Bryan Howerton
Re: civil war pensions
Thu Apr 26 09:35:07 2001


I can answer your question about your ancestor who moved to Arkansas. The Confederate pension system established by the Arkansas legislature allowed the payment of pensions to veterans or widows of veterans who had served in the Confederate armed forces and/or civil government and had not been dishonorably separated from the same, regardless of which State the veteran enlisted in. Something like a third of the approved pension applications were based on non-Arkansas Confederate service.

Most veterans and widows did NOT receive pensions however. Arkansas had very strict threshold requirements -- you had to be practically a pauper to qualify. These restrictions were eased considerably in the early 20th century, by the time most of the veterans were already dead, so a great many widows eventually were able to qualify for a pension.

I'll be happy to look up your ancestor in the Arkansas Confederate pension index if you'll let me know the name of the veteran and widow (and regiment, if you know it).