Act of 1818

Passed March 18, 1818, the act covered officers and men who had served at least nine months, or to the end of the war, in a Continental unit or the navy, and who needed help. Pensions were for life.

So many applied that a law of May 1, 1820, required every pensioner to file a certified schedule of his estate and income, and several thousand were dropped as not needy. Some won their pensions back after 1823. Those 1820 schedules often name the veteran's wife and children.