military records
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United states military heritage in Maryland started with the creation of the colonial militia early in the seventeenth century mainly to battle to prevent attacks from native inhabitants. The applications and significance of Maryland military records in family history research for ancestors who were veterans are evident but Maryland military records can also be beneficial to researchers whose primary ancestors were not soldiers in any war. Mainly because of the volume of genealogical details covered in some Maryland military pension records they should never be ignored throughout the research process.

Colonial payroll and muster records for the years of 1732 to 1772 have been partially indexed. That index, along with indexes and records from later wars, can be found at the Maryland State Archives. Revolutionary War service and pension records can be found at the National Archives—Mid-Atlantic Region, as can an index of service records for the Spanish-American War and the War of 1812, and Civil War Confederate and Union soldier name indexes. Volume 18 of Archives of Maryland contains a list of muster rolls from the Revolutionary War. An Inventory of Maryland State Papers, Volume I, The Era of the American Revolution, 1775–1789 contains quite a bit of manuscript material.

The Maryland War Records Commission created a list of those from Maryland who served in World War I. A 5-volume set called Maryland in World War II, Register of Service Personnel was compiled by the Maryland Historical Society’s War Records Division. The State of Maryland Military Department, Room B14, Fifth Regiment Armory, 219 29th Division St., Baltimore, MD 21201-2288 holds some military records as well.

Maryland in the Colonial War

Colonial War Website Links

Revolutionary War Website Links

Maryland in the War of 1812

War of 1812 Website Links

Maryland in the Civil War

Civil War Website Links

Maryland Modern Wars

War Website Links

Further Reading

  • Colonial Soldiers of the South, 1732–1774 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1983) – includes muster and payrolls of colonial Maryland militia
  • Colonial Maryland Soldiers and Sailors, 1634–1734 (Westminster, Md.: Willow Bend Books, 2001).
  • Maryland Revolutionary Records: How to Find Them & Interpret Them (St. Michaels, Md.: the author, 1976)
  • Maryland Revolutionary Records: Data Obtained from 3,050 Pension Claims and Bounty Land Applications (1938; reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1987)
  • Maryland Militia in the Revolutionary War (Westminster, Md.: Family Line Publications, 1987)
  • Maryland Loyalists in the American Revolution (Centerville, Md.: Tidewater, 1996)
  • The Loyalists of Maryland During the American Revolution, thesis, University of Maryland (Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1968)
  • The British Invasion of Maryland, 1812–1815 (1913; reprint, Hatboro, Pa.: Tradition Press, 1965; and Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1977)
  • Maryland Militia, War of 1812, 7 vols. (Silver Spring: Family Line Publications, 1979–85)
  • Western Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia Militia in Defense of Maryland, 1805 to 1815 (Baltimore: the author, 1983)
  • History and Roster of Maryland Volunteers, War of 1861–5, 2 vols. (1898; reprint, Westminster, Md.: Family Line Publications, 1987)
  • The Maryland Line in the Confederate Army 1861–1865, 2d ed. (1900; reprint with index, Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1972)
  • Marylanders in the Confederacy (Silver Spring: Family Lines Publications, 1986)