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 92
Austin, George --
Austin, Joshua

THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES
GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS SERVICE
WASHINGTON: 1969
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INTRODUCTION
On the rolls of this microfilm publication are reproduced an estimated
80,000 pension and bounty-land-warrant application files based on the participation
of American military, naval, and marine officers and enlisted men in the
Revolutionary War. Most of the records in the files are dated between 1800 and
1900. The files are part of 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 pensions"" to veterans who served
for specified periods of time: and ""widows' pensions."" to women whose husbands
had been killed in the war or were veterans who had served for specified 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 in the 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
or after that on March
amended to provide half pay for me to officers after the war, but on
1783, the half-pay-for-life provision was 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 the 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
acts 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-pension 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 national pension laws concerning veterans of the Revolution
( with the 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 disabilities 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 applications,
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 May 1, 1820 (3 Stat.
569). The new law required every pensioner receiving payments under the 1818
act, and every would-be 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 of Revolutionary War service
pensioners was reduced by several thousand. An act of Congress approved March 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 on May 15 1828 (4 Stat
269), which granted full pay for life to surviving officers 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 benefiting Revolutionary
War veterans was passed on 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 had served at least 2 years in the Continental
Line or State troops, volunteers or militia, was eligible for a pension of full pay
for life. Naval and marine officers and enlisted men were also included. Veterans
who had served less than 2 years, but not less than 6 months, were eligible for
pensions of less than full pay. Neither the act of 1832 nor the one of 1828
required applicants to demonstrate need. Under the act of 1832 money due from
the last payment until the date of death of a pensioner could be collected by his
widow or by his children.
The time limit for making claims under the Continental Congress
resolution of August 24, 1780, which promised half-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 approved 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 had 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
under the terms of that act, if the widow had married 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 (5
Stat. 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 acts 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.
Pension Administration
During the Revolution and in the period between the conclusion of the
war and the establishment of the Federal Government, administration of the
pension laws enacted by the Continental Congress was left largely to the
individual States. The act of Congress approved September 29, 1789 (1 Stat. 95),
which provided for the continuance of such pensions by the newly established
Federal Government, stipulated only that they should be paid ""under such regulations
as the President may direct."" The act of Congress approved March 23,
1792 (1 Stat. 244), which permitted the addition of new names to the existing
list of Revolutionary War pensioners, specified that the Secretary of War
was to administer its 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 of claims to the Congress for action. The
service-pension act of March 18, 1818 (3 Stat. 410), gave the Secretary of War the
authority to approve applications submitted under that law, and by an act of
March 3, 1819 (3 Stat. 528), he was similarly empowered to place invalids on the
pension list without prior Congressional approval.
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Within the Office of the Secretary of War, pension matters were handled as
early as 1810 by a unit called the Office of Military Bounty Lands and
Pensions. Between 1810 and 1815 the unit was also referred to as the Section (or
Branch) of Military Bounty Lands and Pensions. In 1815 the Branch was divided
into two units: a Pension 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 Stat. 622), did Congress formally provide for the appointment of a
Commissioner of Pensions to execute pension laws under the general direction of
the Secretary of War. When an act of Congress provided for the establishment of
the Department of the Interior on March 3, 1849 (9 Stat. 395), the Pension
Office was transferred to it. On July 21, 1930, by Executive Order 5398, the
Bureau of Pensions (formerly called the Pension Office) was consolidated with
other agencies also serving veterans, and the Veterans Administration, an
independent executive agency, was established.
Two pension acts pertaining to Revolutionary War servicemen were not
initially administered by the Pension Office. Responsibility for executing the
provisions of the act of May 15, 1828 (4 Stat. 270), was vested in the Secretary of
the Treasury until authority was transferred to the War Department on March 3,
1835 (4 Stat. 779). The Secretary of the Treasury was also named to administer
the act of June 7, 1832 (4 Stat. 530), but a Congressional resolution on June 28,
1832 (4 Stat. 605), relieved him of that function and transferred it to the
Secretary of War.
