Remembering Our Fallen Ancestors Who Served in the Military

Happy Memorial Day! This day has turned into the unofficial start of summer, but it was never created as a day to show off our barbecue skills or to bring our white jeans and shoes out of storage. The huge casualty toll of the Civil War was responsible for more gravesites than anyone could possibly have imagined, leading to the first "Decoration Day" on 30 May 1868 at Arlington National Cemetery. More than 5,000 people gathered to listen to future U.S. president James Garfield commending people for coming together to "pay their tribute of grateful homage" by walking through the cemetery and decorating the graves of fallen soldiers. During the next few decades, the idea of decorating soldiers' graves became widespread. By 1890, all of the former Union states had an official Decoration Day. Eventually, the name changed to Memorial Day, and by the end of World War II, soldiers from all American wars were being remembered throughout the country. In 1971, the name of the day was changed, and the fourth Monday in May became the fixed day of the holiday. Most of us have military ancestors who served and died in far-off places over hundreds of years. We certainly can't go to all of their graves to place wreaths or leave flowers, but we have an alternative for you, if you would like to remember their service.

Veteran Bounty Land Records

You can honor your military ancestors from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and miscellaneous frontier conflicts by joining the National Genealogical Society (NGS), the DAR (Daughters of American Revolution), and FamilySearch, as well as many genealogy societies around the country (including StLGS) in supporting the campaign to preserve veteran bounty land records. More than 360,000 case records of soldiers and their families are housed at the National Archives. These records are currently in poor condition, and they remain inaccessible to researchers. We have the chance to ensure their preservation and make them available online, but it takes money. The National Genealogical Society is now spearheading a project to save these records, and all of us can help!

What are these records?

• The U.S. government paid soldiers in land to attract more recruits and reward them for their service during the Revolution, the War of 1812, and the subsequent Indian and Mexican-American wars.
• If a soldier served before 1850, he was eligible, no matter what his ethnicity, so many African Americans and Native Americans are included in this record set.
• Widows and children could also apply for benefits.
• Records may contain a wealth of genealogical information, including copies of pages from bibles, handwritten testimonies, affidavits, military history, and much more.

Why the urgency?

These deteriorating papers are languishing in the National Archives. There is currently no money for doing anything with them, and there appears to be no political will in Congress to push for funds.

If the genealogy community does not act to preserve them, they eventually will be too far gone to save.

How can we help?

It's going to take about $2.5 million to digitize and publish these records, and NGS has made a commitment to raise the money by 2027. They are almost halfway there as of this weekend. If you would like to donate to honor your military ancestors, you can now easily do so. 

Go to https://form-renderer-app.donorperfect.io/give/national-genealogical-society/veteran-bounty-land-records-project for an online donation form. If you prefer to mail a check, you can send it to the National Genealogical Society, 6400 Arlington Blvd., Suite 660, Falls Church, VA 22042-2318.

All of us working together can surely save these records to honor the heroes in our families!