Pension Applications

Beginning as early at 1776, the Continental Congress recognized the benefit of extending pension and bounty land benefits to the men who fought for America's independence from Great Britain. Initially aimed at creating enticements to recruit and retain the services of the men serving in the Continental Army and Navy, over time the scope of these acts were expanded to extend benefits to more of the veterans of the Revolution including men whose served in the state militias and privateers and, eventually, to their widows.

Listen to Lt Patton recall the revolution.

To avail themselves of the benefits of these acts, the veterans and their widows were required to file applications detailing their services and other information about themselves and their families. These applications tell the compelling stories of the men and women who risked their lives and property to lay the foundation of the United States of America. Unfortunately, most of the documentation relating to the earliest of these acts (those pre-dating 1818) was destroyed by fires in Washington D. C. in the early part of the Nineteenth Century. The documentation that survives and the documentation from the later acts, however, provide a wealth of information of interest to both historians and genealogists.

While most of our historical data comes from these pensions much of the information we obtain is from published material, we would like to thank the following people or websites for their historical publications:

Culture & Heritage Museums Historian Michael Scoggins Daily Life During The American Revolutions, Dorothy Denneen Volo and James M. Volo