestors and relatives lived in specific towns and counties. The war impacted different localities in vastly different ways. This information is found in town and county histories. Sometimes such histories will provide narratives of a local unit’s contribution to the war. Others will even list the soldiers who served from that locality. In fact, given the need to know the unit name, a local history may be the best place to begin your research, for you likely already know the area where the family lived. Since these sources are found at many libraries, including local libraries and the Family History Library, they may be easier to find and search than the actual military records, housed in a foreign archive.

Conclusion
War is tragic. When people fight people it is even more tragic. However, from those events may come records, which allow us to better understand our family, and their place in the local and national history of their country. It also gives us insight into these relatives who believed so strongly in a cause, that they were willing to risk everything they had. We can do them no better service than to restore their actions to the memory of the living.

Citation
"Military Records - Finding Your Soldier," ProGenealogists.com (Online:  ProGenealogists, Inc., 2003), <http://www.progenealogists.com/militaryrecords.htm>.

Biography
Kory Meyerink, AG, FUGA, is the editor, and primary author of Ancestry’s most recent major reference book, Printed Sources: A Guide to Published Genealogical Records. Kory is Vice-President of Development at ProGenealogists in Salt Lake City, and he is the former publications coordinator for the Family History Library, past president of the Utah Genealogical Association, and founding director of the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. Accredited in four different areas, Kory has written extensively in magazines and journals during his 20 years in genealogy. A popular lecturer at national and state conferences, he also teaches for Brigham Young University at their Salt Lake City extension.

© 2003, Kory L. Meyerink and ProGenealogists, Inc.. First publication rights granted in 2001 to GenealogyToday.com. All other rights reserved.