Oregon Military Records
This entry was originally written by Dwight A. Radford for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
The Oregon State Archives has an extensive collection of early and more current military records of residents. This includes information from the Indian Wars and the Oregon National Guard. The collection at the state archives should be one of the first places to seek information about a soldier. Many Oregon soldiers spent their last years in the Oregon Soldiers Home in Roseburg. The state archives and the FHL have microfilm copies of these important records.
The Oregon GenWeb Project (see Oregon Archives, Libraries, and Societies) is another source for growing information on soldiers from Oregon serving in the military. It has a growing number of links and databases to soldiers from various wars and conflicts.
M. A. Parker and Edna Mingus' roster of volunteers from Oregon who served in the Civil War, Soldiers Who Served in the Oregon Volunteers Civil War Period Infantry and Cavalry (Portland, Ore.: Genealogical Forum of Oregon, 1961) provides the name of the soldier, rank, date of service, place of enlistment, place of birth, age, occupation, and company.
FamilySearch.org has a variety of collections available for free online:
The Official Records of the Oregon Volunteers in the Spanish War and Philippine Insurrection by C.U. Gantenbein (Salem, Ore.: J.R. Whitney, State Printers, 1903) is a roster of soldiers providing age, place of birth, occupation, physical description, and time of service.
World War I records on file at the Oregon State Archives include an index to all World War I veterans who served from Oregon, World War I files from the state historian of the Defense Council, records of state bonuses, and loan applications of veterans. World War I files include some biographical questionnaires and are useful in genealogical research. The World War I Draft Registration Cards are available through the National Archives and at the FHL. Oregon State Archives has a casualty index to the Korean Police Action, 1950 to 1954, and an index to the Oregon State Reserve in World War II, 1940 to 1945.
