The uses and importance of Oklahoma military records in family history and genealogical research for ancestors who have been veterans are obvious but Oklahoma military records can also be crucial to researchers whose immediate ancestors were not soldiers in any war. Mainly because of the quantity of genealogical facts contained in some Oklahoma military pension data files they ought to not be ignored all through the research process.The military records for pre-statehood Oklahoma are available, with many of the military service records being housed at the Fort Worth Southwest Region branch or at the National Archives. U.S. Senate Document 512 lists the information on military servicemen who were required to accompany displaced Native Americans when tribes were forced off of their land.
The National Archives is home to many military service records, including those for Union and Confederate servicemen. The State Archives Division of the Oklahoma Department of Libraries contains some of the pension records and applications for Confederate veterans who served outside of the state, but were Oklahoma residents. Records for the spouses of those veterans are also included. All of those records have separate indexes and are filed in numerical order. More information can be found at the Oklahoma Board of Pension Commissioners, Confederate Pension Applications for Soldiers and Sailors. The Oklahoma Department of Welfare also houses some Confederate pension data.
Pension files can be found on microfilm by accessing the proper reel. That information is included in the Index to Applications for Pensions from the State of Oklahoma Submitted by Confederate Soldiers, Sailors and Their Widows, Special Publication No. 2.
Military unit records pertaining to Native Americans are not listed for Indian Territory. Instead, since those units were part of Texas, they are filed with the unit information for the Texas units. The Oklahoma Historical Society, Archives and Manuscripts Division and the State Adjutant General’s Office house some of the Confederate service records. More information can also be found in Grant Foreman, History of the Service and List of Individuals of the Five Civilized Tribes in the Confederate Army, 2 vols.
All veterans buried in the state of Oklahoma are listed in a card file at the Oklahoma Historical Society. Information in those files includes: Full Name,
Date Of Birth,
Date Of Death,
Place Of Burial,
Military Unit Data.
Some incomplete records for the Ardmore, Oklahoma Confederate Home are also housed at the Oklahoma Historical Society, as are records for Native Americans. The Native American records include Indian Home Guard muster rolls on microfilm. They are arranged by tribe and can be found in the Indian Archives section.
- Oklahoma Military Records (Fold3.com)
- Oklahoma Military Records (ancestry.com) from Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
- Oklahoma Military Record Books (amazon.com)
Oklahoma 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:
- 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
- Compiled Service Records of Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Oklahoma
- Civil War and Later Veterans Pension Index from Oklahoma
- Oklahoma Civil War Books (amazon.com)
Oklahoma Modern Wars
War Website Links