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Civil War Records Blog

  • Isn't it all online? Part 3-- War of 1812 Bounty Land Applications

    Isn’t it all online? Part 3– War of 1812 Bounty Land applications   The government allowed many veterans of wars before 1855 to be granted bount...
  • Isn't it all online? Part 2-- Civil War compiled military service records

    Isn’t it all online? Part 2– Civil War Compiled Military Service Records   A common misconception out there is that most of the Civil War record...
  • Isn’t it all online? Part 1-- Union Army Civil War pensions

    Isn’t it all online? Part 1-- Union Army Civil War pensions    A common misconception out there is that most of the Civil War records are onlin...
  • Why are there so many names on this Civil War pension card?

    Why are there all these names on this pension card, and how are the men connected?   This is a question I get quite often. The short answer is, ...
  • Records for War of 1812 Soldiers

    What records are available for War of 1812 soldiers at the National Archives? There are four main record groups:1. Compiled military service record...
  • Three month enlistments

    Today, April 12th, is the 160th anniversary of the first shots fired during the Civil War. After South Carolina seceded from the Union, the US Arm...
  • The 54th Massachusetts Infantry

    Have you seen the movie Glory? The movie focused on the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, one of the first regiments in the Civil War made up of African...
  • Where do I find a photo of my Civil War soldier?

    Do you have a photo of your Civil War ancestor in uniform? If so, consider yourself very lucky. Photos of soldiers weren’t taken very often. When ...
  • Civil War injuries

    Was your ancestor seriously injured during the Civil War? There may be a clue on his pension index card that could indicate that.   Look at the ...
  • Civil War aliases

    Why does he have an alias? Occasionally you may find two names on a Civil War pension card, with one listed as an alias. Why is that?   It’s har...
  • Multiple pension index cards for the same soldier

    Did you know there are multiple versions of the same pension index cards out there? Ancestry has one version in their database, and Fold3 has anoth...
  • What do all those red numbers mean?

    What do all those red numbers mean? The short answer is that they are serial numbers. And while the numbers do have meaning behind them, they reall...