Application procedures followed by would-be pensioners varied according to
the acts under which benefits were sought. Generally the process required an
applicant to appear before a court of record in the State of his or her residence to
describe under oath the service for which a pension was claimed. A widow of a
veteran was required to provide information concerning the date and place of her
marriage. The application statement or ""declaration," as it was usually called
with such supporting papers as property schedules, marriage records, and
affidavits of witnesses, was certified by the court and forwarded to the official
usually the Secretary of War of the Commissioner of Pensions, responsible for
administering the specific act under which the claim was being made. An
applicant was subsequently notified that his application had been approved.
rejected, or put aside pending the submission of additional proof of eligibility. If
an applicant was eligible, his name was placed on the pension list. Payments were
usually made semiannually through pension agents of the Federal Government in
the States. An applicant rejected under the terms of an earlier pension act often
reapplied for benefits under later, more liberal laws.
Bounty-Land-Warrant Legislation
Bounty-land warrants rights to free land in the public domain were
granted under acts of the Continental Congress and of the Federal Government to
veterans and to heirs of veterans for Revolutionary War service of specified
periods of time. The promise of bounty land during the Revolutionary War was
another inducement to enter and remain in service; after the war, bounty-land
grants became a form of reward. Most warrants were issued to servicemen or their
heirs who met common eligibility standards established by public acts passed
between 1776 and 1856. Some warrants were issued to individuals as a result of
private acts passed by Congress. States also granted bounty land to Revolutionary
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War veterans, but the records reproduced in this microfilm publication pertain
only to bounty-land warrants made available under acts of the U.S. Government.
On September 16, 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution that
provided for granting land to officers and soldiers who engaged in military service
and continued to serve until the end of the war. Representatives of officers and
soldiers who might be slain by the enemy were also entitled to land. The
resolution specified that each noncommissioned officer and soldier should be
entitled to 100 acres, an ensign to 150 acres, each lieutenant to 200 acres, and
other officers to proportionate amounts of land up to 500 acres for a colonel. By
a resolution of August 12, 1780, the provision was extended to include generals,
and the grant was to be 850 acres for a brigadier general and 1,100 acres for a
major general. The resolution of September 16, 1776, was the basic law under
which Revolutionary War veterans were granted bounty-land warrants by the
Federal Government until 1855, although numerous acts were passed in the
interval providing claimants with additional time in which to apply for or to
locate warrants.
On March 3, 1855 (10 Stat. 701), the U.S. Congress went beyond merely
satisfying the former pledge of the Continental Congress and authorized the
issuance of bounty-land warrants for 160 acres to soldiers, irrespective of rank,
who had served for as few as 14 days in the Revolution or had taken part in
any battle. Widows and minor children of such veterans were also eligible. An
individual who had received a warrant under previous bounty-land legislation was
limited by the act to receiving a second warrant for only such additional acreage
as would total 160 acres. An act of May 14, 1856 (11 Stat. 8), extended the
benefits of the 1855 act to include Revolutionary War naval and marine officers,
enlisted men, and their widows and minor children.
Bounty-Land-Warrant Administration
On July 9, 1788, a supplement to a Continental Congress land ordinance
of May 20, 1785, authorized the Secretary at War to issue bounty-land warrants
to eligible veterans of the Revolutionary War or to their assigns or legal
representatives. When the First U.S. Congress authorized the establishment of a
Department of War in the newly formed Federal Government on August 7, 1789
(1 Stat. 50), the Secretary of War was given the responsibility of issuing
bounty-land warrants. By 1810 the Office of Military Bounty Lands and Pensions
had been formed within the Office of the Secretary of War to examine claims and
to issue warrants. In 1815 the pension and bounty-land duties of the War
Department were assigned to separate bureaus, and bounty-land matters were
handled thereafter by an administrative unit known successively as the Land
Warrant Bureau, the Section of Bounty Lands, and the Bounty Land Office. On
November 1, 1841, the Secretary of War placed the bounty-land functions under the
direction of the Commissioner of Pensions. This arrangement was formally
authorized by an act of Congress approved January 20, 1843 (5 Stat. 597). The
laws relating to the granting of bounty-land warrants were administered by the
Department of the Interior after the Pension Office was transferred to that
Department in 1849.
