My copy of Teresa S. McMillin's Guide to Hanover Military Records, 1514-1866, on Microfilm at the Family History Library
has arrived. I'm hoping to use it to access records on a few of my Ostfriesen cousins who served in the military in the mid-19th century when I make my next trip to the Family History Library. The book provides Family History Library film numbers for the military records of Hanover from 1514-1866--something I've never used.The image that appears below is for Jurgen Ehmen, a 1832 native of Spetzerfehn who apparently deserted in New York in 1859. The image shown below was obtained on Ancestry.com. 
Before I even use the military records, I'm going to have to create a list of "candidates" for military service from my genealogical database. I'll use that list as my research log when searching the actual records.. With over half my ancestors hailing from Ostfriesland, that's going to be a pretty long list and I need to think about the records, find out how they are organized and what information they typically contain in order to create a list that will effectively serve my purposes.
McMillin's book gives an overview of the records and the military and is an excellent finding aid to knowing what film to search for what records. It is not an everyname index to who is on which roll of microfilm. It's up to the researcher to search the film themselves--just like it is with every record. McMillin's book is an excellent start on accessing those records.
I've got some reading to do.
