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  • U.S. military pension records
    • Main contributor: Diane Haddad
    USA Pension Payment Vouchers
    Pension Payment Vouchers for Charles Dameron. 1860.

    Military pension applications document military veterans' (or surviving widows' or children's) requests for service-related benefits from the U.S. government. The government passed laws starting in 1818 to allow certain veterans—and eventually, their widows or survivors—to collect pensions.

    The earliest pensions were available only to officers, disabled veterans (called an “invalid’s pension”), and widows of men who died from injuries received during the war. Additional legislation over the years authorized pensions based on service alone, making many more veterans eligible to apply.[1]

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    Information contained in military pension records

    When a person applied for a pension, they had to provide evidence of their military service and any injuries received. Widows had to provide proof of marriage to the veteran. Therefore, an application file may contain records such as discharge papers, affidavits from fellow soldiers, witness statements, descriptions of events during service, death records, or marriage records.[2]

    You may learn:

    • Applicant’s name (and sometimes, a wife or widow’s maiden name)
    • Veteran’s rank
    • Military unit
    • Dates of service
    • Residence
    • Age
    • Date and place of birth, marriage, and death
    • Nature of disability or proof of need [3]

    Keep in mind that not all veterans were eligible for pensions, or may not have applied even if they were eligible.

    How to find military pension records

    Before looking for a pension record, it’s helpful to know the service member’s name, about when he served, military unit, state he served from, and widow’s name (if applicable). This will help you identify the person in records.

    You can learn this information from military service papers, discharge papers, and other genealogical records.

    Original pension application files for service between 1775 and 1916 are held in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Depending on the conflict, you may find searchable online indexes or records.[4]

    Revolutionary War pension application file page one
    The first page of the Revolutionary War pension application file S. 13508, from Samuel Hunn of Connecticut. The 22-page file includes a 1913 request for the record from a relative, who provided family history details

    American Revolution

    These records are searchable in the MyHeritage Revolutionary War Pension Records collection.

    They’re also on FamilySearch as part of the database United States Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Applications, 1800-1900.

    Some of the pension records are free on the National Archives website as part of a joint transcription project with the National Park Service.

    War of 1812, Mexican War, and Indian Wars

    NARA’s “Old Wars” series of pension files contains Army death and disability applications for the War of 1812, Mexican War and various Indian wars. You can search digitized index cards at FamilySearch, which also has separate searchable indexes for the War of 1812, Mexican War and Indian Wars.

    For most of these pensions, you’ll need to use the information in the index to get copies of the file from the National Archives, either using NARA's Online Ordering service (fees apply), by visiting the archives in Washington, D.C., or by hiring a researcher to visit for you.

    Some pensions from this era are available online:

    Civil War

    Union

    Union Civil War pension card
    A Union Civil War pension card from the name index to pension files held at the National Archives. The information can be used to request copies of the pension application.

    Start by searching for your Union relative in an index to pensions dating from 1861 to 1934 called the General Index to Civil War and Later Pension Files (based on NARA microfilm T288), available on FamilySearch.

    This will provide the filing date, application number and certificate number of the pension, which you can use to request the pension application.[4]

    You also might find evidence your relative applied for a pension in FamilySearch collections such as Veteran’s Administration Pension Payment Cards (1907–1933), Remarried Widows Index to Pension Applications (1887–1942) and Index to General Correspondence of the Pension Office (1889–1904).

    The vast majority of Union pension files are not microfilmed or digitized. You’ll need to either request copies through NARA’s online ordering service (fees apply), visit the National Archives in Washington, D.C., or hire a researcher to visit for you.

    FamilySearch does have a database of approved pension applications filed by Civil War widows and other survivors (some of these are for service in the war with Spain).

    Look for sailors in the FamilySearch database United States Navy Widows' Certificates of approved naval pensions from 1861 to 1910.

    Confederacy

    Because the U.S. government didn’t pay pensions to Confederate veterans, their pension application records are not available from the National Archives. Instead, surviving records are housed at the state archive where the soldier applied for a pension. (Note that the state where he applied for a pension may not be the same state he served from.) State archive websites are a good resource for military pension information and often, indexes or records.

    Tennessee’s Civil War pension applications are on MyHeritage.

    The Texas State Library and Archives website has an index to Texas Confederate pensions. Many Texas pension applications are digitized (but not searchable) at the Texas Digital Archive.

    The South Carolina Department of Archives and History Digital Collections includes many Confederate Pensions in series S126088.

    The Library of Virginia has an online database of Virginia Confederate pensions.

    Philippine Insurrection

    Veterans of this war became eligible for pensions in 1922. These records are indexed in the General Index to Pension Files, available on FamilySearch. The actual pension files have not been digitized. You’ll need to either request copies through NARA’s online ordering service (fees apply), visit the National Archives in Washington, D.C., or hire a researcher to visit for you.

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    See also

    References

    1. ↑ National Park Service, "Revolutionary War Veteran and Widow Pensions"
    2. ↑ Claire Prechtel-Kluskens, “A Reasonable Degree of Promptitude” Civil War Pension Application Processing, 1861–1885, National Archives and Records Administration, Spring 2010, Vol. 42, No. 1
    3. ↑ National Archives and Records Administration, Genealogy Research in Military Records
    4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Shelley K. Bishop, "Genealogy Workbook: Military Pension Records," FamilyTreeMagazine.com


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