Research: Topics: Military: Civil War Database
Tips for Researching Civil War Soldiers
- Overlapping indexes
- Alternative spellings
- Common names
- Requesting a war search from the State Archives
There is a tremendous amount of overlap between the four principal indexes; the vast majority of names overlap. However, each index contains names not found in the other indexes.
- Although the database contains thousands of alternative spellings it by no means contains them all.
- Names were spelled phonetically so use some ingenuity in your research strategy. For example, the name Curlis could be listed as Curliss, Curless, Curles, or as Kurlis, Kurless, or Kurles.
- Another possible obstacle is a soldier with a common name such as John Smith.
- Identify any additional information about the soldier such as city, town or village of residence; birth date or approximate age at time of service
- If you know a location refer to The Communities of New York and
the Civil War: The Recruiting Areas of New York Civil War Regiments,
compiled by Charles E. Dornbusch, issued by the New York Public Library
in1962 and reprinted as Appendix I in The
Union Preserved: A Guide to Civil War Records in the New York State
Archives.
- The volume lists each community's contribution to the war by branch of service, unit designation, and company, if known.
- How to use this resource: John Smith lived in Little Falls, Herkimer County prior to the outbreak of the war. Little Falls provided men to the following units during the war: 1st, 2nd, and 16th Artillery; the 34th, 97th, 121st, and 152nd Infantry; and the 2nd Mounted Rifles. Search the database to determine what John Smiths appear in these units.