> I haven't done any research in Civil War Veterans records and was > wondering if anyone with experience in this area could tell me how I > could do this, such as where I might write and also what I might > expect to find in these records. I have a GGG grandmother who > applied for a Veterans pension in 1907 and it gave the pension > certificate number. Any advice would be appreciated. > > "Frank Cullison" <fcullison@yahoo.com> The National Archives uses form NATF 85 to handle requests for copies of federal pension or bounty land warrant applications from every conflict prior to World War I. The address Glee gave lists the rolls in the index to pension files and tells of the facilities where the index can be searched. To order the form online, go here: <http://www.archives.gov/research_room/obtain_copies/military_and_genealogy_order_forms.html> The form will ask for everything you know that is genealogically significant: at least the name, state of service, branch of service, and home state. If known, you should also give the unit (if your soldier served in more than one, be sure to list all of them), arm (infantry, cavalry, artillery), file number, birth and death, whether an officer or an enlisted man, and whether a volunteer or in the regular establishment. If the index lists a widow or other claimant, you should give her name as well. There is a space on the form for each of these items. You will also be asked to specify whether you want the entire file or, for about half the price, a "Pension Documents Packet." (In 2001 the rates were $37.00 for the full file and $14.75 for the packet. I don't know whether they have changed.) The packet is supposed to include eight documents, or at least all of the eight that can now be found: 1. Declaration of pension 2. Declaration of widow's pension 3. Adjutant general statements of service 4. Questionnaires completed by applicants 5. "Pension Dropped" cards (indicating when pensioner died) 6. Marriage certificates 7. Death certificates 8. Discharge certificate There are two methods of payment. You may give a credit card number on the form, and the National Archives will send copies back immediately if a file is found matching your description. Or, check the BILL ME box, and they will send an invoice once they find the file, payable within 45 days. If they receive your check or money order within that time, they will send copies. The longest wait is for National Archives searchers to locate the file, pension records being in demand. I always order the full file. It will include medical information if the soldier claims that he was disabled in the service. It usually includes sworn affidavits of witnesses to marriages and births of children. The identities of these witnesses can in themselves offer genealogical clues, and sometimes information is buried in the less obvious places. I have a copy of one pension file in which a deponent testified to being the pensioner's brother, to having known the pensioner's widow "since childhood," and to knowing that she was not married before she married the pensioner. When the widow applied for a pension increase, she gave her own birth date and place -- at a time and place when no birth certificates were kept. I doubt that this information would have surfaced had I not ordered the entire file. Good luck. Austin W. Spencer "Austin W. Spencer" <AustinWSpencer@cox.net>