Is there a way to find out if members of you family served in the civil war and

Question:I want to know for a class assignment. any help is appreciated.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I want to know for a class assignment. any help is appreciated.

It is competely possible to find this info out.. but it is not as simple as Mr Gnome seems to believe. Not all persons have grandparents around to ask.. not all grandparents will have the relevant names or locations. Soldiers who served in the War, often died long before a state issued death certificates, and those who did live longer, might not live in a state where such databases are online.
Overall.. what *MIGHT* be true for Mr Gnome (or me) is not always going to be right for YOU and your family. Hence, Wendy's war cry.. YOU HAVE TO BE SPECIFIC (not yelling at you).
Before finding your military ancestors... you have to work far enough back to know what they were named. Yes, you will find that the greatest part of men who were born between 1820-1840ish, were in the military.
http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/
Here is one of many online guides to tracing your family. Remember, you have to start with the present, and build back, using good documents and records. ALL OF THESE items will not be online, in particular, death certificates. An index is just a list of the names and dates, and not always the whole record (which will usually have the names of the parents).
School projects are often a problem here. It often takes more time than teachers realize, to collect the needed records.
Of course.. as you start getting into it, come back and ask questions (just not including live persons). The more details you have . name, estimated date, and place.. the better the answer. What works in NY does not work in Texas or Florida, etc.

Ancestry is a matter of public record. The schmoes that sell the research service are just leaches with a working knowledge of data bases.
example:
http://www.vitalchek.com/ <<leaches
http://www.state.nj.us/health/vital/inde... <<data base
Now find out by asking parents,grandparents where your family came from so that you can look or search the right DB for the records.
If Uncle J lived in the war era and was in a participating state and was about the age of a soldier at that time, 14-60, then search that states Data Base for Death Certificates, Uncle J's name, or mark, and have fun!

The National Park Service has a site, http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.cfm , which you can click on and search for your ancestors by name. If you're not sure who your ancestors were at that time, the census information on Ancestry.com can help you trace them back.

Suppose, for example, that you have a grandparent or great-grandparent in his or her eighties. You can look for that person in the 1930 census and find the names of his parents; then go back to 1890 or 1900 to find THEIR parents. The 1890 census was accidentally destroyed, but otherwise you can go back as far as 1850 to find every person listed by name and age and, often, relationship to the head of the household. When you find a man of an age to have served, you can look for him on that NPS site. If he served, it will tell you on which side.

If you don't find the man you look for, don't give up. Not every soldier is listed there yet. Try the National Archives. You can also get forms from there to apply for military records, which sometimes also contain a little family information. And if you do find a record there, you can confirm your ancestor's service by finding him in the history of his regiment. Regimnetal histories are available at many Civil War visitor centers.

Good luck!

At www.ancestry.com, type the name you are looking for, birth and death dates. It will next open to "Historical Records" with a LOT of matching names. At the left, click "Military." The next page opens up and again on the left click on this link "U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865", and the 3rd page will be a listing with entries like these examples:

1. Name: Thomas S. Blanchard
Side: Confederate (South)
Regiment State/Origin: North Carolina
Regiment Name: Capt. Griswold's Company North Carolina Local Defense.
Regiment Name Expanded: Griswold's Company, North Carolina Local Defense
Rank In: Private
Rank In Expanded: Private
Rank Out: Private
Rank Out Expanded: Private
Film Number: M230 roll 4
OR:
2. Name: Stephen Blanchard
Side: Union (North)
Regiment State/Origin: Maine
Regiment Name: 27 Maine Infantry
Regiment Name Expanded: 27th Regiment, Maine Infantry (9 months, 1862-63)
COMPANY: I
Rank In: Corporal
Rank In Expanded: Corporal
Rank Out: Corporal
Rank Out Expanded: Corporal
Film Number: M543 roll 2

Yes.

Trace your family back to the 1860's. (that is, go back until you find your GGGG grandfathers as adults on the 1860 census.) Make a list of every male in their households born 1810 - 1845. Check those men against any of the three Ancestry Civil War data bases, or the US Government data base of Civil War veterans.

Some of the Civil War data bases will have the age at enlistment and the county they enlisted in. If the names match and the county enlisted from is the same as the one they were living in on the 1860, you are probably safe to assume that the 1860 census person and the Civil War vet are the same. If you have three or four men in the same county with the same name, you are stuck.

Most of the regiments came from specific counties, so if the enlistment record doesn't say where they enlisted from, but it has the regiment, the regimental history will tell you where most of them men came from. That is another Ancestry data base.

German and English families sometimes named the first son after the paternal grandfather. If you have a man named Ebeneezer Morgan in Madison County, and he has four sons who live long enough to marry and have children, and they stay in the home county, you get four new Ebeneezer Morgans to try to separate.

Have fun. It shouldn't take you more than two - three weeks, assuming you spring for a subscription to Ancestry and spend 8 - 12 hours a day on it, weekends included. Sometimes I get so enthralled that when I stand up I get cramps, because I forget to go to the bathroom for four hours. I understand men younger than 60 sometimes have other interests than dead relatives.

If your teacher expects you do do this with NO previous experience in genealogy, he/she is a fool or you have misunderstood her/him.

Ask your parents. If they say they don't know, tell your teacher no, you didn't. Sorry.