The Black Hawk War took place in the Midwest, mostly Illinois and Wisconsin, and volunteers from nearby states took part. It was during this conflict with the Indians that Abraham Lincoln and numerous other Midwesterners got their military experience.
The State of Illinois has placed an index of soldiers that served on line at http://www.sos.state.il.us/departments/a... This site includes information on how to get these records.
Michigan sent men to the effort http://www.michguard.com/history/hawkwar...
War of 1812
(Do I really have to put the years? Okay, it did last until 1815!)
In the turbulent times of early America, we were struggling for our identity as a country. British warships routinely boarded American ships and pressed American sailors into service, claiming they were British Citizens. This conflict gave us the story of Dolly Madison and the American National Anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner."
Because of the impressment of merchant seaman, a great deal of information has been archived and it is slowly becoming available. For an excellent overview check the National Archives site at http://www.nara.gov/publications/prologu...
The United States Navy provides a web site with the names of all the officers and special rates that were in service at the close of the war. Not real user friendly as far as searching goes, but still a good starting place. http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/war1812...
The Society of the War of 1812 is one good source for materials The State of Wisconsin chapter has created an excellent web site with lots of links to historical information and the Society pages for a number of states including Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio and Wisconsin. http://www.execpc.com/~drg/wi1812.html It also links to rosters of officers for Ohio and Pennsylvania.
This link provides access to the University of Virginia's searchable roster http://eagle.vsla.edu/war1812/virtua-bas...
This Canadian site includes an overview of information on this conflict http://www.militaryheritage.com/1812.htm
The Mexican-American War
1846-1848
This conflict was in the aftermath of the Texas War of Independance. The Descendants of Mexican War Veterans maintains an excellant starting point for information on this war. Their web site is at http://www.dmwv.org/ and includes a FAQ page on the war. Unfortunately, this organization is presently considering dissolution, due to greatly reduced membership. Their current pages contain links to numerous roles and helps for finding more information. I would hate to see this organization disappear! Many of the officers that got experience during this set of skirmishes went on to become key leaders in the War Between the States.
The PBS sponsored web site is another excellant source of information and can be found here: http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/
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