User:MarkhamMJ/Sandbox:Beginning

Beginning Your U.S. Civil War Research
Many records are available to help you find information about your U.S. Civil War ancestor. The following are good steps to start:

Step 1. Search the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors database. This hopefully will give you people with the same name as your ancestor and each person's regiment.

Step 2. Search the 1890 U.S. Veterans Census.


 * a. Part of the states were destroyed. The census still exists for the states alphabetically from Kentucky through Wyoming. Half of Kentucky was also destroyed.
 * b. The census lists veterans or the widows of veterans.
 * c. The census gives a veteran's name, rank, company, regiment...

Step 3. American Civil War records on Ancestry.com

Step 4. Civil War records on Footnote.com

Step 5. Once you have an idea of the regiment, search the FamilySearch Research Wiki.


 * a. United States in the Civil War.
 * b. The state where your soldier lived.
 * c. The regiment of your soldier and the company of your soldier.
 * e. The county where your soldier lived.

Step 6. The Research Wiki will eventually have information about each regiment including links to many Internet sites, lists of books, pictures, etc. If the Research Wiki does not yet have information about your ancestor's regiment, once you know the regiment and hopefully the company:


 * a. Search the Internet for the regiment or company using Google or another search engine.
 * b. Look for regiment histories using:


 * 1. Internet Archives
 * 2. Google Books
 * 3. Family Hisotry Library Catalog
 * A. Digital books
 * B. If the book you find in the catalog is not yet digital, try Interlibrary Loan through your public library.