Then, you will just LOVE the latest offering from the NC Department of Cultural Resources (NCDCR). Just today they announced the online availability of the master index to the seminal work “North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865: A Roster” and I know many a researcher will be ecstatic!
A project that began back in 1961, the book collection, currently at 18 volumes, contains 115,000 names of North Carolinians who served in the Civil War. NCDCR projects that at least another 4 volumes are forthcoming for publication so the database will very likely be added to as the volumes continue to be published. From the email announcement today:
The rosters in each volume are arranged numerically by regiment or battalion and alphabetically by company. Each roster is preceded by a unit history giving information about where it was raised and how it was designated. Officers and enlisted men are listed in separate sections alphabetically by surname. Each name is followed by a service record that includes information such as the soldier’s county of birth and residence; his age and occupation at time of enlistment; promotions; whether he was wounded, captured or killed; and whether he deserted or died of disease.
You can access the index online at http://cwroster.ncdcr.gov/. To search, click on the “Entries” tab and enter a surname into the search box in the far right corner of the screen. Once you’ve identified an entry of interest, you can either find the book at a library near you, or purchase the books from NCDCR.
Many thanks to NCDCR for this great resource!
Even though I have all 18 volumes of this massive resource, I’m tickled to death to see a master index which saves me oodles of time looking thru each volume for a name. I’ve just added this wonderful index to my 5 sites under the military categories.
oh my! you have all 18 volumes! 🙂 This is a great resource indeed – I’m so happy they released it online. I need to add it to my counties and will be doing so tonight. Thanks Kay Lynn.
the entry link doesn’t work- you cannot type a name in
Hi Anne – have you tried in different browsers? I just tried it and was able to do a successful search.
After 15 minutes of effort to access the index, I give up. It’s a pity that someone can’t develope a means of using the index to find information on my four great grandfathers who served in the Confederqte Army. Since I have the complete set of 19 volumes I’ll just check the indexes of each one.
Hi John – if you are experiencing problems using the index, I highly recommend contacting them via their page at http://www.ncdcr.gov/Contact.aspx. Best of luck!