Connecticut Military Records

United States U.S. Military  Connecticut  Military Records



Many military records are found at the Family History Library, the National Archives, and other federal and state archives. An important source of military records is the Connecticut State Library. Their records include extensive militia records, orderly books, private papers, and other military records from the colonial period to World War I.

Forts



 * FortWiki (CT) - portal to U.S. military forts
 * Fort Saybrook - (1636–1647) Connecticut's first military fortification
 * Fort Trumbull - now Fort Trumbull State Park, New London, Connecticut
 * Fort Nathan Hale New Haven, Connecticut

Colonial Wars (1675-1774)

 * Connecticut State Library. Selected Papers of Colonial Wars.  contains papers from the wars between 1675 and 1774.


 * "Rolls of Connecticut Men in the French and Indian War, 1755–1762," Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society, Volume 2 (Hartford: Connecticut Historical Society, 1905). Digital version at


 * Buckingham, Thomas. Roll and Journal of Connecticut Service in Queen Anne's War, 1710-1711. New Haven Connecticut : Tuttle, Moorehouse &amp; Taylor Press, 1916. Digital version at Allen county Public Library Genealogy Center


 * "Register of the Connecticut Society of the Colonial Dames of America, 1893-1907" (Google Books) (Worldcat) - lists women who are members of the society and a description of the ancestor's service.

Revolutionary War (1775-1783)

 * Connecticut Adjutant General. Records of Service of Connecticut Men in the I. War of the Revolution, II. War of 1812, III. Mexican War. Hartford, Connecticut: Case, Lockwood &amp; Brainard Company, 1889. Digital version at Internet Archive


 * Supplementary sources for the Revolutionary War are volumes 8 and 12 of Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society (Family History Library volume 12 is on film ). These are listed in the Family History Library Catalog under CONNECTICUT - HISTORY.

The Connecticut State Library and the Family History Library have a 37-volume set of service rolls for the Revolutionary War on microfilm. Indexes to service records of each war between 1775 and 1848 are at the Family History Library. The pension files for the Revolutionary War are also at the National Archives and the Family History Library.

Connecticut Pension List, Rolls And Census (Free):


 * 1) 1813 Pension List: Connecticut
 * 2) 1820 Pension List: Connecticut
 * 3) 1840 Connecticut Census of Pensioners

The 1835 Pension Roll

On June 5, 1834, the U.S. Senate required the Secretary of War to submit a statement showing the names of pensioners who were on the pension rolls or had previously been on the pension rolls. For more information on the 1835 Pension Roll see Revolutionary War Pension Records. The pension Roll for Connecticut is available online.


 * Report from the Secretary of War... Vol. I (Google Books)
 * The Pension Roll of 1835, Vol. I (Ancestry) ($)
 * Connecticut Pensioners, 1835 (Ancestry) ($)

War of 1812 (1812-1815)
Connecticut disapproved of the War of 1812. The militia was forbidden to leave the state, and only about 3,000 Connecticut militiamen saw active duty for any length of time. The legislature did spend some money on internal defenses, including funds for 3,000 muskets, eight cannon, 600 pounds of powder, and five tons of bullets.

In June 1814, the British cornered a U.S. naval squadron in New London. Some 6,000 Connecticut militiamen rushed there, and their presence may have restrained the British, allowing the American sailors escaped overland. The British then caused about $200,000 worth of damage to shipping at Essex. In August 1814, five British ships bombarded Stonington for three days.

In the Regular Army, Connecticut had 160 men and 156 officers. Congress decorated two Connecticut men who served in the U.S. Navy: Isaac Hull (1773-1843), who commanded the U.S.S. Constitution, and Thomas MacDonough (1783-1825), the hero of Plattsburg Bay. Though MacDonough was not born in Connecticut, he considered Middletown his home.

In late 1814, the Hartford Convention met at the Old State House to draft anti-war resolutions.


 * Connecticut Adjutant General. Records of Service of Connecticut Men in the I. War of the Revolution, II. War of 1812, III. Mexican War. Hartford, Connecticut: Case, Lockwood &amp; Brainard Company, 1889. Digital version at Internet Archive


 * Society of the War of 1812 in the State of Connecticut has a section listing a few veterans.


 * Family Tree Maker. Connecticut Officers and Soldiers, 1700s-1800s. CD-ROM. Broderbund, 2000.

Mexican War (1846-1848)

 * Connecticut Adjutant General. Records of Service of Connecticut Men in the I. War of the Revolution, II. War of 1812, III. Mexican War. Hartford, Connecticut: Case, Lockwood &amp; Brainard Company, 1889. Digital version at Internet Archive

Civil War (1861-1865)
See Connecticut in the Civil War for information about Connecticut Civil War records, web sites, etc. with links to pages about the Connecticut regiments involved in the Civil War. The regimental articles often include lists of the companies with links to the counties where the companies started. Men in the companies often lived in the counties where the companies were raised. Knowing a county can help when researching the families of the soldiers.

The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System allows name searching for soldiers. The result set gives the regiment for the soldiers. Then you can check the regiment page to determine counties. Often knowing the counties that had men in a regiment will help you determine if a soldier was your ancestor.

Spanish-American War (1898)

 * A helpful source is Connecticut Adjutant General, Record of Service of Connecticut Men in the Army, Navy and Marine Corps of the United States in the Spanish-American War (Hartford, Connecticut: Case, Lockwood &amp; Brainard Co., 1919; Family History Library ); (Ancestry) ($)

World War I (1917-1918)

 * United States. Selective Service System. Connecticut World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. National Archives Microfilm Publications, M1509. Washington, DC: National Archives, 1987-1988. (On Family History Library films beginning with .) These cards have been digitized and are searchable online. See WWI Draft Records for more information.

World War II (1941-1945)
On April 27, 1942, the Selective Service conducted the fourth of six draft registrations. The "World War II Selective Service Draft Cards: Fourth Registration, 1942" is often referred to as the “Old Man’s Registration” or the “Old Man’s Draft" because it included men with a date of birth from April 28, 1877 to February 16, 1897. Since there is overlap in the WWI and WWII Selective Service registration, men born in the years 1877 to 1900 may have registered twice and have both WWII and WWI draft records.


 * United States Selective Service System, Connecticut Selective Service System Registration Cards [World War II]: Fourth Registration (Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 2003-2005). (organized by county)

Also available at:


 * (FamilySearch) - free
 * (images with partial index) (FamilySearch) - free
 * Ancestry ($)
 * Fold3 ($).

World War II United States Military Records provides additional information.