You may search by two-letter state abbreviation (e.g. NY, CT, VT),
or by single words, (e.g., artillery, Zouaves, Excelsior, surgeon).
You may also search by multiple words, but remember, multiple words
are searched together as one phrase. Thus, the order of words matters.
The order of entry is:
1. Regiment number
2. State (two-letter abbreviation)
3. Branch
E.g., 6 NY Artillery; 59 MA Infantry; 6 US Cavalry
Use the Boolean operator AND if you are not sure of the word order
or wish to override phrase searching.
Examples:
| Search term |
Number of hits |
| NY Artillery |
157 records match "NY Artillery" exactly |
| Artillery NY (wrong word order) |
0 records match "Artillery NY" exactly |
NY AND Artillery
Or
Artillery AND NY |
469 records contain the words "NY" and "Artillery" even
when not adjacent, including records for "NY Light Artillery" and "NY
Heavy Artillery" |
Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT can be used to refine any search.
E.g., searching Artillery NOT NY retrieves all artillery units
except those from New York.
Additional tips on searching:
| Tip |
Example |
| Use Operators (AND, OR, AND NOT) to override Adjacency. |
|
| Use AND or OR to search the words in any order. |
potomac and army
shay OR shea |
| Use NOT to exclude words. |
CT NOT US |
| Use wildcards to replace letters in a word. |
?, * |
| Use a question mark ? to replace a single letter in the word. |
s?mpson |
| Use an asterisk * to replace multiple letters at the asterisk's
position. |
|
Related pages: Find a Name Read a Soldier's File