Depending upon the period in which a claim was made, claimants for
bounty-land warrants based on Revolutionary War service sent applications for
adjudication to either the Secretary of War, the Commissioner of Pensions, or the
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marriage records, and other forms of evidence were also forwarded by some
applicants. Property schedules were unnecessary as indigency was not a requirement
for the award of a Revolutionary War bounty-land warrant. A claimant
whose application was approved was issued a warrant for a specified number of
acres. He could then "locate" his warrant; that is, he could select the portion of
the public domain that he wished to have in exchange for his warrant. The
Treasury Department, and after 1849 the Interior Department, accepted the
warrants and issued patents to the land. Many recipients of Revolutionary War
bounty-land warrants did not choose to locate the warrants and to settle on the
public domain; instead, they remained in their old homes and sold the warrants.
Pension and Bounty Land Warrant
Application Files
Secretary of the Interior. Affidavits of witnesses testifying to service performed,
Types of Files
The term "files," as used in this microfilm publication, denotes 10"x14"
envelopes containing applications or other records pertaining to claims for
pensions or bounty-land warrants; 10" x 14" cards summarizing information
about claimants for whom no original application papers exist; and 10" x
14" cards that serve as cross-references to envelopes and summary cards. A file
can therefore be a single card or it can be an envelope containing from 1 to 200 or
more pages of records. The typical file is an envelope containing about 30 pages
of records, consisting generally of the application or applications of one or more
claimants, other documents submitted as evidence of identity and service, and
papers showing actions taken by the Government concerning the claim or
claims. Each file pertains to one or more claims by one or more persons for
pensions or bounty-land warrants based on the service of a single person, usually
in the Revolution, although some files relate to claims based on post-
Revolutionary War service.
Before 1910 Revolutionary War pension application papers were folded
and placed in numbered paper jackets arranged in three series. One series was
reserved for approved applications of ""survivors," as Revolutionary War veterans
were called. The second series held approved applications of widows, and the
third contained rejected applications of both survivors and widows. The series
were arranged by file numbers; therefore, in order to withdraw a specific pension
claim from a series, index books arranged by the first two letters of the surname
of a claimant had to be laboriously examined for the pertinent file number. To
eliminate the necessity of using the books and to protect the records from damage
caused by frequent unfolding and refolding, the Bureau of Pensions flattened and
refiled Revolutionary War pension application papers in a single series of
linen-lined envelopes arranged alphabetically by surname of veteran. The project
was completed in 1912. As part of the work, pension application papers of a
survivor and a widow were consolidated in a single envelope if the claims seemed
to be based on the service of the same person. Approved Revolutionary War
bounty-land-warrant application papers were also flattened and consolidated with
or interfiled among, pension application papers at this time; previously, they had been
maintained apart from the pension claims. The records reproduced in this
microfilm publication are from the one large series of Revolutionary War pension
and bounty-land-warrant application files that resulted from the flat-filing project.
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Survivors' pension application files in the series have headings normally
consisting of the name of the State or organization for which a veteran served, his
name; and the letter "S" for survivor followed by a file number. A file of this
type ordinarily contains one or more post-1800 approved applications of a
veteran for an invalid or service pension. The file may also contain affidavits by
other veterans or persons testifying to the service or disability claimed
documentary evidence of service submitted by the applicant, such as a
commission or a discharge certificate; printed briefs summarizing the service
claimed; property schedules: paper jackets formerly used to hold application
papers before the flat-filing project of 1910-12; certified copies of the veteran's
service record provided by State officials; powers of attorney; letters from
attorneys. Congressmen, and other interested persons relating to the progress of
the claim; letters from genealogists and other researchers seeking information
available in pension papers; and copies of replies from the Pension Office, the
Bureau of Pensions, or the Veterans Administration concerning such inquiries. A
fire in the War Department on November 8, 1800, apparently destroyed all
Revolutionary War pension and bounty-land-warrant applications and related
papers submitted before that date. Applications and related records submitted
after 1800 are occasionally missing from survivors' and other types of files because
papers were sometimes returned to applicants by the Pension Office.
