Alabama Military Records

Alabamians have seen military service in all wars of the United States. Military records are found at both the state and federal levels.

• Alabama Military Records (Fold3.com) provides access to Alabama military records, stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served in Alabama.
• Alabama Pension Project
• Research In Military Records
• Overview of Military Records - from The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy.
• Alabama Military Records - from Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
• Alabama Military Record Books - Amazon.com

Alabama in the Civil War

On January 11, 1861 Alabama became the fourth state to leave the Union, its secession convention calling for a meeting of delegates from all Southern states in Montgomery, the state capital, on February 4. At this meeting the new provisional government of the Confederate States of America was organized, with Montgomery selected as its temporary seat and Jefferson Davis elected president. The Confederacy went to war financed largely by a $500,000 loan from the state of Alabama.

In one section of northern Alabama, where antislavery feeling was strong, there was a movement to form a pro-Union state. State Rep. Hugh Clay feared that an attempt would be made “to excite the people of North Alabama to rebellion vs. the State and we will have a civil war in our midst,” but the movement failed.

At the beginning of hostilities Alabama state troops seized forts at the entrance to Mobile Bay and the Union arsenal at Mount Vernon. There was no fighting in the state early in the war, but in 1862 invading Federal forces held sizable areas. To resist the invasion, almost every white Alabamian old enough to carry a gun enlisted in the Confederate forces. Some 2,500 white men and 10,000 blacks had already enlisted in the Union army.

Alabama supplied most of the iron used by the Confederacy, with an average annual output of 40,000 tons during the 4 years of war. Not only did its 16 ironworks steadily produce iron for shot and shell, but the state’s munitions plants manufactured the products.

There are no statistics on Alabama’s contributions to the Confederate army, but estimates vary between 75,000 and 125,000 fighting men from a population of just above 500,000 whites. Estimates of losses range from 25,000 to 70,000. The state furnished the Confederacy with 60-65 regiments of infantry, 12-15 regiments of cavalry, and over 20 batteries of artillery.

P.O.W. Camps in thew state: Cahaba (Castle Morgan), Mobile, Montgomery , Selma , Talledega, Tuscaloosa .

In 1895, 76 years after being admitted to the Union, the Alabama Legislature authorized the “crimson cross of St. Andrew on a field of white” in the “Acts of Alabama.” Reminiscent of the Confederate battle flag, it was designated that the crimson bars must be 6 inches broad and were to extend diagonally across the flag. Because act 383 did not specify a particular format, the flag is depicted sometimes as a square and at other times as a rectangle.

