Civil War
Most of the entries in the military section of this bibliography pertain to United States Colored Troops (USCT) units in the Civil War. Over 170,000 African Americans were in these organizations (infantry, cavalry, and artillery), together with African American sailors serving on the ships of the United States Navy.
Some of these regiments were initially raised by individual states before being incorporated into the federal regiments. For example, a state’s agents sometimes recruited in the South to fill recruiting quotas. A good example is Massachusetts, whose agents recruited soldiers into the USCT from the District of Columbia and five Southern states. In addition, the famous 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry included recruits from as far away as Illinois.
The genealogist with an ancestor in the USCT is fortunate, since the pension and sometimes the service records for that individual may be especially informative. Copies of these records are available from the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The 2nd floor reference desk at the Newberry usually has a supply of the forms needed to request these records from the Archives.
In many instances it will be critical to determine the military unit to which a serviceman belonged in order effectively to request his records from the Archives. The following titles will in many instances be helpful in making this determination.
General
1890 Census for Civil War Veterans and Widows. Microfilm available on the second floor at the Smith Family Genealogy Reference Center. Only those schedules for Kentucky through Washington, D.C. have survived. These listings include the veteran’s unit.
Braxton-Secret, Jeanette. Guide to Tracing Your African-American Civil War Ancestor. San Pueble, CA: J. Braxton-Secret, 1995. Call # Folio E585.N3 B73 1995.
Burroughs, Tony. "Researching Buffalo Soldiers for Genealogical and Historical Links." JAAHGS 14:3/4 (1995). Call # CS1.A37 (2nd floor open shelf).
Compiled Records Showing Service of Military Units in Volunteer Union Organizations. (Rolls 204-217 of National Archives microfilm record group M594.) Call # Microfilm 1104. These particular rolls contain the compiled records for USCT and other African American Civil War units. Although it is very unlikely that one will find references here to enlisted men, one can gain a fairly good sense of the stations, movements, and other activities of the regiments. Consult the computer catalog to determine which reel or reels contain information on particular units.
Index to the Compiled Service Records for the United States Colored Troops. Call #: Microfilm 713. Indicate desired surname(s) on call slip. Use in conjunction with Dyer below.
Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. (Reprint) Dayton, Ohio: Morningside, 1978. Call # E491.D99 1978 (2nd floor open shelf). Consult this work to determine where specific USCT units were organized and where they served.
Forbes, Ella. African American Women During the Civil War. New York: Garland, 1998. Call # E540.N3 F67 1998.
Musick, Michael P. "African American Genealogical Research in U.S. Military Records Before World War I." JAAHGS 18:1 (Spring 1999) Call # CS1.A37 (2nd floor open shelf).
Ross, Joseph B. Tabular Analysis of the Records of the U.S. Colored Troops and Their Predecessor Units in the National Archives of the United States. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Service, 1973. Call # CD3033.N43U54 1973. Useful in tracing unit designations.
Valuska, David L. The African American in the Union Navy, 1861-1865. New York: Garland, 1993. Call# E591.V2 1993. Extensive appendix lists individual seamen with biographical data.
Published Rosters and Indexes
Bates, Samuel P. History of Pennsylvania Volunteers. (Reprint) Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms International, 1982. Call # E527.B32 (2nd floor open shelf). Volume 5, part 2 contains rosters for the following USCT infantry regiments: 3rd, 6th, 8th, 22nd, 24th, 25th, 32nd, 41st, 43rd, 45th, 127th. The recruits for these regiments were primarily from Pennsylvania.
Callum, Agnes Kane. Colored Volunteers of Maryland, Civil War, 7th Regiment, United States Colored Troops, 1863-1866. Baltimore: Mullac, 1990. Call # fE512.5 7th C35 1990. Transcribed bounty rolls provide names of owners of enlistees.
Connecticut. Adjutant General. Catalog of Connecticut Volunteer Organizations. Hartford, Connecticut, Adjutant General, 1869. Call # F8349.046. Contains rosters for two African American regiments: the 29th Connecticut and the 30th Connecticut (later the 31st USCI). Mostly Connecticut recruits.
Illinois. Adjutant General. Report. Springfield, Illinois: 1886. Call # E505.2.166 1886 (2nd floor open shelf). “Colored Troops” section in volume 8 contains roster for the 29th USCI.
Indiana. Adjutant General. Report. Indianapolis: Adjutant General, 1865-1869. Call # E506.2.I393 (2nd floor open shelf). Volume 7 contains roster for the 28th USCI, which was primarily made up of Indiana recruits, although some companies had strong Mid-Atlantic representations. Also listed are Indiana residents in the following USCI regiments: 8th, 13th, 14th, 17th, 23rd, 31st, 58th, 72nd, 109th, as well as the 4th United States Colored Heavy Artillery.
