Five acts between 1862 and 1907 provided pensions for Union soldiers. The earliest of these acts provided pensions for soldiers where were disabled or killed. In these cases, a widow, the children, or a parent of an unmarried son was granted a pension upon proving that the soldier contributed significantly to the applicant's support. Normally these applications were submitted soon after the death of the soldier.

The National Archives in Washington, D. C. hold all of the original service records of the Civil War soldiers. Each soldier's record in this collection includes several dozen documents, detailing the soldier's rank, his assignment to a company and regiment, medical examinations during service, and disability pension papers. Also included in the documentation are the widow's pension application, if one was submitted.

Some of the difficulty in verifying these records arise because of misspellings of the soldier's name, or the soldier may have used an alias. Some soldier's gave false information about their name and/or age. If this happened, it came back to haunt the soldier and his family years later when applying for a pension.

Some Civil War pension files for Union soldiers are also maintained by the Veteran's Administrion.

Union pensions were issued by the United States Government. Confederate veteran pensions were issued by some former Confederate states such as Tennessee. Those records are usually maintained by that state's archives.

WYCKOFF, Erastus, Caledonia. Pensioned for gunshot wound right hand.
Certificate # unknown. Monthly rate $4.00

Transcribed by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2009