New York in the Mexican-American War, 1846-1848


At the outset, it should be noted that, inasmuch as the Military Museum’s collection did not start until 1863, we do not have many primary source documents prior to that time period. With that in mind, researchers are invited to view the relevant documentation via the following link to the Museum’s website:
https://museum.dmna.ny.gov/unit-history/conflict/mexican-war-1846-1848

The museum also has an online catalog. This will allow you to search our different databases.

Unfortunately, there are not general resources for New York in the Mexican-American War.  The New York State Archives has pension records relating to only the First Regiment : New York State Comptroller's Office Entry Documentation Relating to Pension Claims, First N.Y. Regiment Volunteers, Mexican War. So the best bet is to research the individual units that served.

Other places that may have information:
The Army Heritage & Education Center
950 Soldiers Drive, Carlisle, PA 17013
(717) 245-3971

US Army Center of Military History
103 Third Avenue
Ft. McNair, DC 20319-5058
Voice: 202.685.2704
Fax: 202.685.4570

National Archives and Records Administration
700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20408
(1-866-272-6272)

New York State Library
Cultural Education Center
222 Madison Avenue
Albany, NY 12230
(518) 474-5355

New York State Archives
New York State Education Department
Cultural Education Center
Albany, NY 12230
(518) 474-6926

If you cannot find information on a particular soldier the best thing you can do is to look for information on the unit they served in. You can also try searching for the unit’s commanders. They may have written books about the war.

In addition to the above places a good place to search is WorldCat. WorldCat is a database of thousands of library catalogs. This is more of a discovery database since you will not be able to borrow these directly.

You might also be able to find unit histories at The Internet Archive.

Another good place to look is the local (to the solider/unit) historical societies and public libraries.

After 1807 you can also try searching the New York State Census.

There are also two great newspaper databases:
NYS Historic Newspapers
Fulton History (This database covers the whole state)

Finally, NYS residents have access to different databases through the NYS Library.

A downloadable version is here.