Sometimes called the "war that hasn't ended" - the deadliest war in American history, resulting in the deaths of 750,000, with an estimated ten percent of all northern fighting-age males and thirty percent of all southern fighting age males killed.
Remember to check draft records as you search. Many records are indexed by enlistment location rather than name, so you'll need to know where your family member lived at in order to make best use of records.
The Confederates started conscription because they needed soldiers and began that in February of 1862.
The Union liked the idea and so they began the same in March of 1863.
Military pensions were not paid to confederate soldiers, and the pensions paid out by the individual states were very small but pensions are another means of tracking down your ancestors.
National Archives (Link on the right) contain just about every single record you could want to find on the Civil War with Union records being the most detailed. The nearest National Archives office is up in Seattle, call ahead, go early and be prepared before you go and you should find it a very fruitful visit.
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