Louisiana Military Records
This entry was originally written by Beth A. Stahr, CGRS and Sharon Sholars Brown for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
Many military records exist for Louisiana soldiers. For the colonial period a valuable collection is at the General Military Archives, Segovia, Spain. This voluminous archives has service records on all soldiers of the Spanish military from 1680 to 1920, listing much genealogical data, such as the soldier's name, rank, sometimes a description, the names of his parents, and other information.
Two compiled lists of Louisiana soldiers serving in the American Revolution are these:
- Churchill, E. Robert, comp., Soldiers of the American Revolution under Bernardo De Galvez. Five copies of this book were originally printed: one was placed in the Sons of the American Revolution Library housed in the Howard-Tilton Library at Tulane University, Louisiana; one was deposited in the DAR Library in Washington, D.C.; a third copy can be found in the Library of Congress.
- Mills, Elizabeth Shown. Natchitoches Colonials: Censuses, Military Rolls, and Tax Lists, 1722'1803. Tuscaloosa, Ala.: Mills Historical Press, 1981.
The National Archives has many original military records for Louisiana, many of which have been microfilmed, for example: War of 1812'M229, 3 rolls; Florida War of 1836'M239; War of 1836'38'M241; Confederate War Index'M378, 31 rolls; Military Service Records'M320, 414 rolls. See also:
- Mills, Gary B. Civil War Claims. Vol. 1. An Index to Cases Filed with the Southern Claims Commission. Laguna Hills, Calif.: Aegean Park Press, 1980.
Confederate Pensions were first issued to Confederate veterans and their widows by the State of Louisiana in 1898. The Louisiana State Archives has the original and microfilmed applications. Researchers can search an online index to the applications and can request photocopies by mail at www.sec.state.la.us/archives/gen/cpa-index.htm.
At Ancestry.com, subscribers can access the following Louisiana military databases:
FamilySearch.org has a variety of collections available for free online:
