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North Carolina Military Records

See Also Researching in Military Records and Colonial & United States Wars From Earliest to 1865

The uses and value of military records in genealogical research for ancestors who were veterans are obvious, but military records can also be important to re-searchers whose direct ancestors were not soldiers in any war. The fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and other close relatives of an ancestor may have served in a war, and their service or pension records could contain information that will assist in further identifying the family of primary interest. Due to the amount of genealogical information contained in some military pension files, they should never be overlooked during the research process. Those records not containing specific genealogical information are of historic value and should be included in any overall research design. A list of Wars fought on American.

North Carolina's war record begins with the Chowanoc Indian War (1675–77) and continues with the Tuscarora Indian War (1711–15), but virtually no records survive to tell of the participants. Then came the War of Jenkins's Ear (1739–44) and King George's War (1744–48) between England, France, and Spain. Some North Carolinians served in these wars, but only a few muster rolls remain. The French and Indian War began in 1755 and ended in 1763; that North Carolinians served in this war is certain, but little remains to document a soldier's service. The surviving muster rolls and militia officer lists are available at the North Carolina State Archives and are published in Murtie June Clark, Colonial Soldiers of the South, 1732-1774 (Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1986).

An unindexed, printed Roster of the North Carolina Volunteers in the Spanish American War is available in the Search Room of the North Carolina State Archives.

For a more in-depth look at how military, veterans', and pension records apply in North Carolina, see George Stevenson, “Military Records” and Raymond A. Winslow, Jr., “Military Service and Veterans Records” in Leary and Stirewalt, North Carolina Research.

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Revolutionary War in North Carolina

Search Revolutionary War 1775-83 Service Records, Rejected Pensions, Loyalists Records, 1775-1783 Pay Rolls, Courts-Martial, Officers, Pension Index, 1841 Pensioner Census

The new states were required to raise quotas of soldiers to serve in the Continental Line during the Revolutionary War, and land was offered as an inducement. North Carolinians who volunteered to serve for at least two years were given bounty-land warrants that could be exchanged for land in what was to become Tennessee. The North Carolina State Archives has records of soldiers serving in the Continental Line.

Many North Carolinians remained loyal to the Crown during the Revolutionary War. See Murtie June Clark, Loyalists in the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War, Volume I : Official Rolls of Loyalists Recruited from North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana (Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1980).

Below is a list of online resources for North Carolina in the Revolutionary War.

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War of 1812 & Indian Wars in North Carolina

Information included in service records for the War of 1812 is similar to that in the same records of soldiers in the Revolutionary War. Muster Rolls of the Soldiers of the War of 1812 Detached from the Militia of North Carolina in 1812 and 1814. With an Added Index (1851; reprint, Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1976) is the most comprehensive list available of soldiers from North Carolina. Unfortunately, Muster Rolls contains many errors and must be carefully verified in original records. There are War of 1812 pay vouchers for twenty-eight counties arranged alphabetically and an alphabetical list of all vouchers available in the Search Room of the North Carolina State Archives.

Below is a list of online resources for North Carolina in the War of 1812.

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Civil War in North Carolina

Search Civil War Soldiers, Service Records, Regiments, General Officers, Battle Summaries, Pension Index: 1861-1934, CSA Field Officers and the War of the Rebellion

Many service records are available at the North Carolina State Archives, including enlistment bounty payrolls. The most comprehensive publication on North Carolina's Confederate soldiers is Louis H. Manarin and Weymouth T. Jordan, comps., North Carolina Troops 1861-1865, A Roster, 12 vols. (Raleigh, N.C.: State Department of Archives and History, 1981–present). North Carolina Troops includes both unit histories and some excellent biographies.

North Carolina offered pensions to Confederate veterans and their widows beginning in 1885. The 1885 pension law offered pensions to veterans and widows of veterans disabled by the loss of a limb or an eye; an 1887 amendment provided pensions for widows of veterans who died of disease while serving the Confederacy. A new law was enacted in 1889 and revised in 1901 that required a twelve-month residence in North Carolina and required that widows had married the veteran before April 1865. Original pension records and the accompanying index are available at the North Carolina State Archives; the index is available on microfilm at the FHL.

No comprehensive list of North Carolina's Confederate or Union soldiers has been compiled. The site www.mycivilwar.com has a list of unit and histories for North Carolina.

The site www.mycivilwar.com has a list of unit and histories for North Carolina. Below is a list of online resources for North Carolin in the Civil War.

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List conflicts dating from earliest to 1865

See Also Researching in Military Records and Colonial & United States Wars From Earliest to 1865

Conflicts involving North Carolina dating from earliest to 1865. Wars covered that are available are:

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