This article was featured in Family Chronicle, Sept/Oct 2002 with illustrations. There was not enough room in the magazine for the complete manuscript so below we carry the entire, unedited text that may be of interest to those pursuing this line of research.

It is not uncommon to have knowledge of the service of a Union soldier: it is usually a part of the oral tradition within the family. The first step, not unlike tracing non-military ancestors, is to learn all you can from living family members. You may find that family members have uniforms, weapons, swords, or papers that relate to the service of the soldier. If the burial place of the soldier is known, information on the tombstone may point to military service. The place of burial and the type of tombstone may lead to other records. There may be papers or medals that demonstrate membership of the soldier in a post-war Grand Army of the Republic posts, attending post-war encampments and reunions. Descendants may have membership in such organizations as the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, or its Auxiliary. For many, locating information about the service of their ancestor in the Union Army will provide the opportunity to join a heritage society.

But what can you do if you do not know if you have an ancestor who served the Union? To research a Union soldier properly, one should know the name of the soldier, his approximate date of birth, his place of residence before and after the War and the name of his wife. The more information that a researcher has about a soldier and his family, the more likely the researcher will know that they have located the "correct" soldier in the records.

The first thing to do is examine your pedigree charts and family group sheets. Look for men living between 1861 and 1865 who are between the ages of 13 and 70. Determine where they lived at the outbreak of the War. The next step should then be to find that person in the 1860 federal census. The census will provide information on the family of the person, his age, and who his neighbors were. In the beginning of the war, neighbors frequently enlisted and served together; this is especially true if your ancestor served in a local militia unit that existed before the War. Military units were generally recruited in specific geographic areas. The published county history or records held by ocal historical or genealogical society may be helpful in determining service. There are also publications that deal with a place during the War. Some, such as Kent A. Smith's, Russiaville and the Civil War: A Civil War History of Honey Creek Township, Howard County, Indiana, and its Residents (Old Richardville Publications, 2001) and Dallas R. Bogan's, Warren County's [Ohio] Involvement in the Civil War (Heritage Books, 1991) provide information on individual soldiers from a specific counties.

The Civil War was a war of brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor. Every state in the Confederacy had units serving in the Union Army. South Carolina is almost an exception with the only Union regiment from that state being US Colored Troops. If you are unaware of service, it is important to look for both Union and Confederate service. Some soldiers during the War managed to serve on both sides. Sometimes this was a result of programs initiated by the federal government to fight Indians in the West. These "Galvanized Yankees" served in six US Volunteer Regiments. Most of the members of these units were Confederate soldiers who chose service in the West against Indians to life in a prison camp in the North. Sometimes soldiers switched sides as a matter of the situation, especially in the border states of Tennessee and Kentucky. It is also important to look for the service of a soldier from a border state just over the border. For example, many Unionists in Virginia joined units in western Virginia, in the area of what would become West Virginia. They also served in Maryland and District of Columbia units. Entire regiments of Union soldiers were formed in southern states; such as the 1st Texas Cavalry or the 1st New Orleans Infantry. Border states had numerous units on both sides in the conflict.

Types of Units
There were three types of soldiers during the war: militia, volunteers, and the regular army. The military units of the North were of various types. These were artillery, cavalry, and infantry. Heavy artillery would be found in forts or as siege guns, and sometimes on rail cars. Field artillery was more mobile, smaller caliber howitzers even carried on horseback. Cavalry were mounted on horseback. Their weapons were the sword, carbine or pistol. Infantry was heavy or light. Light infantry could move more quickly than heavy infantry. Sharpshooters were considered as infantry, although much more specialized. Most units, with the exception of regular US Army units, are associated with the state from which they were organized.

The basic record of a soldier is in the regimental book and in the company book. Units that have regimental books (and company books) in the National Archives are found at www.nara.gov/publications/prologue/civwarae.html. These records can include a regimental order book, company order books, a regimental descriptive book, company descriptive books, consolidated morning reports by company, a regimental letters sent book, and miscellaneous books.

