Researching Your New Mexico Civil War Ancestor

Muster Roll for Captain Rafael Chacon, 1st New Mexico Volunteers.

Fort Union National Monument

You may have an ancestor who enlisted in the New Mexico Volunteers during the Civil War, and we can help you track down the information. When the Army called for volunteers, many nuevo mexicanos signed on from Las Vegas, Mora, Santa Fe, Abiqui and Taos.

The Monument has an excellent database of Civil War-era muster rolls. Every two months, the army took a tally of all its soldiers, and recorded the results on paper cards. These cards have been digitized and are stored in our computer network.

We also have digitized post returns. The post return was a monthly report filed by the fort listing major events at the fort, casualties and troops that were on sick call.

If you would like information about your Civil War ancestor, please contact us at [phone], ext. 1 or email us.

 

For Additional Research

• 

  The Definitive History of Fort Union

  "Fort Union and the Frontier Army in the Southwest," by Leo E. Oliva, 790 pages.

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  From a Different Perspective

  "Ethnographic Overview and Assessment" chronicles the involvement of Hispanos and members from various tribes in the history of Fort Union.

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  Insider's View of the National Monument

  "An Administrative History" describes the creation and early management of the national monument.