Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File
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NATIONAL ARCHIVES MICROFILM PUBLICATIONS                MICROCOPY NO.804

REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENSION
AND BOUNTY-LAND-WARRANT
APPLICATION FILES

ROLL 231

Bettts, Aron

Betts, Zophar
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                         INTRODUCTION
On the rolls of this microfilm publication are produced an estimated 80,000 pension and bounty-land-warrant application files based on the participation of American military, naval, and marine officer and enlisted men in the Revolutionary War.  Most of the records in the files are dated between 1800 and 1900. The files are part Record Group 15. Records of the Veterans Administration.
Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Legislation and Administration Relating to Participation in the Revolutionary War. 

                       Pension Legislation

    For more than a century before the beginning of the Revolutionary War. British colonies in North America provided pensions for disabled soldiers and sailors.  During and after the Revolutionary War. three principal types of pensions were provided by the U.S. Government for servicemen and their dependents. "Disability" or "invalid pensions" were awarded to servicemen for physical disabilities incurred in the line of duty. "service pension." to veterans who served for specified periods of time : and "widow pensions." to women whose husbands had been killed in the war or were veterans who had served for specific periods of time.
     On August 26, 1776. the first pension legislation for the American colonies as a group was enacted. A resolution of the Continental Congress provided half pay for officers and enlisted men. including those on warships and armed vessels. who were disabled in the service of the United States and who were incapable of earning a living. The half pay was to continue for the duration of the disability.
     On May 15, 1778. another resolution provided half pay for 7 years after the conclusion of the war to all military officers who remained int he Continental service to the end of the war. Enlisted men who continued to serve for the duration of the conflict were each to receive a gratuity of $80 after the war under the terms of the same enactment. The first national pension legislation for widows was a Continental Congress resolution of August 24, 1780. which offered the prospect of half pay for 7 years to widows and orphans of officers who met the requirements included in the terms of the resolution of May 15, 1778. On October 21, 1780.  the Continental Congress resolution of May 15, 1778. was amended to provide half pay for life to officers after the war. but on March 22, 1783. the half-pay-for-life provision changed to 5 years full pay.
    Pension legislation during the Revolutionary War was designed to encourage enlistment and acceptance of commissions and to prevent desertion and resignation.  After the war. pensions became a form of reward for services rendered. Both during and after Revolution. the States as well as the U.S. Government awarded pensions based on participation in the conflict.  The records reproduced in this microfilm publication pertain only to pensions granted or paid pursuant to public and private acts of the U.S. Government. Public acts under
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which the majority of such pensions were authorized, encompassed large classes
of veterans or their dependents who met common eligibility requirements. Private
act concerned specific individuals whose special services or circumstances merited consideration, but who could not be awarded pensions under existing public acts.
     On September 29, 1789 (1 Stat. 95) The First Congress of the United States passed an act which provided that invalid pensions previously paid by the States, pursuant to resolutions of the Continental Congress, should be continued and paid for 1 year by the newly established Federal Government. Subsequent legislation often extended the time limit. An act of Congress approved March 23, 1792 (1 Stat. 243). permitted veterans not already receiving invalid pensions under resolutions of the Continental Congress to apply for them directly to the Federal Government. On April 10, 1806 (2 Stat 376). the scope of earlier invalid-person laws pertaining to Revolutionary War servicemen was extended to make veterans of State troops and militia service eligible for Federal pensions. The act superseded all previous Revolutionary War invalid-pension legislation.
     Before 1818 nation pension laws concerning veterans of the Revolution ( with exception of the Continental Congress resolution of May 15, 1778. granting half pay to officers for service alone) specified disability or death of a serviceman as the basis for a pension award.  Not until March 18, 1818 (3 Stat. 410). did the U.S. Congress grant pensions to Revolutionary War veterans for service from which no disables resulted.  Officers and enlisted men in need of assistance were eligible under the terms of the 1818 act if they had served in a Continental military organization or in the U.S. naval service ( including the Marines) for 9 months or until the end of the war. Pensions granted under this act were to continue for life.
     The service-pension act of 1818 resulted in a great number of applicants. Many of which were approved.  Congress had to appropriate greater sums than ever before for Revolutionary War pension payments. Financial difficulties and charges that applicants were feigning poverty to obtain benefits under the terms  of the act caused Congress to enact remedial legislation on May1, 1820 (3 Stat. 569) The new law required every pensioner to submit a certified schedule of his estate and income to the Secretary of War. The Secretary was authorized to remove from the pension list the names of those persons who in his opinion were not in need of assistance.  Within a few years the total Revolutionary War service pensioner was reduced by several thousand. An act of Congress approved Mar 1, 1823 (3 Stat,782) resulted in the restoration of pensions to many whose names had been removed under the terms of the 1820 legislation, but who subsequently proved their need for aid.
     Congress passed another service-pension act May 15 1828 (4 Stat 269) which granted full pay for life for surviving officer and enlisted men of the Revolutionary War who were eligible for benefits under the terms of the Continental Congress resolution of May 15, 1778, as amended.
      The last and most liberal of the service-pension acts benefited Revolutionary War veterans was passed June 7 1832 (4 Stat 529)  and extended to more persons the provisions of the law of May 15, 1828.  The Act provided that

