Military Reference Reports
From 1775 to the early twentieth century, the United States engaged in numerous military conflicts, both internally and against other countries. These wars were fought by the U.S. military establishment, including the Regular Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, as well as by citizen volunteers in State and local militias called into Federal service.
Military Reference Reports describe research strategies for frequently used records relating to military service in the Revolutionary War (1775–83), War of 1812 (1812–15), Old Indian Wars (1817–58), Mexican War (1846–48), Civil War (1861–65), Spanish-American War (1898), and Philippine Insurrection (1899–1902). Related topics also include pension and bounty-land records, prisoner of war records, and some twentieth-century draft records (World War I and World War II).
Click on the title to view a PDF version of the reference report. For additional topics, please see Military Records Research.
Enlisted Men and Officers
- Enlisted Service in the Regular Army, 1789-1914
- Officers in the Regular Army, 1789-1916
- Regular Army Pensions, 1775-1912
- Sailors in the US Navy, 1798-1885
- Officers in the US Navy, 1789-1925
- US Navy Pensions, 1776-1910
- Navy Pension Fund List, 1802-1836
- Headstone Records for U.S. Military Veterans Buried in Nonfederal Cemeteries, 1879-1985
By War or Conflict
- Revolutionary War, 1775-1783
- Revolutionary War Prisoners, 1776-1783
- Service Between the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812
- War of 1812, 1812-1815
- War of 1812 Prisoners
- Florida Seminole Wars, 1817-1858
- Winnebago Indian Disturbances, 1827
- Black Hawk War, 1831-1832
- Cherokee Disturbances, 1836-1839
- Mexican War, 1846-1848
- Union and Confederate Volunteer Service During the Civil War, 1861-1865
- Union Civil War Service in Organizations from the District of Columbia
- Confederate Army, 1861-1865
- Confederate Navy and Marine Corps, 1861-1865
- Civil War Pensions (Union), 1861-1865
- Confederate Prisoners of War, 1861-1865
- Confederate Pensions
- Veterans Reserve Corps (VRC), 1863-1865
- US Volunteer Infantry (Galvanized Yankees), 1864-1866
- Buffalo Soldiers
- United States Colored Troops (USCT), 1863-1866
- Spanish-American War, 1898-1899
- Philippine Insurrection, 1899-1902
- WWI Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
- WWII Draft Cards (4th Registration), 1942
- WWII Army Serial Number Merged File
- WWII Casualty Lists
Other Records of Interest
- Carded Medical Records, 1821-1912
- U.S. Military Post Returns, 1800-1916
- Bounty Land Warrants, 1789-1855
- Civil War and Later Burial Sites in a National Cemetery
- Enumeration of Revolutionary War and Civil War Veterans and Pensioners in the Federal Census
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