While moving into a new house, I came across a file I had lost more than twenty years ago. Included are: (1) A copy of one Gilbert Crismon's application for 'Pension for Ex-Confederate Soldiers'. It was signed by Gilbert on June 12, 1913. Apparently he was subsequently asked for more evidence to support the pension claim. (2) A copy of a hand written letter by Gilbert on July 19, 1913. In this letter he provides information such as when and where he enlisted, his commanding officers (one was Issac Crismon), the battles he was engaged in, and the names of three prisons where he had been held prisoner. Gilbert states his age to be 73 at this time. Of course, that means he was born about 1840. (3) Gilbert included a copy of a 'Missouri Soldiers (1861-1865) War Between The States' document confirming that Gilbert Crismon enlisted in the Confederate Army on October 24, 1862. (4) A copy of a letter from the state of Missouri Adjutant General to the War Department Adjutant General dated July 29, 1913, asking for all records available pertaining to the pension application. (5) A copy of the War Department reply dated August 5, 1913, confirming that indeed, Gilbert Crismon's pension claim is valid. (6) In the upper right hand of the application ((1) above), is a stamp noting approval of the pension on August 20, 1913. I found it amazing how quickly our government reacted to and processed this claim - only two months and eight days. I'll bet it would not happen today, even with our online computer systems. I discussed these wonderful documents with a Gilbert descendant back then and he told me Gilbert's pension was $17.00 per month. I pass this information on to the list and offer to email to those interested a digital copy of the documents. The file will be in the Adobe PDF format. The Adobe PDF program is available on the Internet at no cost (www.adobe.com). A note of caution. To use the Adobe program you must have installed a PostScript driver on you PC. You do not need a PostScript printer in order to install the driver. The driver is available within any Windows operating system. Bob Crismon