Indexes to Service Records
Many researchers begin their search by looking at the indexes to compiled military service records found on National Archives Microfilm Publications. These indexes only refer to soldiers who belong to volunteer units. The records of US Army regular soldiers have not been compiled. Additionally, there is no consolidated index on microfilm. There are individual indexes for most states. Union soldiers from South Carolina are found in M589, Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers who Served with US Colored Troops. During the war an Invalid Corps was formed to use in a military or semi-military capacity of experienced soldiers who had been rendered unfit for active field service on account of wounds or disease contracted in line of duty, but who were still fit for garrison or other light duty, and were, in the opinion of their commanding officers, meritorious and deserving. Their name was changed in 1864 to the Veteran Reserve Corps. The index to these service records are found on M636, Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers who Served in the Veteran Reserve Corps. If your ancestor was a prison guard, his military service may be found among these records.

Each index card or entry provides the name of the soldier, his rank, and the unit he served in. There are cross-reference cards when a soldier's name is found under more than one spelling or he is known to have served in another unit. The cards are in alphabetical order by name of soldier, by state or territory and unit. There may be more than one index card for the same individual and more than one compiled military service record, depending on the service of the individual. Many soldiers served in more than one regiment during the war.

Two alternatives to the problem of the lack of a consolidated index are The CD-ROM, The Roster of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 edited by Janet B. Hewett (Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot Publishing Co., 1998) (also available in a multi-volume set, but they are published by state) or The Civil War Muster Rolls (Orem, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc.), a set of CDs that list the 5.3 million records Civil War soldiers. (Unfortunately it appears to be missing soldiers with surnames between Sloat and Ticher, missing the large number of Union soldiers with the name Smith). The information was taken from the microfilm indexes and not muster rolls directly, but do provide information on the unit and rank.

Of course finding a name in an index that matches the name that you are looking for does not mean that you have found your ancestor. It could be someone else. This is the difficulty in looking for the compiled military service record first.
Most of the compiled military service records for Union soldiers identified in microfilm indexes are not on microfilm. Exceptions are southern states, border states and some of the smaller Union states.

The National Archives will currently provide a photocopy of the of the service record (from microfilm or not) for a fee. Those compiled military service records that are on microfilm can also be obtained from microfilm lending programs such as the Family History Library or Heritage Quest.

Compiled Military Service Record
A compiled military service record can contain information about the soldier and his unit, as found in muster roll entries, such as age, place of birth, place of enlistment, date of enlistment, capture, prisoner information and parole. Medical information is sometimes included.

Compiling a Military Service Record for the Regular Army Soldier
Compiled military service records do not exist for Regular Army soldiers. This means that the researcher must compile the record. The basic record of enlistment in is the Enlistment Paper. These are found in the National Archives in Record Group 94, Records of the Adjutant General's Office (AGO), as are all of the other records about to be discussed. They are arranged alphabetically by surname and thereunder by date of enlistment and fortunately multiple enlistments are usually filed together. From them you will learn the name of soldier, place and date of enlistment, by whom enlisted, age at enlistment, civilian occupation, place of birth, personal description, regimental assignment and the certification of the examining physician.

The Army took information from enlistment papers, muster rolls and other records to create the Registers of Enlistments, 1798-1914 (M233), which are arranged by year, thereunder by surname, and thereunder by date of enlistment.

Additional information can be found in Certificates of Disability, with documents signed by surgeons recommending discharges and containing statements relating to the type of disability-involved period. Final Statements begin in 1862 and record of the death and interment of an active duty soldier. An Inventory of personal effects provides information relating to military service, personal description, cause and place of death and an account of the soldier's financial affairs.

At some point, AGO personnel began to consolidate the records of soldiers in to a series of records known as "Personal Papers". These are the closest thing to a service record for Army soldiers. They may include Descriptive Lists, Orders, Assignment Cards, Reports of Physical Examination, Certificates of Disability, Discharges, Final Statement and Burial Records and Medical Records.

Army Officers
The finding aid to Army officers is Francis B. Heitman's, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994). The Army did not compile personnel records for officers until 1863. Before 1863, information about specific officers can be found in Adjutant General's Office correspondence: (M565), Letters Sent by the AGO, 1800-1890; (M619), Letters Received by the AGO, 1861-1870; (M725), Indexes to Letters Received, AGO, 1846, 1861-1889. Since many Army officers were in the service prior to the war it may be necessary to consult other AGO correspondence series for letters of appointment and promotion.

