Employment and Military Records
The records, in French and English, contain indenture documents signed before the mayor or his representative. Included in the documents are the name of the person indentured, his/her age, place of birth, and race; orphans are identified, and, for minors, the name of the person(s) giving permission for the minor to be bound is given. Also listed is the name of the merchant or tradesperson to whom the apprentice or servant is bound, his/her trade, and the terms of the agreement. The agreement is signed by the parties involved, by two or three witnesses, and by the mayor or his representative. Some documents are appended by statements, agreed to by all parties, canceling the previous agreement. Also included are agreements by enslavers binding enslaved persons as apprentices or servants, agreements binding parties for repayment of debts or of ship passage or to avoid a prison term, and collective labor agreements.
Available on microfilm in the City Archives, call number: mf AA660; WPA translation available under call number: mf AA661
Indentures for free people of color were digitized as part of Louisiana State University’s digital collection Free People of Color in Louisiana: Revealing an Unknown Past. (To locate an indenture, search by the name of the person being indentured.)
Also available is a computerized index to the indenture books compiled by Professor Paul Lachance of the University of Ottawa.
Employment Records
New Orleans (La.) Dept. of City Civil Service
Contains the “Personal History Record, ” which includes date of birth, marital status, education, veteran status, length of residency in New Orleans, last three employments, promotions, and comments. Arranged alphabetically.
- Available on microfilm in the City Archives, call number: mf AI852
National Archives and Records Administration
[Roll 1: Alabama-Maryland]
Each card indicates the post office name, letter carrier’s name, date of appointment, and date and cause of separation from employment (i.e., “resigned,” “transferred,” “died,” “dropped,” or “removed.” The date of separation is noted for those separated after 1873. The Louisiana records include post offices in Baton Rouge, Monroe, New Orleans, and Shreveport.
- Available on microfilm in the City Archives, call number: M1846
See also the section on Death Records for additional records regarding employees of the City of New Orleans.
Military Records
Churchill, Charles R. Louisiana Soldiers in the American Revolution [Galvez Expeditions, 1779-1781].
Records collected by Churchill from Spanish archives regarding Louisiana militia who served with Galvez in campaigns during the American Revolution.
- Available on microfilm, call number: mf SAR1
De Ville, Winston, ed. Louisiana Soldiers in the American Revolution : Military Lists Based on the Charles Robert Churchill Collection, Papeles Procedentes de Cuba, General Archives of the Indies, Spain. Ville Platte, La.: Smith Books, 1991.
Lists extracted from the Churchill collection (above) with dates between December 24, 1776 and November 26, 1783 (the eligibility requirements stipulated by the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution). Appendices include lists that do not adhere to DAR date requirements.
- Call number: GenR 929.3763 D47Ls
General Society of the War of 1812. Register.
The Register Includes brief sketches of the members of the Society and their lines of descent.
- Available on microfilm, call number: mf 929.3 R337
- Bound volume, call number: GenR 929.3 G325r
de Verges, Marie Cruzat. American Forces at Chalmette: Veterans and Decendants of Battle of New Orleans 1814-1815. Battle of New Orleans Anniversary Committee (Women’s Committee), 1966.
Lists the American soldiers present at the Battle of New Orleans, along with various military and genealogical information, including descendants.
- Bound volume, call number: GenR 973.5239 D49a
National Archives. Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served during the Florida [“Seminole”] War in Organizations from the State of Louisiana, 1836
- Available on microfilm, call number: mf M239
National Archives. Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served during the War of 1837-1838 from the State of Louisiana
- Available on microfilm, call number: mf M241
Louisiana. Civil District Court (Orleans Parish). Enumeration of Ex-Confederate Soldiers and Widows of Deceased Soldiers, 1911.
Act #71 of the 1908 Louisiana Legislature provided for the enumeration of all ex-Confederate soldiers and the widows of deceased soldiers residing in each parish of the state. The enumeration was to include the name, age, state of enlistment, regiment and company in which served, kind and amount of property owned, occupation, and physical infirmity of each (though the act did not require it, the forms prepared for the enumeration by the State Auditor of Public Accounts also included a space for date of marriage, to be entered for all widows).
Volumes for Orleans Parish and eighteen other parishes are present in the Civil Courts Collection. There are nine books for Orleans and single volumes for Acadia, Ascension, Cameron, Catahoula, Concordia, Grant, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lincoln, Livingston, Morehouse, St. Bernard, St. Helena, Tangipahoa, Tensas, Vernon, Webster, and West Feliciana Parishes.