Widows' pension application files have headings usually consisting of the
name of the State or organization for which a veteran served; his name; his
widow's name; and the letter "W" for widow, followed by a file number. Usually
only a widow's given name appears on an envelope, but if she remarried, her
second husband's surname is also included, with the notation "Former
Widow." A widow's pension application file may contain records normally found
in a survivor's file, especially if the widow's file is a consolidation of her papers
and those of the pensioned veteran who had been her husband. Whether a
widow's file represents such a consolidation or relates only to pension claims
made by her, it will generally contain one or more approved post-1800
applications for a pension made by the widow. Incorporated in or attached to
some widows' applications is a copy of a marriage record made by a town clerk, a
clergyman, or a justice of the peace. Sometimes family-record pages from Bibles
and other books were also submitted by a widow as proof of marriage.
Rejected pension application files have headings usually consisting of the
name of the State or organization for which a veteran served his name; the name of
his widow if the file relates to an application or applications submitted by her
and the letter "R" for rejected, followed by a file number. Each of these files
normally contains one or more post-1800 rejected pension applications that were
submitted by a veteran, his widow, or an heir, and that were based on the
Revolutionary War service of the former serviceman. The "R" symbol on the
face of the envelope usually indicates that the latest application in the file was
rejected. There may be one or more approved pension applications in the file
however, if they were approved before the last application was rejected.
Pre-1800 disability-pension application files are envelopes that have
headings generally consisting of the name of the State or organization for which a
veteran served, his name, and the file symbol "Dis. No Papers." The symbol
indicates that a veteran's original disability-pension application and related papers
are not extant, presumably as a result of the War Department fire of November
1800. In place of the missing papers, most of the files contain one or more small
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cards that give information about an invalid pensioner or veteran (former rank,
unit, enlistment date, nature of disability, residence, and amount of pension
. The data were transcribed by the Bureau of Pensions from the Congressional
publication American State Papers, Class 9. Claims (Washington, 1834).
The volume contains information from War Department pension reports based on
original application papers and submitted to Congress between 1792 and
1795. Some invalid-pension application papers submitted after 1800 were
apparently destroyed in another War Department fire in August 1814. For some
of these applications, pertinent entries in the 1835 Report From the Secretary of
War in Relation to the Pension Establishment of the United States (23d
Cong., 1st sess., S. Doc. 514) were copied and placed in files that were also
labeled "Dis. No Papers.” Copying was done by the Veterans Administration, but
it seems this was done only in response to and in the form of replies to inquiries
concerning specific veterans.
Bounty-land-warrant application files for approved applications submitted
after November 8, 1800, are envelopes that have headings consisting of the name of
the State or organization for which a veteran served, his name, his widow's
name if she applied for the warrant, and the symbol “B. L. Wt.” for bounty-land
warrant. This symbol is followed by two or three numbers, separated by
hyphens, which represent the warrant number, the number of acres granted, and
the year 1855 (usually written "55") in the case of warrants issued pursuant to the
bounty-land act of that year. Records in the files may include applications by
veterans, their widows, or heirs: family-record pages from Bibles; copies of
marriage records; copies of State records showing the service of a veteran;
affidavits of other persons testifying to the length or kind of service claimed;
annotated paper jackets used to hold bounty-land-warrant papers before they
were flat-filed, which show action taken on claims; commissions, discharges, and
other original service papers; and powers of attorney.
Bounty-land-warrant files for approved officers' applications submitted
before the War Department fire of November 1800 are mainly 10" x 14" cards
that show the name of the State or organization for which an officer served, his
name, the symbol “B. L. Wt.” followed by the warrant number and the number
of acres granted, the officer's rank, the issue date of the warrant, the notation
"No Papers," and sometimes the name of a person other than the officer to whom
the warrant was delivered or assigned. The original application papers are
presumed to have been destroyed in the fire of 1800. About 1917 the cards were
compiled by the Bureau of Pensions from entries in a surviving register listing
bounty-land warrants issued to officers before November 8, 1800. After the cards
were compiled it seems that upon the receipt of an inquiry pertaining to one of the
officers, the card relating to that officer, the letter of inquiry, and a copy of
the reply were placed in an envelope bearing the same heading as the card. As a
result, some bounty-land-warrant application files for approved officers' applications
submitted before November 8, 1800, are envelopes. Sometimes the card
was discarded after the information it contained was added to the envelope file.
