Building the story of your family's place in the Civil War.
One of the largest problems in doing Civil War research is misidentifying soldiers with the same name. The more methodical you can make your search, the more records and indexes you can examine to confirm you have your man the better success you will have.
The longer a soldier lived the better chance you have of being certain you have the right man. Those who died in the war or who died in the next decades after might be more difficult.
TRACKING YOUR FAMILY THROUGH THIS PERIOD:
Get out your pedigree chart and look for the family units that have children born in the 1815-1845 time frame. Choose one to really study in regards to the war and its effects. Don't focus on one particular child in the family; study them as a group.
Look at a copy of your group sheet and chart each child - you will want to chart each boy in the family and the husband of each of the girls.
Checklist of starting points