The National Archives-Northeast Region and the New jersey State Archives both hold several military records from the Revolutionary era. In fact, the most complete New Jersey Revolutionary War service collection, the Adjutant General’s Office materials, are housed at the state archives. New Jersey Loyalist information can also be found there, along with both American and British war damage claims filed between 1776 and 1782.
The National Archives-Northeast Region is home to a microfilm collection called “Index to Compiled Service Record of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served from New Jersey.” A Spanish-American War index and some other early military records can be found at the state archives. That includes material on the war of 1812, as well as the Mexican War and the 1789 to 1947 state militia records. National Guard records up until around 1910 can also be found there.
The New Jersey State Archives holds most of the state’s military records up until the end of World War I. The New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs holds later records, as well as World War I records. Militia lists, correspondence, personal diaries, and paymaster accounts, as well as a Civil War veterans burial list can be found at the New Jersey Historical Society. However, the burial list is incomplete. Several military records for the state have been published, but that does not include many colonial records. The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society has a typescript called “Military Lists from the Office of the Adjutant General, Trenton, New Jersey” available. The New Jersey State Archives also holds a few scattered colonial military records.
The New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans’ Affairs holds more current military records for the state. The National Archives-Northeast Region holds fourth draft cards from World war II, called cards of the “old men.”
- New Jersey Military Records (Fold3.com)
- New Jersey Pension Project (usgwarchives.net)
- New Jersey Military Record Books (amazon.com)
New Jersey in the Colonial Wars
Colonial War Website Links
- New Jersey Colonial War Books (amazon.com)
Revolutionary War Website Links
- Research in the Revolutionary War 1775-1783 (uswars.net)
- Official Register of the Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War, compiled by Adjutant General William S. Stryker (1872; reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1967)
- An index compiled by the Works Projects Administration (WPA) in 1941 was reprinted: Index of the Official Register of the Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War (Baltimore: Clearfield Co., 1989). This work has only about a third of all the names
- Background reading is available in New Jersey in the American Revolution, 1763–1783: A Documentary History, edited by Larry R. Gerlack (Trenton, N.J.: New Jersey Historical Commission, 1975).
- E. Alfred Jones, The Loyalists of New Jersey: Their Memorials, Petitions, Claims, etc. from English Records (1927; reprint, Lambertville, N.J.: Hunterdon House, 1988), originally published in New Jersey Historical Society Collections, volume 10, should be supplemented with other sources.
- Dorothy Agans Stratford and Thomas B. Wilson compiled Certificates and Receipts of Revolutionary New Jersey (Lambertville, N.J.: Hunterdon House, 1996), listing the names of thousands who provided goods and services for the war.
- Organized military New Jersey units in the Revolutionary War (uswars.net)
- Revolutionary War links from fold3.com with original data from the National Archives:
- New Jersey Final Payment Vouchers Index for Military Pensions, 1818-1864 These slips serve as an index to final and last payments to over 65,000 veterans of the Revolutionary War and some later wars.
- New Jersey Revolutionary War Pensions Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files.
- New Jersey Revolutionary War Prize Cases – Captured Vessels Prize cases heard on appeal from Colonial and state courts by the Continental Congress and the Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture.
- New Jersey Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 Muster rolls, payrolls, strength returns, and other miscellaneous personnel, pay, and supply records of American Army units, 1775-83.
- New Jersey Revolutionary War Service Records Compiled service records of soldiers who served in the American Army during the Revolutionary War, 1775-1783.
- Revolutionary War links from http://search.ancestry.com:
- New Jersey Pensioners, 1835
- Index of the Official Register of the Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War
- June 1780 : the battles for Springfield, New Jersey : a comparison of human interest accounts
- Revolutionary War round table papers
- The New Jersey volunteers (Loyalists) in the Revolutionary War
- New Jersey Society of Daughters of the American Revolution
- New Jersey Society of Sons of the American Revolution,
- New Jersey Revolutionary War Books (amazon.com)
New Jersey in the War of 1812
War of 1812 Website Links
- Research in the War of 1812 1812-1815 (uswars.net)
- New Jersey War of 1812 Pension Files – The War of 1812 pension files resulted from a man’s service during the war, 1812-1815. They were granted to the veteran, his widow, or his heirs.
- Records of Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Wars, 1791–1815, compiled by the Adjutant General’s Office (1909; reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970), covers mostly the War of 1812 period.
- New Jersey War of 1812 Books (amazon.com)
Records of Officers and Men of New Jersey in the War with Mexico, 1846–1848 (Trenton, N.J., 1900)
New Jersey in the Civil War
Civil War Website Links
- Research in the Civil War 1861-1865
- Record of Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Civil War, 1861– 1865, compiled by William S. Stryker, 2 vols. (Trenton, N.J.: John L. Murphy, 1876)
- Civil War links from fold3.com with original data from the National Archives:
- Civil War and Later Veterans Pension Index from New Jersey
- New Jersey Civil War “Widows’ Pensions”
- Barred and Disallowed New Jersey Claims – The Southern Claims Commission denied these claims by New Jersey citizens seeking compensation for property loss. They were barred or disallowed for a number of reasons. Original data from the National Archives
- Civil War Maps – Maps, charts, and atlases depicting battles, troop positions and movements, engagements, and fortifications in New Jersey during the Civil War, 1861-1865.
- New Jersey Civil War Infantry Regiments and Units
- New Jersey Civil War Cavalry Regiments and Units
- New Jersey Civil War Artillery Regiments and Units
- Civil War links from ancestry.com:
- U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865
- Register of the commissioned officers and privates of the New Jersey Volunteers, in the service of the United States (in German)
- History of the Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers : from its organization to Appomattox
- History of Battery B, First New Jersey Artillery
- Register of commissioned officers of the New Jersey Volunteers, in the service of the United States
- New Jersey Civil War Books (amazon.com)
New Jersey Modern Wars
War Website Links
- Records of officers and men of New Jersey in wars, 1791-1815
- Welcome-home reception to soldiers, sailors and enlisted men of New Brunswick, February 14th, 1899, after nine months in the se
- Leslie Corn, “World War II Fourth Registration Draft Cards: A Newly-Released 20th-Century Resource for 19th-Century Research,” The NYG&B Newsletter, 13