Bounty-land-warrant files for approved applications of enlisted men
submitted before the War Department fire of 1800 are 10" x 14" cards headed
"BOUNTY LAND WARRANT RECORD CARD." Each card usually gives the
name of the soldier, his rank, and the name of the State or organization for which
he served; the warrant number; the number of acres granted; the issue date of the
warrant; and sometimes the name of a person other than the soldier to whom the
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warrant was delivered or assigned. The original application papers were apparently
destroyed in 1800. The cards were compiled by the National Archives from
entries in three registers of bounty-land warrants issued to enlisted men before
November 8, 1800. Sometimes a card was placed in an envelope containing
pension application papers based on the service of the same soldier. In such a case
the warrant number on the card was added to the heading on the envelope.
Bounty-land-warrant applications submitted pursuant to the act of March 3,
1855, and approved were interfiled among or consolidated with pension
application papers as part of the Bureau of Pension's flat-filing project of
1910-12. The files in which these approved applications may usually be found
have been described in the paragraph concerning approved bounty-land-warrant
applications submitted after November 8, 1800. Most bounty-land-warrant
applications submitted in accordance with the act of 1855 and rejected are in
mania envelopes, the headings of which generally consist of the name of the State
or organization for which a veteran served, his name, the symbol “B. L. Reg (or
"Rej."") for bounty-land register, the register entry number assigned to the
application, and the year 1855 (sometimes written "55"). The face of each
envelope also has a section containing military service information. The rejected
applications are similar in content to those that were approved, but paper jackets
accompanying rejected applications do not show warrant numbers. Some of the
rejected bounty-land-warrant applications were placed in envelopes containing
pension application papers based on service of the same veteran.
Consolidated files of pension and bounty-land-warrant applications and
related papers are numerous, and the contents vary. Almost any combination of
two or more pension and bounty-land-warrant files already described may have
been consolidated. Frequently, a widow's approved pension application papers,
which normally comprise a "W" file, are consolidated with approved bounty-land
warrant application papers relating to a claim made by her under the act of
1855. The resultant consolidated file bears a heading that includes both "W" and
B. L. Wt.” symbol and numbers. Approved pension applications of veterans
were consolidated with approved bounty-land-warrant applications of veterans or
their heirs to form files with headings consisting of "S" and "B. L. Wt. symbols
and numbers. Rejected pension application files may also contain approved or
rejected bounty-land-warrant application papers.
"Former Widow" cross-reference cards are another type of file unit
reproduced in this microfilm publication. The cards normally show the name of
the State or organization for which a veteran served, his name, the surname his
former widow acquired upon remarriage, the symbol and number of the file
( usually a "W" file) in which pension or bounty-land-warrant application papers
or information can be found, and the notation "Former Widow." These
cross-reference cards are arranged by the surname of the former widow's latest
husband, not by the surname of the veteran for whose service a pension or
bounty-land warrant was claimed.
Cross-reference cards also exist for variant spellings of a veteran's name. A
card generally gives the name of the State or organization for which a veteran
served, the spelling of his name by which that card is arranged, the spelling by
which the file containing papers or information relating to his service is arranged,
and the symbol and number of the latter file.
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There are files with headings different from those already described whose
contents reflect such differences. Some files, for instance, are labeled "Not Rev.
or "Not Rev. War" and contain pension or bounty-land-warrant application
papers based on post-Revolutionary War service. The service period is usually
shown on the face of the file. A number of pension files are overprinted with the
statement “This Envelope Includes FINAL PAYMENT VOUCHER Received from
GAO." Such vouchers, which were removed from a separate series of General
Accounting Office records, sometimes give the date and place of death of a
pensioner and names of heirs.
