If you are looking for Civil War records, you can find many on the various genealogy websites. It is important to know what records you may find and what information they may have.
Complied Military Service Record (CMSR)
Each soldier has a Compiled Military Service Record (CMSR) for each regiment in which he served. The CMSR contains basic information about the soldier’s military career. The CMSR is a jacket containing one or more cards indicating the soldier was present or absent at some point. You may see cards with enlistment and discharge information, any money paid him, etc. The CMSR may have other papers as well, such as enlistment paper, prisoner information if he was captured, or death information.
The War Department compiled the CMSRs from original muster rolls and other records years after the war to permit more efficient checking of military and medical records with claims for pensions and other veterans’ benefits.
Pension Records
Most Union army soldiers or their widows applied for a pension. The pension file contains more information about what the soldier did during the war and may contain medical information. For a widow’s pension, she had to show proof of marriage.
Other Records
Additional information may be deduced from compilations of activities of each regiment. These records were compiled from information on original muster rolls and returns. Some give day-by-day narratives of a company’s activities, while others simply note that the company was stationed at a certain place. You can use these records along with the CMSR and pension file to put together a timeline of where your ancestor was.
Do not assume that your ancestor was in a battle just because his unit was. No roll call was made before a battle. Different companies in the regiment may have different assignments, or the person was sick and absent. He may have deserted or assigned to another unit.
The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS) is a database with index information about those who served in the Union and Confederate armies. Other information includes histories of Union and Confederate regiments, links to battles, prisoner-of-war record lists and cemetery records at the National Parks Service website.
Military Indexes has links to many different websites that have information of Civil War and the soldiers as well as state-related information. FamilySearch, Ancestry, Fold3 and other major genealogy websites have Civil War records.
What Civil War finds have you uncovered? Let us know in the comments.
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