Researching Your Civil War Ancestors - Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives

Like their Union adversaries, many Kentucky Confederates returned home from the conflict to find themselves under indictment for war-related acts. Circuit court case files and the papers of the Governors also contain a considerable amount of material pertaining to Confederate soldiers. These records may provide names of Confederate soldiers not found in official records.

KDLA also has other records that relate specifically to Kentucky's Confederate volunteers, including:

These records consist of over 136 rolls of microfilm pertaining to Confederate soldiers in Kentucky units. A microfilmed index provides the name, rank and unit of each soldier. Individual service files typically consist of abstracts from entries found in muster rolls, returns, rosters, payrolls, appointment books, hospital registers, Union prison registers, parole records, and inspection reports. These files may also contain papers relating solely to the particular soldier.

In addition to the records of Kentucky volunteers, the KDLA has copies of the records of Kentuckians who served in Confederate commands that were composed of volunteers from two or more southern states. For example, the 7th Confederate Cavalry Battalion was composed of companies recruited in eastern Kentucky and western Virginia. The names of these soldiers are not included in the index for Kentucky Confederate volunteers; however, the name of each Confederate volunteer is arranged alphabetically under each unit.

Records do not contain information on staff officers, or pro-Confederate citizens. Information on these groups may be obtained from the National Archives.

The Louisville Military Prison was Kentucky's primary facility for the confinement of prisoners-of-war. It served as a major shipping point for prisoners bound for the prison camps of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Obtained from the National Archives, these microfilmed records cover the period from 1862 to 1865. The register for civilian prisoners contains references to those Kentuckians charged with treason, spying or engaging in guerrilla warfare.

Many Kentucky Confederates were confined in this facility between 1863 and 1865. Records relating to military prisoners were abstracted for inclusion in the compiled service records for Kentucky Confederate volunteers. The registers relating to civilian prisoners contain information on Kentuckians charged with engaging in guerrilla warfare or various acts of disloyalty to the U.S. government.

The Register was compiled in 1912 by the U. S. Office of the Commissioner for Marking the Graves of Confederate Dead. This microfilmed record was obtained from the National Archives. Those searching for Kentucky Confederates should concentrate on cemeteries located in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana or Illinois. Soldiers names are arranged alphabetically within each cemetery.

These records are applications for pardon submitted by former Kentucky Confederates to President Andrew Johnson between 1865 and 1867. Arranged alphabetically by surname, the amnesty papers provide information on a cross-section of both soldiers and civilians who supported the South.

This two-volume report was published in 1915 in conformity with a resolution of the Kentucky General Assembly which called for the collection of "all the data obtainable concerning the different organizations who enlisted or served in the Army of the Confederate States in the War of the Rebellion." Based primarily on surviving muster rolls, the report, which contains many errors and omissions, remains an adequate source for initial research. An index is available.

Passed by the Kentucky General Assembly on March 4, 1912, the Confederate Pension Act provided aid to indigent and disabled Confederate veterans and their widows. In some cases, the application and supporting documents are the only surviving records of a soldier's service. Generally, each application contains the veteran's date and place of birth, his unit designation, and term of service. Some files may also contain marriage and death records. The Index of Confederate Pension Applications, published by KDLA in 1978, provides access to this material.

The Confederate Veterans Home, which was located at Pewee Valley in Oldham County, was established by an Act of the Kentucky General Assembly in 1902. This collection of material remains largely unprocessed. A list of inmates dated 1912 is among the records available to researchers on microfilm. Unprocessed material includes applications for admission by Confederate veterans on microfiche as well as Reference Book B, and a roster of applicants dated 1903-1909.

The least obvious source for information on Kentucky Confederates is the Compiled Service Records for Union volunteers. In many cases Southern sympathizers were drafted or otherwise forced into the Union army against their will. These records frequently yield references to "desertion to the enemy," i.e. the Confederate Army. Researchers may want to check both the Union and Confederate Indexes to these records when they begin research.

Additional clues may be found in the 1890 Census of Union Veterans. Many Confederate veterans were accidentally enumerated in this census. While their names are lightly crossed out , the information is still legible. As in the case of Union veterans, said information includes rank, unit, length of service, and the nature of the service related disability. The 1910 Federal Population Census contains a category for both Union and Confederate veterans. Veterans are denoted by a "U" or a "C" in the appropriate column.