(This page's most recent update is October 2024)
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Military records are another very useful set of records that will help you in finding more about your ancestors. There are a ton of records that are available for free online, and there are some very robust collections (such as Fold3 and Ancestry) that have sizable online military collections as well.
Typically, military records online fall into 5 different categories:
- Military Service Records:
Includes enlistment information, such as location and date enlisted. Also includes demographic information, such as full name, birth date and location, residence, and occupation, plus contact information of next of kin, medical and military information, and unit assignations while in the military. - Selective Service Records:
Includes full name, residence, age, occupation, marital status, birthplace, contact information, physical description, and other information. - Bounty Land Warrant Applications:
Includes similar information as in service records as well as other information. Only used between 1775 and 1855. - Pension Records:
Will include birth, marriage, and death records, demographic information, plus information about the spouse, and possibly children. - Special Records:
May include information if the person was a prisoner of war, was wounded or killed in action. 1910-1940 Census Records include questions about military service. Includes those buried in Veteran’s cemeteries.
A good primer on Military Records is found on FamilySearch’s Military Records page, available on their wiki.
Note: Some links listed take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections’ images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital. To take full advantage make sure that you are logged in to FamilySearch. The results may be different if you are signed in, rather than not.
Below, listed by state are links to military records that are available for free online. Included in each state’s page are links to free nationwide collections since there are a sizable number of collections that are available for the entire country.
Arkansas Military Records
National
- American Battle Monuments Commission – Korean War Honor Roll
- American Battle Monuments Commission Burials Database
- American Prisoners of War During the Korean War, 1950-1953
- Burial Registers for Military Posts, Camps, and Stations,1768-1921
- Card Register of Burials of Deceased American Soldiers, 1917 – 1922
- Casualties of Army Personnel, Dependents and Civilian Employees, 1961-1981
- Casualties of the Vietnam War, 1956-1998
- Census of Union Veterans and Widows of the Civil War, 1890
- Civil War and Later Pension Index, 1861-1917
- Civil War Confederate Applications for Pardons, 1865-1867
- Civil War Confederate Papers of Citizens or Businesses, 1861-1865
- Civil War Records of Confederate Nonregiment Soldiers, 1861-1865
- Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865
- Civil War Service Records of Union Colored Troops, 1863-1865
- Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1864-1866
- Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database
- Civil War Soldiers Index, 1861-1865
- Civil War Unfiled Papers of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865
- Civil War Widows and Other Dependents Pension Files, 1861-1934
- Compiled Military Service Records Of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served With The Colored Troops, 1861-1866
- Confederate Navy and Marine Service Records, 1861-1865 Images only.
- Confederate Officers Card Index, 1861-1865
- Doughboy MIA Database 1917-1918
- Enlisted and Officer Muster Rolls and Rosters, 1916-1939
- General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934 Index Only.
- Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1949
- Index to General Correspondence of the Pension Office, 1889-1904 Index only.
- Index to Indian Wars Pension Files, 1892-1926
- Index to Naturalizations of World War I Soldiers, 1918
- Index to Service Records, War with Spain, 1898
- Japanese Americans Relocated During World War II, 1942-1946
- Japanese Registers of POWs WWII, Index.
- Korean War Battle Deaths, 1950-1957
- Korean War Dead and Army Wounded, 1950-1953
- Korean War POW/MIA List
- Korean War Repatriated Prisoners of War, 1950-1954
- Lists of Fatal Casualties of the Korean War (6/28/1950 – 3/10/1954) and the Vietnam War (6/8/1956 – 5/28/2006)
- Mexican War Index and Service Records, 1846-1848
- Mexican War Pension Index, 1887-1926
- Mexican War Soldiers & Sailors Database
- Military Personnel Who Died During the Vietnam War, 1956-2003
- Mormon Battalion Pension Applications, 1846-1923, Index
- Muster Rolls of the Marine Corps, 1798-1937, Index and Images
- National Archives, Archival Databases, Civil War
- National Archives, Archival Databases, Korean War
- National Archives, Archival Databases, Vietnam War
- National Archives, Archival Databases, World War II
- National Cemetery Administration – Nationwide Gravesite Locator
- National Graves Registration Database
- National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938 Partial Index and Images.
