The fact that your ancestor fought in the Civil War and lived in a southern state does not mean that he was a Confederate soldier.  “Southern Loyalists” were citizens of southern states who sympathized with the northern cause to preserve the union.  Approximately 150,000 of them (or more) became Union soldiers.

The National Park Service’s Soldier’s and Sailors Database recognizes 93 Union regiments which formed in southern states.  In fact, there was at least one such loyalist regiment in every southern state, including the staunchly-secessionist state of South Carolina.

The following list identifies those 93 regiments and the number of “soldiers” that the database shows in each of them over the course of the war.  “Soldiers” is in quotes here because the Soldiers & Sailors database is known to contain some duplication – so the counts don’t necessarily represent unique soldiers.  On the other hand, many of these regiments only show a handful of soldiers – so it is clear that many records are missing.

West Virginia regiments are included in this list because, although it was a Union state, the area was in Confederate territory at the outbreak of the war.

It is not clear how many soldiers of the U. S. Colored Troops were former southern slaves – nor especially how many of them could rightly be described a “Southern Loyalist” whose motivation was to preserve the union.  But for the record, the database includes 228003 soldiers (including white northern officers) from 168 USCT regiments. They are not represented in this list.

Click on a link to read more about each regiment.

UNION REGIMENTS IN SOUTHERN STATES
(148124 “soldiers”)

ALABAMA (2842 soldiers)
1st Alabama Cavalry (2818)
1st Alabama Cavalry (New) (8)
1st Alabama Cavalry (Old) (8)
Independent Alabama Cavalry (6)
Unidentified Alabama (1)
Ward’s Battery, Alabama Light Artillery (1)

ARIZONA (655 soldiers)
1st Battalion, Arizona Infantry (655)

ARKANSAS (12946 soldiers)
1st Battalion, Arkansas Infantry (504)
1st Battery, Arkansas Light Artillery (252)
1st Arkansas Cavalry (2647)
1st Arkansas Infantry (1883)
2nd Arkansas Cavalry (2196)
2nd Arkansas Infantry (1396)
3rd Arkansas Cavalry (1968)
3rd Arkansas Infantry (5)
4th Arkansas Cavalry (1905)
4th Arkansas Infantry (183)
Unidentified Arkansas (7)

FLORIDA (2199 soldiers)
1st Regiment East Florida Cavalry (134)
1st Florida Cavalry (1086)
2nd Florida Cavalry (978)
Unassigned Florida Volunteers (1)

GEORGIA (195 soldiers)
1st Battalion, Georgia Infantry (195)

LOUISIANA (14686 soldiers)
1st Battalion, Louisiana Cavalry Scouts (531)
1st Louisiana Cavalry (3118)
1st Louisiana Infantry (2193)
1st New Orleans Infantry, Louisiana (2136)
2nd Louisiana Cavalry (1322)
2nd Louisiana Infantry (2021)
2nd New Orleans Infantry, Louisiana (383)
5th Louisiana Infantry (530)
6th Louisiana Infantry (Colored) (1028)
7th Louisiana Infantry (Colored) (970)
Headquarters Troops, Department of the Gulf, Louisiana (447)
Unidentified Louisiana (7)

MISSISSIPPI (903 soldiers)
1st Battalion, Mississippi Mounted Rifles (903)

NORTH CAROLINA (5217 soldiers)
1st North Carolina Infantry (1935)
2nd North Carolina Infantry (713)
2nd North Carolina Mounted Infantry (1108)
3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry (1460)
Unidentified North Carolina (1)

SOUTH CAROLINA (93 soldiers)
1st South Carolina Infantry (Colored) (93)

TENNESSEE (54086 soldiers)
10th Tennessee Cavalry (2086)
10th Tennessee Infantry (2473)
11th Tennessee Cavalry (1536)
12th Tennessee Cavalry (1876)
13th Tennessee Cavalry (2172)
14th Tennessee Cavalry (132)
1st Battalion, Tennessee Light Artillery (1898)
1st Tennessee Cavalry (2323)
1st Tennessee Independent Vidette Cavalry (936)
1st Tennessee Infantry (2120)
1st Tennessee Mounted Infantry (1247)
1st West Tennessee Cavalry (45)
2nd Tennessee Cavalry (2108)
2nd Tennessee Infantry (2170)
2nd Tennessee Mounted Infantry (1361)
3rd Tennessee Cavalry (1682)
3rd Tennessee Infantry (1357)
3rd Tennessee Mounted Infantry (904)
4th Tennessee Cavalry (1939)
4th Tennessee Infantry (1553)
4th Tennessee Mounted Infantry (1079)
5th Tennessee Cavalry (1798)
5th Tennessee Infantry (1799)
5th Tennessee Mounted Infantry (1294)
6th Tennessee Cavalry (2524)
6th Tennessee Infantry (1180)
6th Tennessee Mounted Infantry (758)
7th Tennessee Cavalry (1942)
7th Tennessee Infantry (715)
7th Tennessee Mounted Infantry (1153)
8th Tennessee Cavalry (2270)
8th Tennessee Infantry (1725)
8th Tennessee Mounted Infantry (541)
9th Tennessee Cavalry (2433)
9th Tennessee Mounted Infantry (23)
Beaty’s Company, Tennessee Independent Mounted Scouts (104)
Bradford’s Battalion, 13th Tennessee Cavalry (473)
National Guard, East Tennessee (344)
Unidentified Tennessee (13)

TEXAS (4370 soldiers)
1st Texas Cavalry (2781)
2nd Texas Cavalry (1080)
2nd Texas Cavalry (1 year, 1865) (202)
Hamilton’s Body Guard, Texas Cavalry (50)
Independent Partisan Rangers, Texas Cavalry (88)
Unidentified Texas (169)

VIRGINIA (2598 soldiers)
16th Virginia Infantry (1239)
1st Loyal Eastern Virginia Volunteers (123)
1st Virginia Infantry (851)
Dameron’s Independent Company, Virginia Volunteers (56)
Loudoun County Virginia Rangers (328)
Unidentified Virginia (1)

WEST VIRGINIA (47334 soldiers)
10th West Virginia Infantry (2757)
11th West Virginia Infantry (2076)
12th West Virginia Infantry (1712)
13th West Virginia Infantry (1641)
14th West Virginia Infantry (1522)
15th West Virginia Infantry (1798)
17th West Virginia Infantry (1363)
1st West Virginia Cavalry (2875)
1st West Virginia Infantry (1809)
1st West Virginia Light Artillery (2452)
1st West Virginia Veteran Infantry (1336)
2nd West Virginia Cavalry (2009)
2nd West Virginia Infantry (41)
2nd West Virginia Veteran Infantry (1101)
3rd West Virginia Cavalry (2181)
3rd West Virginia Infantry (34)
4th West Virginia Cavalry (1496)
4th West Virginia Infantry (1685)
5th West Virginia Cavalry (1784)
5th West Virginia Infantry (2165)
6th West Virginia Cavalry (2671)
6th West Virginia Infantry (3836)
7th West Virginia Cavalry (2547)
7th West Virginia Infantry (2421)
8th West Virginia Infantry (2)
9th West Virginia Infantry (1643)
Independent Company B, West Virginia Infantry (149)
Independent Company of Scouts, Raleigh County, West Virginia (1)
Independent Exempts, West Virginia Infantry (197)
Unassigned West Virginia (4)
Unidentified West Virginia (26)