Bos, the situation was sometimes even bleaker. I don't know about other states, but in Arkansas there were periodic hard times when the legislature could not fully fund the Confederate pension system. On occasion, the pensioners were paid in state script, which merchants would redeem for as little as 10 cents on the dollar. How's that for showing appreciation for the service of the Confederate veterans and the sacrifices of the widows? I read an obituary of a Union veteran, which stated that during the Depression, when his ex-Confederate friend was trying to get by on a reduced pension, he paid his friend's taxes from his own iron-clad U.S. pension. The former Reb repaid his Yankee friend when his full pension was finally paid.