- National Park Service – US Mexican War Soldiers and Sailors Database
- National Society Daughters of 1812 – Ancestor Database
- Naval Enlistment Rendezvous, 1855-1891, Index and Images
- Navy Widows’ Certificates, 1861-1910, Index
- Never Forgotten, Taiwan POW List
- Old War Pension Index, 1815-1926
- Original Mormon Battalion Roster – Mormon Battalion Association
- Pearl Harbor Casualty List
- Prisoners of the First World War
- Records of Confederate Prisoners of War, 1861-1865
- Records of Headstones of Deceased Union Veterans, 1879-1903
- Register of Confederates and Civilians Who Died in the North,1861-1865
- Registers of Enlistments in the Army, 1798-1914
- Remarried Widows Index to Pension Applications, 1887-1942
- Revolutionary War Compiled Service Records, 1775-1783
- Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Applications, 1800-1900
- Revolutionary War Pension Payment Ledgers, 1818-1872
- Revolutionary War Records – Daughters of the American Revolution
- Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783
- Revolutionary War, Virginia Pension Application Files, 1830-1875
- Roster of All Regimental Surgeons and Assistant Surgeons in the Late War, with the Service, and last-known Post-office Address (1882)” Compiled by N. A. Strait. The Text is Searchable.
- Rosters of Revolutionary War Soldiers and Sailors, 1775-1783
- Service Personnel Not Recovered Following WWII
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Military Servicemen in World War I Records
- United States French Combatants in the Revolutionary War, 1778-1783
- Veteran’s Administration Master Index, 1917-1940
- Veterans Administration Pension Payment Cards, 1907-1933
- Vietnam Veterans Memorial
- Vietnam War POW/MIA List
- War of 1812 Index to Pension Application Files, 1812-1910
- War of 1812 Index to Service Records, 1812-1815
- War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
- War Relocation Authority Centers, Final Accountability Rosters, 1942-1946
- World War I American Expeditionary Forces Deaths, 1917-1919
- World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
- World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946
- World War II Casualties for Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard
- World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942
- World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942
- World War II Prisoners of War of the Japanese, 1941-1945
- World War II Prisoners of War, 1941-1945
- WWII Army and Army Air Force Casualties
- YMCA World War I Service Cards, 1917-1919
Arkansas
- 1835 Pension Roll
- 1840 Census of Pensioners
- Arkansas Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865
- Arkansas Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865
- Arkansas Civil War Service Records of Union Soldier, 1861-1865
- Arkansas Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865
- Arkansas Confederate Home Records, 1901-1959
- Arkansas Confederate Soldier Home,1890-1963
- Arkansas County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge, V. A, 1918-1920
- Arkansas CSA Deaths, Union Prisons and Military Hospitals
- Arkansas First Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1945
- Arkansas First Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1945
- Arkansas Military Records
- Arkansas Selective Service System Registration Cards [World War II]: Fourth Registration
- Arkansas Soldiers In The Mexican War, Index Cards
- Arkansas State Guard, Report of the Adjutant General, 1897-1900: including the Period of the Spanish-American War
- Arkansas, Civil War Veteran Burials
- Arkansas, Confederate Pensions, 1901-1929
- Arkansas, Confederate Service Record, out of State, 1861-1865
- Arkansas, Ex-Confederate Pension Records, 1891-1939
- Arkansas, Military Discharge Records, ca.1917-1969
- Arkansas, Report of the Adjutant General or the Period of the Late Rebellion, and to November 1, 1866
- Arkansas, World War I American Expeditionary Forces, Deaths, 1917-1919
- Arkansas, World War I Discharge Records
- Arkansas, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
- Ashley County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, V. 1, 1918-1957
- Baxter County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1956
- Benton County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1957; Index, 1918-1979
- Boone County, Applications of Confederate Pensioners, 1916-1921
- Boone County, Pensions, 1907-1920
- Boone County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge Records, 1919-1942
- Bradley County, Confederate Pension Book, [1901-1917]
- Bradley County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge Record, 1919
- Burial Lists of Members of Arkansas Cavalry and Infantry Regiments in the Civil War
- Calhoun County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge Record, 1918-1945
- Camp Robinson, Arkansas, Thirty-fifth Division, 1941
- Carroll County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge Records, 1917-1920
- Chicot County, record of Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, V. A 1918-1921 Approx.
