Civil War Widows’ Pension Digitization Project

This is a volunteer supported effort to ultimately digitize and make available online the nearly 1.3 million case files of the dependents of Civil War Union soldiers who applied to the federal government for pensions.

It is a multiyear project that is processing about 30,000 case files per year. Needless to say, the end is not in sight in spite of the approximately 700 monthly volunteer hours devoted to the effort. As records go on line, they are available at the Fold3.com website.

You can read an article about the project and see a wonder video at New National Archives Video Gives an Inside Look at the Volunteer-Supported Civil War Widows’ Pension Digitization Project