For most officers after 1863, there is a consolidated correspondence file that includes their orders, assignments, oaths of office, monthly fitness reports, promotions, and other records related to the officer. An officer's consolidated correspondence file may be found in several different places depending on the length service of the officer after 1863. The Commission Branch (CB) of the AGO files are reproduced on (M1064), Letters Received by the Commission Branch of the Adjutant General's Office, 1863-1870. A complete card index is also available at the National Archives. Later correspondence is found in the Appointment, Commission, and Personal Branch (ACP) of the AGO. Many of the most frequently requested ACP files have been reproduced on microfiche; the others are available in the original format.

Officers who have a specialty designation will have additional records in RG 94 or other record groups: Personal Papers, Medical Officers and Physicians, 1812-1912 (RG 94); Registers of Officers of the Engineer Corps, 1857-1894 (RG 77); Personal Histories of Regular Officers in the Quartermaster's Department, (RG 92); Military Service Histories of Ordnance Officers, 1815-1922 (RG156); and Personal Histories of Paymasters, 1848-1910 (Record Group 99).

Medical Records
In addition to medical records that might be found in the volunteer compiled service records there are Carded Medical Records. These records generally show the name of soldier, rank, military unit, date and cause of admission to hospital, and disposition. They are arranged by military unit and thereunder alphabetically.

Courts-Martial Records
Registers of the Records of the Proceedings of the US Army General Courts-Martial, 1809-1890 (M1105) will provide a research access to Courts-Martial Case Files. These files are arranged by case number. A typical case file includes name, rank, and unit of soldier; copy of trial transcript; charges and specifications; and findings. An important time saving tip, when using the microfilm registers to go to the second volume and microfilm roll. The entries are alphabetical by surname and first name. Three rolls of microfilm will have to be searched for the Civil War period.

Unit Histories
To some extent regimental histories are available for all Union units that saw service in the war. There can be a few paragraphs found in Frederick H Dyer's, A Compendium of the War of Rebellion (National Historical Society, 1979). Each entry lists organizational data, battles, campaigns, chain of command, and casualties of the regiment during the war. A more comprehensive, but more difficult to find, multiple volume set of The Union Army, a history of military affairs in the loyal states, 1861-65, (Federal Publishing Company, 1908) provides more detailed information that Dyer's.

Most State Adjutant General's Offices produced rosters of Union soldiers after the war, usually in their Annual Reports. Some of these reports have been recompiled for research, such as Richard A. Wilt's New York Soldiers in the Civil War, A Roster of Military Officers and Soldiers Who Served in New York Regiments in the Civil War as Listed in the Annual Reports of the Adjutant General of the State of New York, 2 volumes (Heritage Books, 1999).

C. E. Dornbusch compiled a three-volume set, Military Bibliography of the Civil War (New York Public Library, 1961). It is the basic resource for identifying regimental histories, publications of regimental associations and personal narratives of participants. Most of the publications identified in Dornbusch can be obtained on microfiche from Heritage Quest. Numerous bibliographies exist in both book and electronic form that can lead to other information. Knowing the unit with which a soldier served provides the names of officers or fellow soldiers who may have kept diaries or written letters that have survived in either manuscript collections or have been published. A recent example is Diane E. Greene's The Civil War Diary of Lieutenant Robert Molford Addison, Co. E., 23rd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, December 24, 1863 - December 29, 1864 (Willow Bend Books, 2001).

Some regimental and company-level histories have also been published such as Michael G. Burns, From Rochester to Winchester: The Regimental History of the 22nd New York Cavalry, 1864-1865 (Willow Bend Books, 2001) and Glenda McWhirter Todd's First Alabama Cavalry, USA: Homage to Patriotism (Heritage Books, 1999).

There is probably more written about the Civil War than any other conflict. There are books about leaders, battles, uniforms, ordinance and everything else. Many published sources are surveyed in Allan Nevins, et al., Civil War Books: A Critical Bibliography (Louisiana State University Press, 1967). The more recent literature can be explored through computerized catalogs such as the Online Computer Library Catalog (OCLC) or Books in Print.

