Union pension applications are generally a goldmine of genealogical data. They typically include applicant's name, military unit, place of residence, his age and/or date of birth, date and place of his marriage, date and place of his death, the maiden name of his wife, and the names and birthdates of his surviving children. Occasionally, it will include the date of death of the veteran and the date of death of his wife.

         Union pension applications are indexed in the National Archives micropublication T288, called the General Index to Pension Files, 1881-1934. The index is organized by by surname and then by state from which the soldier served. This series contains 544 rolls of microfilm, and the roll description is online at the National Archives Web Site. (You will need use the "Find" function on your browser to locate the appropriate section. Search for "T288.") To order a a copy of the pension file, you will need NAFT Form-85. The National Archives has online instructions for obtaining NAFT Form-85 via email.

         If you do not have access to the General Index to Pension Files, you can still contact the National Archives using NAFT Form-80. You will need to specify as much information about the veteran as possible, but minimally you will need to specify his first and last name and the military unit for which he served. Four possible sources for locating the veterans military union are given below.

• The 1890 Veterans Census
• National Archives Microfilm: Series M123, Rolls 95-98 (Search for Tennessee).
• 1890 Civil War Veterans Census - Tennessee, Byron & Barbara Sistler, 1978
•  Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Tennessee, of the Military Forces of the State, from 1861 to 1866, Adjutant-General's Office, 1866.
• Tennesseans in the Civil War, Part 2, Civil War Centennial Commission, 1965. The latter part of the book contains an alphabetical listing of the Union Veterans.
• Indexes and Compiled Service Records for Union Army Volunteers
• Index: Series M392, 16 Rolls (Search for M392)
• Compiled Service Records: Series M395 (Search for M395)

     TNGenWeb now has online a database for entering Union Pension Application Numbers. You can search for and add your ancestor's pension application number.

     As of July 13, 2000, Ancestry.com put online the index to and the images of  the entire US Civil War Pension Database. Please note, you must have a membership in Ancestry.com to be able to access the databases.

     For more information concerning the laws that applied Pension request, see the following websites. (Note: both require Adobe Acrobat Reader).

Pension Summary

Pension Laws

      While Confederate pension application do contain some genealogical information, they are generally not as detailed as Union pension applications. An example of the questions asked of a Confederate Veteran is given online. Although the actual pension application changed over the years, the questions required to be answered remained fairly similar throughout the year. Widows pension applications contain more genealogical data because the widow was required to prove that she was indeed married to the veteran and had not remarried since his death. She also had to have two witnesses fill out questions as well. Usually, these witness were men who served in the military with her husband. An example of the questions asked of the widow and her witnesses is given online. To obtain a copy of a veteran's pension application, contact the Tennessee State Library & Archives. You will need to specify the name of the veteran and the pension application number. The TSLA now has online the complete index to the Tennessee Confederate Pension applications.

• Tennessee State Library and Archives Confederate Pension Application Index
• Sample of a Confederate Pension Application
• Online Mail Services Information

     Several Indexes have been published that list the names of the veterans and/or widows who applied for a Veteran's Pension and the pension number assigned to the application. A pension number that begins with an "S" indicates that the soldier applied for the pension, and a pension number that begins with a "W" indicates that the widow applied for the pension.

•  Index to Tennessee Confederate Pension Applications, Tennessee State Library and Archives, (1964). This book contains the name of the veteran and/or widow, the pension number, and the county from which he/she filed.
• Index to Tennessee Confederate Pension Applications, transcribed and edited by Samuel Sistler, (1995). This book contains the name of the veteran and/or widow, the pension number, and the county from which he/she filed.
• Tennessee's Confederate Widows and Their Families: Abstracts of 11,190 Confederate Widows Pension Applications, abstracted by Edna Wiefering; edited by Charles A. Sherrill. This book is an excellent resource for locating not only the pension number assigned to the widow's pension but also for locating the maiden name of widow. It abstracts all of the widow's pension applications submitted to the State of Tennessee.
• Family Tree Maker Family Archives CD#155 (Tennessee): "Military Records: Civil War Confederate Pension Application Index." (Look Ups -- Search for 155)

     The following libraries in Tennessee have copies of the microfilm that contains the pension applications. However, they DO NOT answer mail requests regarding pension applications. If you would like to visit their libraries, their staff would be happy to help you locate and obtain copies of Confederate Pension Applications.

• Hamiliton County Bicentenniel Library in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
• McClung Historical Collection in Knoxville, Tennessee.
• Memphis/Shelby County Library & Information Center in Memphis, Tennessee. (Although the library will not answer mail requests, i.e. send a copy of the pension application, they will look up a pension number in their index. For this lookup, you can contact them either by email, telephone, or snail mail.)

          Willie L. Robinson has put online an index to TN "Colored" Pension Applications for CSA Service. The index contains the name of the veteran, place and year of birth, military unit, and whether or not the pension was accepted.
  If you have obtained copies of either Union or Confederate Pension Applications, please consider transcribing them and putting them online. There are a variety of places to display them. The TNGenWeb County Host from the county where the pension was filed would be happy to help you. Or TNGenWeb Digital Archives Manager, Mike DeLoach would be happy to help as well.  

        For more information on Confederate Pension Applications, see the National Archives site.

What about those veterans who served in a Tennessee Military Unit but moved to another state after the war? Did they received a pension?

      The answer to this question is that it depends on state in which the veteran was living during the late 19th century. If the veteran was living in a state that remained part of the Union and was not a border state, then he probably did not receive a pension. If the veteran was living in one of the former Confederate States of America, then he may have received a pension from that state. For example, a Tennessee veteran living in Texas would have had to apply to Texas for a pension. The payment of pensions was generally reciprocating between the former Confederate states. Some border states did provide pensions after the turn of the century. Below is a list of Confederate and border states with links to information about Confederate Pensions within their state.

• Alabama Confederate Pensions - Confederate State
• Arkansas Confederate Pensions - Confederate State
• Florida Confederate Pensions - Confederate State (Pensions Authorized 1885)
• Georgia Confederate Pensions - Confederate State (Pensions Authorized 1879)
• Kentucky Confederate Pensions - Border State (Pensions Authorized 1912)
• Louisana Confederate Pensions - Confederate State
• Mississippi Confederate Pensions - Confederate State (Pensions Authorized after 1900)
• Missouri Confederate Pensions - Border State
• North Carolina Confederate Pensions - Confederate State
• South Carolina Pensions - Confederate State (list of available records)
• Texas Confederate Pensions - Confederate State (Pensions Authorized 1863)
• West Virginia Confederate Pensions - Border State (filed at Virginia)
• Virginia Confederate Pensions - Confederate State