Civil War Veterans

This is an attempt to identify all of the Olmste(a)ds, direct descendants of Olmste(a)ds, or their spouses that served in the military during the “War Between the States,” the US Civil War (1861-1865). If you know of a family member that should be listed here, please email us the relevant information.

Many of the official records, including those of the Department of War, in the 1800s often have the wrong form of the family name. Those writing records often wrote what they though a name should be rather than asking the individual how they spelled their name. And there were many that just did not know the difference between Olmstead and Olmsted. In the list below, to aid researchers who are looking for a specific person and they have the first name, I am presenting the Veterans in the Civil War first name first and intermixing the Olmstead and Olmsteds for one combined listing.

In the table below, OF # is the number of the individual included in the 1912 genealogy Olmsted Family in America. If they were not in that volume, an * will appear in the column.

A brief statement of service assignment is included. Higherst rank above Private is included; 90% or more of those in service were Privates. More details may be found on WikiTree or Find-a-Grave sites using the identification indicated in the following two columns. If the Veteran was Killed in Action (KIA), Missing in Action (MIA), Died of Wounds (DOW) or Died in Service (DIS) while still serving (often in a hospital or other location following a battle), Wounded in Action (WIA), or was a Prisoner of War (POW) it will be indicated in the Service column. CSA indicates those that served in Confederate forces.

Many of these veterans have excellent biographies written by Dee (Olmsted) Poole on their WikiTree profiles.

To access their genealogical record on WikiTree, add the ID to URL, i.e., www.wikitree.com/wiki/(add wikitree ID here). The WikiTree ID is the persons last name at birth followed by a hyphen and a number. In some cases, the wrong form of the family name is used on WikiTree because there are varying records in both Olmstead and Olmsted for the individual. If a Wiki profile has not yet been created, just WT will appear in the field in the chart below. Wiki profiles often contain photos and biographical information. You are welcome to edit existing Wiki profiles or add new ones; you have to join to be able to edit but it is totally free. Otherwise, if you have information that needs to be added to a WikiTree profile, email it to Walt and I’ll add it for you.

Find-a-Grave Memorials often include photos of cemetery monuments, personal photos, obituaries, and other information about an individual (including links to family members also on FAG) in addition to the cemetery name and location. To access a memorial on, write down the number and then on the right side of the Find-a-Grave home page click on “Search ### Million Graves” and then insert the number in the field marked “Memorial #” leaving the other fields blank, and hit “search.” Start by clicking this link to Find-a-Grave.  In a few instances there will be two FAG numbers when a man was KIA or MIA and a memorial was created for burial or on a “Wall of Honor” and the family also placed a memorial in a local cemetery. If we have not yet found a FAG for an individual, just the # will appear in the chart below.

To view the list of spouses or direct descendants of Olmste(a)ds that have another family name, click here to go to the their page.

Of the 298 Veterans listed above, 57 (25%) have WikiTree profiles and 141 (62%) have Find-a-Grave entries.
There are 4 who were were killed on the battlefield, 10 wounded in action 5 of which later died from their wounds, and 21 who died while in service but were not battle related death but of disease or accident. 7 were also prisoners of war and held in prisons by their opposing force.

To view the list of spouses or direct descendants of Olmste(a)ds who served in the Civil War click here.
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