A researcher asked, “Why did some soldiers have aliases?” There is a long list of possible answers.
Yes, we’re in business to copy records for you from the National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”) but we encourage you to go to NARA yourself instead if that is practical. There’s nothing like getting your own hands on your ancestors’ original documents! Following is our advice if you are planning a trip to NARA
Getting the Full Pension File: Once you have found a record of a pension in an index, the next step is to get access to the full pension file. The pension file may be in one of several possible places, however, and you’ll need to know where and how to access it.
Cases Studies: Here we offer some real examples to demonstrate some of the problematic issues having to do with pension indexes and how to get around them.
Alternative Pension Indexes: When the principal pension indexes don’t include what you want, there are some alternatives. In fact, those alternative indexes sometimes include information about the veteran that is not recorded on any other pension index.
Principal Pension Indexes: To find a Civil War pension, you must first find it in an index. There are several types of indexes available online and they contain different – and sometimes conflicting – kinds of data. It is therefore critical that you understand the differences and consult the correct index(es), depending on your purpose.
Eligibility: The qualifications to receive a pension changed over time. Some reasonable conclusions can be drawn merely by examining the date of the application and the laws that were in place at that time.
Terminology and Abbreviations: In Part 2 of this series, we will define the terms and abbreviations that are found in Civil War pension files.
This series will explore the many mysteries of the Civil War pension file, including how to find and interpret the many types of online pension indexes, some details of which are rarely documented elsewhere. Those indexes alone may contain hidden clues and a remarkable amount of detail about the veteran’s life, family, and military service.
Contrary to popular belief, many Confederate veterans did receive pensions. They were provided not by the U.S. Federal government but by the individual southern states. Although Confederate pension files typically contain fewer documents than Union ones, they are nonetheless very useful for family researchers.
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