This document provides information about various types of military records and where to find them. It discusses military service records, which contain details about a soldier's service, and pension and bounty land records, which often include family information. It explains that military service records can be ordered from the National Archives and that pension records are also held by the National Archives. Other sources of military information mentioned include published unit histories, cemetery records, and records from Veterans homes.

1. Military Records
Kathy Petras
Library Associate
Medina County District Library

2. Information you can learn
from military records:
 Age, including date and place of birth.
 Dates and places of marriages.
 Dates of birth of children.
 Physical description, including any
distinguishing scars or birthmarks.
 Residence
 Medical conditions and wounds.
 Military Unit membership.
 Participation in battles, campaigns, etc.

3. How to know if an ancestor
served in the military:
 Family stories and traditions
 Photographs
 Published histories
 Cemetery markers
 Biographies
 Membership in a veteran’s
organization

4. Did he/she serve in the
military?
 Age at the time of major conflicts **
 Census records that have military service
information:
• 1930 Census asked if a person was a U.S. veteran
who had served in any of the following wars: Civil War,
Spanish-American, Philippine Insurrection, Boxer,
Mexican Expedition, and World War I.
• 1910 asked if they were a veteran of the Civil War
• 1890 Census had special schedules that listed Union
Civil War veterans or their surviving spouses.
• 1840 Census lists Revolutionary War pensioners, or
their widows, on the second page.

5. Types of records & where to
find them…
 There are two main categories of
military records on an individual:
• Military Service Records
and
• Pension and Bounty Land Records.

6. Military Service Records…
 Are the day-to-day records of a soldier’s
service.
 They include enlistment papers, military
rosters, draft records, payrolls, and hospital
rolls.
 They rarely contain a lot of family
information, but do include vital information
about the soldier, including a description.
 Access to recent military service records are
restricted for privacy reasons and are only
available to the member or next of kin.

7. Military Service Records
 Enlistment papers record the soldier’s name, age, marital
status and the date and place of enlistment. The soldier’s
name then goes on a muster roll (attendance sheet) for the
organization that he/she joined.
 Draft, conscription or Selective Service records The federal
government has been registering men for military service since
1863. Draft registration cards list name, residence, age,
occupation, marital status, birthplace, and physical description.
 Discharge papers are not part of the military service records
that the federal government maintains, but they do contain a lot
of valuable information. Discharge papers, for service from
1865 to the present, include duty assignments (locations),
training, any discipline or commendations received and date
and location of discharge. Discharge papers are usually found
with family members. Copies of veteran’s discharge records
can sometimes be found in the County Recorder’s Office, but
only if the veteran filed a copy.

9. Military Service Records ,
continued
 Other service records that may exist are pay rolls,
order books, hospital records, prisoner of war
records, promotions, desertion records and records
of court martial.
 State Records would cover service in state militias,
volunteer regiments or National Guard units. These
are usually held by state archives, historical societies
or by the state adjutant general.

13. Where to find Military
Service Records:
 Military Service Records have been microfilmed and
are available from the National Archives:
• Pre-World War I Military Service Records
• Use NATF -86 to order.
http://archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/pre-
 Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System
http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/
 DAR – Daughters of the American Revolution
www.dar.org and
http://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/search/

14. Access to Military Service
Records , continued..
 World War I Draft Cards lists the full name of the
registrant, current address, age, birth date, if a
U.S. citizen, race, location of employment, name
and address of kin, marital status and how many
dependents he supports. The back side notes the
physical description of the draftee. The registrant
did not have to register in his county of residence.
 Access to some of these records are available on
popular genealogy sites such as:
• www.ancestry.com or AncestryLibraryEdition
• www.footnote.com $$ footnote.com

15. Access to Recent U.S.
Military Service Records
 Records relating to the following groups of military
personnel are at the National Personnel Records
Center in St. Louis, MO:
• U.S. Army personnel separated after 1956. Records
for 1912 through 1956 were destroyed by a fire in
1972. Many of these records are being reconstructed
from other sources.
• U.S. Air Force personnel separated after 1956. Earlier
records for Army Air Corps and the Air Force were
destroyed by fire in 1972.
• U.S. Navy officers separated after 1902 and enlisted
men separated after 1885.
• U.S. Coast Guard officers separated after 1928 and
enlisted personnel separated after 1914.

16. Recent Military Service
Records, continued…
 Requests for information about veterans should be
submitted using Standard Form 180 to the following
address:
National Personnel Records Center (MPR)
9700 Page Ave.
Louis, MO 63132
 The form is available from the National Archives web site:
http://archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/standard-for
or by writing to the above address. If the individual is still
living, you will need an authorization signature from them
to obtain their records. Turnaround time is 14-16 weeks.
Due to Federal Law, all requests must be submitted in
writing.

17. Pension records and bounty
land records
 These records focus on the benefits that a
soldier receives after his/her service. They
often contain a great deal of family
information, including names of spouses and
children, places of residence, occupation,
and health status.
 If the service was for the Confederacy or for
a state militia, the records will be held at the
state level, not by the federal government.

18. Pension records
 Pensions and bounty lands were granted to officers,
disabled veterans, needy veterans, widows or orphans
and veterans for major military actions.
 But not every veteran applied for or received bounty lands
or pensions. Prior to the Civil War, the veteran had to
prove financial need to receive a pension.
 Most veterans who served in the Union forces during the
Civil War did receive some kind of pension.
 Pension records can include the soldier’s name, his rank
and military unit, his wife’s name, date and location of the
marriage, residence, age, children, occupation, health
status and date and place of death.

19. Pension
application for
Christian
Young for
Revolutionary
War Service.
It continues
for 8 pages
giving a
detailed
account of his
service. Does
give his place
and date of
birth and
death, but no
other family
information.

20. Bounty Land Warrants
 Land warrants were offered for service in the
Revolutionary War, War of 1812, the Mexican
War and Indian Wars between 1790 and 1855.
 Bounty land could be claimed by the veteran or
by his heirs.
 Often, the veteran never lived on the land, but
sold it for profit.
 Bounty land warrants and applications for the
Revolutionary War and War of 1812 have been
microfilmed.

22. Where to find pension &
bounty land records:
 Pension Records are held by the National Archives and can be
ordered online using NATF Form 85. Turnaround time is 12-16 weeks.
http://archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/pre-ww-1-records.html
 Access to some of these records are available on popular genealogy
sites such as:
• www.ancestry.com or AncestryLibraryEdition and
• www.footnote.com $$ footnote.com
• Heritage Quest - Selected Records from Revolutionary War
Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application Files.
 The Official Federal Land Records Site documents relating to the
disbursement of Federal Lands including military bounty lands
www.glorecords.blm.gov
 Index to Veterans Administration Pension Payment Cards 1907-1933
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohwarren/military/pension1907_1933.htm#

23. Other Sources of Military
Information
 General Histories can give you detailed
information on a particular battle or war
and contain information on which military
units participated. Histories of the war or
the battles that your ancestor
participated in can give you insight into
the conditions he/she endured.

24. Map of Fort
Montgomery
where Christian
Young served
during the
Revolutionary
War.

25. Washington’s Headquarters at Newburgh New York

27. Other Sources , continued
 Unit histories may contain biographies of officers,
rosters of soldiers and clues as to where the soldiers
were living when they enlisted.
 Army Military History Institute – Is the Army’s history
repository. http://www.carlisle.army.mil/ahec/index.cfm
 http://www.carlisle.army.mil/AHEC/USAMHI/default.cfm
 Their collection focuses on military units not individual
soldiers.
 U.S. Army Military History Institute
Carlisle Barracks, PA 17013-5008
717-245-3611

28. Other Sources , continued
 Cemeteries The first National Military Cemetery was created in
1862. The National Cemetery System has a card index that
identifies most soldiers buried in the National Cemeteries.
Write to:
 National Cemetery System
Department of Veteran Affairs
810 Vermont Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20422
 Or go to: www.cem.va.gov
 Some states and counties have grave registration records that
identify the graves of soldiers buried in local cemeteries. These
are found at the in the county’s recorder’s office, the state
archives or state historical society.
 www.findagrave.com A volunteer web site that has
transcriptions & some photos of tombstones

29. Other Sources, continued.
 Veteran’s Homes Congress established the
first federal home for disabled veterans in
1866. In 1930, these homes combined with
other agencies to form the Department of
Veteran Affairs. Their records are held by the
National Archives and their branch locations.
Some states, like Ohio, also have established
and still operate homes for disabled veterans.

30. The
End