Some pension application files reproduced in this microcopy have headings
that include instructions to "See N.A. Acc. No. 874" followed by a number
between 050000 and 050201, the name of the veteran, and the notation "Hall
Pay" or "Not Half Pay." These instructions refer to a separate series of pension
application files that are also in Record Group 15. The records in these files
relate mainly to claims made by heirs under an act of Congress approved July 5.
1832 (4 Stat. 563), which provided half-pay pensions for Virginia veterans of the
Revolutionary War, and to claims made by heirs for arrears due veterans of
Virginia and other States under other pension acts. The files in this separate series
were transferred from the Adjutant General's Office of the War Department to
the National Archives in 1941 and are not reproduced in this microfilm
publication. Abstracts of their contents are in Gaius Marcus Brumbaugh.
Revolutionary War Records, Volume 1: Virginia (Washington, 1936).
A few other pension application files in this microcopy have headings that
include instructions to "See N.A. Acc. No. 837 Virginia State Navy" followed
by the name of the veteran and the notation "YS File Va. Half Pay." The
instructions refer to another small series of Revolutionary War pension application
files in the same record group. The contents of these additional files relate
mainly to half-pay pension claims of heirs of Virginia State Navy officers under the
act of July 5, 1832. The "YS" files, so designated by the Department of the
Navy in accordance with a Navy classification scheme, were sent to the National
Archives in 1941 by the Office of Naval Records and Library. The files have not
been microfilmed or abstracted. All files for Revolutionary War claimants in both
and the Adjutant General's Office series are referred to in the headings
of related files reproduced in this microfilm publication.
Records Withdrawn From the Files
Between 1894 and 1913 several types of records were withdrawn from
Revolutionary War pension and bounty-land-warrant application files and sent by
the Bureau of Pensions to other Departments or Agencies of the Federal
Government. The records were generally documents of historical value dated
1775-83. Between September 6, 1894, and January 16, 1913, muster rolls,
payrolls, returns, orders, and miscellaneous personnel lists and papers were sent to
the War Department pursuant to acts of Congress approved July 27, 1892 (27
Stat. 275), and August 18, 1894 (28 Stat. 403). On March 22, 1907, some lists of
names of seamen taken from the files were sent to the Navy Department in
accordance with an act of June 29, 1906 (34 Stat. 579). Diaries, journals, orderly
books, account books, and other bound records removed from files were
transferred to the Library of Congress on February 9, 1909, under the terms of an
act of February 25, 1903 (32 Stat. 865). There are cross-reference slips in the
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files to describe the records that were transferred and to indicate the Government
Department or Agency to which they were sent.
Informational Value of Records
in the Files
The records contain both historical and genealogical information. Historical
information pertaining to the organization of military units, movement of
troops, details of battles and campaigns, and activities of individuals may be
obtained from application statements of veterans; from affidavits of witnesses,
and from the muster roll, diary, order, or orderly book that was occasionally
submitted as proof of service and was not sent by the Bureau of Pensions to
another Government Department or Agency. Naval and privateer operations are
documented by applications, affidavits, and orders in some files based on service
at sea. A few files contain letters written to or by soldiers and sailors during the
Revolutionary War, which give firsthand accounts of military, naval, and civil
events and conditions. Furloughs, passes, pay receipts, enlistment papers,
discharges, commissions, warrants, and other original records of the period
1775-83 are also in some of the files.
Genealogical information is usually available in a file containing original
application papers. A veteran's pension application normally gives in addition to
his former rank, unit, and period of service his age or date of birth, his residence,
and sometimes his birthplace. Property schedules often give names and ages of a
veteran's wife and children. The application of a widow seeking a pension or a
bounty-land warrant may give her age, residence, maiden name, date and place of
her marriage, and date and place of death of her husband. A copy of a marriage
record made by a town clerk, a clergyman, or a justice of the peace often
accompanied the widow's pension application. Application papers submitted by
children and other heirs or dependents seeking pensions or bounty-land warrants
generally contain information about their ages and residences. Family-record
pages from Bibles and other books submitted by pension and bounty-land-warrant
applicants give the dates of birth, marriage, and death of family members. In a
few pension files are final payment vouchers that sometimes contain information
about the date and place of a pensioner's death and names of heirs.
