Revolutionary War Veteran and Widow Pensions

Soldiers in Uniform by Jean Baptiste Antoine de Verger, 1781-1784

Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University Library

Revolutionary War Pension Project

The National Park Service and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) are collaborating on a special project to transcribe the pension records of more than 80,000 of America’s first veterans and their widows. The project will make a permanent contribution to the historical record for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.

"...That having been encouraged to do so, he prays Government to look favorably upon his claims and grant him something to relieve his wants and give him comfort in this Autumn of his Earthly existence, that he may close his eyes in gratitude upon a nation upon whose altar of Freedom he has devoted many of the best years of his youth…"
Tunis Cole, April 10, 1848.

A National Debt of Gratitude

During the War of 1812, Revolutionary War veterans were then in their 50’s and 60’s. As soldiers, they had been poorly paid for their war service. What Continental paper money they did receive was next to worthless. Some veterans were forced to sell to land speculators the promissory land certificates they received at the end of the war receiving just pennies compared to what they were worth. The rigors and fatigue of military service had left many in poor health, unable to work to support their families. The young United States faced a burgeoning crisis of poverty among its first generation of war veterans.

Starting in 1818, the first of four Revolutionary War veteran pension acts were passed, at first for veterans, and later their widows, to collect a pension from the federal government paid out every six months.

Quick guide to the American Revolution Pension Acts

• Act of 1818: Continental Line soldiers are eligible to apply for federal pensions. These are US Army soldiers, commanded by George Washington.
  • A soldier who was 20 in 1776 was 62 years old in 1818.
     
• Act of 1820: Continental Line soldiers are eligible to apply for pensions. This act added a new requirement to prove financial need. Applications list the veteran’s property and describe the state of health of everyone in the household.
  • A soldier who was 20 in 1776 was 64 years old in 1820.
     
• Act of 1832: Eligibility was lowered to at least six months of service, making militia service eligible. Militias are associated with state governments. Because militias didn’t receive formal signed paper discharges like the Continental Army and records were incomplete, in addition to documentation applicants were required to appear before a Court of Record to provide oral testimony about their service, corroborated by at least one credible witness. While they answered standard questions, the veterans often told much more than required, perhaps seeing this as their chance—as elderly and largely illiterate men in the twilight of their lives—to get their stories on the record.
  • A soldier who was 20 in 1776 was 76 years old in 1832.
     
• Act of 1836: For a widow to be eligible for a pension, she had to have been married to a veteran before the war ended in 1783. Widows told of traumatic wartime experiences that they and their families experienced. Widows were required to appear before a Court of Record, provide oral testimony about their husband's service, present proof of the marriage, and corroborate stories with credible witnesses.
  • A woman who was 20 in 1776 was 80 years old in 1836.

To apply for a pension, the veteran or widow went to a Court of Record and testified before a judge or a lawyer and submitted that testimony to the War Department.

The first two Acts, in 1818 and 1820, were for Continental (US) Army veterans only – those who served under General Washington. The 1832 act opened pensions to the militia (organized under state control), and the 1836 Act opened applications to widows.

All four pension acts contain fascinating social history details – dates of birth, how much and what types of property they owned, the size and composition of families, and descriptions of the state of health of the veteran and their families. The later Acts, 1832 (militias eligible) and 1836 (widows eligible), are troves of detail about life during the Revolution because of the additional detail the petitioners often provided.

While they didn’t realize it at the time, the veterans and widows were participating in America’s first great oral history project. Until they are transcribed, their testimonies are quite literally, the untold stories of the American Revolution; the soldiers, widows, African American veterans, and American Indians who fought for and against American forces.

President James Monroe, himself a Continental army veteran wounded at the Battle of Trenton (NJ), described his fellow veterans’ plight in his first State of the Union Address to Congress, December 1817:

"...our attention is drawn with peculiar interest to the surviving officers and soldiers of our Revolutionary army, who so eminently contributed by their services to lay its foundation... It is believed that among the survivors there are some not provided for by existing laws, who are reduced to indigence and even to real distress. These men have a claim on the gratitude of their country, and it will do honor to their country to provide for them."

Volunteer as a Citizen Archivist

You can transcribe these records to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary by making a permanent contribution to the historical record. Just add “NPS” to the beginning of your username when you register with NARA to be counted as referred by the National Park Service.

Reference and Reading List

American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati. America's First Veterans. https://www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org/exhibition/americas-first-veterans/.

Crackel, Theodore J. "Longitudinal Migrations in America, 1780-1840: A Study of Revolutionary War Pension Records." Historical Methods 14, no. 3 (Summer 1981): 133-137.

Crackel, Theodore J. "Revolutionary War Pension Records and Patterns of American Mobility, 1780-1830." Prologue: The Quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration 16, no. 3 (Fall 1984):155-167. https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1984/fall/pension-mobility.html.

Dann, John. The Revolution Remembered: Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980.

Davis Heaps, Jennifer. "'Remember Me': Six Samplers in the National Archives." Prologue: The Quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration 34, no. 3 (Fall 2002)

National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives Microfilm Publications Pamphlet Describing M804 Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application Files. Washington: General Services Administration, 1974. https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m804.pdf (PDF ~5 MB).

Nudd, Jean. Using Revolutionary War Pension Files to Find Family Information. Prologue: The Quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration 47, no. 2 (Summer 2015): https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2015/summer/rev-war-pensions.html

Resch, John. "Federal Welfare for Revolutionary Veterans." The Social Service Review 56, no. 2 (June 1982): 171-195. https://www.jstor.org/stable/60000115.

Resch, John. "Politics and Public Culture: The Revolutionary War Pension Act of 1818." Journal of the Early Republic 8, no. 2 (Summer 1988): 139-158. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3123809.

Resch, John. Suffering Soldiers: Revolutionary War Veterans, Moral Sentiment, and Political Culture in the Early Republic. Amherst: University of Michigan Press, 1999.

Schultz, Constance. "Daughters of Liberty: The History of Women in the Revolutionary War Pension Records." Prologue: The Quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration 16, no. 3 (Fall 1984): 139-153.

Schultz, Constance. "Revolutionary War Pension Applications: A Neglected Source for Social and Family History." Prologue: The Quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration 15, no. 2 (Summer 1983): 103-114.