Heitman's Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army

by Francis Bernard Heitman
2 vols.

Francis B. Heitman's "Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, from Its Organization, September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903" is available in two volumes. Volume one contains lists of politicians, Regular Army and volunteer officers. Volume two contains additional lists of officers organized by war and a chronological list of battles, actions, etc., in which troops of the Regular Army have participated.

This is a complete list of commissioned officers of the U.S. from the organization of the Army, September 29, 1789, to the year of the list's original publication in 1903, giving the officers' full names and showing their services as cadets and all services as officers or enlisted men, either in the regular or volunteer service. The heart of the work, Part II, an alphabetical listing of the officers, runs to some 20,000 entries. Each entry contains a brief paragraph on the officer giving his state or country where born, state from which originally appointed, date of induction, rank, date of discharge, promotions, medals, battles participated in, and, in about a fifth of the entries, date of death after leaving the Army. This monumental book is actually a lot more than a listing of the officer corps, as crucial as that is. Rather, it is a handbook on the men, events, and terminology of American military life during the years of its coverage.

Heitman's Historical Register is the most extensive coverage of Civil War Officers as well as every regular officer who served during the period of 1783 to 1903. It contains almost 20,000 brief biographies and service records of now obscure figures and synopsis info on the regular army units with a listing of Field Grade Officers and their service. Army organizations, strength, battles, actions, C.S. general officers and contract surgeons.

From a reviewer:
A reader from Newport, RI

Heitman's register is a must for any serious (by this I mean one who's interests extend beyond battles and weapons) student of the U.S. Army before 1900. The register has information on every regular army and all generals including promotions, assignments, awards, organization tables, lists of key officers etc.

Volume 1

Part 1 - Contains lists of politicians and other military officials as well as general officers organized by rank.

Part 2 - Contains an alphabetical list of all army officers including officers of the volunteer staff from September 29, 1789 to March 2, 1903. It provides a brief history of each man's service, mentions awards, and gives the date of death for about 9,000 former officers. The list includes some Confederate officers as well, those who were U.S. Army Officers before the war. See pages 9-10 for a list of abbreviations.

Volume 2:

Part 3 - Contains a lists of casualties of officers of the Regular Army 1789-1902 and other list of officers from the Mexican War, Civil War (both Union and Confederate), Spanish-American War, and the Philippine Insurrection. Part three also contains lists of wars, battles, skirmishes, forts, reservations and etc.