RESEARCHING A CONFEDERATE VETERAN There are several steps in searching for a Confederate veteran that can be expensive and time consuming. ORAL HISTORY The beginning search for a Confederate begins with an oral history that has been passed down generation to generation. Besides giving a starting point, an oral history will provide basic research information that is essential when trying to locate information on a Confederate. It will make research efforts more convenient and less frustrating if one is able to begin with a name, rank, and unit for which they fought with during the Civil War. cemetery photo MILITARY RECORDS Once background information has been established. The next step is to contact the National Archives in Washington D. C. to obtain a copy of the veteran’s Compiled Military Service Record (CMSR). The CMSR will give pertinent information such as when and where the veteran enlisted and mustered into service. In addition, the CMSR will provide the researcher with dates he was present or absent for duty, place of birth, pay slips, and hospital and prison records if they were available. The CMSR’s will not indicate the battles fought, however, the "record of events" will give day to day accounts of a company’s whereabouts and activities. Using the CMSR, a researcher will be able to compare the dates their ancestor was present with his company to where the company was on a certain day. By comparing a Confederate’s CMSR with the "record of events" a researcher will be able to determine the war experience of that particular soldier. PENSION RECORDS Military records will only provide information that is relative to military service. Other sources will need to be looked at to gain a greater perspective of a veteran’s whole life. The pension applications can be obtained from their respective state repositories. The applications will vary depending on the state, however they will provide basic biographical information. The Texas application will provide a researcher with name, date of birth, birthplace, occupation, unit, date they entered service and sworn affidavits swearing service in the Confederacy. Following the Civil War, the Federal Government made a decision not to provide a pension for soldiers who fought in the Confederacy. The Federal Government left the decision to the southern states to provide Confederate veterans with a pension. Texas passed the Confederate Pension Law in 1899. The law stated that a Confederate soldier or sailor was eligible if they were a native Texan or a resident of Texas prior to 1880, and who was either over sixty and whose disability was direct result of service during the Civil War. In addition to soldier and sailors, widows were eligible to receive a pension if they never remarried and were residents of Texas since 1880. The pension law was later amended to ease many of these restrictions, particularly to widows. OTHER RESEARCH MATERIALS the major sources are the military records and the pension applications. however, those are not the only sources that will help in your search. most state archives will provide muster rolls of units from their particular state and state census records. these records will be able to verify whether or not a person is your confederate veteran. other sources will be the obituary and death certificate for that person; once again these will provide valuable biographical information as well as names of surviving family members. cemetery photo BOOKS The Civil War is one of the most popular subjects studied in American history. Therefore, countless numbers of books have been published on virtually every subject pertaining to the Civil War. Perhaps the most important set of books available for a researcher is the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion. The OR (as they are referred to) contains 128 volumes of official orders, maps correspondence between officers and generals, and other various records that came out of the Civil War. In addition to the OR, there are the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, which contain 31 volumes of the same information as the OR. Any search for a Confederate veteran will be time consuming and difficult, but in the end will be a rewarding experience. Randy
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 12:39:18 +0000