Nebraska Military Records Research Guide

The benefits and importance of Nebraska military records in family history and genealogical research for ancestors who have been veterans are evident but Nebraska military records can also be valuable to researchers whose direct ancestors just weren’t soldiers in any war. Because of the quantity of genealogical information and facts included in some Nebraska military pension records they should never be overlooked during the research process.

Government record microfilms and other military records relating to Nebraska veterans can be found at the Nebraska State Historical Society.

The records of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) is a specialized collection of military documents. The records for the Nebraska Department of the Grand Army of the Republic Membership Files list names, service dates, units, post office addresses for Civil War veterans in Nebraska, and GAR post numbers. Civil War veterans who were buried in the state are listed alphabetically in the GAR Burial Records. Those records also list death dates, burial locations, and military service units. Many of them also list birthplaces.

The Spanish-American War service cards from the Spanish-American War list place of birth, name, birth date or age, service dates, assigned units, and places of residents. Nebraska residents who served from 1898 to 1902 in the Philippine War and the subsequent Insurrection are listed. There are also service cards for Work War 1 available. Those cards list serial numbers, names, birth dates or ages, places of residence, and service dates. There is also a servicemen index for World War II that lists newspaper references to servicemen from Nebraska.

• Nebraska Military Records (Fold3.com)
• Nebraska Military Record Books (amazon.com)

Nebraska in the Civil War

Civil War Website Links

• Research in the Civil War 1861-1865
• Nebraska, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 (familysearch.org) Union service records of soldiers who served in organizations from the Territory of Nebraska. The records include a jacket-envelope for each soldier, labeled with his name, his rank, and the unit in which he served. The jacket-envelope typically contains card abstracts of entries relating to the soldier as found in original muster rolls, returns, rosters, payrolls, appointment books, hospital registers, prison registers and rolls, parole rolls, inspection reports; and the originals of any papers relating solely to the particular soldier. For each military unit the service records are arranged alphabetically by the soldier’s surname. The Military Unit field may also display the surname range (A-G) as found on the microfilm. This collection is a part of RG 94, Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917 and is National Archive Microfilm Publication M1787. Index courtesy of Fold3.
• Civil War links from fold3.com with original data from the National Archives:
  • Compiled Service Records of Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Nebraska
  • Civil War and Later Veterans Pension Index from Nebraska
  • Nebraska Civil War “Widows’ Pensions”
• Civil War links from ancestry.com:
  • U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865
  • Nebraska Volunteers, 1861-69
  • Roster of Nebraska volunteers from 1861 to 1869
• Roster of soldiers, sailors, and marines of the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the War of the Rebellion, residing in Nebraska
• Nebraska Civil War Books (amazon.com)

Nebraska Modern Wars

War Website Links

• Nebraska Resident Military Roster on June 1, 1891 includes a roster of soldiers, sailors, and marines from the War of 1812, Mexican War, and the Civil War who resided in the state on that date.