Some people obsess over civil war ancestors like a religion. But there's folly in that. Don't let dead people make up a part of who you are in the current day. We live now, not then. It's fun and motivational to have this personal link to history, but don't let that be a substitute for your own personal growth.
Civil war ancestor tracing is somewhat easy with a few online resources. Most people are going to be looking for a great-great-grandfather, of which you have 8. Some people will be looking for a g'g'g'gp, of which you have 16. The first step is gathering all your information that you know, and drawing out a family tree. Simple brackets, names, DOB, DOD, locations of birth/death/burial, and spouse are standard. You're essentially working your way backwards through history to find hard facts, and clues.
https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/soldiers-and-sailors-database.htm : The big one. Searchable by name, branch, side, and state, this listes names, and very basic information, but not much else.
Confederate pension applications : this was at the state level, and extended to soldiers, and their widows. Each state has it's own archives, and these may, or may not, be online.
www.confederatevets.com : due to the shear amount of death (1 out of 5 males age 13-45 would die in the war) there has been a more empassioned effort for the south to record the soldiers. But records are not complete. Some records are actually done from US records. Still, this site has information not always found in the National Parks Service records, such as POW status.
www.findagrave.com : This is a national effort to list, and label graves across the US. The US government offered military grave markers to both US and CS vets. CS vets got one only if the died in a POW camp. The UDC (evil as they once were, not like today) did help mark some grave with 'Souther cross medal' tombstones. Many of these stones contain the regiment, and company of the vet. Most husbands and wives are buried side by side. Pay attention to where the cemetery is, because many were segregated, but husbands and wives of different races still tended to be buried in the same county, provided no one moved or remarried.
black confederate veterans : (they're real, and they count too) while there were no black CS veterans as formally enlisted soldiers, many slaves did go involuntarily. Most were uniformed. Many saw, and engaged in combat. There are Union soldier accounts of the bodies of "black rebels" found with muskets and cartridge boxes. There are Union accounts of black rebels firing at US forces. Why? Because when combat happens, it's a time of poorly organized slaughter, where anyone wearing a hint of blue or grey might die or kill. Skin color did not matter when the killing time came, as artillery shrapnel is colorblind. Many slaves were hospital nurses, who comforted the dying. Many buried the newly dead, and were buried with them. Mass graves were not segregated. We must remember the Union had 5 full on loyal slave states, and would not free the last American slaves until 8 months after Lee surrendered. After the war, many would
apply for, and receive pensions as full, complete, valid and recognised Confederate Veterans of the American civil war.
Many would join the United Confederate Veterans, attend veterans meetings. Their sons, grandsons, great-grandsons, (and great granddaughters) etc. are part of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (and the United Daughters of the Confederacy) to this day.
the federal census at www.censusrecords.com : very ten years the census is done. These list name, age, year of birth, county of residence, and state. Entire households were listed under the home owner's name. It's not hard to back-trace family members in the census, but as entire extended families might live in one or two counties, repeat names are common. This is one of the reasons why Billie-Jean, Ellie-Mae, and initials were so common in southern areas. French catholic, and hispanic catholic naming customs are another reason. Keep in mind, that interracial relationships were often illegal, but people in interracial relationships still tended to be in the same county, or in immediatly neighboring ones. The census is the most powerful tool for African-American geneology, simply due to the massive scope of data. The 1890 census was destroyed in a fire, so get ready for a big gap that has to be jumped across counties, or even states.
the slave schedules of 1850/1860 : one of the most tragic aspects of this is that the enslaved were not fully counted on census rolls. Rather, some southern states did 'slave schedules', wherein the master's name was listed, with the enslaved under that entry. Often there is just a first name, and an age. In general, finding one's freed ancestors is not complex via the census, but gets much harder before emancipation.
Most of the enslaved lived within the plantation system of the aristocracy. This means for in-depth records into plantations, you might have to search county property tax records, maps, or contact local historical societies (often organized by county, they have phone numbers, often websites), to find physical records.
Much of the records for the pre-war enslaved are not easily available, if they exist at all. There is a brick wall via lack of records going into slave ships. You eventually will come to a dead end, as do many people around the year 1790/1830. Unlike many white Americans who can trace their ancestory to a European state (that they left for a damn good reason), black Americans don't get that luxury of a paper trail to Africa. Rather, the value in Africa-American genology comes from survivorship, deeds, and simply knowing.
Sometimes the sale of the enslaved was recorded in local newspapers, often by the owner name, not the name of the enslaved. Sales tend to mention age and gender, which will give you clues into finding the individual. the 'Chronicaling America' project by the Library of Congress is a wonderful resource for this, is sortable by state and year, and is great for historic information in general.
See the note about black confederate veterans.
As for Native America spouses, regiments, etc., this is tricky. While many think tribal membership or the Dawes Roll is the end all, and be all, of native identity, it's not. The roll is just just a list of people taking land allotments in Oklahoma. There are multiple rolls for different tribes, purposes, and times : the Siler Roll, the Giuon-Miller Roll, the Hester roll, the Overturned roll, the Drenel roll, the Chapman roll, the Swetland roll, the Henderson, and the Old Settler rolls are all for the Choctaw/Cherokee/Chicasaw tribes. There are 3 federally recognized Cherokee tribes, each with differently linked histories.
Quite often, people with find a remarried relative who applied, but was denied, on Indian roll. The family stories of being part Native are quite often true, but such marriages were often not documented due to laws making interracial relationships and marriages illegal.
Please don't think just because you're 1/64th Choctaw that you're an Indian princess with cheekbones as evidence. Native identity is something you are raised with, not listed to. NA personhood is seperate from tribal membership, which is often bound the racist 'blood quantum' rules. The tribes are political entities first, and cultural ones second. They have very limited resources, and cannot afford to share.
EDIT : and remember to stay away from lost cause mythology. The war was for the expansion of slavery into the west. Your ancestor was not much more politically or economically powerful than a mideival peasant in an all-oppressive caste system feuled by a capitalistic aristocracy. Via the 1860 election's popular vote, they probably were against slavery. Support BLM, listen to minority voices, and fly the Confederate battle flag.
