Use this article to help find and use soldier records and memorabilia for ancestry research.
Researching and writing about military service and war experiences before 1900 will be very challenging but not impossible. This article will help provide insights and direction on finding records to help you build and write a narrative about a Mexican War soldier. Civil War soldier stories can be about the individual who served in the military and the individuals who stayed home, such as spouses, children, extended family, and friends.
The following categories and additional resources are provided to aid your research and finding of military records for the Mexican War 1846-1848 :
- Finding Mexican War 1846-1848 Military Record
- Finding Evidence of Individuals Who Served in the U.S. Military
- Search for the Following Records
See these articles to help you find articles for other military records.
| How to Find Other U.S. Military Records | ||
| WWII 1939-45 |
WWI 1914-1918 |
Civil War 1861-1865 |
| Mexican War 1846-1848 |
Early Indian Wars 1815-1858 |
War of 1812 1812-1814 |
| Revolutionary War 1776-1783 |
||
Finding Mexican War 1846-1848 Military Records
The U.S. Mexican War (also known as the Mexican-American War and US Mexican War) began due to the U.S. annexation of Texas. War was declared on May 13, 1846, and ended on February 2, 1848, with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo. During the War, there were several significant battles, the most famous being “The Alamo.” The treaty fixed the Rio Grand River as the boundary of Texas. It required Mexico to cede to the United States all the territory that makes up the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming in return for $15 million. There were 35,000 U.S. Army soldiers and 73,000 volunteers who fought in the War. Most volunteers came from Southern states (e.g., Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas.) U.S. soldiers served in the War with an age range 15-50 years old.
Finding Evidence of Individuals Who Served in the U.S. Military
The following are a few tips I have used to define if an individual might have served in the military during this period.
- List all the wars that existed during each individual’s lifetime and their age during the War? As a rule of thumb, the age range for soldiers during a war period is 16-60.
- Look for clues that might be found on gravestones, family papers, obituaries, and biographies.
- Look where the person lived. Does the individual live on what is referred to as the frontier (westernmost land) of the United States in the early 1800′? This might indicate that he received bounty lands.
- Search indexes for military land patents and other military records. If you don’t find a person in one index, try another. It is not uncommon to have individuals who were veterans of multiple wars.
- Identify if the veteran belongs to the regular Army, state militia or another unit. Were they in the Army, Navy or Marines? Answers to these questions will guide you to where to find the records.
Search for the Following Records
Pension records
Pension records usually include the veterans’ rank, residence, age or date of birth, and time of service. The widow’s application may include her place of residence, her maiden name, the date and place of marriage, the date and lace of her husband’s death, and the names of children under 16. A child’s or heir’s file contains information about the veteran and the widow and child’s place of residence, date of birth, and date and place of the widow’s death. If your ancestor did not receive a pension, see if his pension request was denied. Pension applications, pension-payment records and many other military records for all U.S. forces 1775–1916 are held at the NARA in Washington, D.C.
Bounty land applications and warrants
Congress granted bounty-land warrants for service in the Mexican War in 1847. Veterans could apply for bounty land, and they were entitled to 160. Copies of the bounty land files will show where the veteran settled after the War, and provide a physical description, age, and place of birth. The actual bounty land warrants have less information. Digitized land patents may be found on the Bureau of Land Management.
Service records
The service records consist of compiled (CMSRs) formed in the 1890s from various sources (e.g., muster rolls, descriptive rolls, payrolls.) The service records can show the soldier’s name, rank, regimental unit (usually showing the last name of the regimental commander), the company commander’s name, dates of service and pay, whether the soldier was a substitute, date of discharge, and sometimes, distance to the soldier’s home from the place of discharge, date of death, if applicable, and periods of sickness. Microfilm records exist for soldiers serving from Arkansas, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Mormon volunteers (Mormon Battalion).
Societies
Search for information and records provided by various societies related to the Mexican War, including Descendants of Mexican War Veterans, Aztec Club of 1847 and National Association of Veterans of the Mexican War.
On the Internet
To find records and learn more about the War of 1812, try the following Google searches
- Mexican War Index to pension applications files
- Mexican War bounty land applications OR warrants
- Mexican War service records
- Mexican War FamilySearch OR Ancestry.com OR Fold3
- National Archives Mexican War
- Mexican War societies
- Texas Mexican War (Replace Texas with the desired state)
- The United States Mexican War
- Mexican War history
Search the cemetery
Finding graves of an individual is hit and miss. Resources to consider as a
- Department of Veterans Affairs National Gravesite Locator. Search for burial locations of veterans and their family members in V.A. National Cemeteries, state veterans cemeteries, various other military and Department of Interior cemeteries, and for veterans buried in private cemeteries when the grave is marked with a government grave marker using the Gravesite Locator.
