Military Pensions Packets from NARA
Military pensions are a gold mine for genealogists and many of the soldiers who served received a pension. The National Archives holds Federal pensions awarded to soldiers who served the United States, which excludes Confederate veterans. Confederate veterans who received a pension did so via the state government they served from, so consult the state archives to determine who received a pension and how to view it.
Pension packets frequently contain:
- Demographics for veteran, his service, life pre and post war
- Wife(s), their lives, proof of marriage, children
- Death certificates or proof of death for the veteran, widow and minor children
- Family Information Circulars (1898, 1915)
- FAN Club members providing affidavits concerning veterans service, health and livelihood
- Affidavits from personal physicians documenting health and disability
- Personal letters from family members regarding circumstances
- Tax and real estate records, documentation of assets, and annual income
- Requests to War Department for proof of service
- Requests for medical records from hospitals that treated the soldier during the war
- Examining Surgeon’s Certificates (exams by government physicians)
Pension packets can range in size from a small pension at approximately 20 pages to 400 pages or more!
Some pensions are available online for free at fold3.com
- Revolutionary War pensions for soldiers who served in the Continental Line
- War of 1812 pensions are available online covering last names that begin with the letters A-S (remaining pensions pending resumption of the digitization effort)
- Civil War pensions for Union widows whose husbands died during the Civil War
How do you know if your ancestor received a military pension? The National Archives has published finding aids (indexes) that we can find on our favorite genealogy websites that assist us in determining which ancestors received a pension.
- “Old War Index to Pensions, 1815-1926″ based on NARA T316 is available at FamilySearch and covers pensions for Indian Wars and Mexican War service
- “Civil War Pensions Index 1861-1900” based on NARA T289 is available on fold3 covers pensions from the Civil War and later.
- “US, Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934” based on NARA T288 is available at ancestry.com and covers Civil War and later pensions.
A sample finding aid, or an index card, provides information needed to retrieval a pension from the National Archives looks like this one for Uriah Smeltzer who served during the Civil War.
![](https://i0.wp.com/rumblesoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/smeltzer_uriah.jpg?resize=960%2C627&ssl=1)
All of the information required to retrieve your ancestors’ pension is located on this card! To order a military pension, please fill out this form, and email it to sandy@rumblesoft.com, along with a copy of the pension finding aid for your ancestor, and RumbleSoft will schedule your pension retrieval. Details on how our record retrieval process works are outlined here.