- Available on microfilm, call number: mf VT840
- These volumes have been transcribed and are available to view digitally.
National Archives. Index to Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Louisiana
- Available on microfilm, call number: mf M378
See first Andrew Bradford Booth. Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Louisiana Confederate Commands, 1920.
- Bound Volumes, call number: GenR 973.7 L88 (3 volumes)
- Booth is available online at www.ancestry.com [subscription only] and at Ancestry Library Edition, accessible in all NOPL facilities. (The database in Ancestry.com is called “Louisiana Confederate Soldiers.”)
National Archives. Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Louisiana
- Available on microfilm, call number: mf M320
- These records are available on Fold3.com
National Archives. Register of Confederate Soldiers, Sailors, and Citizens Who Died in Federal Prisons and Military Hospitals in the North, 1861-1865.
The burial lists are generally arranged alphabetically by name of prison camp or other location where the deaths occurred. Entries on the individual burial lists are arranged alphabetically by name of deceased and generally give the name, rank, company, regiment, date of death, and number and location of grave for each individual interred.
- Available on microfilm, call number: mf M918
- This index is available at www.ancestry.com and at Ancestry Library Edition, accessible at all NOPL facilities.
National Archives. Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Louisiana.
- Available on microfilm, call number: mf M387
National Archives. Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Louisiana
- Available on microfilm, call number: mf M396
- These records are available on Fold3.com
Roll of Honor. Names of Soldiers Who, in Defense of the American Union, Suffered Martyrdom in the Prison Pens Throughout the South.
Microfilm of lists compiled by the Quartermaster General’s Office of Union soldiers who died at Andersonville Prison and at other Confederate prisons in the South.
- Available on microfilm, call number: mf 929.3 R754
National Archives. Special Schedules of the Eleventh Census (1890) Enumerating Union Veterans and Widows of Union Veterans of the Civil War. [Louisiana only]
The schedules include all or some of the following information: name of the veteran and/or widow; the veteran’s rank, company, regiment or vessel, date of enlistment, date of discharge, and length of service in years, months, and days; post office and address of each person listed; disability incurred by the veteran; and remarks necessary to a complete statement of his term of service.
- Available on microfilm, call number: mf 310 U585
National Archives. Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served during the War with Spain (Spanish-American War) in Organizations from the State of Louisiana, 1898
- Available on microfilm, call number: mf M240
National Archives. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. [Louisiana only]
Arranged geographically by the local draft board (i.e., by parish, city, or individual boards within larger cities). For each board, the individual cards are arranged alphabetically by name of registrant. The cards give name, date of birth, place of birth, physical description, citizenship, occupation, and signature of applicant.
- Available on microfilm, call number: mf M1509
- The draft registration cards have been scanned and made available at www.ancestry.com (subscription only) and at Ancestry Library Edition, accessible in all NOPL facilities.
National Archives. Boundary Maps of Selected Cities and Counties of World War I Selective Service Draft Registration Boards, 1917-1918.
Maps showing the boundaries of draft board districts in various major cities (including New Orleans, which had 13 individual draft boards). These maps are useful in determining which local board a registrant would have gone to in order to register for the draft.
- Available on microfilm, call number: mf M1860
Muster Rolls, 10th Regiment, U.S. Colored Artillery (Heavy) in New Orleans, 1865-1866.
The rolls give the names of soldiers, their rank, and a variety of information regarding their enlistment and service.
- Available on microfilm, call number: mf LN56
Louisiana Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Membership Applications. Ed. Dalton L. Woolverton.
The microfilm covers applications 1 – 2219 (Books 1-32) and gives the name of applicant and descendant, the descendant’s lineage, and a description of the descendant’s roll in “establishing American independence.” The individual books are indexed. A published index arranged by descendants’ and applicants’ names is also available under the same call number.
- Available on microfilm, call number: mf 929.3 W916i
Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy. Register of Cadets, 1865-1904.
Register of the institution that became Louisiana State University. The register gives the name of cadet, date of matriculation, place of residence, name of guardian or parent, Post Office, place of birth, date of birth, age, height, and remarks (i.e., date of graduation, resignation, dismissal, etc.).
- Available on microfilm, call number: mf LN47
