Hello: I had the same experience as you. However, someone told me to go onto the NARA website and just explore the links until I found the civil war pension file index. I did find it (although I cannot remember how) and was able to find a record of the number of the pension file for my ancestor. You can print out an image of that little record. Once I had that, this is the letter that NARA told me to send: FOIA/Privacy Act Officer VA Central Office Department of Veteran Affairs Director, Records Management Service (005E3) 810 Vermont Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20420 Dear Director: The National Archives has instructed me to write to you stating that I am requestion access to the pension file of my great grandfather, whose name was ________, the pension file designated as number ___________ (please see enclosed image). I am requesting that you conduct a BIRLS (Beneficiary Information and Records Locator System) search for the file and retrieve it for my use from the Federal Records Center where it is currently housed. Of course, I am willing to pay applicable fees, hopefully comparable to the $37 that I would have paid the National Archives for a complete record had the records been located there. Thank you very much for this information. Sincerely yours,....... I sent the above letter and received about a month later a post card saying that they were working on my request and would contact me again later. That was about 40 days ago. I haven't yet heard, but I am hopeful that I will, as it often takes 60-90 days, I am told. Hope this works for you. Lorene in Ohio