What’s In a Civil War Pension File?

So, you're considering ordering your ancestor's Civil War pension file - widow or invalid, or maybe both - from the National Archives. You're wondering if it will be worth it. You're wondering if it will break down any of the brick walls you have. You're wondering what you'll find, and so you've ended up here.

Well, let's start with the basics. What is a pension file?

There are two common types of pension files: invalid pensions and widow’s pensions. Invalid pensions were applied for by the veteran themself, claiming to have incurred an injury during the war which rendered them an ‘invalid’ (an old-fashioned term for disabled). Widow’s pensions were applied for by the widow; prior to 1890, widow’s pensions could only be applied for by women whose husbands died during the war, but the Pension Dependent Act of 1890 changed this, extending it to all widows of honorably discharged veterans, regardless of when their husbands died.

Veterans would apply for pensions if they suffered any physical ailment during service that they claimed continued to cause harm or interrupt their physical wellbeing. For example, my Civil War veteran ancestor suffered from partial deafness and ringing in his ears from the shelling he experienced while stationed in Memphis. In invalid pensions, you may find your ancestor's proof of service, affidavits, medical records, childrens' information, and other assortments of documents. In a widow's pension you will likely find all of these documents, in addition to other documents of particular genealogical relevance, such as marriage records.

Of course, not all veterans had pensions. If you aren’t sure whether your veteran ancestor or their widow ever applied for a pension, you can search for them on Fold3 and filter by a number of parameters, such as Union vs. Veteran, and state.

Overall, both types of pension applications can be goldmines of genealogical information. Below are some examples of papers in my 3rd great-grandfather’s invalid pension, as well as his wife’s widow’s pension.

In an invalid pension, the file will contain a detailed account given by the veteran of how and when they incurred their disability. This account will appear on the Declaration for Original Invalid Pension:

A widow’s pension would not have the above form, but would instead have a Declaration for Widow’s Pension, detailing the service of the veteran and the details of the widow and her marriage to him:

The pension file will often include affidavits by friends telling the story of where, when, and how the veteran incurred their injury:

These affidavits will probably be accompanied by physician’s affidavits explaining the veteran’s disability from a medical point of view:

When a veteran claiming an invalid pension died and was to be taken off the pension roll or have the pension transferred to their widow, the file would be updated with a death certificate:

The widow's pension will include a marriage record to prove that the widow was indeed the wife of the veteran. If you're lucky, the file may even be an original marriage certificate, which I’ve seen in other pension files - but never so lucky as to have them in my own ancestors’ files. The certificate below is just a return from the county clerk:

Here is an example from another pension file I pulled for a client at the National Archives, that included an original ecclesiastical marriage record:

In some cases, you may find letters from family friends in the pension file. In the case of my ancestor, he was married twice, and friends of the first wife wrote letters to prove that the first wife was, indeed, deceased so that the second wife could claim her widow’s pension. This was particularly helpful for me, as I descend from the first wife, not the second wife. Unfortunately this was the only mention of his first wife, Phoebe West, in his pension record:

Note that this is only a handful of examples of what you may find in your ancestors' invalid and/or widow's pension files. My whole file was over 100 pages of documents like these! What have you found in your ancestor’s Civil War pension application? Drop a comment below!

Are you also interested in knowing what you may find in a Civil War Service File? If so, check out this video: