22 How can I find information about a particular regiment? (U.S. Civil War)
Description
This article is from the U.S. Civil War FAQ, by Justin M. Sanders jsanders@jaguar1.usouthal.edu with numerous contributions by others.
22 How can I find information about a particular regiment? (U.S. Civil War)
For the Union side, the definite first place to look for a brief
history of a regiment is
F.H. Dyer, _A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion_, 2 vols.
It contains, among lots of other useful information, brief histories of
just about every Northern regiment.
On the Confederate side, the nearest equivalent to Dyer is
Stewart Sifakis, _Compendium of the Confederate Armies_(New
York: Facts on File, 1991-1994?), 11 vols.
The volumes in this series are for VA; TN; AL; FL and AR; NC; LA; MS; TX;
SC and GA; KY, MD, MO and Indian units; and a volume of Tables of
Organizations. Another useful work is
Joseph H. Crute Jr., _Units of the Confederate States Army_,
(Midlothian, VA: Derwent Books, 1987)
Crute's work is not quite as comprehensive as Sifakis', but it has the
advantage of having everything in one volume.
A useful bibliography of regimental histories, both North and South, is
C.E. Dornbusch, _Military Bibliography of the Civil War_, 4
vols.
It contains entries on books and articles which have been written about
Civil War regiments through about 1987. It is strongly recommeded that
you consult this work.
If you would like to see if others on the internet have an interest in
the same unit that you do, consult Carol Botteron's Civil War Units file.
The CWUNITS file is described as follows:
"The purpose of the CWUNITS file is to let people list the units they are
interested in and have at least some information on (from pension records,
books, etc.). Typically the contact person had an ancestor who was in the
unit, but re-enactors, history buffs, et al are welcome. (This is _not_ a
file of re-enactment units.) If you see a listing for a unit you are
interested in, you can send the contact person email and share
information. The idea is not necessarily to find people with the same
ancestor; people can share info on what action the unit was involved in,
how the soldiers lived, etc."
The file is currently divided into 5 parts (3 Union, 2 Confederate) by
states. To get a copy of the file by e-mail, send e-mail to:
ROOTS-L-request@rootsweb.com
Subject: archive
Text is:
get genealog.cwunits
get genealog.cwunits1
up to "get genealog.cwunits5". Note! This mail server is *case
sensitive*, so make sure to use only the capital letters used above.
The Civil War Units file is also available over WWW from:
http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html#rosters
Ms. Botteron updates the file approximately every two months.
Finally, you can consult the Index volume to the _Official Records of
the Union and Confederate Armies_ and start wading through the O.R. This
may be your only alternative for particularly obscure units. The index
lists the regiments by state. It is a good idea to check the index for
the name of the regiment's commander and perhaps for the brigade
commander.
Keep in mind the regiment's place in the army structure. Histories of
battles or campaigns may not mention every regiment, but they may mention
the brigade or division the regiment is in. As an example, Ludwell
Johnson's _Red River Campaign_ indexes very few regiments, but the
brigade commanders are indexed, and the brigades are shown on the maps.
The 2nd Texas Partisan Rangers was in Major's cavalry brigade and Green's
division, so its activities can be inferred by following the action at
the brigade or division level even though the regiment itself is not
mentioned anywhere in the book.
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