Patriot In Lay Terms

Guide 4 of 10 · Sources last checked 2026-10-31 · Written with AI; every fact is tied to a quoted official source (how this works)

Revolutionary War Records by State: Where Each Kind of Service Was Recorded

The most common dead end in Revolutionary War research is searching the right name in the wrong repository. Where a record sits depends mostly on who the ancestor served for. This guide gives you a decision procedure first and a list of starting points second.

The one rule that decides most searches

The National Archives holds records of Continental troops and of state troops that served as Continental troops.[1] It does not hold state militia records.[1] For militia service, NARA's advice is to check with the archives of the state in which the soldier served.[1]

Decision procedure

  1. Identify the type of service. Continental Army, state troops, militia, navy, or civil and patriotic service.
  2. Continental, or state troops serving as Continentals: start with the federal compiled service records and rolls (below).
  3. Militia: go to the state archives or state library of the state he served for, and check the pension files too, since the 1832 act opened pensions to militia service.[2]
  4. Civil or patriotic service, such as town office, committees, oaths or supplies: DAR lists oaths of allegiance, town meeting minutes and county court orders among service sources, so start with town and county records, then the state archives.[3]
  5. Unsure: search the federal pension files first. A veteran's application normally gives his former rank, unit and period of service, which tells you where to search next.[4]

When you record the result, DAR's service-state field means the state the ancestor served for.[5] For military service it is the state in control of his unit, not every state he marched through.[5]

Federal records: what exists and what it covers

SeriesWhat it isNotes
M881Compiled military service records, 1,096 rolls[1]In the National Archives Catalog as NAID 570910[6]
M860Name index to those compiled records, 58 rolls[1]Start here for a name search
M246Revolutionary War rolls, 138 rolls[1]In the Catalog as NAID 602384[6]
M920, M1051, M257Indexes for Connecticut[1], Georgia[1] and North Carolina[1] organizationsState-specific indexes
M804Pension and bounty-land application files[6]Includes militia veterans who applied under later acts
M910Virginia half-pay pension files[1]Virginia-specific
M829Bounty-land warrants used in the Ohio military district, acts of 1788, 1803 and 1806[1]Land, not service, but often names the soldier

Compiled service records were assembled in the 1890s from muster rolls, descriptive rolls and pay rolls.[1] They were made as substitutes for records destroyed by fires in 1800 and 1814.[1] So a Continental soldier may have served and still have no compiled service record.[1] To order copies, NARA uses NATF Form 86 for service records[7] and NATF Form 85 for pension and pre-1856 bounty-land files.[7]

State and society repositories

The New York Public Library's guide lists examples of state repositories with Revolutionary War finding aids, including:

NYPL says its list is representative, not exhaustive.[8] For other states it suggests searching for the State Archives or the State Historical Society.[8]

DAR's Patriot Records Project index covers the 13 original states and some newer states, including Maine, Vermont and Ohio.[9] It has indexed over 500,000 documents[9] and includes some French and Spanish records.[9] DAR's Revolutionary War Pension Index also names other people mentioned in pension papers, such as witnesses, which can surface service that appears only in someone else's file.[9]

One state example: Virginia

Virginia shows how state records add to the federal ones. After a 1779 act, Virginia offered its own bounty land for Revolutionary War service.[10] State bounty land went to soldiers or sailors with at least three years of continuous Continental or state service.[10] No state bounty land was given for militia service.[10] The Library of Virginia has put images of those state bounty-land application files and certificate files online.[10] The federal Virginia half-pay files are a separate NARA series.[1]

Related guides: Bounty Land Warrants, How to Read a Pension File, Patriotic Service Without a Musket.

What to do next

  1. Record the patriot and each generation in the free Lineage Evidence Matrix. It gives you a to-do list of what is missing and where to look, fitted to each person's era and state, and a plan you can print.
  2. If a widow applied for a pension, check which widow pension laws fit with the free Widow Pension Law Checker.
  3. Find a local chapter. DAR's Chapter Locator finds DAR chapters in your area.[11] For SAR, your sponsor is often the local chapter registrar; pick your state on SAR's contact page.[12]
  4. Start the application with that person's help: a DAR member, or your SAR sponsor, helps guide you through it.[13][12]

Next guide: Bounty Land Warrants: What They Prove, and What They Don't · All 10 guides

Sources

  1. NARA reference report — Revolutionary War Service, 1775–1783. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/military/american-revolution/service-records.pdf
  2. National Park Service — Revolutionary War Pension Files: Tips and a Guide for the Curious. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/what-might-you-find-in-the-revolutionary-war-pension-files.htm
  3. DAR Electronic Application — FAQs. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://membership.dar.org/NSDAR/AppFormz/FAQs.aspx
  4. NARA M804 descriptive pamphlet — Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application Files. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/military/army/dc/m804.pdf
  5. DAR Electronic Application — Step by Step instructions. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://membership.dar.org/NSDAR/AppFormz/App_Help_Step_By_Step_1.aspx
  6. NARA — The American Revolution (research page). Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.archives.gov/research/military/american-revolution
  7. NARA — Genealogy Research in Military Records. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.archives.gov/research/military/genealogy
  8. New York Public Library — Military Genealogy: Revolutionary War. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://libguides.nypl.org/military-genealogy/revolutionary-war
  9. DAR Genealogical Research Databases — Revolutionary War Records. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_revwar/?Tab_ID=14&Tab_ID_Sub=0&action=list
  10. Library of Virginia — Revolutionary War Bounty Land Claims. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://lva-virginia.libguides.com/bounty-claims/home
  11. DAR — Chapter Locator. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.dar.org/discover/become-member/chapter-locator
  12. SAR — Apply in 4 Easy Steps. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.sar.org/how-to-apply/
  13. DAR — How to Join. Retrieved 2026-10-31. https://www.dar.org/discover/become-member/how-join