Military pension files

Revolutionary War pensions

Early federal pensions went only to men disabled in service. Broader pensions for Revolutionary War veterans began in 1818, and widows became eligible in 1836. By then most veterans were old men, so their applications often describe events half a century earlier, naming officers, battles, and places they had lived since the war.

Widows' applications are especially valuable. To prove a marriage that took place in the 1770s or 1780s, a widow might send a family record copied from a Bible, a statement from the minister or a surviving witness, or affidavits from relatives describing the wedding. Revolutionary War pension and bounty land files are the only pension series the National Archives has reproduced in full on microfilm, and they are digitized.

War of 1812 pensions

Regular Army veterans could get disability pensions, but most War of 1812 soldiers served in state militia called into federal service. Those veterans were not granted service pensions until 1871, and their widows until 1878. By then many applicants were widows in their seventies or eighties, so the file may be the widow's application rather than the soldier's.

Many War of 1812 veterans also applied for bounty land, free federal land given for service, under acts of 1811, 1812, 1842, 1850, 1852, and 1855. If a veteran applied for both a pension and bounty land, the papers are usually filed together. If he received bounty land but died before pensions were offered, look for a separate bounty land file.

Civil War Union pensions

The Union pension system began in 1862 with pensions for disabilities caused by service. In 1890 Congress extended pensions to any veteran with at least 90 days of service and an honorable discharge, whether or not his disability came from the war. That change brought in a flood of applications, so a great many Union veterans and their widows have files.

Civil War files often contain medical examinations describing the veteran's body and health, questionnaires about his marriages and children, and affidavits from comrades. The widow's application usually gives her maiden name, the date and place of marriage, the date of the veteran's death, and children under 16. Some widows drew pensions from more than one husband; such papers are usually filed under the surname of the most recent husband.

These files are arranged by file number, not by name, so begin with the index. The general index card shows the soldier's name, unit, the type of claim, application and certificate numbers, and sometimes the widow's name.

Confederate pensions come from the states

The federal government did not pay pensions for Confederate service, so the National Archives does not hold them. Instead, former Confederate states paid their own pensions, usually only to veterans or widows who were poor or disabled.

The key point: a veteran applied to the state where he lived after the war, not the state he served from. A man who fought in a Georgia regiment but moved to Texas would apply to Texas. Start dates vary widely. Alabama began pensions in 1867 for men who had lost arms or legs and added widows in 1886. Arkansas began paying indigent veterans in 1891 and widows in 1915. Missouri began in 1911 and granted none to widows. Look up the rules for the state where the family lived.

State applications are usually shorter than federal files, often a printed form with questions about unit, wounds, property owned, and for widows the date of marriage. They may include statements from comrades confirming service, which helps when service records are missing.

Reading a pension file

Read every page, including the envelopes and the routine-looking forms. Clerks' notes on the jacket can show dates of death and when payments stopped. Look for declarations, which are the applicant's own sworn statements, and affidavits, which are statements by other people. Note every witness: they were often brothers, sisters, in-laws, or old neighbors.

Index cards and printed forms are full of abbreviations: Pvt. for private, Capt. for captain, Regt. for regiment, Wid. for widow, and dec'd for deceased. A card marked Wid. with a second name tells you the widow applied, and gives her name.

Keep in mind that applicants wanted to be approved. Ages and dates of service could be stretched or remembered wrongly, and a rejected application may still be full of true family details. Compare what the file says with census, church and probate records.