A collection of autobiographical narratives is Robert U. Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel's, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (The Century Company, 1887-88). Another interesting collection of first-hand Union accounts is found in the 70-volume set of Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (Broadfoot Publishing Co.). The major finding aid to unpublished letters, diaries, and other personal papers is the Library of Congress's National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collection (NUCMC).

Unit Reports and Correspondence
After the War, the US War Department was determined to collect as much information about military activity and to publish selected information. The result of their efforts was The War of Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of Rebellion. These multi-volume publications are available in both book and CD formats from several sources. Cornell University has a fully searchable Internet version found at http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/moa_browse.html. Having identified the soldier and his unit a researcher might be able to find information about him in these records. At the very least, information about the regiment, its place in the order of battle, and other reports should be located. Search also for the names of Captains and Colonels that commanded the units that your ancestor was a member.

Although incomplete, M594, Compiled Records Showing Service of Military Units in Volunteer Union Organizations, is an excellent source for information of the involvement of a unit in the War. The information is taken primarily from original muster rolls and returns. They contain no information about individual soldiers, but instead relate to the movements and activities of the unit. The final roll of microfilm (Reel 225) contains unique organizations like the Brigade Bands, Indian Home Guards, and the Mississippi Marine Brigade. An Internet source for available records is www.nara.gov /publications /microfilm/military/mil08.txt. These "Records of Events" have also been published as part of 100 volume "Supplement to the Official Records" (Broadfoot Publishing Co.).

Battles
One book that will be helpful in your research is E. B. Long's, The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac, 1861-1865 (Doubleday, 1971). Finding a date in a compiled military service record or other record through this work can be translated into a battle or other action. Mark Mayo Boatner's, The Civil War Dictionary (New York: McKay) will provide an overview of battles and campaigns.

Prisoner of War Records
Usually the compiled military service record will identify a date of capture and where the soldier was confined. Confederate records relating to Union prisoners of war are in the National Archives in RG 249, Records of the Commissary General of Prisoners. The Commissary General of Prisoners conducted business with Confederate authorities concerning prisoners of war, and maintained parole camps in which federal prisoners of war released by the Confederacy were confined pending a prisoner-of-war exchange. Some of the records include Registers, rolls, and lists of federal prisoners, including registers of deaths, escapes, and prisoners confined at Andersonville, Ga., Charleston, S.C., and Richmond, Va.; and rolls of federal prisoners of war who enlisted in the Confederate Army, 1862-65.

Patricia Andrews' Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Office of the Commissary General of Prisoners (Record Group 249) (National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, 1966) will provide some help in searching out Union prisoner of war records.

The Draft
Not everyone served the Union as a soldier. If you have real difficulty finding the Civil War service of an individual you probably will have to face the fact that the individual did not serve in a military unit. There is, of course, the possibility that he served in one of the home guards or militia units that was not included in the indexes. Everything else failing, you might have to examine the other two possibilities. The first is that the individual was exempted from service for some reason and the second is that he just did not serve. Conscription on both sides came about as a result of the decrease in the number of volunteers in the second year of the war. People on both sides began to realize that there was not going to be a quick end to the war. Conscription records are found in the Records of the Provost Marshal General's Bureau (RG 110), which was established in 1863. It centralized the functions of enrolling, drafting, and recruiting men for service in the Union Army. Prior to this time these duties had been carried out by the individual states. The Enrollment Act of March 3, 1863 created enrollment districts based on the congressional districts that existed at that time. A provost marshal was assigned to each district. Provost marshals were responsible for reporting and arresting deserters, detecting spies, and transferring drafted men or substitutes to depots or rendezvous. Various registers exist in the National Archives as a result of these responsibilities.

Several unpublished finding aids in several parts entitled, Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Provost Marshal General's Bureau (Civil War) (Record Group 110) exists. The Congressional Directory for the Second Session of the Thirty-Eighth Congress of the United States, available in government documents repositories within major libraries nationwide, is the best source for determining what counties were in which congressional districts at that time.