Iowa. Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers in the War of the Rebellion together with Historical Sketches of Volunteer Organizations 1861-1866. Des Moines, Iowa: Emory English [state printer], 1911. Call # E507.3.R67 (2nd floor open shelf). See final volume for roster of 1st Regiment of Iowa African Infantry, later the 60th USCI.
Kansas. Adjutant General. Report. Topeka, Kansas: Hudson, 1896. Call # E508.2.K16 1896 (2nd floor open shelf). Rosters for the 1st and 2nd Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry (later the 79th and 83rd USCI respectively); the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Kansas Colored Light Artillery and the Independent Colored Kansas Battery (also Light Artillery).
Kentucky. Adjutant General. Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Kentucky. Frankfort, Kentucky: Kentucky Yeoman [printer], 1867. Call #: oE509.2.K37 1866 (2nd floor open shelf). Volume 2 contains rosters for the 5th and 6th United States Colored Cavalry; the 100th, 107th, 108th, 109th, 114th, 115th, 116th, 117th, 118th, 119th, 122nd, 123rd, 124th, 125th, United States Colored Infantry regiments; and the 8th, 12th, and 13th United States Colored Heavy Artillery.
Massachusetts. Adjutant General. Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War. Brookline, Mass.: Adjutant General, 1931-1935. Call # E513.M37 1931 (2nd floor open shelf). See the following volumes:
Volume IV. Contains rosters of the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry – recruits from various states.
Volume VI. Contains 5th Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry Roster – primarily Massachusetts residents.
Volume VII. Includes “Massachusetts Soldiers in the United States Colored Troops.” Often as not these soldiers were not from Massachusetts, but were recruited by this state’s agents to fill its enlistment quotas. The soldiers listed here were primarily recruited at New Bern, North Carolina; Washington, D.C.; Fort Monroe, Virginia; Hilton Head, South Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; and Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Michigan. Adjutant General. Record of Service of Michigan Volunteers in the Civil War. Call # E514.3.M62 1900 (2nd floor open shelf). See Volume 46 for roster of the First Michigan Colored Infantry (later the 102nd USCI). See also: Negroes in Michigan during the Civil War, published by the Michigan Civil War Centennial Observance Commission (Call # 4A5271).
Neel, Thomas Stephen. "27th Regiment, U.S. Colored Infantry, Muster-in Rolls." The Report (Ohio Genealogical Society) 34:2 (Summer 1994). Call # F486.R45 (2nd floor open shelf).
New Hampshire. Adjutant General. Revised Register of New Hampshire Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Rebellion. Concord, N.H.: Adjutant General, 1895. Call # E520.3.N55 1895 (2nd floor open shelf). Includes listings of the USCT recruits credited to New Hampshire in a variety of regiments.
New Jersey. Adjutant General. Record of the Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Civil War. Call # Folio F8349.4979 See Volume 2, Part 2 for listings of New Jersey men in various USCI regiments, primarily those raised in New Jersey.
Ohio Roster Commission. Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion. Various locations and printers, 1886-1893. Call # E525. 3.038 1886 (2nd floor open shelf). See Volume 1, part 2 for rosters of the 5th USCI (the 127th Ohio Volunteer Infantry) and the 27th USCI. Also alphabetical listings of unassigned recruits for the USCT, as well as Ohio recruits for the following USCI regiments: 16th, 17th, 72nd, in addition to the 5th United States Colored Heavy Artillery.
Rhode Island. Adjutant General. Report. Providence, Rhode Island: [Adjutant General], 1866. Call # E528.2.R47. Contains the roster for the 14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery (later the 8th and then the 11th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery). Enlistments from several New England states.
Tennesseans in the Civil War. Nashville, Tennessee: Civil War Centennial Commission, 1965. Call # E579.4.T45 1964 (2nd floor open shelf). Volume I contains brief regimental histories for the following USCI regiments: 11th (new), 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 40th, 42nd, 44th, 59th, 61st, 88th (new), 101st; also the following artillery units: batteries A & I of the 2nd United States Colored Light Artillery, and the 1st, 2nd, and 9th United States Colored Heavy Artillery. Volume II contains a master index.
Wilmer, L. Allison et al. History and Roster of Maryland Volunteers, War of 1861-5. (Reprint) Silver Spring, Maryland: Family Line Publications in conjunction with Toomey Press, 1987. Call # E512.3.W55 1987 (2nd floor open shelf). Volume 2 contains rosters for the 4th, 7th, 9th, 19th, 30th, and 39th USCI regiments. Also index volume. Call # E512.3.W55 1987 Index.
Regimental Histories and Personal Narratives
Califf, Joseph M. Record of the Services of the Seventh Regiment U.S. Colored Troops. Providence, Rhode Island: Freeman, 1878. Call # F8348.93
Chenery, William H. The Fourteenth Regiment Rhode Island Heavy Artillery (Colored) in the War to Preserve the Union 1861-1865. Rhode Island: Snow & Farnham, 1898. Call # F8349.908. Also available as Microfiche 3591.
