How to locate our Civil War ancestor
You can now find the name and military unit for every union Civil
War veteran. The U.S. National Archives has posted the official index
prepared by the War Department following the civil war from regimental
and other unit rosters. If your Civil War ancestor served in the 17th
Missouri his name and company together with other information contained
on official muster rolls is available on the 17th Missouri Descriptive
roll. If you can't find the name on first try check likely variance in
spelling of the name. The 17th Missouri descriptive roll lists home
towns and original place of origin for each member of the 17th
Missouri. If you wish to obtain more information you may order a
complete copy of your ancestors military file and if wounded or injured
a copy of any pension file from the U.S. National Archives. Finally, if
you have access to a library that has old city directories from the
19th century check the directory for the city where your ancestor
enlisted to find out more information.
Three easy steps to locate your ancestor who
fought in the Civil War: