I have used Ancestry.com quite extensively, and have been very successful with finding war records (actual pictures). My great-grandfather has several documents on the site, from WWI. But when I try to find war records of his father or grandfather (which are all right in the same area, I now reside), I come up with nothing. I would think records would exist at least as far back as the Civil War. Is there a better place online to look for such records?
Are you a member of Fold3 via Ancestry.com? I don't think it's fair at *all* that you need to pay for that subscription separately so I refuse to do it after paying $300/yr for Ancestry. It's military records, though... one time a few months ago they had a free weekend and I poked my nose in there to see what it was like. I was not impressed in the least and found out absolutely nothing. I search for things like "New York Civil War Records" and sometimes things come up. There are many separate Civil War rosters online, too. Some of them have great information. There are also a number of books out with soldier information... I have some from both sides. Now... I realize you may mean actual paper records. If that's that case, I have no idea, but I'd probably try to write to the proper authorities in the states you need to see if there's any way they can be obtained.
No, I don't have additional services. As a matter of fact, I usually only pay for Ancestry about two months out of the year, at the beginning, when I have extra money from taxes. That is usually enough time for me to find all the information I need, and peruse any new files that they have added. I would prefer actual pictures of the documents, but any files and/or information would be useful.
Are there any other ways to get military records beside Ancestory.com? I thought there was through the military archives. I don't know how far back that would go though. There should be another website just for this information though. These days everything is online.
For the Civil War, you would need to search for specific regimental rosters... sometimes there are pictures of documents, yes... but there are TONS of books on any given regiment... whole books on the people and events surrounding the regiments and individual companies. Some of the rosters list pretty much about the soldiers (I've been doing this for years and it's fascinating!) but some are rather shoddy. Now, I will say that it's been *much* easier to find information about Federal troops than the Confederate. And it's not always accurate... like if I see a reported KIA, I still need to dig further because sometimes they were reported on rosters as killed when they actually ended up surviving. Sometimes they were MIA and turned up at a prison camp later... so it should all be confirmed with at least two sources (that are not actually getting information from each other because they often do that!). I absolutely love this work!
