Copy of Is my soldier in the index??

Good question!  You're in the right place!

 

We specialize in helping people find these records at the National Archives.  Our team is at the National Archives almost every day and would be happy to help you out!

If you have a Civil War pension index card for your soldier already, you can skip past this page and go right to the explanation of the types of records available here.  

 

Here's the first thing you need to know about getting started.  As much as I wish we could, we can't simply browse the shelves at the National Archives, looking for your records.  We have to tell the National Archives staff members which records we're looking for, fill out a request slip, and they get the records for us.  They don't let us access the storage areas.

Because there are SO many records in the building, the National Archives staff members need to know exactly where that specific file is kept (there are about two million Civil War pension files alone, let alone records for all of the other wars!).  

Since there are so many records there, there are indexes that give us the details as to where those records are kept. 

In order for us to get any records from the National Archives, we need to know two things:

 

First:  Are they in the indexes?

Second: If so, what does that index entry say?

 

So what that means for you, is that BEFORE you order any most any records, you need to have the index entries ready.

 

A pension index card is required in order for us to request and find the pension records at the National Archives— there are no exceptions. You can search through the Civil War pension indexes on Ancestry, Fold3, and FamilySearch.  If you already have a pension index card, you can read about available records here.

 

If you don't have a Civil War pension index card already, we can help you find it! 

We’d be happy to help you find your Civil War soldier in the index—but we could use a quick favor in return.

The next page has a form to fill out with details about your soldier.  We can use those details that you provide to help you find your soldier in the online indexes.

The favor what we ask is-- If you know your soldier’s regiment name and number (like “7th Iowa Infantry” or “15th Indiana Cavalry”), please include it. That one little detail makes a huge difference.

Civil War records are organized by regiment, so that’s where we have to start. Without it, we’re sometimes just guessing which soldier is the right one—especially with common names.

We want to keep this service free and helpful for everyone. But when we get lots of requests with little info, it can get a little overwhelming here on our end—and makes it harder to find the right results.

There were millions of soldiers in the Civil War, and we’d really love to help you find which one was yours. But we need the right clues to make that happen. If you have the regiment number—or can take a minute to look it up—thank you! It truly helps us help you (and helps us keep this running for the next person too).

If you’re not sure about the regiment number, that’s totally okay! Submit what you can and we’ll still do our best. But if it’s in your notes somewhere, we’d really appreciate you including it.

Ready to go? Click here to submit your request for help in finding your soldier in the index.