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I remembered that our national observation of Memorial Day began in Illinois with General John A. Logan, Logan a distinguished veteran of the Civil War was born February 9, 1826, in what is now Murphysboro Illinois. After the war, Logan was elected to Congress but his concern for veterans led him to take part in Illinois' first organized veterans memorial services at Woodlawn Cemetery in Carbondale in 1866. In 1868, he helped found Memorial Day as a national holiday. My mother in law Lucile Whitmore was born in Shannon Illinois in 1909 and remembered that as a young girl each May she would join her grandfather Alfred Whitacre and great uncle Edward Adlum Straub and help them place flowers on the graves of the Civil War dead. These two old soldiers would dress up each Memorial Day in their GAR uniforms and join other aging comrades and march (later ride) to the cemeteries there to pay tribute to their fallen brothers. The other day while looking through our local library I came upon the five volume set of List of Pensioners on the Roll, January 1, 188 and thought of Lucile . Here I found a list of Civil War pensioners (their are also some from 1812 & 1848! But not from Carroll County).
My curiosity led me onward and the result is the attached transcription of the U. S. Pension Bureaus List of Pensioners on the Roll, January 1, 1883. This transcription is from Volume # 3 which covers Illinois and Carroll County. . I hope to transcribe all of Carroll County The rest should be completed by next month, (I am an awful slow typist). Since we are coming up on Memorial Day I thought I would send in the attachment thus far which is for the Townships of Shannon and Savanna. I think the List is a great source for historians and genealogists as it gives sufficient information for Carroll County researchers to order copies of pension folders from the National Archives and Records Administration.
The key item for researchers requesting a folder is to include the pension certificate number and, name of the pensioner. Pensions from the U.S. Government were issued to Union veterans and their widows and orphans. Pension files are maintained by the National Archives in Washington, DC These files have not been microfilmed nor are they available online. Currently they are available only through in-person or by mail research. Pension files may be obtained for a fee (see web site below) from the National Archives and Records Administration at the address below.
Requests should be submitted on NATF Form 80, which can be obtained from:
General Reference Branch (NNRG-P)
To obtain NATF 80 Forms, researchers should go to the National Archives' web site
http://www.nara.gov/research/ordering/ordrfrms.html
The List also contains the cause of for which the person was pensioned, their Post Office Address, their Rate of Pension per month and the Date of their Original Allowances. I found this information at our Stockton CA Library, so I guess many large libraries or genealogical collections will have similar volumes in their collections. The List was originally published by the Government Printing Office in 1883 as called for by the U.S. Senate Resolution of Dec. 8, 1882. The List only covers pensioners alive (not all Civil War veterans) as of 1882. Many other Civil War veterans were added to the pension rolls later as the criteria for Civil War pensions were liberalized in the succeeding decades.
Our Civil War was the most devastating in our nations history. The 620, 000 Union and Confederate soldiers and sailors who lost their lives almost equals the 680,000 Americans who died in all of the other wars the nation fought combined. About 250,000 men served from Illinois the exact number of Illinois dead is unknown but the number exceeded 100,000. This ghastly toll however does not cover the thousands of soldiers and sailors who returned wounded or maimed nor does it include their widows and orphans. The List will give readers some idea of just how all encompassing the war actually was. Reflected in the List for Illinois is a comparatively large number of pensioners from then largely agrarian and rural Carroll County. In such small Carroll County cities as Elkhorn Grove, Fair Haven, Lanark, Milledgeville, Mount Carroll, Shannon, Savannah and Thomson almost everyone was affected by War. The List I think eloquently documents that even the inhabitants of these small hamlets continued to suffer decades after the peace at Appomattox Court House.
What is in Civil War Pension Records and What can we learn from them?
Civil War pension folders offer a unique view of our nation’s military and family history. These records were for the most part filled out by the veterans themselves or people who knew them well. They also provide us insight into how the war continued to affect Carroll County and the nation. Union army soldiers or their widows (in 1882 there were nine widows from Lanark alone!) or their minor children could apply for a pension. As can be seen in the attachment in some cases, even a dependent mother was eligible to receive a pension.
For genealogists and family historians Civil War pension folders will often contain considerable information about what the soldier did during the war, and will contain much medical information if the veteran lived for a number of years afterwards.
For example, in his pension file, Christian Yordy of Cherry Grove Illinois (certificate number 91394 VA file # XC 2-655-186) Company D, 93rd Illinois has an original letter with his request for change of assignment:
There is also an accompanying certificate from his former Commanding Officer attesting to his wounding and from his regimental surgeon listing his wound as gunshot wound left shoulder and extensive descriptions of his general physical condition. After Christian's death in 1911 to obtain a widow's pension, Christian's widow, Mary Kohr, later had to provide the pension office proof of their marriage that is a copy of the record kept by the minister and a list of their children. Typically, Civil War soldiers were also requested to provide data on any previous marriages. In Christian Yordy’s pension folder he acknowledges his first marriage to Francis Whitmore of Carroll County in 1866 and gives and approximate dates of their marriage and her death in 1876. Since many documents contained in the folders were written by the veteran or his widow their opinions, thoughts and feelings really become evident and for those of us interested in family history this is probably as close as most of us will ever get to hearing our ancestors authentic voices. Civil War historians routinely use pension records to get a soldiers perspective on the big events and learn first hand from the participants what they though and believed. For two excellent examples of how historians use these documents to illuminate our past see: James M. Mc Pherson, For Cause & Comrades, Why Men fought in the Civil War and Warren Wilkinson’s Mother may you never see the sights I have seen The Fifty- Seventh Massachusetts Veteran Volunteers in the Last Year of the Civil War. All in all Civil War pension records are generally a treasure throve of information and well worth the effort to secure. Carroll County Pensioners
Mt. Carroll Pensioners
Shannon Pensioners
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