Local History and Genealogical Research in the University Libraries: R. Civil War Genealogical Research

New Theatre (the Lyric) and Store Building for the Blacksburg Realty Company

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Monday-Friday 8am-5pm & By Appointment

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Email: specref@vt.edu
Telephone: 540-231-6308
Twitter: @VT_SCUA
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• Roster of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865: 16 volumes. Lists name, rank, regiments, and company.E548 H4 Special Collections
• Roster of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865: 33 volumes. Lists individuals by state and by name, rank, regiment, and company.E494 H4 Special Collections
• Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Virginia: Complete record for Virginia soldiers, by company within regiment. E581.4 .C65 Newman Microfilm. 
  • The library also holds compiled Confederate service records for Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas on microfilm.
• War of the Rebellion: A compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate Armies: ("The OR"). 128 original volumes plus supplements and indexes. Consists of battle reports, written by field commanders, immediately after the events. Some individual soldiers are mentioned by name. E464 U6 Special Collections, Newman 3rd floor, and Remote Storage (requires notice for retrieval)
• Regimental Histories: Search Addison or WorldCat by the number of regiment and the state, such as "4th Virginia." Many of these publications contain rosters of unit members.
• Medical and Surgical History of the Civil War:12 volumes. Encyclopedic, with lengthy articles and statistics. The index lists individuals by name. RD205 U5 1990 & INDEX Special Collections and Newman 4th floor
• Confederate Veteran: 40 volumes. Magazine containing reminiscences of Confederate veterans. A separate 3-volume index is also available. E482 C73 Special Collections
• Southern Historical Society Papers: 52 volumes. Published 1876-1959. E483.7 S76 Special Collections and Remote Storage (requires notice for retrieval)
• Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States: 60 volumes. Papers, sketches, and personal narratives. E464 .M55 1991 Special Collections
• Roll of Honor: Names of soldiers who died in defense of the American Union, interred in the national cemetaries. 10 volumes. E494 .R65 1994 Special Collections

Special Collections collects, preserves, and provides access to more than 1600 manuscript collections including personal and professional papers, correspondence, business papers and ledgers, family papers, architectural drawings, legal documents, maps, photographs, oral histories, and other ephemera. We have more than 400 collections relating specifically to the Civil War. 

You can search and view finding aids (collection guides) for manuscript materials in Virginia Tech Special Collections online through the Virginia Heritage Project. Select "Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University" under repositories. You can search by keyword. Alternatively, you can browse collections here and click on the "Civil War" heading on the left side to bring up Civil War related collections at Virginia Tech. You can search within those results using the "Search" box above the list of headings.

You can also visit Special Collections M-F from 8am-5pm on the 1st floor of Newman Library, email us at specref@vt.edu, or call us at 540-231-6308. We're happy to help you get started!