Daily AncestorVolunteer
In military records Volunteer means a soldier of a wartime unit raised by a state for federal service, as opposed to the permanent Regular Army.
From the Revolution until after the Spanish-American War, the small Regular Army was reinforced in wartime by Volunteer regiments organized by the states and then placed under federal control. About 97 percent of the Union army were Volunteers, which is why regiments carry names like 11th New Hampshire Volunteers.
The difference decides where you look. NARA holds compiled military service records for Volunteers from 1775 to 1902, but the War Department never compiled them for Regular Army soldiers.
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Daily Ancestor. "Volunteer." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/military/volunteer. Last checked 2026-10-03.