Upon receiving your order, we will search available online indexes to determine which records exist at the National Archives for your soldier. There is no charge for that effort. If we find your records in the indexes, then we will go to the National Archives on your behalf, conduct a hands-on search, and make digital
Records are actively being digitized by the National Archives and third-party companies like Fold3.com. Once a record has been digitized, it is placed out of circulation (or even destroyed) so that the originals are no longer accessible by the public. If we find that your records are available online, then we will refer you to
We typically retrieve service files, pension files, medical records, Court Martial records, Bounty Land, and other Federal land records from the 19th century. If you would like us to retrieve a different kind of record, then feel free to contact us and we will provide advice or a quote for that service.
If, once you have paid our invoice, we determine that our copies of the records (if any) are not faithful reproductions of the original, then we will certainly make it right (e.g., by correcting the file or by revisiting NARA). That is very rarely necessary, however. It is your responsibility to ascertain that you are
Our prices are based on a flat rate according to the average amount of effort that it takes to retrieve each type of record that you request. The prices for the most common record types are outlined on this page. Or before actually placing an order, you could also review the Order Form which reflects
A service file typically contains records of the soldier’s military service, including enlistment, promotions, transfers, discharge, and the soldier’s presence or absence on paydays, among other things. Although the contents of a service file is usually military in nature, it may contain some biographical or genealogical information. For more details about the typical contents of a
We can retrieve 19th-century records of various types from the National Archives in Washington D.C. These span the period of the War of 1812, Mexican War, Indian Wars, Civil War (Union), Spanish-American War, and the Philippine Insurrection, as well as for peacetime during that same period. For military personnel, we can copy service files, pension
Yes, you can! If you live close to Washington, D.C., then you can go there yourself and get your hands on the original documents. It can be thrilling to have your ancestor’s pension file in your hands, knowing that he held those same documents, some of which bear his signature. You can then take photos
Yes, you can! You can submit a request that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) pull and copy the files for you. This is typically much more expensive and has been known to take many weeks and often many months to get the documents. And while we deliver color copies of the documents, NARA’s
Our principal service is to pull records from the National Archives and duplicate them for you. If you don’t know if your ancestor was a soldier or you don’t know what records you want us to duplicate, then there are still some things that we can do to help you. First, we recommend that you