The Adjutant General also had oversight of local militia companies raised during the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. These hastily formed, short-term, units were a kind of local home guard. They produced very few records, although we do have some lists of men who belonged to these companies. Their records only list the name and rank of individuals and occasionally have remarks noting men who were wounded or killed. Many of the records listed in this guide's Civil War Records also include records from the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862.
Minnesota In the Civil and Indian Wars, 1861-1865
A more complete listing of the individuals who served in the U.S. Army during the Civil War and the U.S.-Dakota War from Minnesota, including militia companies and those serving in the U.S. Colored Troops (as it was known at the time). Volume I contains the histories and rosters of each company along with the history of each company's engagements; Volume II contains official reports and correspondence. Volume III is a name index to the rosters in Volume I; some copies, including the copy at the MNHS Library's Reference Desk, have been hand-annotated with citations to additional resources.
MNHS Call Number: Reference Desk E515 .M66 1994
Minnesota Adjutant General’s Report of 1866
Some rosters were published in the 1866 Adjutant General’s Report while a more complete listing, including militia companies and the U. S. Colored Troops, was published in Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars. This work has a printed index (vol. III). There is also a published version of the 1866 Adjutant General’s Report in which the soldiers are listed alphabetically rather than by unit.
MNHS call number: Reference Desk E515.3 .M56 1997
Compiled Rosters of Minnesota Civil War Regiments
Two separate sets of compilations (ca. 1865 and ca. 1915) of service information on individuals who served in Minnesota regiments during the Civil War. The 1915 compilation also contains registers of Minnesota draftees and substitutes, enrollees in the U.S. Engineers, enrollees in the U.S. Colored Troops, and militia units who served in the 1862-1865 Dakota Conflict. The entries give name, rank, age, nativity, date and place enrolled and mustered, residence, and remarks (usually on service transfer or termination).
MNHS call number: Digital Finding Aid
Military Service Record Cards, [ca. 1860]-[ca. 1945].
Service record cards for persons who entered federal military service via the Minnesota National Guard and its predecessor, the Minnesota State Militia. They include army, navy, marines, foreign service, naval militia, surgeons and nurses, home and state guards, and cemetery burials. They cover the period from the Civil War through World War II.
MNHS call number: Digital Finding Aid
Military Service Records, Civil and U. S.-Dakota Wars, 1858-1925 (bulk 1861-1865).
Service data on Minnesota soldiers who served during the Civil and U.S.-Dakota wars. Included are regimental rosters and lists; correspondence and official communications; recruiting reports; monthly, quarterly, and annual returns of individual units; hospital reports and letters mainly documenting state soldiers in non-Minnesota hospitals; lists of recruits credited to each town and county; quartermaster general daybooks; allotment rolls; Minnesota soldiers’ interment records; U. S. Army Corps records; and lists of draftees and substitutes.
MNHS Call Number: Digital Finding Aid
Military Service Records, Dakota Conflict, 1862-1865, 1907
Records documenting the role of citizen militia and home guard units during the Dakota Conflict. Although the Minnesota Adjutant General’s Office sought to compensate the involved citizenry, compensation varied widely. Requests for payment were submitted to the Adjutant General’s office and vouchers were created to authorize payment. These pay voucher ledger sheets (1862) document the names, the amounts paid, and the voucher numbers assigned. While Indian hostilities within the state ended in 1862, companies were formed in 1863, 1864, and 1865 that provided home guard service. The scout muster-in rolls (1863-1865, 1907) note the individuals in each scouting unit, their rank, the date and place from which they mustered-in, and some additional personal details; they do not contain pay information.
MNHS call number: Digital Finding Aid
Indian War Pension Registers, 1905-1937.
Registers (2 volumes) of pension claims filed by persons who performed military or relief services during the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, under an act of the state legislature of April 19, 1905. Information provided: claim number, date filed, claimant’s name, address, service unit and rank, injury or health problem claimed, date the claim was allowed or date and reason it was rejected, rate [of monthly payment], Adjutant General certificate [payment authorization] number, age at time of application, usually a death date (written in later), and a narrative, sometimes lengthy, of proofs of service and/or health problems that were submitted in support of the claim.
MNHS Call Number: See the finding aid in the library (Adjutant General).
Indian War Pension Files, 1905-[1940s].
Application files for pensions submitted by military veterans of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, by others who rendered aid and suffered disabling injuries, and by their widows. The main files include a pension application form and a series of affidavits describing the applicant’s service during the period. Many also contain death certificates, marriage licenses, and probate records documenting claims by widows for pensions based on their husband’s service. A small number contain Civil War discharge papers and other original documentation submitted as evidence to support the application for a pension. Approved files frequently contain the Adjutant General’s official certificates for transmittal to the State Auditor, which initiated payment. Most approved pension files for surnames A-H contain only the pension certificate; supporting affidavits are missing. Also in the records are an incomplete alphabetical index to deceased pensioners (1905 – ca. 1940s), an undated list of female pensioners, and related lists and compilations.
MNHS Call Number: Digital Finding Aid
Veterans Graves Registration Reports, [ca. 1930]-1975 (bulk 1930-1969).
Report forms for deceased veterans of the Civil and Indian wars, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, Korean War, and Vietnam War who are buried in Minnesota. They were compiled by the Veterans Affairs Department during the period 1930-1969. For the period 1970-1975, some counties (mainly Goodhue, Hennepin, Houston, Ramsey, and Swift) and the Fort Snelling cemetery continued to submit reports. Information provided: veteran’s name, date and place of enlistment, rank and organization, date and place of discharge, legal address or usual residence, birth date, death date, cause of death, name and address of next of kin, place of burial, name of cemetery, and grave location. These reports do not constitute a complete record of all veterans buried in Minnesota. Examples of the short form and the long form are available online.
MNHS Call Number: Digital Finding Aid. An index to these records is available in the Minnesota People Records Search.
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