US War of 1812 Pension Records

United States U.S. Military  War of 1812  Pension Records

Pension Records
Pensions were first granted to soldiers who were disabled while in the service and to heirs of soldiers who died during the war. The first pension acts based on service were not passed until 1871 and a second was passed in 1878.

The pension files are currently being digitized by iAarchives and the Federation of Genealogical Societies and added to the Footnote.com website (see announcement). All images and information from this collection are free. This collection is currently only 2% complete. The current digitization progress can be checked on the Fold3 website. The collection is also available on FamilySearch.


 * War of 1812 Pension Application Files (Fold3) (Free)
 * United States Ledgers of payments, 1818-1872, to U.S. pensioners, under Acts of 1818 through 1858, from records of the office of the Third Auditor of the Treasury
 * (FamilySearch)


 * A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:


 * United States, Index to War of 1812 Pension Application Files (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Ordering Copies

Alternatively, National Archives' copies of military pension application files based on Federal (not State or Confederate) service between 1775 and 1903 (before World War I) can be ordered online, as well as through NATF Form 85.

Categories of pension/bounty land files available using NATF Form 85:


 * A complete Civil War and later pension application file (up to 100 pages), based on Federal (not State or Confederate) military service during the Civil War or later (includes the Pension Documents Packet.)
 * A complete Federal pre-Civil War military pension application based on Federal military service before 1861 (includes the Pension Documents Packet.)
 * A pension document packet that contains reproductions of eight documents containing genealogical information about the pension applicant, to the extent these documents are present in the file.
 * A complete miltary bounty land application file based on service 1775-1855 (includes only rejected Revolutionary War applications).

Additional Indexes

Online:


 * Internet Archive - original NARA index available freely online
 * Ancestry.com has an online index (subscription required)
 * War of 1812 Discharge Certificates by name

In Print:


 * Index to War of 1812 Pension Application Files. National Archives Microfilm Publication M313. (FHL films 0840431–500 and 0847501–32.) This index has the veteran’s name, widow’s name, rank, unit, dates of enlistment and discharge, application and certificate numbers, and bounty land warrant numbers.


 * United States. War of 1812 Index to Pension Application Files. Available online at FamilySearch.


 * White, Virgil D., comp. Index to War of 1812 Pension Files. Two Volumes. Waynesboro, Tennessee: National Historical Publishing, 1992. (FHL book 973 M22i.) Volume 2, pages 1888–2109, contains a cross-reference index to wives, widows, and other family members listed in the main index.
 * White, Virgil D., transcriber. Index to Old Wars Pension Files, 1815-1926. Waynesboro, Tennessee : National Historical Publishing, c1993. (FHL book 973 M22wh.)

1883 Pension Roll
The 1883 Pension Roll is available online. On December 8, 1882, the U.S. Senate required the Secretary of Interior to submit a list of pensioners on the roll January 1, 1883. The Secretary of Interior submitted the completed list to the Senate on March 1, 1883. The 1883 Pension Roll was published that year in five volumes as "List of Pensioners on the Roll, January 1, 1883...". The majority of pensioners listed were from the Civil War. However, there were pensioners from other wars, including the War of 1812.

Additional Information
"Major index to pension list of the War of 1812" by Annie W. B. Bell (Worldcat)


 * Military Records: Pre-WWI Pension Applications(16 minute online video)
 * 2 FamilySearch Research Classes Online, 2010