Arrangement and Selection of
Files and Records
Each file that is a single 10" x 14" summary or cross-reference card and all
envelope files in the series of Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-
Warrant Application Files have been reproduced in this microfilm publication
. The files, with the exception of "Former Widow" cross-reference cards, are
arranged in alphabetical order by the surname of the veteran. When two or more
veterans have the same surname and given name, the further arrangement of the
files based on their service is generally alphabetical by the name of the State of
organization for which a veteran served, or by the word "Continental," Navy.
or some other service designation placed in the heading of some files above or
before the name of a State. "Former Widow" cross-reference cards are arranged
by the surname that the former widow acquired upon remarriage.
Within files, the records are unarranged. However, in each envelope file
containing more than 10 pages of records, the more significant genealogical
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documents were filmed first, preceded by a target headed "SELECTED
RECORDS.” The documents may include pension applications, jackets showing
the act under which pension payments were made, bounty-land-warrant applications
, jackets showing the warrant numbers of warrants granted, property
schedules, family-record pages from Bibles or other books, copies of marriage
records, and final payment vouchers. All remaining documents in that file were
filmed after a target headed ""NONSELECTED RECORDS."" No distinction was
made between selected and nonselected records in filming the envelope files that
contained 10 or fewer pages of records; these files can be recognized by a star
next to the veteran's surname in the heading.
The "SELECTED RECORDS" in files containing more than 10 pages of
records, except those portions of them having no apparent genealogical value
(such as attestations or endorsements), have also been reproduced in another
microfilm publication, Selected Records From Revolutionary War Pension and
Bounty-Land-Warrant Application Files (Microcopy 805). Records in files containing
10 or fewer pages of records were reproduced in Microcopy 805 in their
entirety, as were all files that consist of a single 10" x 14" summary or
cross-reference card. Upon request and for a fee. the National Archives can
provide reproductions of the genealogical records filmed in whole or in part in
Microcopy 805 relating to a specific veteran or other claimant.
Related Records and Sources
of information
Also in Record Group 15 are letterbooks, registers, and other administrative
records of the Pension Office and its successors relating to Revolutionary War
pension and bounty-land-warrant applications. Bounty-land warrants are in
Record Group 49, Records of the Bureau of Land Management. Pension payment
books and final payment vouchers are in Record Group 217, Records of the
United States General Accounting Office. Correspondence of the Secretary of
War and of the Secretary of the Interior concerning their supervision of pension
and bounty-land-warrant matters is in Record Group 107, Records of the Office
of the Secretary of War, and in Record Group 48, Records of the Office of the
Secretary of the Interior.
Military service records for Revolutionary War soldiers are in Record
Group 93, War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records. Naval and
marine personnel records are in Record Group 45, Naval Records Collection of
the Office of Naval Records and Library, and Record Group 127, Records of the
United States Marine Corps. For additional records of Revolutionary War service
and for records of applications made to individual States for pensions or
bounty land, researchers should communicate with State archival agencies.
The names of most of the servicemen for whom there are pension or
bounty-land-warrant application files reproduced in this microfilm publication are
listed in Max E. Hoyt, et al. Index of Revolutionary War Pension Applications
(Washington, 1966). Information of a general historical nature concerning
pension and bounty-land-warrant legislation and administration is available in
Gustavus A. Weber, The Bureau of Pensions (Baltimore, 1923); Gustavus A.
Weber and Laurence F. Schmeckebier, The Veterans' Administration, Its History,
Activities and Organization (Washington, 1934); William H. Glasson, History of
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Military Pension Legislation in the United States (New York, 1900), and Federal Military Pensions in the United States (New York, 1918); and Payson J. Treat, The National Land System, 1785-1820 (New York, 1910). Many of the laws relating to pensions and bounty-land warrants granted for the Revolutionary War service, and regulations established by the Secretaries of War, the Treasury, and the Interior for administering them, are compiled in Robert Mayo and Ferdinand Moulton, Army and Navy Pension Laws, and Bounty Land Laws of the United States ...From 1776 to 1852 (Washington, 1852).
These introductory remarks were written by Howard H. Wehmann.
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