Our best informant, David, will have seen this because I sent an email to him instead of the list. I know I'll get the hang of this someday. David's comments about pension files inspired me to write down what I learned in the last couple of days.        I just sent to NARA for two pension records.  First you have to ask them to send "NATF Form 85."  The forms are free, but they'll only send five at a time.  You use the same form for "Bounty Land Warrant Applications."        It's a good idea to visit the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors website first (<A HREF="http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/)">http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/)</A> to get as much information as possible about your ancestor's service.  For the pension files, NARA wants to know name, branch of service, state from which your ancestor served, and war or dates served.  They'd LIKE to know the unit number and the service branch (as in '12th Iowa Infantry') and whether the person was officer or enlisted and volunteer or regular.  They'd also like to know dates and places of birth and death, "name of widow or other claimant," and places the veteran lived after service.        It's a single page form and easy to understand.  You keep one copy and send them the other.  You can include a credit card number or they'll bill you.  They hold the request up to 45 days waiting payment.        For $37. you get a "full pension application file" ("recommended for genealogy," but items are not described).  $14.75 gets you the "Pension Documents Packet" which they say may contain all or some of the following: - declaration of pension - declaration of widow's pension - adjutant general statements of service - questionnaires completed by applicants - "pension dropped" cards - marriage certificates - death certificates - discharge certificate        If you are looking for a Civil War era pension, and the person was a Confederate veteran, you write to the appropriate Southern state.  Addresses are given on the form.  I'd be happy to provide an address for anyone who needs one (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Caroline, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, or Virginia).        This sounds like a possible gold mine, and I don't know why I didn't send my own request sooner! Leah