The Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board

Re: Pensions - annual or monthly?

The original Arkansas pension legislation, Act 91, "An Act for the Relief of Certain Soldiers of the Late War Between the States," approved on April 1, 1891, included a sliding scale based on the severity of wounds sustained during the war --

"Totally incompetent to perform manual labor" due to wounds -- $100 per year.
Loss of a leg above the knee -- $74 per year.
Loss of an arm above the elbow -- $75 per year.
Loss of a foot, or a leg below the knee -- $50 per year.
Loss of a hand, or an arm below the elbow -- $50 per year.
Arm or leg rendered useless by a wound -- $50 per year.
Loss of an eye -- $25 per year.
All other disabling wounds -- $25 per year.
Indigent unremarried widow -- $25 per year.

In addition, the applicant had to submit proof of indigency, and be a resident of the State for the preceding 12 months.

Note that pensions were granted only for disabilities resulting from wounds received in the war, and only to widows whose husbands were killed in service during the war.

Over the next 40 years, however, the Arkansas Confederate pension system was periodically liberalized and expanded to cover postwar disabilities and postwar widows.

It might also be of interest to note that, when the State was strapped for cash, the pension warrants were sometimes paid in script, occasionally redeemable for as little as 10 cents on the dollar.

Most Confederate veterans living in Arkansas never received a pension -- most of them were dead by the time the pension system was liberalized.

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