Union County Soldiers' Discharges, 1864-1940
(1,094 records)
(Updated: October 31, 2015)

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Soldiers’ Discharge Records (1865-1940)

The records contain a verbatim transcript of honorable discharges from the United States Armed Forces, showing the full name and residence of the soldier, rank, age at enlistment and last duty assignment.

On March 23, 1865, the Ohio General Assembly allowed returning Civil War veterans to record their military discharges in their local County Recorders’ Offices.  The statute stated “that it shall be the duty of the county recorders of the several counties of this state, upon the request of any discharged soldier, to record his discharge on the records of the county…”.  This basic obligation has remained until the present day as embodied in Ohio Revised Code section 317.24, which phrasing is almost identical to the 1864 wording.  The only major change to the law since its original enactment occurred on September 28, 2012.  Prior to that time veteran discharges were considered public records that could be viewed by anyone.  The 2012 legislation placed a seventy-five year restriction on the viewing and inspection of discharge records unless the person was authorized by law to view the record.  The general public can only view the veteran’s name, rank, date of birth, date of discharge, and type of discharge for records inside the seventy-five year restriction.  Records outside the time parameter may be viewed any anyone in their entirety.