New Mexico Military Records
This entry was originally written by Karen Stein Daniel, CG and Margaret Windham for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
The New Mexico Records Center and Archives, as well as other repositories, have holdings of the Spanish, Mexican, and Territorial Archives including military records for those respective eras.
Begin by consulting:
- Calendar of the Microfilm Edition of the Spanish Archives of New Mexico, 1621'1821. Reprint. Santa Fe: State of New Mexico Records Center, 1987.
- Jenkins, Myra Ellen. Calendar of the Microfilm Edition of the Mexican Archives of New Mexico, 1821'46. Santa Fe: State of New Mexico Records Center, 1970.
- Jenkins, Myra Ellen, and J. Richard Salazar. Calendar to the Microfilm Edition of the Territorial Archives of New Mexico. Santa Fe: New Mexico Records Center and Archives, 1974.
Territorial records include the Indian Wars of the 1850s, Union militia muster rolls, some Confederate records, and records of the Spanish American War. Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the Territory of New Mexico are found on forty-six rolls of microfilm as NARA'M427; and Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the Territory of New Mexico is found on four rolls of microfilm as NARA'M242. Both collections are located at the Special Collections Library and the Family History Library. New Mexico supplied men for Teddy Roosevelt's famed 'Rough Riders.' For rosters and regimental information, contact the City of Las Vegas and Rough Riders Memorial Museum, P.O. Box 160, Las Vegas, NM 87701.
The New Mexico Records Center and Archives has records of the Grand Army of the Republic, Department of New Mexico for the period 1861'1903, manuscript collection 1960-044. They also have a large collection of New Mexico Adjutant General Records (1847'[ongoing]), as manuscript 1973-019. This collection contains records of the Adjutant General, National Guard, and Office of Military Affairs (1847'1988) and include enlistment and discharge papers, casualty records, muster rolls, annual reports, and other records for the Civil War, Indian wars, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, Korean War, and Vietnam War. A finding aid is available online at http://elibrary.unm.edu/oanm/NmAr/nmar%231973-019. The New Mexico State Records Center and Archives also has Civilian Conservation Corps, New Mexico District Records, 1935'1942, as manuscript 1959-030, containing approximately 11,000 names cards for enrollees, with name, birth date, family information, camp assignments, and discharge information. The World WarsiI and II Collection (1910'56), manuscript 1959-233, contains obituaries of New Mexico servicemen, as well as photostats of New Mexico servicemen's discharge records.
The Special Collections Library has microfilm rolls for New Mexico and some Colorado posts in Returns from Military Posts, 1800'1916 (NARA'M617), as well as the New Mexico rolls from Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900 (NARA'T289). They also maintain New Mexico, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards (1917'1918) on sixteen rolls of microfilm. Consult the 'Online Archive of New Mexico' at http://elibrary.unm.edu/oanm for further military collections in the state.
FamilySearch.org has a variety of collections available for free online:
For veteran burials in New Mexico under federal jurisdiction, see Cemetery* Records.
