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Civil War Records Blog

  • Old War pensions

    by Brian Rhinehart
    Do you have a military ancestor but have never found a pension file for him? Try looking in the Old War pension index on FamilySearch. https://www...

  • Great finds in an 1812 bounty land application!

    by Brian Rhinehart
    If you have family who served in the war of 1812, you need to check to see if they ever applied for bounty land. Many of these bounty land applica...

  • Civil War soldiers and bounty payments

    by Brian Rhinehart
    Did you know that many Civil War soldiers were paid money to enlist? Some soldiers did fight out of a sense of patriotic duty, but many also saw i...

  • Did he really run away to join the war?

    by Brian Rhinehart
    You know the story– great uncle so-and-so ran away from the south, changed his name and joined the Union Army against his father’s wishes. Every f...

  • Denied pensions

    by Brian Rhinehart
    A question I get asked frequently is if it’s still worth it to order the Civil War pension file for a soldier who’s application wasn’t approved. T...

  • 1804 Enlistment Papers

    by Brian Rhinehart
    Another interesting find at the National Archives. John Grant enlisted in the US Army in 1804. His enlistment papers show his birth place, his age,...

  • Letter home from a Mexican War soldier

    by Brian Rhinehart
    Another interesting find in a military pension file at the National Archives. George Tarkleson served in the Mexican War in the late 1840s. After h...

  • Soldiers on the Sultana

    by Brian Rhinehart
    Daniel Myers, a young soldier from Streetsboro, Portage County, Ohio, enlisted in Company G of the 115th Ohio Infantry in 1862. His Civil War servi...

  • Letter Home From the Battlefield

    by Brian Rhinehart
    Another example of the benefits of getting your ancestor’s Civil War pension file at the National Archives. Marquis Jaquay enlisted in the 151st PA...

  • The Boy Soldier

    by Brian Rhinehart
    Another interesting find at the National Archives today. Alexander Culnan enlisted in the US Army in 1819, when he was 15 years old. Since he was a...

  • War of 1812 Bounty Land Applications

    by Brian Rhinehart
    Here’s a little known solution to a common genealogical problem: You find an ancestor who served in the War of 1812, but there is no indication tha...

  • What's In a Name?

    by Brian Rhinehart
    From slave to soldier to citizen, this Civil War pension file tells the power that is in a name