I have a friend who ordered a War of 1812 pension file and got one set of papers. A cousin who she met several years later had gotten another set of papers on the same ancestor. It is a good idea to request all papers from a pension file, but be prepared that some may cost an arm & a leg if very large. This is still better than having some clerk (who may not know anything about genealogy & what you want in the way of information) pick & choose what to send you. BTW, the NGS has a project, trying to raise money to get the War of 1812 & Civil War colored troop records microfilmed. At the present time, only the index is microfilmed. They are accepting donations for the project. Karen