Pennsylvania Military Records

See Also Researching in Military Records

The site U.S. Wars list conflicts dating from earliest to 1865. Wars covered that are available are:

Search Revolutionary War 1775-83 Service Records, Rejected Pensions, Loyalists Records, 1775-1783 Pay Rolls, Courts-Martial, Officers, Pension Index, 1841 Pensioner Census

Like the other Mid-Atlantic colonies, there were Loyalists in Pennsylvania, mostly in the southeastern part of the colony, many of whom left for England or Canada. Some are identified in Anne M. Ousterhouk, “Opponents of the Revolution Whose Pennsylvania Estates were Confiscated,” Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine 30 (1978): 237–53. See also “Forfeited Estates Accounts” in Pennsylvania Archives, 6th series, vols. 12–13. For a detailed study see Wilbur H. Siebert, “The Loyalists of Pennsylvania,” Ohio State University Bulletin 24 (1920; reprint, Boston, Mass.: Gregg, 1972). Copies of muster rolls of the Pennsylvania Loyalist Regiment are at the Public Archives of Canada and the Library of Congress.

Below is a list of online resources for Pennsylvania in the Revolutionary War.

• Pennsylvania Revolutionary War Books at Amazon.com
• Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 from the State of Pennsylvania (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents in NARA publication M246 include muster rolls, payrolls, strength returns, and other miscellaneous personnel, pay, and supply records of American Army units, 1775-83.
• Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War from the State of Pennsylvania (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents in NARA publication M881. Compiled service records of soldiers who served in the American Army during the Revolutionary War, 1775-1783 from the State of Pennsylvania.
• Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files from the State of Pennsylvania (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, from NARA publication M804.
• Pennsylvania Pensioners, 1835: This database identifies thousands of Pennsylvania soldiers who were covered under various pension acts in the early 1800s.
• Pennsylvania Volunteers in the War of 1812: Compiled from the Pennsylvania Archives collection, this database is a listing of soldiers who volunteered to fight the British during the War of 1812.

Search Civil War Soldiers, Service Records, Regiments, General Officers, Battle Summaries, Pension Index: 1861-1934, CSA Field Officers and the War of the Rebellion

Samuel P. Bates, History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861–65, 5 vols. (Harrisburg, Pa.: B. Singerly, 1869–71) is arranged by regiment but only indexes officers. For all names, consult the National Archives microfilm, Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers in Pennsylvania Organizations, available at the National Archives-Mid-Atlantic Region and the Pennsylvania State Library. There is also a separate, every-name index in the state archives. Record of Pennsylvania Volunteers in the Spanish-American War, 1898, 2d ed. (Philadelphia, Pa.: Wm. Stanley Ray, 1901) was compiled by the Pennsylvania Adjutant General's Office.

Soldier discharges since the Civil War are usually in the office of the county recorder of deeds. Veterans' grave and burial records are kept in the county commissioners' office and at the Department of Military Affairs.

The site www.mycivilwar.com has a list of unit and histories for Pennsylvania. Below is a list of online resources for Pennsylvania in the Civil War.

• Pennsylvania Civil War Books at Amazon.com
• Southern Claims Commission from the State of Pennsylvania (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents In the 1870s, southerners claimed compensation from the U.S. government for items used by the Union Army, ranging from corn and horses, to trees and church buildings.
• Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900 from the State of Pennsylvania (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Pension applications for service in the U.S. Army between 1861 and 1917, grouped according to the units in which the veterans served.
• Case Files of Applications from Former Confederates for Presidential Pardons ("Amnesty Papers"), 1865-67 from the State of Pennsylvania (The National Archives): NARA M1003. View, Print Copy & Save Original Applications for pardon submitted to President Andrew Johnson, 1865-67, by former Confederates excluded from earlier amnesty proclamations.

See Also Researching in Military Records

To locate military records for any individual, it is essential to know when and where in the armed forces he or she served and whether that person served in the enlisted ranks or was an officer. (If you don’t have that identifying information, some potential solutions are discussed below.)
As in any research project, it is important to study carefully whatever is already known about the subject of interest. Families and communities frequently pass down stories of military heroes from generation to generation. In most cases, these stories retain some fact, but, with the passage of years and in the process of retelling, accuracy fades. At any rate, family stories should not be overlooked for clues at the start of a military search.

