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New York Military Records
See Also Researching in Military Records and Colonial & United States Wars From Earliest to 1865
New Yorkers have participated in military efforts since the colonial era. Military records shed light on the lives of soldiers, the struggles of the forces, as well as war's impact on the home front. They offer researchers a unique view of our past.
Most pre-twentieth-century New York military records are at the New York State Archives, although some were destroyed or damaged in the 1911 fire at the New York State Library.
Published material on New Yorkers in the War of 1812 is scarce, but list put out by the New York [State] Adjutant General's Office is Index of Awards on Claims of the Soldiers of the War of 1812. The original claims are at the state archives, which also has abstracts of War of 1812 payrolls
- Submit a website for New York Military Records
- New York Military Books at Amazon.com
- New York Civil War Records (1861-65): This database gives records of Civil War infantrymen from southeastern New York (79th and 80th infantry units).
- New York Military Equipment Claims, War of 1812: This database is an index of claims presented to the State of New York for payment of expenses for military clothing and equipment provided by volunteers during the war.
- New York Military in the Revolution: This database is a collection of military records relating to the colonial militia during the war.
- New York Pensioners, 1835: This database identifies thousands of New York soldiers who were covered under various pension acts in the early 1800s.
Revolutionary War in New York
Search Revolutionary War 1775-83 Service Records
, Rejected Pensions, Loyalists Records, 1775-1783 Pay Rolls, Courts-Martial, Officers, Pension Index, 1841 Pensioner Census
Volumes 2 and 3 of the Annual Report of the State Historian contain collected lists of colonial militia. See also Muster Rolls of New York Provincial Troops 1755-1764, Vol. 24 of the New-York Historical Society Collections, in which the age, birthplace, and occupation are given for many soldiers.
Additional names are in New York in the Revolution as Colony and State, 2 vols., and Supplement and Calendar of Historical Manuscripts Relating to the War of the Revolution, 2 vols., both compiled by the New York [State] Comptroller's Office. A lot of Revolutionary War material burned in the 1911 state library fire, but the remaining charred fragments are at last being microfilmed and made available for research. The state archives is preparing a computerized name index to New York soldiers and other individuals mentioned in the surviving Revolutionary War manuscripts. Other Revolutionary War material sent to Washington before the 1911 fire should be sought in the National Archives .There is much published and manuscript material on New York Loyalists. Some Loyalist material is at the New York Public Library and the state archives.
Below is a list of online resources for New York in the Revolutionary War.
- New York Revolutionary War Books at Amazon.com
- Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 from the State of New York (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents in NARA publication M246 include muster rolls, payrolls, strength returns, and other miscellaneous personnel, pay, and supply records of American Army units, 1775-83.
- Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War from the State of New York (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents in NARA publication M246 include muster rolls, payrolls, strength returns, and other miscellaneous personnel, pay, and supply records of American Army units, 1775-83.
- Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files from the State of New York
- New York Military in the Revolution: This database is a collection of military records relating to the colonial militia during the war.
- New York Pensioners, 1835: This database identifies thousands of New York soldiers who were covered under various pension acts in the early 1800s.
Civil War in New York
Search Civil War Soldiers, Service Records, Regiments, General Officers, Battle Summaries, Pension Index: 1861-1934, CSA Field Officers and the War of the Rebellion
There is a typescript index of Civil War participants from New York at the state archives, and if the regiment is known, see Register of New York Regiments in the War of the Rebellion, 43 vols., issued as supplementary reports to the Annual Report of the state adjutant general for 1893-1905. A Record of Commissioned Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Privates...in Suppressing the Rebellion, 8 vols., and Registers...the War of the Rebellion, not indexed by name, were compiled by the New York Adjutant General's Office. The National Archives-Northeast Region and the state archives have the microfilm index of compiled service records of New York volunteer soldiers in the Union Army. The state archives has much material on the Civil War, including town clerk's registers, which often show the soldier's full name, date and place of birth, and names of parents, including mother's maiden name. Civil War soldiers and deaths of officers and enlisted men were also noted in the population schedules of the 1865 State Census, and veterans or their widows were listed in a special 1890 Census.
Below is a list of online resources for New York in the Civil War.
- New York Civil War Books at Amazon.com
- Southern Claims - Barred and Disallowed from the State of New York (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents In the 1870s, southerners claimed compensation from the U.S. government for items used by the Union Army, ranging from corn and horses, to trees and church buildings.
- Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900 from the State of New York (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Pension applications for service in the U.S. Army between 1861 and 1917, grouped according to the units in which the veterans served.
