Rejected Civil War pension file

[RhinehartRoots]

If you've seen Civil War pension files, you know that there are some amazing details that you can learn in those files. There are stories about these soldiers' service in the war, details about their lives after the war, and information about their families. Many of these details are impressive and exciting to learn about, but not all of them have happy endings. My own ancestor's file tells one of those stories.

Henry Rhinehart, my great great great grandfather, was drafted in 1865, near the end of the war. Since he was drafted so late in the war, his service lasted less than three months.

After Henry died in 1898, his wife Mary applied for a widow's pension from the government. Mary submitted her application when she was in her 70's, hoping to get help from the government. She was denied any pension payments because Henry had served in the army for less than 90 days. The law said that anyone who had not served at least 90 days was not eligible.

Mary applied again, hoping they would change their minds. In her application she states that he enlisted "to serve one year or during the war, and was willing to serve his full time if needed, but was discharged . . . My deceased husband went to the War of the Rebellion and left me with five little children on my hands, with no means of support for my children or myself. Now, Your Honor . . . I ask you to give my claim a careful reconsideration, for as long as I could perform labor to support myself, I did not ask it, but am now dependent." Her request was denied again.

It's not always exciting to hear stories about your ancestors living in poverty and being dependent on others. However, this was part of their story, and it would have been lost to history if it wasn't recorded in his Civil War pension file.

Do you have Civil War ancestors that you'd like to know more about? The National Archives in DC has military files for most of the soldiers who fought in the Union Army. I'll be back there later this month, so let me know if I can help you get these files in your hands.

www.RhinehartRoots.com
We go to DC so you don't have to!

 

[Seduzal]

Wow! Thanks for sharing this awesome article.

 

[Chris H]

Great post!

One of my direct ancestors was denied his pension by the State of Tennessee because he was listed a deserter. After his capture/desertion he very quickly swore an oath of allegiance to the US, making his CS loyalty suspect. Nothing remains to tell his side of the story. I have read where some CS deserters were able to secure their pensions by submitting letters from former officers who attested to their good service prior to their desertion.

Born into modest wealth, his family's finances were ruined by the war, and his post-war life makes for depressing reading. Interestingly, his brother was a Unionist and thrived after the war.

 

[Zella]

Thanks for sharing, @RhinehartRoots!

@Chris H, was your ancestor from East Tennessee, by any chance?

 

[Chris H]

Thanks for sharing, @RhinehartRoots!

@Chris H, was your ancestor from East Tennessee, by any chance?

No, he was from Middle Tennessee, where much of my family still lives. Most of what I know about him came from my late grandmother and one unfortunate newspaper article that chronicled his considerable mental decline after the war. He was a very troubled man who, drowning in debt (and likely, mental illness), took his own life. He and his brother reportedly never spoke again.

 

[Zella]

No, he was from Middle Tennessee, where much of my family still lives. Most of what I know about him came from my late grandmother and one unfortunate newspaper article that chronicled his considerable mental decline after the war. He was a very troubled man who, drowning in debt (and likely, mental illness), took his own life. He and his brother reportedly never spoke again.

That's a very sad story.

I asked about his origins because there's a pretty good-sized group of us with East Tennessee/Western North Carolina backgrounds on here, with a fair number of ancestors who served on both sides and divided families. What you described piqued my curiosity and made me wonder if he was from that area, as well.

 

[J. D. Stevens]

details about their lives after the war, and information about their families. Many of these details are impressive and exciting to learn about, but not all of them have happy endings.

My great grandfather on my mother's side enlisted in the 5th Michigan Cavalry at 18 in 1862 and was present at every muster until discharged in June 1865. Based on his service record he was never sick, wounded, or captured, but was in dismounted camp twice after his horse had been killed. After the war he was a stonemason, but I had trouble finding information about him until I ordered his pension file. The pension was filed after his death in 1892 by his widow who also happened to be his third wife. It included 120 pages of documents, depositions, and reports detailing the findings by several inspectors of the Pension Bureau. The veteran married his first wife soon after returning home from the war. They had two daughters, one died as a child and wife #1 died in the 1870's. Three years later he remarried to his second wife and they had one son, my great grandfather. Following his trade as a stonemason, he worked construction all over the country. After working out west, for two or three years, he came back to Michigan single. In the mid 1880's he remarried a third time. A problem arose because no one had proof if wife #2 had died or he was divorced. Inspectors from Ohio to Oregon searched in various places the veteran was known to have lived and worked. Although former neighbors in Colorado and Oregon were interviewed no one knew what happened to wife #2. Wife #3 said she did not know he had been married a second time, although his brother and two sisters did. One sister had received a letter from wife #2 while in California which said she was very sick and the sister thought wife #2 died. His oldest daughter said her father told her she died. His only son (my grandfather) with wife #2 stayed with his father. He was only 11 when his father died, but was never interviewed. After 10 years, the pension for wife #3 was denied, because the Pension Bureau Inspectors could not find out what happened to wife #2.

Until I received this pension, I knew almost none of this information. I thought my great grandmother was wife #1 and had no idea there was a wife #2, much less a wife #3. My searches on Ancestry and other sites have turned up no definitive information regarding what happened to wife #2, my great grandmother.