Civil War Pensions, Part II

As always, your first sources of information should be your family members. Has anyone else done research on this particular person? Are there any family keepsakes of bibles that document a veteranīs service? Any stories of battle heroics that might have been passed down in the family? Failing this, there are several ways to glean clues into a manīs possible military service during the Civil War.

First, check your records for any male born between the years of approximately 1816 and 1843. Men were eligible to serve if they were between the ages of 20 and 45 in 1861 at the start of the war. Of course, many older men and young boys served even if they were not of proper age--add a few years leeway just to be sure you donīt miss a possible veteran.

After making a list of potential pensioners, you are ready to start your search for the key bits of information needed to obtain photocopies of the pension file. Some of the best sources of information are city, county and state histories, genealogical or historical societies in the local area, tombstone inscriptions, compiled transcriptions of cemetery readings and obituaries. Of course, when just getting started you may not have enough information to use all of these sources. Key to the entire process is determining which state your veteran served from and where he is buried.

The National Archives holds offers a microfilmed index to available pension files dated 1861 through 1934. The pension files themselves have not been microfilmed and will need to be viewed onsite at the Archives in Washington, D.C., or obtained by mail.

If you will be ordering pension file copies by mail, be prepared for a bit of sticker-shock. Fee increases have been implemented to help defray more of the administrative costs of having these searches done by government clerks. The most basic, barebones packet of copies now costs $14.75 and may contain just 10-20 sheets of the most genealogically important documents. The entire pension file will run $37.00, but will include the entire file. If you are sure that you have located the correct pensioner, this may actually be a good deal--under the old system of charging per page copied many files cost well over $100.

The National Archives and Records Administration offers email ordering of the required forms. NATF85 is used to order bounty land records for Revolutionary War era soldiers or Civil War pension files. NATF86 is for obtaining the military records only, which contain little or no information of genealogical value. The military records are interesting, though, and may contain details that will help you gain insight into the experiences your ancestor might have had during the war. To obtain these forms, send an email to inquire@nara.gov. If you include the word "forms" anywhere in the subject link or body of your email, the automated system will send you a message confirming receipt. Be sure to include the number of forms you are requesting, your name and complete mailing address in your email. There is a limit of 5 forms per request, but does not seem to be a limit on the number of requests you can make.

Good luck and happy hunting!