Unionist in the South
Gary B. Mills, Southern Loyalists in the Civil War: The Southern Claims Commission (Genealogical Publishing Co.) indexes the 22,298 cases filed by individuals, family groups, churches, and businesses. The index gives the name of the claimant, county and state, the Commission number, office number and report number, and the year and the status of the claim. These claims are allowed, disallowed or barred. Allowed claims are found in the National Archives at College Park in Record Group 217, Records of the Accounting Officers. Recently (M2062), Southern Claims Commission Approved Claims, 1871-1880: Alabama was released by the National Archive. Disallowed and barred claims are available on microfiche. Among other things, these case files include such items as family letters and bibles, wills and probate records, personal accounts, and property inventories.

If you find that a claim is disallowed, further litigation may be found in the records in the US Court of Claims. The Tucker Act and the Bowman Act provided another opportunity for claimants to obtain compensation from the government.

Burial and Headstone Records
Three websites, the National Cemetery Administration (www.cem.va.gov), the Army Mortuary Affairs History (www.qmfound.com/mortuary-affairs.htm) and United States Veterans Cemeteries page of Intermnet.net (www.interment.net/us/nat/veterans.htm) contain information on veteran cemeteries. If a Union soldier was buried in a national cemetery, his burial place may be found in United States Quartermaster's Department. Roll of Honor, Names of Soldiers Who Died in Defense of the American Union, Interred in the National Cemeteries (Genealogical Publishing, 1994). An index to this material, Martha and William Reamy, Index to the Roll of Honor (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1995) is available separately. Also available is Mark Hughes, Unpublished Roll of Honor (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1996) All this information is also available on Family Tree Maker CD#351. It names over 200,000 Union soldiers who were buried in three hundred national cemeteries during the Civil War.

The great majority of veterans were not buried in military cemeteries. A Congressional act in 1879 allowed for a tombstone to be placed on the graves of soldiers buried in private cemeteries. An index of the headstones was created on cards that name an approximatly 166,000 soldiers and have been microfilmed as (M1845), Card Records of Headstones Provided for Deceased Union Civil War Veterans, ca. 1879 - ca. 1903.

State archives, state and local historical libraries and societies may have compiled similar lists, although most are before World War I. Many of these organizations have web pages that list cemetery information, frequently under a genealogical research section.

Pension Records
The federal government provided pensions to Union soldiers and their widows and orphans under various legislative acts. Union pension records are only available at the National Archives and are not available on microfilm. These records may contain information about the service of the soldier, his wife, children, dates of birth and death and other genealogically significant material. The files can contain proof of marriage and proof of death. Usually the file will contain a personal history questionnaire for the veteran, a widow's questionnaire, and affidavits by comrades-in-arms, relatives, and neighbors attesting to the applicant's statements. Where disability and need were factors in the pension request, medical reports are included. Veteran, widow and minor pensions are combined in the same file.

(T288), General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 is a finding aid of over 2.5 million pension files. Sometimes a pension index card will indicate an "XC" number. It is important to order the record using this number if it appears. The "XC" may mean that the National Archives does not have custody of the record and that it will have to be ordered from your local Bureau of Veterans Affairs office.

A little used microfilm (T289), Organizational Index to Pension Records is an index to pensioners by unit, beginning with the field and staff, then showing them alphabetically by company and regiment. This microfilm index is useful to determine all of the pensioners in a specific unit. It is also useful if for some reason the General Index Card file numbers are incorrect. This index is also useful if two different veteran's files have been combined (usually because of a lawyer combining correspondence) or if a minor qualifies for a pension whose stepfather guardian is also a pensioner.
Apart from the pensions is an interesting set of records, which are indexed by (M686), Index to General Correspondence of the Record and Pension Office. It is impossible to adequately describe the wide range of information that can be found in these files. In order for a soldier who was charged with desertion to obtain a pension, that charge had to removed. The only government entity that could remove the charge was the Congress (the President could only pardon). So the paperwork to support the removal is in these files. Also included in these files are applications for Congressional Medal of Honor rosettes, obituaries, records and reports corrections, etc.
Sometime photographs of veterans can be found in pension files, especially if the veteran wanted to graphically document a war injury, such as the loss of a limb. Less graphic images of civil war participants can be found at the Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Carlisle, Pa., the Division of Prints and Photographs at the Library of Congress and the Still Picture Branch of the National Archives, both in Washington, DC.

