It seems from what I have seen that soldiers didn't always serve the state where they resided. Is that sometimes the case? I'm inquiring particularly about the Civil War, but help with finding any military records will certainly be helpful in my searches (I'm working on 10 different couples' genealogies for friends).
Thanks for your help!What is the most accurate way to search military records during war times?Yes, some left the North to fight for the South, or left the state of their birth and moved to a new state after the war. And for WW2 the general listings tend to show the first base they reported to.
For the civil war, I'd start with
http://www.civilwar.nps.gov/cwss/
Check the widows out especially. And see if wives during this time were remarried, I found one lady I was researching lost 2 husbands to the war, and thus had a pension from the second to support the children she had by him.
And then check the beginning of local newspapers, and the historical society for Civil War Veterans. Often there were photos taken of vets in the county near July 4 for the paper, especially as fewer of them were still alive. Also there are often books or scrapbooks at libraries or Historical societies that have info on the local soldiers, or the soldiers that died from that state. Check your state archives and see if there is such a book, if your library doesn't have one.
Also there were special "censuses" done of Civil War Vets that were receiving pensions, you might see if the records of the widows or soldiers are at the county auditor or clerk where the vet lived. Also checking their gravestone is worthwhile, as there was a government program to pay for them, and so there are records of the applications, and the tombstones often had the details of the service.
Most counties have a listing of the burial locations of vets, so that on Memorial day Civic groups can lay wreaths. This could be a good source as well.
For later wars, unless you are near Allen Co. Lib or another repository with great microfilm, best to go straight to nara.gov and search their records, they do have some enlistment info online.
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