The FHL and other genealogical libraries have extensive published, microfilmed, and indexed Ohio military records available to researchers. Bell’s Ohio Guide to Genealogical Sources lists many of those holdings, which include records from all of the following conflicts: Civil War, Mexican War, American Revolution, War of 1812, Spanish-American War, World War I.
Ohio is also home to many Loyalist records. Many of them can be found in Oxford, Ohio at Miami University. Others can be found at the University of Cincinnati’s Blegen Library, and at the Ohio Historical Society.
State pensions were not given in the state of Ohio. However, there are records available for all those who served in the military from Ohio for the time period from the War of 1812 through the Vietnam War. Those records can be found at the Ohio Adjutant General’s Department. The collection there includes only records from wars and is not indexed or published. National pension record information cannot be found there. The FHL holds a microfilmed index of Civil War records.
Service record information can be obtained by researchers at no charge. However, researchers can get more information by supplying the full name, date of birth, and other relevant information on the person in question. War of 1812 records are incomplete. Those records included names, units, and ranks. World War II or Korean records are easier to find if a service number is known. A social security number is required in order to access Vietnam records.
Several regimental histories from the Civil War can be found at the Ohio Historical Society. They are available for purchase. A roster of Ohio soldiers in the War of 1812 can also be found at the Ohio Historical Society. Its online database lists 1,759 officers, as well as 24,521 enlisted men. The Ohio Historical Society’s “Graves Registration File” also included hundreds of reels of microfilm with veteran burial locations for the state from the time of the Vietnam War. The microfilmed cards list war service, state, death date, burial location, and sometimes other information. Researchers can ask the Ohio State Historical Society to search those records, but a fee must be paid for the service.
County level military records may include burial information or discharge paperwork.
- Ohio Military Records (Fold3.com)
- Ohio Society of Military History, 316 Lincoln Way E, Massillon, OH 44646-8402; Phone: (330) 832-5553; The Ohio Society of Military History honors eight of Ohio’s Congressional Medal of Honor recipients and provides displays on wars from the Civil War to Desert Storm, paying honor to veterans of all branches of military service. The Library contains over 2000 books, and the Society aids people in genealogical research and provides educational classes in local schools.
- Ohio in four wars : a military history
- Ohio Military Men, 1917-18
- Ohio Soldiers in WWI, 1917-1918
- Ohio Soldiers in the War with Spain, 1898-99
- Ohio Military Record Books (amazon.com)
Ohio in the Revolutionary War
Revolutionary War Website Links
- Research in the Revolutionary War 1775-1783 (uswars.net)
- Revolutionary War links from fold3.com with original data from the National Archives:
- Ohio 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.
- Ohio Revolutionary War Pensions Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files.
- The Official roster of the soldiers of the American Revolution buried in the state of Ohio
- Ohio Society of Daughters of the American Revolution (ohiodar.org)
- Ohio Society of Sons of the American Revolution (sar.org)
- Colonial wars of the Northwest Territory
- Ohio: Revolutionary War Pensioners Living in the State of Ohio in 1818-1819 (php.ucs.indiana.edu)
- Ohio Revolutionary War Books (amazon.com)
Ohio in the War of 1812
War of 1812 Website Links
- Research in the War of 1812 1812-1815 (uswars.net)
- Ohio Historical Society War of 1812 Roster of Ohio Soldiers (ohiohistory.org)
- The building of Perry’s fleet on Lake Erie, 1812-1813
- Roster of Ohio soldiers in the War of 1812
- Gen. Wadsworth’s division, War of 1812
- Battle of French Town, 1813.
- Correspondence of Major Tod, War of 1812.
- The battle of the Peninsula, Sept. 29, 1912
- Ohio War of 1812 Books (amazon.com)
Ohio in the Civil War
Civil War Website Links
- Research in the Civil War 1861-1865
- American Civil War Museum of Ohio (acwmo.org)
- 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 Ohio
- Civil War and Later Veterans Pension Index from Ohio
- Ohio Civil War “Widows’ Pensions”
- Barred and Disallowed Ohio Claims – The Southern Claims Commission denied these claims by Ohio citizens seeking compensation for property loss. They were barred or disallowed for a number of reasons. Original data from the National Archives
- Ohio Civil War Maps – Maps, charts, and atlases depicting battles, troop positions and movements, engagements, and fortifications in Ohio during the Civil War, 1861-1865.
- Ohio Civil War Infantry Regiments and Units
- Ohio Civil War Cavalry Regiments and Units
- Ohio Civil War Artillery Regiments and Units
- Ohio Civil War Documents (ohiohistory.org)
- Ohio: Links to Ohio Civil War Rosters (civilwarroster.com)
- 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
- Official roster of the soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, Vols. 1-12
- History of the Thirtieth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry : from its organization to the fall of Vicksburg, Miss.
- The 25th Ohio Vet. Vol. Infantry in the War for the Union
- History of the service of the Third Ohio Veteran Volunteer Cavalry in the War For the Preservation of the Union from 1861-1865
- History of the Forty-eighth Ohio Vet. Vol. Inf. : giving a complete account of the regiment from its organization at Camp Denni
- Ohio in the time of the confederation
- Ohio Civil War Books (amazon.com)