Search Instructions

I want to search for one of my ancestors in a soldier’s family tree

Type your ancestor’s first and last name into the keyword search fields and click Search. If your ancestor exists in our database, their name will show up in the search results. If so, click on their name to view their profile.
Once you are viewing your ancestor’s profile, click the family tree icon next to their name. This will direct you to their family tree, but will not show the entire tree.
To view the entire tree, make note of the name at the top of the page. This is the name of the soldier your ancestor is associated with. Navigate back to the Keyword Search page, type in the soldier’s name, and click search.
From the search results, select your soldier’s family tree (labeled “Family Tree – [First Last]”). This will show you the soldier’s entire family tree on our website.
We have also created a version of this family tree at Ancestry.com. Start by navigating to the Search for a Soldier page. Once there, put the first and last name of the soldier in the search fields. In the search results, click the View button in the far right. This will take you to the database record for that soldier. Scroll down to the Family Information section. At the bottom of that section, click on the link that says “View tree on Ancestry.com” (please note that a paid subscription to Ancestry is required).

Type the soldier’s first and last name into the respective boxes on the Search for a Soldier page and click search. This will return results of all soldiers with that name in a table.
a. The search results may display an alternate name for the soldier, so you may not see the name you know listed in the search results. For example, one soldier enlisted as John Hall but was known post-war as John Stubblefield. Viewing John Stubblefield’s Details and Documents page confirms that he enlisted as John Hall.
Find the soldier in the table, and click View (next to his name). This will direct you to that soldier’s Details and Documents page.
Scroll to the Family Tree section of the Details and Documents to view the tree, on this website or on Ancestry.com (paid subscription to Ancestry required).

Type the enslaver’s first and last name into the respective fields on the Search by an Enslaver page and click search. This will return results of all published soldiers in our database who were enslaved by that person.
a. Alternatively, you can search an enslaver by just a last name, and the results will include all soldiers enslaved by people with that last name.
To learn more about a soldier or his enslaver, click the option to View next to their name. This will direct you to that soldier’s Details and Documents page. Scroll down to the Enslaver Information section to view the enslaver’s census records, slave schedules, personal and real estate value where applicable, and other information retrieved by our researchers.