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Revolutionary War pension and bounty-land-warrant application files, 1800-1900.
Amount:
922.00 microfilm reel 35 mm.
Medium Included:
Organization/Arrangement:
Alphabetical.
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:
Summary:
This series consists of microfilm copies of selected genealogical records from an estimated 80,000 pension and bounty-land-warrant application files based on the participation of American military and naval officers and enlisted men in the Revolutionary War. Most of the records are dated between 1800 and 1900. The files were microfilmed in two groups labeled M804 and M805. M804 contains all of the information in the Revolutionary War pension and bounty land warrant application files and is a massive 2670 microfilm rolls. M805 contains only the information which is of value to the genealogist and is only 898 microfilm rolls. The Florida State Archives possesses rolls 1 to 35 from M804 and rolls 12 to 898 from M805. Rolls 1 to 35 from M804 contain the information on the missing rolls 1 to 11 from M805. 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, commissions, warrants, and other original records of the period 1775-1783 are also in some of the files. Generally, the records described have not been reproduced in this microfilm publication unless they also contain genealogical information. Genealogical information is usually available in a file containing original application papers. A veteran's pension application normally gives - in a 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 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 his heirs.
Finding Aids:
Microfilm listing available.
Additional Physical Form:
Reproduction Note:
Microfilm.
Location of Originals/Duplicates:
National Archives, Washington, D. C., from the records of the Veterans Administration, Record Group 15.
Associated Materials:
Language Notes:
Ownership/Custodial History:
Publication Note:
National Archives Microfilm Publication M804 and M805. A name index is available in the National Genealogical Society's, Index to Revolutionary War Pension Applications.
General Note:
Microfilm is currently located in microfilm cabinet 19, drawers 19.1 through 19.12.
Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields:
Military pensions.
United States History Revolution, 1775-1783
for detailed listing.