The best way to find out what military history resources are available in the Archives & Library is to search the Online Collections Catalog by name of war (e.g. Civil War), regiment (e.g. 83rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry), soldier (e.g. Ulysses S. Grant) or record type (e.g. muster rolls or adjutant general correspondence).
Examples of military records held by the Ohio History Connection include official rosters, muster rolls, personal papers, letters and diaries, regimental histories, biographies, and governmental correspondence. Materials with an "R" at the beginning of the call number are reference items and are self-serve in the Library. Microfilm rolls that start with "GR" are State Archive records and are self-serve in the Library Microfilm Room. All other materials can be paged to view in the Library unless otherwise noted in the Online Collections Catalog.
Military Rosters from the American Revolution through World War I are available in the Library, and typically provide the soldier’s name, company, rank, age, and term of service, as well as additional information, if available. Each roster is accompanied by an index (sometimes as separate volumes), arranged alphabetically by surname, to help you find the soldier’s information in the roster. When working with the World War I rosters, consult the list of abbreviations in the front of the volume to interpret the entry.
Muster Rolls provide additional information about soldiers, some of which is duplicated on rosters. The Archives & Library has muster roll collections for the War of 1812 [State Archives Series 77], Mexican-American War [State Archives Series 77], Civil War [State Archives Series 2440], and Spanish-American War [State Archives Series 1139].
Graves Registration Cards [State Archives Series 183] provide burial information on many soldiers from the Revolutionary War until World War II who were buried in Ohio. It is available in the Library Microfilm Room on microfilm rolls GR3146 through GR3238 and GR3239 through GR3252, and is arranged alphabetically by the last name. The majority of these cards include only the soldier’s name, birth date, death date and cemetery information, but more information may also be provided.
County Histories sometimes include extensive military sections which provide lists of soldiers who participated in wars from the Revolutionary War (and then settled in Ohio) to World War I. Many of these materials are self-serve and located in the Library.
Information from military rosters and pension indexes can be used to order complete service and pension records from the National Archives Military Service Records.
You can browse all military records at the Ohio History Connection using our Online Collections Catalog.
Discover books, newspapers, periodicals, company catalogs, pamphlets, maps, atlases and more!
We do not hold military service or pension records. That information can be obtained by contacting the National Archives and Records Administration. Records before World War I are located at the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. Records created in the 20th century are housed at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
You may also wish to read the military records section of the National Archives Genealogy webpage.