Was Your Ancestor a Veteran?

Posted on September 2, 2010 by bob in DiscoverYou

Approximately 24 million men born between 1872 and 1900, living in the United States, registered for the World War I draft, with 600,000 actually serving. During World War II 16 million men and women served for the U.S. The Civil War saw three to four million men serving for the Union and the Confederacy, with some Alabamians fighting for the Union.

Military records can be found at the National Archives (www.archives.gov), at most state archives, and at many libraries. The information found in these records varies greatly; including, but not limited to, dates and places of birth and death, physical descriptions, and where and when an individual served. These records can add vital and interesting details to your genealogical research and may also spur you to study the history surrounding an ancestor’s service.

The Alabama Department of Archives and History has records pertaining to conflicts and wars in which Alabamians served since becoming a state in 1819. There is also information about Revolutionary War veterans who later lived in Alabama. On the Archives web site (www.archives.alabama.gov), the Civil War Soldiers database contains more than 231,000 entries compiled from the Archives’ Civil War records collections.

These records differ from the National Archives Compiled Service Records, which are for both Union and Confederate soldiers.

For those who had ancestors who died during WWI, the World War I Gold Star database, also on the Archives web site, is a great source of genealogical information. This database contains information gathered from relatives of service members who died during the “Great War.”  An entry may contain a card from the U. S. Official Bulletin, photographs, newspaper clippings, letters, and biographical sketches provided by the family.

Other military-related records with great genealogical information are Civil War pension applications, both Union and Confederate. The Alabama legislature established Confederate pensions in the 1880s for those who served from any Confederate state as long as the veteran or his widow remained a resident of the state. Copies of the Alabama Confederate pension applications are available at ADAH. Federal pension records are available at the National Archives.

Genealogy research can bring into sharp focus the struggles and sacrifices made by your ancestors who served in the military. Learning more about their service is one way to honor their memory.

Nancy Dupree

Nancy Dupree is Senior Archivist at the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Photos courtesy Alabama Department of Archives and History.