Ancestry.com's U.S. Military Collection

Throughout history, millions of courageous men and women have served and protected their country in times of conflict. Were your ancestors among them? It has never been easier to find our soldiers on Ancestry.com with their millions of military records spanning from before the . . . 

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Revolutionary War all the way up to Vietnam.  Our FamilySearch Library offers free access to Ancestry.com. This article focuses on Military Research, but Ancestry.com has a wide range of searchable records. They are a  popular site to use because of what they have to offer and the ease of getting around their site. They offer assistance through "help" and "Learning Center" tabs.  The information below, is a sample of what they have in their military records. The colored words are active links.

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Search Tips for finding records in Ancestry.com (Learn more by clicking the colored links to see what is offered.)

• Because military records often hold such rich and detailed information, you’ll want to look for all family members who served—direct ancestors and collateral relatives as well. Look through your family tree for men who would have been of the right age to serve and search for all of them in records related to that conflict. (Remember the chart on FamilySearch that gives the years of each war.)
• To see what collections are available for a specific branch of the service, enter words like Navy, Naval, Army, Air Force or Marine in the title field of the Card Catalog.
  
• To see what collections are available for a particular conflict, select the filter for Military Records and then the decade of the conflict from the date filters in the Card Catalog.
• When searching all military records from this page, you can narrow your search by entering a median year for the conflict in the field for Military Service, and select +/- 1, 2, 5, or 10 years to expand the range. For example, if you’re looking for a Civil War veteran, try the year 1863 and select a range of +/- 2 years to search 1861-1865.
• Some census records include information on military service. The 1840, 1910, and 1930 U.S. Censuses included questions about military service, and the 1890 Veterans’ Schedule is available for states alphabetically beginning with Kentucky (partial) through Wyoming, and the District of Columbia. It lists the residence, unit, and years of service of Civil War soldiers or their surviving widows.

Review the following lists.  Click any of the links to see what they offer. It's the way to learn.

Narrow by Category

• Draft, Enlistment and Service
• Casualties
• Soldier, Veteran & Prisoner Rolls & Lists
• Pension Records
• Histories
• Awards & Decorations of Honor
• News
• Disciplinary Actions
• Photos

Featured data collections

• U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
• U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942
• U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865
• U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958
• British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920 FREE INDEX

View all in Card Catalog

More help

• Revolutionary War
• Civil War
• World War I
• World War II
• Other Conflicts
• Military Records (free online class)
• Memories of Military Service, by Maureen A. Taylor
• Somewhere in France, by Juliana Smith
• Researching the Military Heroes in Your Family History