Military records can provide the family historian with a wealth of genealogical data.
And the fact that since the founding of our country, hardly a single generation has past without a military event of some kind makes military records very important for family historians. In beginning, knowledge of history, military history, and military operations is essential to effectively use military records. Placing the military engagement in the proper chronological and geographic context allows one to capture the most amount of data possible about an ancestor. There are several major or significant types of military records. These records include company musters, rolls, rosters, enlistments, discharges, prisoner lists, records of burial, and oaths of allegiance to mention a few.