- National Gravesite Locator
- Defense POW / MIA Personnel Office
- Military Service Records
- National Archives
National Genealogical Society. Index of Revolutionary War Pension Applications in the National Archives, Washington, DC: National Genealogical Society, 1976
- Brooks, Caleb E. CT, Jane E. R1244
Rightmeyer, Don. North or South? Finding Your Kentucky Civil War Ancestor, Kentucky Ancestors, Vol. 43, No. 3, Frankfort, KY: Kentucky Historical Society, 2008
The first step in discovering if you have ancestors who served during the Civil War is to work on your own family tree back to and even earlier than the Civil War. A primary reference for Kentuckians' documented service in the Civil War are the four volumes of the Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Kentucky. Two volumes for Kentucky Union volunteers were compiled and published in 1866/67 and two additional volumes were printed in 1915/1918 for Kentucky men who served in the Confederate army. The Adjutant General's Reports include short capsule histories for individual army units and lists of the muster rolls for each Kentucky unit serving in the Union and Confederate armies.
Another helpful reference in uncovering an ancestor's Civil War history is Frederick H. Dyer's A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (1959) which contains a detailed chronological history for each Union army unit's war service. There are also a number of places where lists of men have been documented . . .
One resource which will be helpful for general background reading is a history of the Civil War within Kentucky's borders. Historian E. Merton Coulter's The Civil War & Readjustment in Kentucky (1926) and Lowell H. Harrison's The Civil War in Kentucky (1975) provide concise accounts of what went on in the state. Most Kentucky men served in the western theater of the war (fighting campaigns west of the Allegheny Mountains).
In the spring of 1861, as the nation became divided, many Kentucky men left the state to join either the Union or Confederate army even though Kentucky itself had not taken a stand with either side. In May 1861, Governor Beriah Magoffin notified both sides in the conflict that Kentucky was taking a neutral stance between the two belligerents. During the period of neutrality, recruiting and training military units was forbidden for either side and most men wishing to join the Confederate army went to Camp Boone and Camp Trousdale, Tennessee. Men in Kentucky wanting to join a Union regiment went across the Ohio River to Camp Clay (near Cincinnati) or Camp Holt (near Jeffersonville, Indiana). The period of armed neutrality existed until September 1861 when Confederate forces invaded Kentucky and occupied the city of Columbus on Kentucky's Mississippi River border. The Kentucky legislature quickly asserted its intention to support the Union cause. With the official end to neutrality, Kentucky men rallied and were mustered into the armies of both sides at locations throughout the state.
The Kentucky Historical Society's Martin F. Schmidt Research Library and the Society's Special Collections are excellent locations for learning about your Civil War ancestors.
- vertical files
- published histories
- biographies
- family histories
- county histories
The Kentucky Department for Libraries & Archives also has the following sources:
- Confederate Pension Applications
- Confederate Home records
- Compiled Service Records (Union & Confederate)
- Louisville Military Pension Register
- McLeans Barracks Prison Registers
- Petitions for Amnesty by Kentuckians submitted to President Andrew Johnson
- Petitions for Pardon submitted to wartime Kentucky Governors
Some of the most interesting and potentially rewarding sources of material on your Civil War ancestor may be personal or family materials that you have in your possession. You can contact the National Archives and request copies of the files on a specific Civil War soldier. The records on individual soldiers can be found in the compiled service records and pension files. Individual Civil Wars soldiers and unit histories can be found on the National Park Service's Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System.
Identifying your specific Civil War ancestor is just the beginning. There are several questions you will want to find answers for when you have determined that you actually have an ancestor who served in the war:
- What time period did your ancestor serve in?
- Where did your ancestor actually serve in the war?
- What unit was your ancestor assigned to?
- What happened to your ancestor or to his immediate friends and acquaintances during his Civil War service?
- Did your ancestor survive the war? If not, where is he buried? Can you identify his grave?
- If your ancestor became a casualty, did he die or recover from his wounds?
- What happened to your Civil War ancestor after the war and how did his wartime experience affect his life?
Research Sources
- Alfaro, Armando. The Paper Trail of the Kentucky National Guard, 2003
- Alfaro, Armando. The Paper Trail of the Civil War in Kentucky, 2001
- Coulter, E. Merton. The Civil War & the Readjustment in Kentucky, 1926, 1966
- Harrison, Lowell. The Civil war in Kentucky, 1975
- Long, E.B., ed. Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac, 1861-1865, 1971
- Studevant, Katharine. Bringing Your Family History to Life through Social History, 2000
- Varhola, Michael. Everyday Life During the Civil War, 1999
- Wiley, Bell. The Life of Billy Yank 1952
- Wiley, Bell. The Life of Johnny Reb 1971
U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Fact Sheet: Facts About the 1973 St. Louis Fire & Lost Records, Washington, DC, 2004.
Facts About the 1973 St. Louis Fire & Lost Records
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