Throughout history, millions of courageous men and women have served and protected their country in times of conflict. Were your ancestors among them? It’s never been easier to find out on Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online collection of family history resources, including millions of military records spanning from before the Revolutionary War all the way up to Vietnam.
High taxes, levied by a distant British government in which they had no representation, incited the growing desire for self rule among the American colonists. Resentment increased as Britain sent their redcoats to Boston, culminating with the colonists dumping tea off a British boat rather than paying its taxes.
The colonies, too, had their own militias, remnants of the ongoing skirmishes with Indians. Led by General George Washington, the Continental Army consisted of individuals from every colony. The colonies also had a Continental Navy.
Some 217,000 American service members fought in the Revolution, including in-state militias. More than 4,000 Americans died in the battle and some 6,000 were injured.
Ancestry.com has amassed a collection of almost 2 million names and more than 20,000 images from the Revolutionary War in 33 databases of military records — from state militia records to war service records to officer listings. Some soldiers will have multiple records in the collection, depending upon their rank and other factors. Representing all 13 original colonies, and some U.S. states and territories created after the war, these records span the years of the war 1775-1784, with some extending as late as the 1850’s.
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A collection of more than 425,000 records documenting men who fought for the colonies in the American Revolutionary War.
Revolutionary War graves found between 1900
and 1987, which include the name of the patriot and the cemetery in which the headstone is found.
Records of regular soldiers, militia volunteers, Navy personnel and members of auxilary.
A detail-rich collection of over 80,000 files from applications by officers and enlisted men who served in the Revolutionary War.
Compilation of more than 850,000 records of Massachusetts soldiers and sailors serving in the Army or Navy during the Revolutionary War.
A collection of 152 volumes containing nearly 2.4 million names.
Records of more than 14,000 officers who served in the Revolutionary War.