Helpful Online Research Search Links, O.R.'s, Dyer's, Fox, etc.

http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000451412

List of Synonyms of Organizations in Volunteer Service of the United States, During the years 1861 - 1865 . From US Army, 1885.

Names for units are given as the name a particular unit had at formation and then its final designation. Many are company level and lead to the regiment that company ended up with. Includes names from all the states that fielded Union soldiers and includes the USCT, Indian Nations, Veteran Reserve Corps Veteran Volunteers, and United States Volunteers (sharpshooters). This book may be helpful to some folks looking for kin that served in the Union armies and needing clarification between unit designations in things such as diaries, letters, and newspapers that may not square with names found on official documents.

Thanks for the interesting link. Saw it can only be downloaded with a login, but as it is without copyright you can get it for free and without any login right here on archive.org.
 
This stuff is fantastic! I wish that I had been able to look all this over about 25 years ago. Thank you.

You have the World Wide Web to thank for that. I'm old enough to be amazed at the amount of data available to us now. Before, it would take dozens of phone calls, trips to libraries or museums, thumbing through dusty tomes, etc, to get what now takes a quick Google search and a few more mouse clicks.
 
North Carolina Civil War Roster Index Now Available Online

The Historical Publications Section of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources has made available online a cumulative master index of the first 18 volumes of "North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster." This index of approximately 115,000 names of North Carolinians who served in the Civil War will be of great interest to historians, genealogists, and anyone with a Tar Heel ancestor who fought in that conflict.

Work on "North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster" began in 1961 with the purpose of researching, compiling, and publishing service records for every North Carolinian who served in the Civil War. To date, 18 of a projected 22 volumes have been published.
 
Some good sites for researching New York veterans and units:

I've been researching the bejammers out of something, no end in sight at the moment but thought I'd share some sites which have been unbelievably helpful. If anyone has New York, Civil War ancestors ( or any! ) here are 2 helpful places.

Fulton Postcards, just type that into Google, amazing place recommended by a New York librarian. Someone has scanned an incredible, incredible amount of newspapers from New York- has them in super-findable format on this site. The earliest are from the 1830's, latest 1990's? There are photos there also, although I haven't dared to go start looking through them- fatal, that kind of thing, you just never stop. You just type your word(s) in, and articles with the words come up- tons and tons of them.

Rochestor Library, linked to the New York system, wierdly amazing with what they have and the librarian tells me their Civil War collection is just beyond astonishing. It's a little hard to navigate only because the whole thing is so extensive, but it you call any of the numbers listed, someone will point you in the right direction. I called, talked to someone who helped me for a good 30 minutes and then I discovered I'd called the wrong department- this woman helped me anyway! Too funny. At the end of the conversation she said ' Oh, let me give you the number for the department you'll need.... ', after which it transpired it wasn't at ALL her job to answer these questions. She was just THAT nice.
 
May I add Fulton Postcards? Just type that in to Google or your current search engine. The same librarian recommended it, and you just won't get OFF the thing. The range of New York newspapers is astonishing, covers all the years of the Civil War plus the post-war years have information, also. It's almost impossible to copy/paste, best to save in PDF, then try again or just type everything out. I haven't bothered with the postcard portion of the site- just keep typing in my ancestors' names and browsing the hits. It's not QUITE that easy, but it is that simple.

I realize I keep mentioning this, please excuse. I've just found information on my ancestors I'd had no clue about- albeit through careful browsing. Funny, so far I haven't personally looked at one thing on Fulton, New York or viewed a Post Card, just the extensive collection of scanned newspapers. Amazing.
 
ps On that site, thought I'd come back and give a head's up. Some of the language in editorials and letters in specific city papers is pretty shocking- you can pretty much pinpoint the geographical make-up of NY at the time, where the real abolitionists were by what the newspapers had in them. Some papers speak of emancipation as ' The Cause ', you see no racial slurs, others? Whew. I realize it's the way it was then, still shocking.

If you're browsing for mention of an ancestor's name, tough not to bump into this stuff. It's a good lesson on what they encountered every day, though- you get a real feel for the societal split caused when it was pointed out skin color meant not-alot.
 
I don't think this has been posted yet, but it served as a great resource when I discovered my ancestor fought in a Pennsylvania regiment. It's Samuel Bates' History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865 and provides regimental histories and rosters. Great resource!
http://www.pacivilwar.com/bates.html

Agreed, this is a very good resource. I have found some errors in the history of the 112th. regiment which is the primary focus of my research. This is to be expected in a work of this size and scope so I can be forgiving, but it is always good to find corroborating evidence when researching the Civil War or other areas of history.
 
I subscribe to both GenealogyBank and NewspaperArchive, because they have different holdings, and you really need to have access to both to get good coverage. I much prefer GenealogyBank's interface, although NewspaperArchive has much better coverage of my local newspapers.

Additional free text-searchable newspaper sources:

Portal to Texas History
http://texashistory.unt.edu/

LoC Historic Newspapers
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

Google News Archive
http://news.google.com/news/advanced_news_search?as_drrb=a

Historical Newspapers Online
http://guides.library.upenn.edu/historicalnewspapersonline

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Terry Foenander's CS Navy list
By:Robert B. Long
Date: 8/1/2013, 5:29 pm
Terry Foenander's extensive CS Navy personnel list is back online at http://rblong.net/sailor/ for those of you that would like to look up data on individual sailors. The site has a search engine to make searches easier and the data is broken down into smaller groupings than before.
Also on the same site is a listing of the sailors that served in the North Carolina Squadron on the sounds of North Carolina during 1861 and early 1862. Two of the squadron's ships accompanied the CSS Virginia as tenders during the battle of Hampton Roads. Up to 20 of the sailors aboard the Virginia were from NC Squadron crews. A blog on the squadron can be found at http://ncsquadron/wordpress.com/ .
In the near future, Sion Harrington's list of sailors that served in the CS Navy from the state of North Carolina will be added to the site holding Terry's CS Navy listings and my NC Squadron listings.
 
Massachusetts Research Link
For those with ancestors who served in Massachusetts regiments, an absolutely vital resource is located at the Massachusetts National Guard Museum and Archives, in Worcester:
http://www.civilwarnews.com/archive/articles/mass_records.htm
Besides a microfilm copy of the complete Mass. Service Records from the National Archives (no need to order from D.C.), they also have the following series of Civil War documents, all available on site and free of charge:
Draft Registrations (by town), 1861-1865, 21 boxes
Rosters of Officers, 1861-1865, 4 vols.
Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, Muster and Descriptive Rolls, 1861-1865, 69 vols.
Oaths of Officers, 9 Month Regiments, 1861- 1865, 2 vols.
Muster-in Rolls, Massachusetts Officers, 1861- 1865, 7 vols.
General & Special Orders, 1861-1865 5 vols. Paroled Prisoners & Certificates of Death, 1861- 1865, 1 vol.
Deaths in Rebel Prisons, 1861-1865, 3 vols.
Long Island, Boston Harbor, Muster and Descriptive Rolls, 1863-1865, 1 vol.
Civil War Atlas, 1861-1865 3 vols. Character of Returned Soldiers, 1861-1865, 1 vol.
Copies of Discharges, 1861-1865, 9 vols.
Desertions & Discharges, Massachusetts Volunteers, 1861-1865, 13 vols.
Returns of Recruits Examined, 1861-1865, 7 vols.
Enrollments and Medical Examinations by Town, 1861-1865, 4 vols.
Surgeon General Medical Documents, 1861-1865, 6 boxes
Notices of Discharge, 1861-1865, 16 vols.
Civil War Monthly Reports, 1861-1865, 15 vols.
Hospital Records by Location, 1861-1865, 4 vols.
Medical Certificates for Extension of Furloughs, 1861-1865, 4 vols.
Hospital Records, 1861-1865, 2 vols.
Deaths in Rebel Prisons and Exchanged Prisoners, 1 vol.
Arsenal Records, 1861-1862; 1864-1865, 2 boxes
Hospital Records, 1861-1865, 1 box
Medical Papers, Sick and Wounded Reports, and Hospital Supplies, 1861-1865, 1 box
Medical Letters, 1861-1862 (Vol. 3), 1 box
Hospital Stewards' Credits for Bounty, 1864 1 vol.
Bounty Numbers, U.S. Colored Troops and Enlistments in other States, 1861-1865, 9 vols.
Descriptive Rolls by Regiment, 1861-1865, 39 vols.
Civil War Regiments of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1861-1865, 125 boxes
Civil War Enlistments by Regiment, 1861-1865, 84 boxes
Surgeon General Correspondence, 1861-1865, 28 boxes
Civil War Personal Collections, 1861-1890, 5 boxes
Massachusetts Regimental Histories, 1861- 1865, 126 vols.
Enlistment Papers, 1863-1864, 46 vols.
Certificates of Disability for Discharge, 1861- 1865, 8 vols.
Governor Andrews Letters, 1861-1866, 1 box
Executive Department Correspondence Letters Sent, 1861-1866, 25 vols.
Orders from the Governor, 1861-1875, 18 vols.
Bounty Numbers, 1861-1865, 50 vols.
Surgeon General Correspondence, Massachusetts Medical Officers, 1861-1862, 1 box
Surgeon General Correspondence, Military Officers' Letters, 1861-1867, 8 vols.
U.S. Medical Officers Letters, 1861-1865, 2 vols.
Massachusetts Medical Commission Letters, 1861-1865, 3 vols.
Deaths of Massachusetts Soldiers in Various States, 1861-1865 1 vol.
Soldiers' Home Records, Chelsea 3 boxes Regimental and Hospital Medical Reports, 1861- 1865, 1 vol.
Hospital Record Register, 1863-1866, 2 vols.
There are also many records regarding Massachusetts' participation in earlier and later wars.
The Mass. National Guard includes the oldest existing military formations in the U.S. The 181st and 182nd Infantry Regiments, the 101st Engineer Battalion, and the 101st Field Artillery Regiments, all originate in the North, South, East, and West Regiments created by the Mass. General Court on 13 December 1636 -- which is also the official "birthday" of the National Guard of the United States. The 181 and 182 Infantry Regiments are the only units to display the Lexington/Concord battle streamer on their colors.
jno
 
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