Image: "Private John R. Boyette, Versailles, KY, Company E, 4th KY Infantry: The Orphan Brigade" (Hunt-Morgan Photograph Collection, Kentuckiana Digital Library)
Researching Your Civil War Ancestors
According to official records, over 75,000 Kentuckians, including 23,000 African American volunteers, fought for the Union during the Civil War. This figure does not include the estimated 12,000 men who saw active service with Kentucky's state forces, nor the hundreds who belonged to irregular units such as self-styled "Home Guards" or "Independent Scouts."
The exact number of Kentuckians who fought for the Confederacy may never be known. Historians estimate that between 25,000 and 40,000 Kentucky volunteers served in the Confederate army. The fact that service records for many of these individuals were either poorly kept, lost, or destroyed during the war presents a considerable challenge for researchers.
The following federal, state, and local government source material is available for research at the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives (KDLA) Archives Research Room.