- Clark County, Discharge Record, Vol. A, 1919-1946
- Clay County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1944
- Clay County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1958
- Cleburne County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1962
- Cleveland County, Confederate Pension Records, 1905-1934
- Cleveland County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge Records, Book 1, 1918-1946
- Columbia County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1948
- Columbia County. Confederate Pension Board Minutes of Meetings, 1913-1926
- Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Arkansas
- Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Arkansas
- Confederate Pension Applications, 1891-1936
- Confederate Veterans questionnaires, 1911
- Confederate Women of Arkansas in the Civil War, 1861-1865
- Conway County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge Record for World War I, 1919-1960
- Craighead County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1918-1980
- Craighead County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1951
- Crawford County, Discharge Records of World War I Soldiers, 1919-1967
- Crittenden County, Confederate Pensioners, 1907-1909
- Crittenden County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge Record, 1899,1918-1920,1942-1945
- Cross County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge Records, 1919-1961
- Dallas County, Record of Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, Vol. A, 1919
- Desha County, Record of Soldiers & Sailors Discharges, Vol. A, 1919-1961
- Drew County, Monticello, Men and Women in the Armed Forces
- Drew County, Record of Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, V. A, 1919-1964
- Faulkner County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1963
- Franklin County, Discharge Record, 1943-1976
- Fulton County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1948
- Garland County, Confederate Pension Record, 1905-1931
- Garland County, Soldiers et. al. Discharges, V. A, 1919-1947
- Grant County, Record of Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, V. A, 1919-1949
- Greene County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1962
- Hempstead County, Hope, Men and Women in the Armed Forces
- Hempstead County, Record of Soldiers & Sailors Discharges, V. A, 1919-1959
- Hot Spring County, Confederate Pension Record, 1869-1929
- Howard County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, Vol. A, 1919-1964
- Independence County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1956
- Index to Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Arkansas
- Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Arkansas
- Izard County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1965
- Jackson County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1954
- Jefferson County, Record of Soldiers & Sailors Discharges, Vol. A, 1919-1966
- Johnson County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1964
- Lafayette County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge Record, V. A, 1918-1961
- Lawrence County, Civil War Pension Applications
- Lawrence County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1959
- Lee County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge Record, V. 1, 1920-1961
- Lincoln County, Confederate Pension Board, Miscellaneous Confederate Pension Papers, 1902-1937 Approx.
- Little River County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge Record, V.A 1919-1958.
- Little Rock, Arkansas, Registration List of the United Confederate Veteran Reunion, 1911
- Little Rock, Inmates in the Arkansas Confederate Home, ca. 1890-1963
- Logan County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1969
- Lonoke County, Pension Records, Vol. A, 1907-1920
- Lonoke County, Record of Soldiers and Sailor Discharges, Vol. A, 1920-1949
- Madison County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1949
- Marion County, Confederate Pension Record, 1901-1933
- Marion County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1947
- Miller County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge Record, V. A, 1919-1947
- Mississippi County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1949
- Monroe County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge Record, V. A, 1919-1967
- Montgomery County, Record of Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, Vol. A, 1919-1946
- Muster Lists of the Arkansas Confederate Troops
- Nevada County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge Record, V. A, 1919-1963
- Newton County, Record of Confederate Pensions, 1869-1898
- Newton County, Records of Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1952
- Ouachita County, Soldiers & Sailors Discharge Record, Vol. 1, 1919-1942
- Perry County, Records of Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1943
- Phillips County, Confederate Pensions, 1901-1929
- Phillips County, Soldiers & Sailors Discharge Record, Volume A, 1919-1960
- Phillips County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge Records, 1919-1955
- Pike County, Record of Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, Vol. A, 1919-1954
- Poinsett County, United States Discharge Record, V. 1, 1943-1945
- Polk County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, Vol. A, 1919-1976
- Pope County, Discharge Record, 1919-1965
- Prairie County, Record of Discharge Military Service, V. A, 1943-1946
- Pulaski County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1948; Index to Discharges, 1919- 1976
- Randolph County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1916-1964
- Saline County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1923-1947
- Scott County, Army Discharges, 1919-1948
- Scott County, Confederate Pension Record, 1907-1929
- Searcy County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1956
- Sebastian County, Record of Soldiers and Sailors Discharged, World War I, 1919-1960
- Sevier County, Pension Record including Confederate Pensions, 1903-1937
- Sevier County, Record of Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, Vol. A, 1919-1961
- Sharp County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1955
- St. Francis County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge Records, 1919-1945
- State Summary of War Casualties: (Arkansas)
- Stone County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge Records, 1919-1954
- The Arkansas Vietnam War Project
- U.S. Military Fatal Casualties of the Korean War for Arkansas
- U.S. Military Fatal Casualties of the Vietnam War for Arkansas
- Union County, Discharge Record, Vol. 1, 1917-1920
- United Confederate Veterans Reunion Registrations, 1911
- Van Buren County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharge Records, 1919-1956
- Washington County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1932
- White County, Record of Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1919-1956
- Yell County, Soldiers and Sailors Discharges, 1917-1964
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!