Pension Question

[lrd89]

The pension of an ancestor who died at Andersonville after being captured at Chickamauga Sept. 20, 1863 lists different dates of death on various documents.

-Casualty Sheet says January 27, 1865. A record from the Adjutant General office, Washington gives this date also
-The muster out record says March, 1865 as does one of the returns
-Widow's Declaration for Pension says on or about Feb 26, 1865. She made the declaration on July 8, 1865.

Is it most likely he died around January 27, 1865?

The pension file is a goldmine of information about these people.

 

[gary]

I'm given to believe that the muster out date doesn't have to be the date one died. The paperwork caught up. Still, I doubt if the Army would pay a dead man for days in uniform that were below ground.

 

[lrd89]

Since the Widow's Declaration is almost exactly one month off from two of the other records, I am inclined to believe that was an error. Other family researchers think Jan. 27th was the date of death, so I think that is probably the date. Thanks.

 

[noman]

Andersonville Find A Grave website http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=32522&CScn=Andersonville&CScntry=4&CSst=12&

 

[Michael O'Neil]

I'm lucky enough to have a hand written declaration of date, place, cause and time of death in the pension application file by the assistant surgeon on board the ship where my ancestor died. It states when he first fell ill, how long for and when he was transferred from his own ship to the hospital ship. I would presume the casualty sheet is the equivalent (army/prison) and the one I'd believe most likely given the fact that in your case the death happened in a POW prison where I imagine things might not operate as elsewhere. Gary's correct with the muster out date - it's the army's date and in my experience usually inaccurate - mostly administrative for pay purposes. The widow's declaration given how early it was made (within a 6 months) is probably based upon her not having the facts at the time she made the original application. Think about it - she's been notified that her husband has died in a POW prison sometime February I imagine (take into account the time it would take for the information to get from Andersonville to the Union army and then to her) and she's taken this as being the when the death occurred. The muster out and casualty sheet info would take a lot longer to make it's way into the pension application file. Are there not dated stamps on the pages - usually these will tell you when those documents were added/received?

 

[TerryB]

Keep digging. I see this sort of inconsistency all the time in ACW docs. One cool thing we have in Tennessee is the mortuary book from the man who was paid to bury both Union and CS dead in Nashville in 1864. His dates are written in his book along with cause of death, so I regard his records as more accurate than any in someone's service records. And the service records will differ from his in many cases. The date of burial seems to have been used on some service records, which later became confused with date of death.