Following the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, African Americans could officially serve in the Union Army. African Americans who were free or those who were enslaved but who had self-emancipated themselves from their enslavers joined the United States Colored Troops.
The originals of these records are at the National Archives, but they are available online through databases such as Ancestry.com and Fold3.com. The National Park Service’s online Soldiers and Sailors Database provides an index to these records, as does Janet B. Hewett’s Roster of Union Soldiers.
The 1890 census Special Schedule—Surviving Soldiers, Sailors and Marines, and Widows, etc., was to be limited to those who were associated with the Union Army. The schedules included the name, rank, unit, dates and length of service, post office address, and disability of veterans. If the veteran was deceased, the name of the widow was included as well.
African Americans were also involved with the Confederate military, often as servants, cooks, or teamsters. Records of their service may be found in the National Archives’ compiled military service records. The originals of these records are at the National Archives, but they are available online through databases such as Fold3.com. The National Park Service’s online Soldiers and Sailors Database provides an index to these records, as does Janet B. Hewett’s Roster of Confederate Soldiers.
Another source to search when looking for possible service in the Confederate military is the Virginia Regimental Series Index, which provides an index to the books that are in the Virginia Regimental Histories Series. These books are predominantly unit histories, but they also contain information on the individuals who served in the units.
On January 29, 1861, an act was passed that would authorize the employment of an engineer to construct whatever defenses were needed along Virginia’s coast, rivers, and harbors. The Virginia Engineer Department (Engineer Corps) was created a few months later, on April 24, 1861. Two sets of their records contain the names of a significant number of African Americans. The pay rolls in this collection date from May to October 1861 and are for individuals who were employed to work on the defenses and at the Engineer Department headquarters in Richmond. There are separate rolls for white workers and African American workers who were free. The “slave rolls” in this collection date from the same time period and are for enslaved individuals who worked on the defenses. The individuals who worked on fortifications could have come from any locality, so researchers should not limit themselves to the locality in which a given individual lived. County records may also include similar records for requisitioned enslaved individuals.
Beginning in 1924, African Americans who served the Confederate military could receive pensions. The Virginia General Assembly passed Confederate pension acts in 1888, 1900, and 1902, and a series of supplementary acts until 1934. The act of 1888 provided pensions to Confederate soldiers, sailors, and marines disabled in action and to the widows of those killed in action. Subsequent acts broadened the coverage to include all veterans, their widows, and their unmarried or widowed daughters. The acts required that applicants be residents of Virginia. Later legislation included veterans or their survivors residing in the District of Columbia as well.