In searching for the Civil War service of William F. Scott, a resident of Watson, Illinois, having a wife, Melissa Jane Blackford it was found that here were possibly four William F. Scott's serving in Illinois regiments during the war: a captain (Co. G, 40th Ill. Inf.), a sergeant major (Co. A, 87th Ill. Inf.), a corporal (Co. I, 7th Ill. Cavalry) and a private (Co. E, 71st Ill. Inf.). The record of the private is promising and one hopes that the government remembered to use his middle initial in his records, the number of William Scotts serving is daunting. The only information in the file is that this William F. Scott was in Company E, 71st Regiment of Illinois Infantry and that he was 22 years old. Consulting the pension index there is a William F. Scott with a widow Melissa J. Scott. There is only one pension of a William F. Scott with a wife Melissa J. Scott. The index card indicates that this William F. Scott served in Co. E, 71st Illinois Infantry. It is easier to consult the pension index first and order one pension than it is to order five compiled military service records. The pension file number was an "XC" but it was one the many "XC" pensions that the National Archives has in their custody.

From the pension files there was direct evidence of the father of William F. Scott, a John O. Scott, a physician who cared for him during his bout with typhoid fever and the chronic diarrhea that followed (a common cause for getting a pension). There is direct evidence of his marriage and the dates of birth of his children. There is indirect evidence of the married names of his daughters and the name of the father of Melissa. It is always important to examine the possible family relationships between the pensioner and the individuals who are providing affidavits or witnessing them.

Soldiers Homes
Recognizing that many veterans had become poor, indigent and unable to care for themselves and no longer had families that would care for them, many soldier homes were built. The The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) and its Allied Orders were instrumental in the creation of many of these homes. Their records include residency applications and other records that contain name, service, birth dates, addresses, spouses, and children. Many Soldier Home records or finding aids to the records are also available on the Internet. Many of these records may be found in state archives.

1890 Special Census Schedule
These schedules enumerate Union Veterans and Widows of Veterans of the Civil War.
Each schedule calls for the following information: name of the veteran (or if he did not survive, the names of both the widow and her deceased husband); the veteran's rank, company, regiment or vessel, date of enlistment, date of discharge, and length of service in years, months, and days; post office and address of each person listed; disability incurred by the veteran; and remarks necessary to a complete statement of his term of service. Not all entries are complete. Only the states from Kentucky to Wyoming appear to have survived. Approximately half of those for Kentucky are gone. www.arealdomain.com/links.html provides links to Internet sites containing information about the individual states. Transcriptions have been published for Maryland, Virginia and a few other states.

GAR Records
The first post of GAR was organized at Decatur, Ill. in 1866 by Dr. B.F. Stephenson. The GAR founded soldiers' homes, was active in relief work and in pension legislation. Membership was open to honorably discharged veterans of the Union Army, Navy, Marine Corps or the Revenue Cutter Service (now the Coast Guard) who had served between April 12, 1861 and April 9, 1865. Posts were organized into Departments. Annually the Department would meet in an Encampment. The Encampment maintained records, such as: Journal of the Annual Encampment, 6 vols. (Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Pennsylvania, 1927-1933). The final Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic was held in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1949.

The GAR encouraged the creation of Allied Orders, which have continued the purposes of the GAR. There are five Allied Orders. The Sons of Veterans of the United States of America, founded in 1881 to perpetuate the memory of the Grand Army of the Republic (later to become the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War in 1925; see www.suvcw.org/member.htm) is for male descendants of Union veterans. Membership requirements in the female order vary. These are the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic (www.rootsweb.com/~nlgar/membership.html), Woman's Relief Corps ((http://suvcw.org/wrc.htm), Auxiliary to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (www.geocities.com/betbaker.geo/nasuv-mem.html ), and Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War (www.duvcw.org/membership.html). Finding a Union ancestor may qualify you for membership in one of these organizations.

Craig Roberts Scott, CGRS is the owner of Willow Bend Books, www.WillowBendBooks.com, the world's largest genealogy bookstore in Westminster, Md. He specializes in military records in the National Archives.