United States Revolutionary War, Virginia Pension Application Files Introduction and Coverage Table

National Archives Microfilm Publications
The following Introduction is copied from the National Archives and Records Administration(NARA) microfilm publication M910 images in the United States, Revolutionary War, Virginia Pension Application Files. The related Pension File referred to in the appendix is on microfilm publication M804, and in the FamilySearch wiki article Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Applications. The NARA introduction for microfilm publication M804 can be found in the related pamphlet Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application Files

Introduction
On the 18 rolls of this microfilm publication are reproduced 279 pension application files based on military and naval service in the Revolutionary War. The files originated in the Office of the Third Auditor of the Treasury Department, and a large number of them pertain to half-pay pensions of Virginia soldiers and sailors. There is generally an envelope for each soldier or sailor that contains applications for pensions based on his service. A few records, or copies of records, are dated as early as 1778, but most of the documents in the files are dated between 1830 and 1875. They are part of Records of the Veterans Administration, Record Group 15.

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.

During the time the U.S. Congress was enacting laws granting increasingly generous pensions to Revolutionary War soldiers, the States were also passing legislation to encourage or reward military service. In May 1779 the General Assembly of Virginia authorized the payment of half pay for life to the State’s military and naval officers, including chaplains, physicians, surgeons, and surgeons’ mates, who served until the end of the war in State units within the State’s borders or in the Continental Army.

Following the cessation of hostilities, many Virginia officers presented half-pay claims, which were disallowed by the Virginia State Auditor. Certain of the officers brought suit in the Virginia courts, and after several years of litigation the State courts declared the claims to be valid. Virginia then south to have the U.S. Government assume the obligation, stating that the State was not financially able to satisfy the claims of the officers due to the cession to the United States of large tracts of land northwest of the Ohio River. Many of the officers presenting claims had served in this northwest territory during the Revolutionary War. Virginia Pointed out that the deed of cession of the territory on March 1, 1784, provided “that the necessary and reasonable expenses incurred by the State of Virginia in subduing any British posts, or in maintaining forts or garrisons within, and for the defence, or in acquiring any part of the territory so ceded or relinquished, shall be fully reimbursed by the United States.” In addition, Virginia claimed that certain other State troops had actually served in the Continental Army and that their claims should rightfully be paid by the National Government.

An act of July 5, 1832, directed the Secretary of the Treasury to reimburse the State of Virginia for half-pay pension payments made to the officers of the Virginia State Navy and certain designated units of the Virginia Line: Col. George Gibson’s Regiment; the Second State Regiment, commanded by Cols. William Brent and Charles Dabney; the regiments commanded boy Cols. George Rogers Clark and Joseph Crockett; Capt. John Roger’s troop of cavalry; the regiment of State artillery commanded by Col. Thomas Marshall; the State garrison regiment commanded by Col. George Muter; and the State cavalry commanded by Maj. John Nelson. The Secretary of the Treasury was further directed in the same act to assume any additional pension payments to officers of these units. The designated units served during the Revolutionary War in the Continental Army or on Virginia’s northwest frontier.

In 1835 the responsibility for administering claims under the act of July 5, 1832, was transferred to the War Department, which administered most of the other federal pension legislation benefiting Revolutionary War veterans. In 1849 general responsibility for pension legislation in the Federal Government was placed in the newly organized Department of the Interior, and in 1930 the Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department and other offices concerned with veterans were consolidated to form the Veterans Administration. Approximately eighty thousand pension and bounty land warrant application files based on military, naval, and marine service in the Revolutionary War were subsequently accessioned by the National Archives as part of the records of the Veterans Administration.

The pension files reproduced in this publication differ from the main series of Revolutionary War pension files in that they originated in the Office of the Third Auditor of the Treasury Department. The files were originally a collection of documents from many sources concerning applications by the heirs of deceased pensioners for arrearages of pensions. Such claims were generally settled, in the mid-19th century, in the Third Auditor’s Office. Most of the claims relate to Virginia half-pay pensions, but some of them relate to claims under other Revolutionary War pension acts. A few of the files pertain to veterans of the Mexican, Indian, and Civil Wars. Many of records were borrowed by the Third Auditor from the Bureau of Pensions, and there is a great deal of correspondence in the files between the Commissioner of Pensions and the Third Auditor concerning the claims and the transfer of records.

The files were transferred from the Treasury Department to the Navy Department in the second decade of the 20th century. The Navy Department retained those files that related to officers of the Virginia State Navy and forwarded the remaining files to the Adjutant General’s Office of the War Department. The records were transferred to the National Archives in 1941 from the Navy and War departments in two transactions, sometimes referred to as Accessions 837 and 874. The National Archives allocated the pension files to Records of the veterans Administration, Record Group 15.