Civil War Website Links

• Research in the Civil War 1861-1865
• Civil War links from fold3.comwith original data from the National Archives:
  • Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Alabama – Compiled service records of Confederate soldiers from Alabama units, labeled with each soldier’s name, rank, and unit. Original data from the National Archives
  • Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations From the State of Alabama.
  • Civil War and Later Veterans Pension Index from Alabama – Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900
  • Alabama Confederate Amnesty Papers – Case Files of Applications from Alabama of former Confederates for Presidential Pardons (“Amnesty Papers”), 1865-1867
  • Alabama Civil War “Widows’ Pensions” – Approved pension applications of widows and other dependents of Civil War veterans who served between 1861 and 1910 from Alabama.
  • Barred and Disallowed Alabama Claims – The Southern Claims Commission denied these claims by Alabama citizens seeking compensation for property loss. They were barred or disallowed for a number of reasons. Original data from the National Archives
  • Alabama Approved Alabama Claims – Approved case files of claims submitted to the Commissioners of Claims (known as the Southern Claims Commission) from the State of Alabama, 1871-1880.
• Alabama Civil War Soldiers database (http://www.archives.alabama.gov/civilwar/index.cfm)
• Willis Brewer’s Brief Historical Sketches of Military Organizations Raised In Alabama During the Civil War(http://www.archives.alabama.gov/referenc/alamilor/mil_org.html)
• Alabama Confederate Military Unit Histories at the ADAH (http://www.archives.alabama.gov/referenc/reghist.html)
• Using Primary Sources in the Classroom: Civil War Unit (http://www.archives.alabama.gov/teacher/civil.html)
• Documenting the Civil War Period Flag Collection at the Alabama Department of Archives and History (http://www.archives.alabama.gov/referenc/flags/intro.html)
• Alabama Civil War Map of Battles (http://americancivilwar.com/statepic/al.html)
• The Alabama Civil War Roots Homepage (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~alcwroot/)
• Alabama in the Civil War Message Board (http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/boards/alcwmb/)
• William Lowndes Yancey, a Bibliography (http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/7647/wly.htm)
• William Lowndes Yancey (1814-1863): Famous Orator and Secessionist of the South (http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/7647/wly2.htm)
• Alabama’s Ordinance of Secession (http://www.legislature.state.al.us/misc/history/constitutions/1861/1861ord1_20.html#anchor588392)
• Alabama’s Consitution of 1861 (http://www.legislature.state.al.us/misc/history/constitutions/1861/1861.html)
• Jefferson Davis’ First Inaugural Address (http://jeffersondavis.rice.edu/resources.cfm?doc_id=1508)
• The Papers of Jefferson Davis (http://jeffersondavis.rice.edu/)
• Historic Blakeley State Park (http://new.siteone.com/sites/blakeleypark.com/civilwar.asp)
• The Mobile Campaign/ Battle of Fort Blakeley and Spanish Fort (http://new.siteone.com/sites/blakeleypark.com/battlehistory.htm)
• Hawkins’ Division of 6,000 Black Troops (http://new.siteone.com/sites/blakeleypark.com/usct.htm)
• United States Colored Troops in the Mobile Campaign (http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/MO_USCT.HTM)
• CSS Alabama Digital Collection (http://www.lib.ua.edu/libraries/hoole/digital/cssala/main.shtml)
• CSS Alabama — Naval Historic Center (http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org12-1.htm)
• The Official Site of the Friends of the Hunley (http://www.hunley.org/)
• The Hunley (http://www.thehunley.com/Artifacts/buttontype.htm)
• Denbigh: Archaeology of a Civil War Blockade Runner (http://ina.tamu.edu/denbigh/)
• The Selma Campaign (http://americancivilwar.com/statepic/al/al007.html)
• Elizabeth Lyle Saxon, 1832-1915: A Southern Woman’s War Time Reminiscences (http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/saxon/menu.html
• Frances Woolfolk Wallace, b. 1835, Diary, March 19-August 25, 1864 (http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/wallace/menu.html)
• A Belle of the Fifties: Memoirs of Mrs. Clay, of Alabama, Covering Social and Political Life in Washington and the South, 1853-66. (http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/clay/menu.html)
• Shelby Iron Company (http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/shelby/menu.html)
• Joseph Wheeler: Lt. General, Confederate States General, United States Army, Member of Congress (http://www.arlingtoncemetery.com/jwheeler.htm)
• Pond Spring and the Joe Wheeler Home (http://www.wheelerplantation.org/)
• Fort Gaines (http://andy_bennett.home.mindspring.com/gaines.html)
• Fort Morgan (http://andy_bennett.home.mindspring.com/morgan.html)
• Civil War Battle summaries for Alabama (nps.gov)
• Alabama Confederate Service Cards (archives.state.al.us)
  On-line database, also available on self-service microfilm. This series contains information about individual soldiers from Alabama and was compiled from original sources such as muster rolls, pension files, and records at the National Archives. Service cards typically include the name of the soldier, his home county, his age at the date of his enlistment, the date and place of enlistment, and the company and regiment. Cards may also include a list of the engagements the soldier took part in; whether he was killed, captured, or wounded; and date of parole. The source of information is often cited. Arranged alphabetically by surname.
• Alabama Civil War Books (amazon.com)