I do a lot of work with Missouri CW ancestor searches and information search, but lately some of my co-workers with Illinois CW roots are asking me where they may inquire to obtain Illinois information. I mentioned this fine forum, so I expect to see some of them start adding their own queries here. Please excuse my ignorance, but here are some of the questions I have regarding resources for these guys:

1. Is there an online search engine reachable via the Internet where the public can search with names to discover which Illinois units those men served? Does the ILL Adjustant General's Office operate such a site? In MO some years back the Adj. Gen. office turned over those archives to the MO Sec'y of State's Office which operates helpful online sites with search capability accessing the Missouri State Archives including the military ones. I am hoping Illinois has something like that. Yes?

2. I am aware that the Midwest states between the 1880's and WWI were blessed with lots of publishing companies making and marketing county histories heavy with Civil War info pertaining to each county, often with lists of county men stating in which unit they served. Are some of those county histories available online yet? If not, where can people go in Springfield to see such books?

3. If some of these folks have some basic info with an ancestor's name and unit identification, where should they go in Springfield to look for more information? Basically, where do they go to discover individual soldiers' Compiled Military Service Records (CMSR's), pension application sets, or in Illinois' case are those all in Federal archives (the National Archives and Records Administration-NARA)?

I am ready to point out the basic CW reference works such as:
--Dyer's "A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion;
--the government's "Official Records" in 128 volumes first published in the 1880s and reprinted in 1985;
--Broadfoot Publishing's "Supplement to the 'Official Records,'" in about 100 volumes, especially part 2 Record of Events with individual regiment and lower level itineraries;
--and others, but these folks need to develop basic information first that they can then apply to such works.

Any other suggestions about Union CW service from Illinois?

Bruce Nichols