If you are researching ancestors that were in the military in any generation it is helpful to know the terminology associated with military organization.
Photo: The Michigan 9th Volunteer Infantry guards the infamous Confederate Rebel, Champ Ferguson at trial – Nashville State Prison – 1865. My 2nd great grandfather, William Henry Knowles Sr., served in this regiment as a prison guard under the alias “James Ecmire” in 1864-1865 after serving 3 years on the battlefield in the Indiana 9th Infantry. (Photo – public domain.)
Terminology: U.S. Army
- Army (Regular) – A permanent U.S. army; in peace and war time.
- Corps – An organized unit of officers and men or officers alone consisting of two or more divisions. (Revolutionary War corps were one of the nine military subdivisions of the Continental Army.)
- Unit – An organized body of soldiers of any size. A division of a larger body.
- Division – A major administrative and tactical unit. Larger than a regiment or brigade but smaller than a corp.
- Brigade – Unit consisting of several regiments, squadrons, groups or battalions.
- Regiment – A ground unit consisting of two or more battalions.
- Battalion – A ground force consisting of three or more companies or similar units.
- Company – A subdivision of a regiment or battalion.
- Platoon – Military unit consisting of two or more squads or sections having a common headquarters.
- Squad/Squadrons – A small unit of men (10 or more) with a sergeant and corporal in command. Can consist of a Naval fleet unit or an armed cavalry unit of two or more troops and support units.
- Troop – Armed Calvary or two or more platoons and a headquarters group.
- Volunteer – One who enters service on his own volition rather than by draft/conscription.
- Conscripts – Recruits drafted for military service, compensated by the government for war time enlistment. Also called “draftees”.
- Militia – A body of men enrolled for military service, called on for periodic drill and practice but used in actual service only in emergencies. Citizen soldiers. (Army Reserves/National Guard).