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every officer or enlisted man who served at least 2 years in the Continental Line or State troops. volunteers or militia, was edible for a pension of full pay for life.  Naval and marine officers and men were included. Veterans who had served less than 2 years . but not less than 6 months. were eligible for pensions of less than file pay.  Neither the act 1832 nor the now 1828 required  applicants to demonstrate need. Under the act of 1832 money due from the last payment until the date of death of the pensioner could never be collected by his widow or by his cauldron.
     The time limit for making claims under Continental Congress Resolution of August 24,1780, which promised help-pay pensions to widows and orphans of some officers, expired in 1794.  For many years thereafter , unless a private act of Congress was introduced on her behalf, a widow of a veteran was limited to receiving only that part of a pension that remained unpaid at the time of her husband's death.  By an act of Congress approves July 4, 1836 ( 5 Stat. 128), some widows of Revolutionary War veterans were again permitted, as a class under public law. to apply for pensions. The act provided that the widow of any veteran who performed service as specified in the pension act of June 7, 1832, was eligible to receive the pension that might have been allowed the veteran before the expiration of his last period of service . An  act of July 7, 1838 (5 Stat. 303). granted 5-year pensions to widows whose marriages had taken place before January 1,1794. These pensions were continued by acts of March 3,1843 (5Stat.647). June 17, 1844 (5 Stat. 680). and February 2, 1848 ( 9 Stat. 210).
     On July 29, 1848 (9 Stat. 265), Congress provided life pensions for widows of veterans who were married before January 2. 1800. All restrictions pertaining to the date of marriage were removed by act of February 3, 1853 (10 Stat.154).  and February 28,1855 (10 Stat. 616). On March 9,1878 (20 Stat. 29). widows of Revolutionary War soldiers who had served for as few as 14 days. or were in any engagement . were declared eligible for life pensions.

PWENSION ADMINSISTRATION

     During the Revolution and the period between the conclude of the war and the establishment of the Federal Government, stipulated only that they should be Paid " under such  regulation as the President... may direct."  The act of Congress approved March 23, 1792 ( 1 Stat 244). which permitted the addition of new names of the existing list of Revolutionary War pensioners, specified that the Secretary of War was to administer it provisions. For most of the period between 1793 and 1819. Congress reserved to itself the power of final decision with respect to the allowance of claims.  Thus an act of February 28,1793 ( 1 Stat 325), required the Secretary of War  to send lists claims tot he Congress for action.  The service-pension act pf March 18,1818 (3 Stat. 410), gave Secretary of War the authority to approve applicants submitted in that law, and by an act  of March 3,1819 (3 Stat 528).je was similarly empowered to place individuals on the pension list without prior Congressional approval.

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    Within the Office of the Secretary of War , pension matter were handles as 1810 by a unit called the Office of Military of Military Bounty Lands and Pensions. Between 1810 and 1815 the unit  was also referred to as the Section (or Branch) of Military Bounty Land and Pensions.  In 1815 the Branch was divided into two units, a Pensions Bureau and a Land Warrant Bureau: After 1816 the Pension Bureau was generally referred to as the Pension Office. Not until March 2, 1833 , ( 4 Sat 622), did Congress formally provide for the establishment of the Department of the Interior on March 3, 1849 (9Stat 395). The Pension Office was transferred to it. On July 21, 1930. by  Executive Order 5398, the Bureau of {formerly called Pensions Office} was consolidated with other agencies also serving veterans , and the Veterans Administrations, an independent executive agency, was established.