How to Use Civil War Pension Records in Your Research
If you have an ancestor who fought in the Civil War, pension records are an amazing source of information for your family tree. You can find birth, marriage, and death records. Affidavits in the files give insight into friends, relatives, and neighbors, and medical conditions.
Four of my 3rd great grandmother’s brothers served in the Civil War and I’ve found pension files for 3 of them. One gave me my first clue ever into their mother’s family, who has been a brick wall forever. You never know what you might find!
Union Records
Most Union soldiers or their widows or kids applied for a pension. Dependent parents were also eligible. Pension files are different than service records. They’re rich in genealogical information. They can have anything from birth and death records, medical records, affidavits from friends and family, photos, and pages from family bibles. Applications from widows, children, or parents can be even more valuable as they had to prove their relationship to the soldier.
This page from Henry Jones’ pension file gives his date and place of birth and details like who the doctor and witnesses were. It’s the only record I have of his birth.
Since pension files cover many years, they can tell you about the soldier's life after the war, or even before, like their job or medical history.
This page shows that Samuel Henry Jones lost 3 fingers from a wood chopping accident before the war. I never would have learned that any other way! It also helped me place him after he had moved away from home.
Confederate Records
Confederate soldiers also received pensions, but often had stricter criteria for applying. Some states let veterans apply only if disabled or very poor. They veterans applied in the state in which they lived, not where they served.
The files vary by state, but generally have the name, date and place of birth, unit, period of service, when and where they enlisted and were discharged, and if wounded or captured. Other clues like their children and the value of personal and real property can also be found.
How to find whether your ancestor has a pension file
You can see if your Union ancestor applied for a pension by searching the “General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934”, available on Ancestry and FamilySearch.
It’s helpful if you know their regiment, company, and rank, especially with someone with a common name. This will help you make sure you request the correct file. Service information can be found in several collections on Ancestry and FamilySearch for Union and Confederate soldiers.
There’s no main database index of Confederate pension files and they have to be searched by state. FamilySearch and Ancestry have indexes for each Confederate state that you can find through the card catalog on either site.
How to get copies of Civil War pension records
Union pensions were issued by the federal government and the record are held at the National Archives. You can request copies here . But, the records are expensive if you order through them. A full file is currently $80 for the first 100 pages and then 70 cents for each additional page. That could get pretty steep, especially if you order multiple files like I did, one of which was 154 pages.
If you can’t visit the National Archives in person, another option is to hire a photographer to take photos of the file for you. I’ve done this and have been very happy with the results. I also paid less than half the price of what the National Archives charges and got the images the next day, rather than weeks or months later.
Civil War widows’ pension records for the Union are viewable online at Fold3, but at the time of this writing, only 21% of the collection has been digitized. A free index is on FamilySearch.
Confederate pensions were issued by state. Learn where to apply for Confederate pension records here.