When and where did the individual live? Did the family keep evidence of military service? Certificates, letters, journals, diaries, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, photographs, medals, swords, and other memorabilia kept in private collections may provide the basic facts needed to begin searching in military record collections.

There are a number of public records that are potentially valuable in discovering the military history of a veteran. It has been a long-standing American tradition to foster patriotism by honoring local sons and daughters who have defended the ideals of their country. Hometown military heroes are frequently noted on public monuments, and local newspaper files may yield surprisingly detailed accounts of a community’s well-known and less-famous military personnel.

By far the most comprehensive study of military records and how to use them is found in James C. Neagles’s U.S. Military Records: A Guide to Federal & State Sources, Colonial America to the Present. Neagles’s guide addresses primary and secondary military sources and accessibility, including the following information-rich sources:

• Records of state militias and the National Guard
• Records of the army, navy, and other branches of the U.S. military
• Records of the military academies
• Post-service records
• Pensions
• Bounty-land grants
• Bonuses and family assistance
• Soldier’s homes
• Military burials
• Military installations
• Censuses of veterans
• Conscription
• Civilian affairs

See Also Researching in Military Records

Creating a historical time line can be especially useful for determining if and when the subject might have served in the military. By compiling a chronological list of the known dates and places of residence of an individual from birth through adulthood, it is frequently easy to discover the possibility of military service. Was the individual the right age to be eligible for the draft or to serve voluntarily in the Civil War? Is it likely that the person served on the Northern rather than the Southern side, or vice versa? For records from the colonial period to more recent military engagements, the place of residence is key to finding an individual’s records.

See Also Researching in Military Records

Commercial enterprises and historically oriented groups and institutions have regularly published local histories. As a rule, these histories will include glowing accounts of the area’s involvement in military activities. Some volumes provide biographical sketches of military leaders, while others attempt to list all of the community’s participants in various military conflicts. Locally focused histories have been published at various times for virtually every state and county in the United States. Do not overlook them as an important research aid. P. William Filby’s A Bibliography of American County Histories is a list of five thousand such sources.

In addition to the standard histories, local public libraries and historical societies usually preserve and make available other types of publications that document the military history of the geographical areas they serve. Historical agencies collect biographies, letters, diaries, journals, and all sorts of memorabilia from military units and servicemen and -women. The personal accounts found in some collections are a fascinating means of stepping back in time. Firsthand accounts afford a better understanding of the day-to-day drudgery, loneliness, fears, and satisfactions of military life.

See Also Researching in Military Records

Cemeteries provide yet another local source of information regarding individuals who served in the armed forces. Almost every cemetery in the United States contains some evidence of military events and veterans. Cemetery records and grave markers frequently identify military dead by name, rank, and unit designation. If a man or woman died elsewhere while in the service, the body was frequently brought home for burial; cemetery records often note the place and date of death.

Court records are yet another potential source for identifying those who served in the military. Most counties formally recorded and indexed the names of their citizens who were discharged from the military. In some local courts, “military discharges” will be found indexed separately, and in others the military records may be oddly interspersed with deeds, naturalizations, or other categories of documents. The contents of military records may vary greatly from one courthouse to another. Some will provide biographical information, while others may simply list names and the event or names and date of certificate issue.

See Also Researching in Military Records

Federal military documents that have been classified as archival material are in the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration. Not all records created by military agencies are judged to be permanently valuable. Generally, only records of historical or administrative importance are kept.

A wonderful array of federal military records are available in major libraries and archives and through microfilm rental programs. (Heritage Quest, a division of AGLL, Inc., PO Box 329, Bountiful, UT 84011-0329, is a source of rental microfilms.) With sufficient identifying information, you may request a search of the registers of enlistments or the compiled military service records. The minimum information required for a search is (1) the soldier’s full name, (2) the war in which he or she served or period of service, and (3) the state from which he or she served. For the Civil War, you must also indicate whether the person served in Union or Confederate forces. A separate copy of the form must be used for military service, pension, and bounty-land warrant applications. Submit requests for information about individuals who served in the military before World War I on NATF form 80 (Order for Copies of Veterans Records). Write to the National Archives and Records Administration, General Reference Branch, Washington, DC 20408 to obtain copies of NATF form 80. Always ask for “all records” for an individual.

Make requests for information about U.S. Army officers separated from the service after 1912 on standard form 180 (Request Pertaining to Military Records) and send it to the Military Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63132.