Centre County Military Resources

MILITARY SERVICE RECORDS

Centre County Pensions page for pension resources located in Centre County.

The Pennsylvania State Archives collection of various digitized military records is viewable online.

Pennsylvania Archives, a 138-volume, 10-series set of early government records is viewable online for free through Fold3.

AMERICAN REVOLUTION

See information about Centre County's American Revolutionary War Soldiers and Patriots, compiled by Nancy Lee Stover.

Bellefonte Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, the local DAR Chapter.

Online Revolutionary War Declarations filed in Centre County between 1820 and 1835 are viewable online through the Centre County Government's Historical Records Imaging Project.

The Pennsylvania State Archives collection of Revolutionary War Military Abstract Card File Indexes is viewable online.

Organziations not specific to Centre County: Sons of the American Revolution & Daughters of the American Revolution.

WAR OF 1812

General site not specific to Centre County: Pennsylvania Officers in War of 1812

MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR

General site not specific to Centre County: Mexican-American War

CIVIL WAR

The number of Pennsylvania Regiments from which Centre Countians served is staggering. On the Andrew Gregg Curtin Soldiers Memorial that stands in front of the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte are references to Centre County soldiers in the following regiments: 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, 10th, 11th, 15th, 18th, 23rd, 26th, 28th, 34th, 36th, 37th, 44th, 45th, 46th, 47th, 48th, 49th, 51st, 52nd, 53rd, 54th, 55th, 56th, 57th, 58th, 59th, 60th, 61st, 62nd, 69th, 70th, 76th, 77th, 80th, 81st, 82nd, 83rd, 84th, 88th, 89th, 90th, 92nd, 93rd, 98th 101st, 102nd, 104th, 107th, 108th, 110th, 111th, 113th, 115th, 117th, 125th, 131st, 133rd, 135th, 136th, 137th, 142nd, 143rd, 148th, 149th, 150th, 152nd, 159th, 160th, 161st, 163rd, 172nd, 179th, 180th, 181st, 182nd, 184th, 185th, 187th, 190th, 191st, 192nd, 194th, 200th, 204th, 209th, 210th, 211th, 6th U.S. Colored, and 49th U.S. Colored.

Access to a wealth of information assembled about many of the Civil War regiments in Pennsylvania can be found at Alice Gayley's Pennsylvania in the Civil War.

History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-5; prepared in compliance with acts of the legislature, by Samuel P. Bates, viewable online from the University of Michigan Library.

The Pennsylvania State Archives collection of Civil War Veterans' Card File, 1861-1866 Indexes is viewable online.

See resources specific to the 148th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, the regiment with the greatest concentration of Centre County residents and known as "The Centre County Regiment."

For names of Civil War Soldiers buried in Centre County, see Centre County Civil War Veterans Burials:

• Civil War Vets, A-C
• Civil War Vets, D-G
• Civil War Vets, H-L
• Civil War Vets, M-R
• Civil War Vets, S-Z

No fewer than eight Civil War soldiers, either born in Centre County, Pa., or nurtured there, would later become generals in the U.S. Army:

• Brig. Gen. James A. Beaver (s/o Jacob and Ann Eliza Addams Beaver), b. 21-Oct-1837 at Millerstown, and who studied law under H. N. McAllister of Bellefonte and was admitted to the Centre County Bar in 1859, d. 1914 at Bellefonte.
• Brig. Gen. William H. Blair (s/o John and Rachel Blair), b. 16-Jul-1821, Milesburg.
• Maj. Gen. James Sanks Brisbin (s/o Ezra and Margaret Brisbin), b. 23-May-1827 at Boalsburg, and d. 1892 at Philadelphia.
• Brig. Gen. John I. Curtin (s/o Roland Curtin), b. 17-Jun-1837 at Curtin, d. 1911 at Bellefonte.
• Brig. Gen. Benjamin F. Fisher (s/o Rev. Peter S. Fisher), b. 1834 at Boalsburg, d. 1915 at Valley Forge.
• Maj. Gen. David McMurtrie Gregg (s/o Matthew and Ellen Gregg), b. 10-Apr-1833 at Huntingdon, spent boyhood in Bellefonte, d. 1916 at Reading.
• Maj. Gen. John I. Gregg (s/o Andrew Gregg), b. 19-Jul-1826 at Bellefonte.
• Brig. Gen. Reuben C. Hale, who studied law under William Wilson Potter, and was admitted to the Centre County Bar in 1837.

The Grand Army of the Republic (or GAR) was an influential veterans organization, which had several posts in Centre County. GAR posts that existed in Centre County were: Dr. Geo. L. Potter Post No. 261 in Milesburg; Gregg Post No. 95 in Bellefonte; George Harleman Post No. 302 in Eagleville; Groves Brothers Post No. 262 in Howard; Capt. R. M. Foster Post No. 197 in Lemont; John W. Geary Post No. 90 in Philipsburg; Capt. John O. Campbell Post No. 272 in Pine Grove Mills; Lieut. W. W. Bierly Post No. 298 in Rebersburg; Sergt. Wm. I. Furst Post No. 419 in Stormstown; and, Peters Brothers Post No. 263 in Unionville.

The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War was an influential organization of veterans' sons at the turn into the 20th Century, and we are also attempting to track down records of the various posts that existed in Centre County. They are the Gen. James A. Beaver post in State College (formed in 1905, disbanded in 1914); Maj. R. Henry Foster post in Millheim (formed in 1905, disbanded in 1949); Lt. Col. William P. Wilson post in Philipsburg (formed in 1895, disbanded in 1909); James A. Quigley post in Blanchard (formed in 1913, disbanded in 1914); Maj. James Harris post in Philipsburg (formed in 1912, disbanded in 1913); Henry Nevins post in Philipsburg (formed in 1912, disbanded in 1913); Grove Brothers post in Howard (formed in 1912, disbanded in 1920); Penns Valley post in Spring Mills (formed in 1897, disbanded in 1902) and the Samuel Kelley post in Centre Hall (formed in 1898, disbanded in 1900). There are currently no active camps in Centre County; the closest is Colonel James Crowther, Camp #89, Tyrone, Blair County.

The Tent 62, Catherine Wilson Curtin, PA Department, Daugther of the Union Veterans of the Civil War, the local DUV organization.

Also consider Pennsylvania's Civil War Conscientious Objectors Database (12 are listed from Centre County)

General sites not specific to Centre County:
Grand Army of the Republic Museum and Library
The Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865

SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR

General site not specific to Centre County: Spanish American War on the Internet

WORLD WAR I

General site not specific to Centre County: World War I - Trenches on the Web

WORLD WAR II

General site not specific to Centre County: World War II U.S. Veterans Website

KOREAN CONFLICT

General site not specific to Centre County: The Korean War

VIETNAM CONFLICT

General site not specific to Centre County: Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Pennsylvania