Other Resource Links for the Civil War
Historian or Genealogist

Note to Genealogists

I get a fair volume of e-mail from people trying to track down a civil war ancestor who served in the Lawton-Gordon-Evans Georgia Brigade. While I'm pleased to get your queries, I'm afraid I am not usually of much help since I lack access to the primary geneaological resources. My typical advice is as follows:

  • If you're just starting out, check out the U.S. Civil War Center's essay on Researching People in the Civil War Era for handy advice.

  • If you know your ancestor's name and unit, consult Henderson's Roster of the Confederate Soldiers of Georgia, 1861-1865, Published for the Georgia State Division of Confederate Pensions and Records by Longino & Porter in 1959. This mult-volume series contains a summary of the service record for every Georgia soldier preserved in the Georgia state archives. Soldiers are organized by units, so that the series provides in effect a "muster roll" of each regiment. Soldiers of the Lawton-Gordon-Evans' Brigade can be found listed with their regiments in the following volumes/pages: 13th Georgia (Vol. 2, pp. 245-338), 26th Georgia (Vol. 3, pp. 183-286.), 31st Georgia (Vol. 3, pp. 576-659), 38th Georgia (Vol. 4, pp. 116-249), 60th Georgia (Vol. 6, pp. 105-201), and 61st Georgia (Vol. 6, pp. 201-275). Although out of print, this series should be available in major public and university libraries in the state of Georgia and is now offered on CD-ROM by several publishers. Or consult this reference site

  • If you have a name, you may be able to obtain service and/or pension records of your ancestor by contacting the Georgia Department of Archives and History and the National Archives.

Tips on Researching the National Archives

Before you can request information from the National Archives, you must know the following:

  1. Name of the soldier
  2. Branch of service (Army, Navy, Marines)
  3. State from which he served
  4. Union or Confederate Army

Write to the National Archives at the following address:

General References Branch (NNRG-P)
National Archives and Records Administration
7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20408

Request 2 copies of form NATF Form 80, entitled "Order for Copies of Veterans Records", for each Civil War Soldier you wish information on.

When the forms arrive, fill out one requesting pension records and one requesting military records. You must fill out a form for each type of record. Pension and military records each give different details about the soldier you are researching, so it is best to order both.

In a few weeks, you will receive a reply telling you what was found in the Archives and how much it will cost to copy and ship the documents to you.

[ Top of Page ] [ Home ]

Last Updated: April 26, 2000

Questions, comments, or notices to Chris Brantley, brant@erols.com

Copyright © 1998 Chris J. Brantley to original material. No rights claimed as to previously published material or information in the public domain.