Texas Military Records Research Guide

The Texas State Archives, Adjutant General Record Group is the biggest collection of Texas military records. County courthouses hold military discharge records from 1919 onward. Many military records have also been published by various sources. Those records include War of 1812 and Revolutionary War veteran death records. Records for World War I and World War II veterans have also been published.

The earliest military records for Texas date back to 1835. Those early records include pension and land grant records for veterans, widows, and heirs of the Texas War of Independence. Republic of Texas sailor and soldier lists are also available, as well as records relating to the battles of San Jacinto and the Alamo. Home guard, minutemen, and Texas Ranger records are also readily available, along with Indian Wars service lists. Many of those records can be found online as well.

The Texas State Library and Archives has many of the Confederate pension applications on file. It is located in Austin, Texas. An index for the collection, which is organized in numerical order, is available. Pensions were given to widows, as well as to indigent veterans. Some genealogical information can be found within the pension application files. Genealogists can request information about those records by mail, if they know the record number. Those records may also include records of disabled or killed Confederate soldiers and their widows who received scrip entitlements to 1,280 acres of land.

Both the Texas State Archives and the National Archives have military records on file. Those records include Confederate Claims (1861– 65), Confederate Home Records (1886–1954), Confederate Indigent Families List (1863–65), General Service Records (1836–1902), Muster Rolls (1836–1917), Payment Records (1836–46).

Many more records can be found in the Adjutant General Record Group, which is housed at the state archives. That collection features muster rolls from 1836 to 1911, as well as service records from 1836 to 1902. In some cases only one sheet of paper may be available. In other cases, there may be thick files full of useful information.

Records from the Texas National Guard and other Texas military records are housed at the Texas Military Forces Museum at Camp Mabry, 2200 W. 35th St., Austin, TX 78703

• Texas Military Records (Fold3.com)
• Texas Military Record Books (amazon.com)

Texas in the War of 1812

War of 1812 Website Links

• Research in the War of 1812 1812-1815 (uswars.net)
• Texas War of 1812 Books (amazon.com)

Texas in the Mexican-American War

• Research in the Mexican-American War 1846-1848 (uswars.net)
• The Alamo
• Corpus Christi & Lipantitlan : a story of the Army of Texas volunteers, 1842
• Texas, Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Membership Applications, 1892-2010
• Texas War of Mexican-American War Books (amazon.com)

Texas in the Civil War

 

Civil War Website Links

• Research in the Civil War 1861-1865
• Civil War Records at the Texas State Archives (portal.state.pa.us)
• Civil War links from fold3.com with original data from the National Archives:
  • Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Texas
  • Compiled Service Records of Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Texas
  • Civil War and Later Veterans Pension Index from Texas
  • Texas Confederate Amnesty Papers
  • Texas Civil War “Widows’ Pensions”
  • Barred and Disallowed Texas Claims
  • Texas Civil War Maps
• Texas Civil War Infantry Regiments and Units
• Texas Civil War Cavalry Regiments and Units
• Texas Civil War Artillery Regiments and Units
• Civil War links from ancestry.com:
  • U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865
  • U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865
  • U.S., Confederate Pensions, 1884-1958
  • Texas, Muster Roll Index Cards, 1838-1900
  • List of staff officers of the Confederate States Army
• Texas, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865
• Texas, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865
• Texas Civil War Books (amazon.com)

Texas Modern Wars

War Website Links

Further Reading

• Republic of Texas Pension Application Abstracts. Austin, Tex.: Austin Genealogical Society, 1987.
• War of 1812 Veterans in Texas. New Orleans: Polyanthos, 1979. From notes compiled by Mae Wynne McFarland, this is a compilation of names, places, and dates associated with veterans of the War of 1812. Original material is in the library of the Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, arranged alphabetically.
• Texas Frontiersman, 1839–1860: Minute Men, Militia, Home Guard, Indian Fighter. St. Louis: the author, 1982. Contains officers index and alphabetically arranged entries taken from military records.
• Texas Ranger Service Records, 1830–1846. St. Louis: Ingmire Publications, 1982. Includes index of officers.
• Texas Rangers: Frontier Battalion, Minute Men, Commanding Officers, 1847–1900. 6 vols. St. Louis: Ingmire Publications, 1982. Each volume separately indexed.
• Index to Applications for Texas Confederate Pensions. Rev. ed. Austin, Tex.: Archives Division, Texas State Library, 1977.
• Racial Borders: Black Soldiers along the Rio Grande. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2002.
• Cumulative Index: The Confederate Veteran Magazine, 1893–1932. 3 vols. Wilmington, N.C.: Broadfoot Publishing, 1986. Every name index to the Confederate Veteran. Includes a comprehensive list of Confederate military organization arranged by local designations.
• Index to Texas CSA Pension Files. Waynesboro, Tenn.: National Historical Publishing, 1989.