Kansas Military Records

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This entry was originally written by Marsha Hoffman Rising, CG, FUGA, FASG and Mary Clement Douglass, CGRS for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.

This article is part of
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the Kansas Family History Research series.
History of Kansas
Kansas Vital Records
Census Records for Kansas
Background Sources for Kansas
Kansas Maps
Kansas Land Records
Kansas Probate Records
Kansas Court Records
Kansas Tax Records
Kansas Cemetery Records
Kansas Church Records
Kansas Military Records
Kansas Periodicals, Newspapers, and Manuscript Collections
Kansas Archives, Libraries, and Societies
Kansas County Resources
Map of Kansas


The records of the Kansas Adjutant General through World War II are located at the Kansas State Historical Society. Few are indexed. Virtually nothing has survived from the Territorial Militia, which was pro-slavery. The records of the unofficial 'Free State Forces' are extant at the Kansas State Historical Society as are the records of the Kansas Adjutant General from 1861 to World War I. The Daughters of the American Revolution, John Haupt Chapter, have indexed the Kansas Civil War and Indian War militia. An index to the Kansas Adjutant General's report (1861'65) and a list of military men who received a bonus in World War I exist at the state archives. A list of soldiers killed in battle in Kansas regiments is given in Andreas' History of Kansas, 180'208 (see Background Sources for Kansas).

There is an online index of Kansas Civil War Soldiers online at Ancestry.com.

Post-Civil War veteran's census records include the 1883 index to pensioners, veterans, their widows and orphans, and the 1930 veteran's census. The original Grand Army of the Republic Post Records are in the Kansas State Historical Society Library.

Good biographical information is available on Spanish-American and World War I veterans in the manuscript department of the Kansas State Historical Society. The Adjutant General report entitled Index to Kansas Troops in the Volunteer Service of the United States in the Spanish and Philippine Wars is also available for research. The Kansas State Historical Society holds the photostatic copies of World War I enlistment and discharge papers of Kansas military personnel (see also Kansas Cemetery Records). The Kansas State Archives has a list of military men who received a World War I bonus. World War I Alien Registration cards for Kansas and World War II Selective Service 4th Registration cards of men born on or after 28 April 1877 and on or before 16 February 1897 are at the National Archives'Central Plains Region. There is an online index of the Kansas 353rd Infantry Regiment in World War I.

World War II library holdings at the Kansas State Archives include honor rolls for selected counties. Archives records list Kansas citizens who served. Arranged by draft board, it is not indexed. Records of Kansas POW hospitals and camps are on microfilm and information on Camp Concordia may be found in its collections, as are Veteran Enrollments for 1883, 1889, and 1930 and records of the Kansas State Soldiers Home are in State Archives holdings. Portions of these records are on microfilm.