Civil War "Widows' Pension" Applications

From the very beginning of the Civil War, widows of men who served and died in the Union Army during the war were entitled to apply for pension benefits. After the war, further legislation was approved to allow for widows and dependents of men who served, survived the war, and died afterward.

Under the Dependent Pension Act, approved on June, 27, 1890, widows of soldiers serving in the Union Army could apply for a pension by proving the following:

• that the soldier served the Union for at least ninety days during the Civil War;
• that he was honorably discharged;
• that the widow provide proof of death, but it need not have been the result of his army service;
• that the widow is without other means of support than her day labor;
• that she married the soldier prior to June 27, 1890, the date of the act.

The cover page to the file lists the name of the soldier; company, regiment, and state of service; the name of the widow, often with her maiden name; and the names of any dependent children. It also lists which papers will be found within the file, such as:

Original application

Proof of soldier's service

Proof of death

Proof of marriage - affadavits or certificates proved that the widow seeking the pension was, indeed married to the soldier.

Proof of children - when children are listed, you often will find copies of bible records or town records.

Declaration of a Widow for Restoration of Pension - when a second marriage revoked the pension and the death of the second husband left the widow once again without support.

Dropped from rolls - this record will give a date of death or other circumstance which required the widow to be dropped from the rolls. In this particular example, note the odd phrasing: "I have the honor to report that the name of the above-described pensioner who was last paid at $12, to Nov. 4, 1913, has this day been dropped from the roll because of death Nov. 23, 1913."

Records are arranged by state of service, then branch of service. Next, by regiment, then company, and veteran's name. The widow's pension is found under her husband's name.

If a widow's certificate number is printed on a Civil War soldier's pension index card (T289), available at Footnote - Pensions Index, Civil War to 1900 - search on that number to locate the widow's pension file.

Because the images in these files are digitized from the original paper records, most of which are over a hundred years old, there may be instances where you will need to view side-by-side images to see the full page. The two images presented here are an example of this where a weight keeping a page flat covers part of the document. Another shot, after moving the weight, brings the rest of the page into view.

Digitization of this collection is part of a pilot program between FamilySearch, NARA, and Footnote. The pilot project includes several thousand pension files, by Widow's Certificate number (WC#), which is why you will only see low WC#s under "Publication Number" in the "About This Document" section for each image. More information about the partnership and the pilot program is available in the NARA press release referenced in the Source section below.

These are paper records scanned from pension files archived at the National Archives in Washington, DC. They are part of Record Group 15, Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 1773-2001.

According to a NARA press release, "FamilySearch, in conjunction with Footnote.com, will eventually digitize and index all 1,280,000 Civil War and later widows’ files in the series. These records, of great interest to genealogists and others, are currently available only at the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. The widows’ pension application files, a rich source of information about ordinary American citizens of the time, include supporting documents such as affidavits, depositions of witnesses, marriage certificates, birth records, death certificates, and pages from family bibles."