Revolutionary War Service Records

Hello Reader!

Pennsylvania Revolutionary War service records are scattered across the Pennsylvania State Archives, the National Archives, and published volumes of the Pennsylvania Archives. No single source has everything. Here's where to look and what most researchers miss.

Start with the pension index. It's free on FamilySearch. Search for both the veteran's name and his widow's name — widow's files often contain more genealogical detail than the veteran's own file.

Then check Pennsylvania Archives 5th series, volumes 1-8. These eight volumes contain muster rolls, pay records, and officer lists for both Continental Line and militia units. They're organized by unit and cover service from 1775 through the end of the war.

The source most researchers overlook: Volume 4 of the 5th series, pages 107-496 and 599-777 — the Depreciation Pay and Soldiers' Pay records. These document soldiers who were compensated for currency depreciation during the war. Many of these men never applied for pensions and appear in no other military record. If you've searched pension files and muster rolls and come up empty, this is your next stop.

One more thing worth knowing: the pension applications list published in that same volume is incomplete. It does not include all names for which files exist at the National Archives. Always cross-check against the FamilySearch pension index.

The originals were destroyed. Pennsylvania's original Revolutionary War records were transcribed in the nineteenth century, then the originals were destroyed. The published Pennsylvania Archives is often the only surviving record. When citing, cite series, volume, and page and note they're transcripts.

​Full step-by-step research strategy on the blog:​

Keep discovering your ancestors,

Denyse Allen Founder, PA Ancestors

P.S. Officers were tradesmen, not gentry. Among Pennsylvania prisoners captured at Quebec, officers included a blacksmith, a hatter, a butcher, a tanner, and a tavern-keeper. Don't assume rank means wealth — check tax records and apprenticeship records for the full picture.