Military Records, State by State

Wars are really bad for humankind, but really good for family researchers. Armies keep lots of records. One underappreciated (and of course, free) resource for military records are online state archives. Some of them are phenomenal.

Here are some state military records to check out.

Alabama: 

• Civil War Soldiers database.
• World War I Goldstar database.  This database of WWI dead from Alabama 

Alaska at War!

Arkansas: 

• Confederate Pensions
• Confederate Home (as in Old Soldiers Home)
• Arkansas Civil War site

California:

• Calisphere 1939-1945
• World War II

Colorado:

• Vietnam Deaths
• World War I Civilian Service Questionnaires
• Spanish-American War Volunteers
• Civil War Casualties

Connecticut:

• Fitch's Home for Soldiers Database -- Civil War and Spanish American War
• World War I Veterans Database

Delaware:

• Muster rolls, Civil War and WWII

Florida:

• World War I service cards
• Confederate Pension Application Files

Georgia:

• Militia Enrollment Lists, 1864
• Confederate Pension Applications
• Spanish-American War Service Summary Cards

Hawaii:

• World War I Service Records

Illinois:

• Slavery and emancipation database
• Veteran Records, including those from wars you don't often hear about, like the Black Hawk War, or the Winnebago War.  

Indiana:

• Military Records (citations, veterans home records, Mexican War veterans)
• Civil War era telegrams
• Indiana Muster, Pay and Receipt Rolls, War of 1812

Iowa in World War II (press clippings)

Kansas:

• World War I, 1914-1919
• World War II, 1939-1945
• WWI Alien Enemies list, of foreign born non-citizens living in Kansas
• Civil War Soldiers from Kansas, with name look-ups
• WWII Kansas Veterans Lookup

Kentucky:

• Survivors of the Bataan Death March Oral History Project

Maine:

• Revolutionary War land grants and pensions
• Civil War records, including narrative histories, photos, muster rolls and burials

Maryland:

• African American Soldiers & Sailors from Annapolis Maryland: 1863-1918
• Soldiers & Sailors in Maryland
• Military Records

Massachusetts:

• Fire and Thunder: Massachusetts Blacks in the Civil War

Michigan:

• Military Service Records from the Civil War

Minnesota:

• Site includes links to the War Records Commission

Mississippi:

• The Freedmen's Bureau searchable index includes the records of more than 30,000 ex-slaves who entered into contracts with farmers after the Civil War.

Missouri:

• Civil War resources
• Civil War Provost Marshal Index Database
• Soldiers' Records: War of 1812 - World War I

Nebraska:

• Civil War Veterans (includes name searching)
• WWI Draft Registration Cards

New Jersey:

• Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Civil War, 1861-1865
• Civil War Treasury Vouchers, 1861-1865 has more than 100,000 records of payments to soldiers for final pay, or to families of deceased soldiers, as well as for hardship. 
• Civil War U.S. Colored Troops Service Files
• Registers of Revolutionary War and Civil War soldiers

New York:

• Harlem Hellfighters WWI Muster Rolls
• Military Patents
• New York State Civil War database

North Carolina:

• Civil War Resources
• World War I

North Dakota:

• Veterans History Project

Ohio:

• War of 1812 Roster

Oklahoma:

• Oklahoma Confederate Pension Records (soldier and spouse's names) 
• Military Deaths-World War I to the Korean War.

Oregon:

• Oregon at War: World War I and the Oregon Experience
• Life on the Home Front: Oregon Responds to World War II
• Pearl Harbor Remembered: Oregonians and the Attack on Pearl Harbor

Pennsylvania:

• PA National Guard Veteran’s Card File, 1867-1921
• Civil War Veterans’ Card File
• Revolutionary War Military Abstract Card File
• World War I Service Medal Application Cards
• Spanish American War Veterans’ Card File of United States Volunteers
• Mexican Border Campaign Veterans’ Card File
• Militia Officers’ Index Cards, 1775-1800

South Carolina:

• Confederate Pension Applications, 1919-1938
• Militia Enrollments of 1869

South Dakota:

• South Dakota National Guard Collection
• Civil War Diary
• Military Records

Tennessee:

• Civil War Military Records
• Civil War Soldier Photographs
• Looking Back - The Civil War in Tennessee
• Tennessee in World War I
• Civil War Era Database -- Nearly 2,000 pamphlets and eight newspapers
• Civil War Sourcebook -- Over 7,000 articles 
• Military Records
• Vietnam War
• War of 1812
• World War I

Texas:

• Texas Adjutant General Service Records: Military and Ranger Records, 1836-1935
• Confederate Pension Applications, 1899-1975

Utah:

• Indian War Service Affidavits (1909-1919).

Virginia:

• Confederate Disability Applications and Receipts
• Confederate Pension Rolls, Veterans and Widows, name searchable
• Dunmore’s War (Virginia Payrolls/Public Service Claims, 1775)
• Revolutionary War Bounty Warrants
• Revolutionary War Rejected Claims
• Revolutionary War Virginia State Pensions
• VMI Archives historical rosters database, all enrolled students, 1839-1935

Washington:

• Military Records

West Virginia:

• Civil War
• Civil War Medals.
• Militia Database, lists Civil War soldiers who fought for the Union
• The Veterans Memorial Archives Database lists more than 10,000 veterans who died in 20th century conflicts.  

Wisconsin:

• Wisconsin in the Civil War
• Oral Histories: Wisconsin Survivors of the Holocaust

Most state archives have other pertinent records -- census, deaths, land grants and so on. Check out the full set of available materials at Digital State Archives.

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Visit the main page of Free Genealogy Tools for more, umm, free genealogical tools. And don't forget to also check for your family history at Ancestry.com and NewspaperArchive. These are subscription databases, but they are among the most powerful research tools available for looking into family roots.