{"id":7219,"date":"2014-05-23T15:50:45","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T15:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=7219"},"modified":"2023-03-11T08:06:53","modified_gmt":"2023-03-11T13:06:53","slug":"researching-old-military-records-war-stories-in-newspapers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/researching-old-military-records-war-stories-in-newspapers.html","title":{"rendered":"Researching Old Military Records & War Stories in Newspapers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: <\/em>In this article, Scott Phillips searches old newspapers for articles about his ancestors\u2019 military service and records\u2014just in time to help you research your military ancestors during this Memorial Day weekend. Scott is a genealogical historian and owner of Onward To Our Past\u00ae genealogy services.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

As we commemorate Memorial Day this weekend, honoring the men and women who have died while in military service, you might feel inspired to research your veteran ancestors.<\/p>\n

In our genealogy work, we frequently find ourselves having to use a wide variety of techniques to ferret out an obscure clue when we are working on our family histories. Often, this is especially true when we are working on the military service history of our ancestors.<\/p>\n

One technique I have found to be especially valuable is searching GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a> for articles that relate to my military ancestors. It can be a very successful genealogy strategy, as well as introducing you to some valuable history and stories.<\/p>\n

Researching My Civil War Ancestor<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"painting<\/a>
Painting: Civil War Battle of Five Forks, Virginia, showing a charge led by Union General Philip Sheridan. The author\u2019s ancestor was killed during this battle. Credit: Kurz & Allison; Library of Congress.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Recently I was researching one of my ancestors, Captain James Ham. I decided that rather than simply search on his name, I would search on the military unit he had enlisted in during the United States Civil War: the Pennsylvania 17th Cavalry. My first newspaper archive search on the \u201cSeventeenth Pennsylvania\u201d returned some very interesting results, such as this 1862 article from a Pennsylvania newspaper.<\/p>\n

The newspaper article is headlined: \u201cThe Camps at Harrisburg. A Visit to Camp McClellan.\u201d Initially, the reporter gives us a detailed, firsthand account of what conditions were like at Camp McClellan, such as: \u201cMud and slush seem to be the main characteristics\u2026\u201d; and, \u201cThese are cavalry men. But few of them have yet received their horses. They are but novices in the art and science of soldiery; but yet the men of Camp McClellan are remarkably well-disciplined.\u201d<\/p>\n

List of Calvary Regiments<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then the news article continues on to list the three new Cavalry regiments, one of which was the 17th. I was delighted to find this newspaper article contained every officer of the regiment\u2014and listed as a first lieutenant was my ancestor James Ham.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 21 November 1862, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next news article I came across was published after the war, from an 1880 New York newspaper. This report particularly caught my eye since it was at the Battle of Five Forks in Virginia that James lost his life to enemy fire. This newspaper article, though short, was firsthand testimony by Colonel Henry C. Durland, the commander of the PA 17th, and it reported for the first time the losses by my ancestor\u2019s regiment of \u201cseven officers and thirty privates.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Losses<\/a>
New York Herald (New York, New York), 15 October 1880, page 9<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

War Stories Abound<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I continued my newspaper research, I discovered dozens of news articles that reported on the military battles and movements of the PA 17th, which included more famous Civil War battle locations including Fredericksburg, Richmond, Petersburg, and several others\u2014and often included fascinating first-person accounts of those battles.<\/p>\n

Researching My Indian Fighter Ancestor<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Photo: Chiricahua Apache Chief Victorio, c.1875. The author\u2019s ancestor fought against the Apaches. Credit: Wikipedia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here is another example of the value in using newspaper articles to fill in your genealogy and learn about an ancestor\u2019s military service. One of my great, great uncles, Frantisek Vicha, served in the U.S. Army in Company \u201cD\u201d of the 16th Infantry while fighting in what we know as the \u201cIndian Wars.\u201d From previous research, I knew that he enlisted in 1878 and was discharged due to disability in 1881. However, I knew little about the Indian Wars and practically nothing about my ancestor\u2019s military service.<\/p>\n

My first research finding in GenealogyBank\u2019s newspapers was an old article from a 1919 New Jersey newspaper. This historical newspaper article listed the (unfortunate) multitude of Indian Wars and gave me a good overview of these conflicts and the time period when my ancestor fought.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey), 5 January 1919, page 6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next article I located was from an 1880 Pennsylvania newspaper. This historical news article reported that \u201cCompany D, Sixteenth Infantry\u201d\u2014my ancestor\u2019s company\u2014was one of those sent in relief of General Hatch, who was pursuing \u201cVictorio\u2019s band of Apaches in New Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 2 June 1880, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now I had a location that I could work from, with even more focus. I then began to search on Victorio\u2019s Apaches and found this article from an 1880 Texas newspaper.<\/p>\n

\"Victorio's<\/a>
Galveston Weekly News (Galveston, Texas), 8 July 1880, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I found dozens more newspaper articles detailing several battles and the movements of Victorio and his fellow Apaches. An interesting and helpful article was published much later, in a 1921 Arizona newspaper. This detailed article covers the time in Apache history when Victorio was the \u201caccredited war chief\u201d of the Ojo Caliente Apaches, including his death in 1880.<\/p>\n

\"Apache,<\/a>
Tucson Daily Citizen (Tucson, Arizona), 22 May 1921, section: second, page 8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then of course there was another old article I discovered about my Indian fighter ancestor, from an 1889 Ohio newspaper. This article reported an entirely different fight Frank Vicha had on his hands\u2014but that one took place in a courtroom, and will have to be a story all its own for another time!<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), 17 March 1889, page 6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Historical newspapers are a great way to weave together the story of your veteran ancestor\u2019s military service, and find more military records. Have you had success in finding your ancestors\u2019 military records using newspapers? Tell us what you\u2019ve discovered in the archives about your ancestor\u2019s military service in the comments section below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this article, Scott Phillips searches old newspapers for articles about his ancestors\u2019 military service and records and provides some search tips.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12713],"tags":[12,2719,2460],"class_list":["post-7219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genealogy-research-tips","tag-genealogy","tag-genealogy-search-tips","tag-military-records"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/illustration-1011-2016-featured-graphic-civil-war-battle-of-chickamauga.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7219"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89997,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7219\/revisions\/89997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}