Most of the veterans with pension files in this publication also have pension files in the main series of Revolutionary War Pension and bounty land warrant applications. The files are often closely related. Documents appointing an administrator for the estate of a deceased veteran, for example, may appear in the veteran’s file in the main series, and correspondence relating to the same appointment may appear in the veteran’s file reproduced in this publication. The main series of Revolutionary War pension and bounty land warrant applications also contains Virginia half-pay claims for which there are no related files in this publication.

The pension files generally consist of an envelope for each soldier or sailor and contain originals and copies of military orders, payrolls, and muster rolls; applications for pensions and arrearages of pensions; sworn statements of individuals attesting to the veracity of the service of the pensioner and the heirship of the applicants; powers of attorney; letters of administration; wills; vouchers showing payment of claims; pension certificates; correspondence; and other records. Most of the soldiers’ files also contain a 3x8 card on which is a typed summary of the major genealogical information in the records. A typical file may contain approximately 50 documents.

The pension files are arranged in two series, one relating to soldiers and one relating to sailors, and thereunder alphabetically by surname of soldier or sailor. Both of the series contain files relating to Virginia half-pay claims, and the series of soldiers’ files also contains pension applications under other Revolutionary War and later acts. The pension files of soldiers, which are filmed first were assigned numbers by the Adjutant Generals Office ranging from 050000 to 050201. The numbers are a continuation of the numbers assigned to miscellaneous Revolutionary War records (The Manuscript File) in the War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records. The envelopes of soldiers’ pension files are labeled with number assigned by the National Archives; the name of the veteran, sometimes with variant spellings of his name; references to any related pension files; the State for which the veteran served; and the designation “Half Pay” or “Not Half Pay.” The files designated “Half Pay” pertain to claims under the act of July 5, 18.2. Those designated “Not Half Pay” pertain to claims under other acts.

The envelopes of sailors’ pension files are generally labeled with the sailor’s name, rank, ship, references to related pension files, and the designation “Virginia State Navy, YS File.” “YS” is a file designation for the Virginia State Navy pensions from the Subject file of the Naval Records Collection of the Office of Naval Records and Library, Record group 45. A few pension files relating to marines are also included in this series.

Within the envelopes, the documents are unarranged except in cases where the file consists of more than 10 pages. In these instances the documents containing the more significant genealogical information have been placed first, preceded by a sheet entitled “Selected Records.” All remaining documents in such files are unarranged and are preceded by a sheet entitled “Non-selected Records.”

The appendix that follows this introduction lists the names of the veterans with pension files in this publication and the citations of related pension files in the main series of Revolutionary War pension and bounty land warrant application files. The appendix also indicates which of the veterans served in Virginia military and naval forces.

Indexes The names of most of the soldiers and sailors of whom there are pension application files reproduced in this microfilm publication are listed in Max E. Hoyt’s Index to Revolutionary War Pension Applications (Washington, D.C.: National Genealogical Society, 1966). Much of the information in the files and additional information from other sources concerning the Virginia military and naval forces has been published in Gaius Marcus Brumbaugh’s Revolutionary War Records, Volume 1, Virginia (Washington, 1936).

Related Records

The main series of pension and bounty land warrant application files based on the service of Revolutionary War military, naval, and marine personnel has been reproduced as National Archives Microfilm Publication M804, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application files, and M805, Selected Records From Revolutionary War Pensions and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application Files.

Additional information concerning the military service of Revolutionary War soldiers and sailors is available in the War Department Collection of the Revolutionary War Records, Record Group 93. Most of the returns, muster rolls, and payrolls in the Collection have been published as M246, [ Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775–1783]. Abstracts made from these records and transcribed onto cards for each soldier or sailor are available as M881, [ Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, and M880, [ Compiled Service Records of American Naval Personnel and Members of the Departments of the Quartermaster General and the Commissary General of Military Stores Who Served During the Revolutionary War]. A name index to both series of complied service records is available as M860, [ General Index to the Compiled Military Service Records of Revolutionary War Soldiers].

The following unbound records and record books from the War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records have also been filmed: M859, [ Miscellaneous Numbered Records (The Manuscript File) in the War Department collection of Revolutionary War Records 1175–1790’s], M853 [ Numbered Record Books Concerning Military Operations and Service, Pay and Settlement of Accounts, and Supplies in the War Department Collection of Revolutionary War]. A name index to these two series is available as M847, [ Special Index to Numbered Records in the War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records, 1775–1783].

Naval Records relating to the Revolutionary War period can also be found in the Naval Records Collection of the Office of Naval Records and Library, Record Group 45. An important series from this record group is available on microfilm as M625, [ Area File of the Naval Records Collection, 1775–1910]

Additional records relating to the Virginia half-pay claims and the Third Auditor’s activities can be found in Records of the Veterans Administration, Record Group 15, and Records of the United States General Accounting Office, Record Group 217.

These introductory Remarks were written by Marie B. Allen