Tips for Locating Primary and Contemporary Source Documentation on the Internet for Patriot Burials™ Program
If you’re applying for a Patriot Burials marker grant, the following list of websites may be helpful in your research. Many of these sites contain digitized copies of original documents. Paid sites such as Ancestry are available for free at many public libraries. Please note that images provided with applications may be scans, photocopies of photographs; email attachments are preferred. Please underline, highlight or otherwise indicate relevant text.
Pension records, muster rosters, land bounty records, other military records
Links to records from the National Archives relating to Revolutionary War service including military, pension, prisoners, bounty lands, judicial, and Continental Congress may be found here.
United State Revolutionary War Pension Payment Ledgers, 1818-1872 on Familysearch.org are scanned records from the National Archives.
Compiled Revolutionary War Military Service Records, 1775-1783 and Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 on Ancestry.com are scanned records from the National Archives.
US Revolutionary War records on Fold3.com includes records of imprisoned soldiers, pensions and vouchers for service.
Accepted primary source and compiled Revolutionary War service records by state
Connecticut
Record of the Connecticut Men in the Military and Naval Service during the War of the Revolution. Henry P. Johnson, 1889.
Delaware
Delaware Archives. Military and Naval Records, Vol. 2. Public Archives Commission of Delaware, 1911.
Delaware Archives. Military and Naval Records, Vol. 3. Public Archives Commission of Delaware, 1911.
Maryland
Muster Rolls and Other Records of Service of Maryland Troops in the American Revolution: 1775-1783. Archives of Maryland, vol. 18.
Massachusetts
Muster Rosters and various papers of the Revolutionary War [Massachusetts and Rhode Island]. Massachusetts Secretary of State.
New Hampshire
Rolls of the Soldiers in the Revolutionary War, 1775-1783. J.E. Goodrich, 1904.
New Jersey
Official Register of the Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War. William Stryker, Adjutant General, 1872.
New York
New York in the Revolution as Colony and State. James A. Roberts, 1897.
Balloting Book and other documents relating to military bounty lands in the State of New York. 1825.
North Carolina
Troop Returns form the State Archives of North Carolina Military Collection. North Carolina Digital Collections. (Includes military records and rosters)
Roster of the North Carolina Troops in Continental Army, 1791. Colonial and State Records of North Carolina, vol. 16.
Pennsylvania
Revolutionary War Military Abstract Card File. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Revolutionary War Military Abstract Card File and Militia Officers Index Cards, 1775-1800. Pennsylvania State Archives.
Rhode Island
Muster Rosters and various papers of the Revolutionary War [Massachusetts and Rhode Island]. Massachusetts Secretary of State.
Census Records
US Federal Census and state census records are available on both Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org
Newspapers
NewspaperArchive.com and Newspapers.com are paid sites, often available for free at public libraries. Chronicling America from the Library of Congress has information about American newspapers published from 1690-present and digitized newspapers spanning 1777-1963.