Civil War Research Database -- How do I

How Do I...

. . . find an individual by name?
Simply enter given and surname in the appropriate fields. If you receive too many returns on a simple name search, try entering more information to narrow your search. If you don't find the soldier under the name you entered, try alternate spellings or nicknames with which the soldier might have registered. If these attempts don’t yield results, it’s possible that the soldier you’re looking for hasn’t been entered into the database yet. Check the Database Status page to see what’s been updated recently. Use the "Back" button on your browser to return from the HDS site to Ancestry.

. . . see all available information on a given soldier?
In the limited soldier information table, which appears after a successful search, the name of each soldier will be highlighted as a hyperlink. Clicking on the soldier’s name will take you to the full available record for that soldier.

. . . find everyone who claimed a certain place of residence?
Enter the name of the state and the particular county or town you’re searching for in the "Residence" field. Be aware that many soldiers traveled across state and county boundaries to enlist. Place of enlistment and state served may not match state of actual residence. Also, information is not available on the residence place of most of the soldiers in the database. When such information is available, however, it can provide important clues to kinship and other relationships.

. . . find everyone who enlisted at a certain place and/or a certain time?
Enter the place of interest in the "Place of Enlistment" field. Searching by just the place of enlistment allows a researcher to scan through the enlistees to find those that registered within a few days of each other. This can serve as a valuable clue to finding friends and/or relatives who likely served together.

. . . get information on the regiment(s) a particular soldier served with?
Regiment information can be accessed in either of two ways. 1) Search for the regiment by number and type. 2) Look at the full record page of the particular soldier you’re interested in. The Regiment information should be highlighted as a hyperlink. Click on that name to jump directly to the record of that regiment.