Cowden, Robert. A Brief Sketch of the Organization and Services of the Fifty-Ninth Regiment of the United States Colored Infantry and Biographical Sketches. Dayton: United Brethren, 1883. Call # F8348.94.
Emilio, Luis F. History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 1863-1865. Boston: Boston Book, 1891. Call # F8349.486
Gooding, James Henry. On the Altar of Freedom: A Black Soldier’s Civil War Letters from the Front. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1991. Call # E513.5 54th G66 1991. A soldier of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.
Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. Army Life in a Black Regiment. (Reprint) Michigan State University, 1960. Call # F8349.921. Covers the 1st South Carolina, later the 33rd USCI.
Newton, Alexander H. Out of the Briars: An Autobiography and Sketch of the Twenty-Ninth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers. Philadelphia: A.M.E. Book Concern, 1910. Call # F839.0595.
Stein, A.H. History of the Thirty Seventh Regiment United States Colored Infantry. Philadelphia: King & Baird, 1866. Call # F8348.8923.
Tyler, C.M. Memorials of Lieutenant George H. Walcott, Late of the Thirtieth United States Colored Troops. Boston: Sabbath School Society, 1865. Call # E5.W142.
Wilder, Burt Green. The 55th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Brookline, Mass.: 1919. Call # F8349.4882.
Revolutionary War
Greene, Robert Ewell. Black Courage 1775-1783: Documentation of Black Participation in the American Revolution. Washington: National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, 1984. Call # E269.N3G74 1984a (2nd floor open shelf).
National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution. “Minority Military Service” series. Also useful for the inclusion of American Indians.
Minority Military Service, Connecticut, 1775-1783. Washington, D.C.: D.A.R., 1988. Call # oE263.C5M56 1988.
Minority Military Service, Maine, 1775-1783. Washington, D.C.: D.A.R., 1990. Call # E263.M4M63 1990.
Minority Military Service, Massachusetts, 1775-1783. Washington, D.C.: D.A.R., 1989. Call # E263.M4M64 1989.
Minority Military Service, New Hampshire, Vermont, 1775-1783. Washington, D.C.: 1991. Call # E263.V5M55 1991.
Minority Military Service, Rhode Island, 1775-1783. Washington: D.A.R., 1988. Call # E263.R4M55 1988.
Newman, Debra L. List of Black Servicemen Compiled from the War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records. Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1974. Call # H283.6199.
White, David O. Connecticut’s Black Soldiers 1775-1783. Chester, Connecticut: Pequot, 1973. (Connecticut Bicentennial Series IV.) Call # F99.C65. no. 4.
War of 1812
Altoff, Gerald T. Amongst My Best Men: African-Americans and The War of 1812. Put-In-Bay, OH: The Perry Group, 1996. Call # E359.9 .A35 A48 1996.
Spanish American War
Cashin, Herschel V. et al. Under Fire with the Tenth U.S. Cavalry Being a Brief, Comprehensive Review of the Negro's Participation in the Wars of the United States Especially Showing the Valor and Heroism of the Negro Soldiers of the Ninth and Tenth Cavalries, and the Twenty-Fourth and Twenty Fifth Infantries of the Rugular [sic] Army.... Chicago: American Publishing House, 1902. Call # F8355.94. Also available in 1993 reprint edition: Call # Ayer E725.45 10th .U53 1993.
Coston, William Hilary. The Spanish American War Volunteers 9th U.S. Volunteer Infantry. Middletown, Pennsylvania: Coston, 1899. Includes roster. Most soldiers enlisted from Louisiana and Texas. Call # Ayer 245.C8 1899 (Special Collections).
Illinois. Adjutant General. Adjutant General's Report Containing the Complete Muster-Out Rolls of the Illinois Volunteers Who Served in the Spanish-American War 1898 and 1899. Springfield, 1904. Call # U1896.4347. Vol. IV contains listings for the 8th Illinois National Guard, which was African American.
World War I
Roster of the Illinois National Guard and Illinois Naval Militia as Organized when Called by the President for World War Service 1917. Springfield, 1929. Call # U1896.436.
Regular Army
Nankivell, John H. History of the Twenty-Fifth Regiment United States Infantry 1869-1926. Fort Collins, Old Army Press, 1972. Call # Ayer 4A1027 (Special Collections). Also reprint volume with index available, Call # Ayer UA29 25th .N35 2001.
Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900. (National Archives microfilm publication T289). Call # Microfilm 1183. The Newberry holds only a few reels from this set. Of interest to the African American researcher may be those pertaining to the "buffalo soldiers" in the 24th U.S. Infantry (reels 669-671); the 25th U.S. Infantry (reels 671-672); the 40th U.S. Infantry (reels 677-678); the 9th U.S. Cavalry (reels 704-706); and the 10th U.S. Cavalry (reels 706-707).
Schubert, Frank N. On the Trail of the Buffalo Soldier: Biographies of African Americans in the U.S. Army, 1866-1917. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1994. Call# Ref U52.O5 1995 (Reference & Bibliography Center).