The State Library has two excellent resources to find service information about infantry, soldiers and sailors who served in the Revolutionary War or the Civil War.The first set of volumes is entitled Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War. This resource is available in our stacks under the call number and online.
The second set is Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War. Genealogists frequently use this book to verify that their relative served, or to see which battles and in what localities a person served. The Civil War volumes contain Regimental Histories.
The books usually have information about where the person is from, where they joined the regiment, the battles in which they fought, whether they were wounded or whether they died and when they mustered out of the unit. There are no pictures in these volumes.
The Massachusetts State Archives at Columbia Point has the muster rolls in their collections.
Pictured Sergeant Andrew Jackson Smith: "Private, Res. Taunton; 21; blacksmith; enlisted Sept. 15, 1862; must. Sept. 23, 1862; must. out Aug. 28 on or about Sept. 25, 1863." Image from State Library's collection.
Naomi Allen, Reference Librarian
