Nathaniel Taylor
5th Regiment Mississippi Cavalry
Company "B" *

Finding your ancestors records can be quite easy.  Below I'm going to show you just how easy it can be.  Following these simple steps and throwing in a dash of patience will make your hunting enjoyable and quite educational.  Before you know it, you'll be talking about the War for Southern Independence non-stop!  Click here for a partial example of a Confederate Military Record  This is my Grandfather Alderman's (X2) Record.

Click here to see what a Microfilm Census record photo-copy looks like.
 
 

1.) Talk to Your Grandparents.

  "Grandparents!  The war was 136 years ago, how would they know?" Yes, Your Grandparents.  For example, my Grandmother on my fathers side remembers her grandmother getting her Confederate Soldiers Widow's check from the State of Mississippi.   When you start your research you'll see that most soldiers were born  from the 1830's to the 1850's.   Now lets do some math.  let's say Grandpa' Johnny was born in 1843.  Subtract 1861 (start of the war)  from 1843.  You'll get 18 of course.  This is just to give you an idea.  A lot of soldiers were a lot younger - Some as young as 12!   Ok, lets say Great Grandpa' Johnny Rebel survives the war.  He surrenders, turns in his gun and walks home wishing he could have killed more Yankees while it was still somewhat legal.  Back to the farm, raise a big family and live a quiet life in the hills.  Years go by, Great Grandpa' Johnny is now the ripe old' age of 80 Years young and he's at a United Confederate Veterans meeting with a few of his old time friends.  What year is it?  Why it's 1923!  Where did the time go?  Lots of American are in their 90's today.  They can very easily say that their Grandparents fought during the War for Southern Independence.  You being a Great Grandchild or Grandchild (X2) can very easily find this out if you just ask.  A lot of "old timers" can still smell the powder burning.
 

2.)  Family Tree/Census Information

  The good old family tree!  Lets say Aunt Susie loves doing Genealogy.  She's got the family traced back all the way to Inverness, Scotland.  Only problem is that Aunt Susie just has names and dates.  "What am I going do with that?" you might say?  This is where the State Archives Comes in.  You have the names in your family tree.  Only problem is that it's very vague.  Most family trees will have the State/county and year of birth for each individual (that is if Aunt Susie wrote it all down right).  Find your local library and see if they have the State County Census information down on Microfilm. You'll find this in most of your larger libraries.  If you are lucky enough to live in the Capitol of your state, find the State Library and Archives (every state has one).  There is always a helpful volunteer that will show you how to use the machines.  Usually looking at the family tree you'll see a large gap of children not being born during the 1861-65 period.  This is a big sign that "Great Grandpa" was in the war (this is if he was married at the time).  Supposing you are in the same state that your ancestor was living during the war will make finding his service record easy as craw dad pie!  Tell the volunteer that you have the name "Johnny Doe Rebel" age 18 in 1861 and that you would like to see a index list of Confederate Soldiers from the State.  Most States will have a index to most Soldiers.  Pension applications are almost always cataloged.  Once you have a regiment he belonged to, then you head towards making copies of the Microfilm of his service record.

  I've tried to condense this as much as I can.  Feel free to write me with any questions in searching for your ancestors service records. If you don't have the time to use your taxed paid library, I'll be more than happy to do a search for you!  I do lookups on your ancestor for free. I can only tell you which regiment he was in and give you a short history on that regiment. If you want more detailed records we can negotiate a small fee.   I have access to every name of every Confederate Soldier that fought during the War of Northern aggression, A.K.A. War for Southern Independence. All I'll need is a name.  I'll e-mail you a list of every individual who fought under that name and his regiment.  If you're more precise I can send information on his regiment and all the battles fought.  Please put "Research Request" in the subject line of you're e-mail and I'll get back to you A.S.A.P.!
 
 

Confederate State Archives links

Arkansas 

North Carolina 

South Carolina 

Florida 

Georgia 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Louisiana State University "War of Northern Aggression" Research help. (Great Site!)

Maryland 

Mississippi

Missouri

Tennessee 

Texas 

Last but not least, the Sovereign State of....

Virginia 
 

Confederate and Union help

For those who would like to try the National Archives and Records Administration to obtain their Confederate or UNION ancestor's record/s
 
 
 

 *Nathaniel Taylor was with "B" company of the 5th Mississippi Cavalry.  His headstone is mis-marked.
 
 

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