California Military Records Research Guide

American military history in California began with the organization of the colonial militia early on in the seventeenth century typically to battle against attacks from native inhabitants. The benefits and importance of California military records in family history and genealogical research for ancestors that were veterans are evident but California military records can also be very important to researchers whose direct ancestors just weren’t soldiers in any war. A result of the amount of genealogical details contained in a number of California military pension records they ought to not be disregarded during the research process.

• California Military Records (Fold3.com)
• Redlands Chapter, California Society Sons of the American Revolution (redlandssar.org)
• California Military Record Books (amazon.com)

California in the Civil War

Civil War Website Links

• Research in the Civil War 1861-1865
• Civil War links from fold3.com with original data from the National Archives:
  • Civil War and Later Veterans Pension Index from California
  • California Civil War “Widows’ Pensions”
• California Civil War Infantry Regiments and Units
• California Civil War Cavalry Regiments and Units
• California Civil War Artillery Regiments and Units
• Civil War links from ancestry.com:
  • U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 – This database contains an index to compiled service records (CSRs) for soldiers who served with units in the Confederate army. Most of the men whose names appear in this index served with units from 15 different states or territories; others were soldiers raised directly by the Confederate government, generals and staff officers, and other enlisted men not associated with a regiment. Compiled service records are files of cards that abstract original military records relating to an individual soldier. A typical CSR will include an envelope that lists a soldier’s name, rank, unit, and card numbers, followed by cards with details extracted from muster rolls, rosters, hospital rolls, Union prison records, payrolls, and other records, with a new card being created each time a soldier’s name appeared on a new document. The CSRs may also include original documents pertaining to the soldier. The CSRs do not constitute an exhaustive list of all men who served in the Confederate army.
  • U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865
  • Records of California men in the War of the Rebellion, 1861 to 1867 (search.ancestry.com)
• California Civil War Books (amazon.com)

California Modern Wars

War Website Links

• California, WWI Soldier Service Cards and Photos, 1917-1918 (search.ancestry.com)
• California, World War I Soldier Citations, 1918-1921 (search.ancestry.com)
• Record of Eighty-sixth Company California Military Reserve (search.ancestry.com)
• Register of officers of the National Guard and Naval Militia of California (search.ancestry.com)
• California, World War I Death Announcements, 1918-1921 (search.ancestry.com) This database is primarily a collection of newspaper clippings reporting the deaths of California men and women serving in the military in World War I. They cover the years 1918–1922 and were taken from both local newspapers and clipping services.