A couple of interesting tid-bits have emerged from the 1907 Federal pensions concerning galvanized Yankees.

There were several various Federal pension changes insofar as the Federal pensions and one of the last ones occured in 1907.

I'm not sure how far back this first item goes back but it was in place in 1907. Let's suppose a former Confederate had been wounded in the right leg at 2nd Manassas as an example and he had deserterd his unit at Gettysburg and joined the Federal army in 1863. Again let's suppose he was wounded in the left leg while serving the Union in 1864. He could claim an injury to his left leg but not the right leg as that wound was due to aiding the rebellion of the United States. Needless to say many of the galvanized Yankees claimed their wounds as being caused by the Confederates.

The other item may have gone back to 1900 but was also in place in 1907. If a galvanized Yankee was applying for a Federal pension in 1907 or after he had to have two sworn statements from former Confederates of his unit that he indeed was a member of that Confederate unit.

In my opinion sometimes the rules did not make any sense. What is the galvanized Yankee to do? Write a letter to a former Confederate in his unit (and not many were living in 1907) and say something like "Hi Bill, remember me? I was the Confederate soldier who desertered you and our comrades at Big Black River Bridge back in May 1863. I remember at one time you said you would do anything for me and I remember you sharing your last few bites of food with me before the battle. My heart was not really into the war and I think you knew that. After deserting I ended up at Fort Delaware and soldiers were dying daily. So I enlisted in the Union army, I know you will understand. It was not my idea but we ended up in Louisiana and Mississippi and I want you to know I was just following orders when we burned your home in late 1864, I hope you will understand. I can't get a Federal pension without your help Bill. Could you please fill out a sworn statement saying I was in your unit so I can get my Federal pension?"

I was surprised to learn how many soldiers who should not have received pensions received them and sometimes those who should have received a pension did not. As an example there was a Union soldier who had deserted eight times prior to the battle of Gettysburg. He appears to have had a real knack for deserting and escaping and appears to have been quite good at it. He may have saved his own life when he told Union authorities he was a Confederate soldier after the battle. He changed his given name and surname and joined the Union army once again, this time as a former Confederate and received $25.00 for joining and shortly after the war died. His mother applied for and received a Federal penison. The government had failed to connect the dots between his alias and real name. His old Union regiment probably did not know what had happened to him, only that he had deserted once again and probably were happy not to deal with his issues anymore. Today with the use of computers and pension records it is rather obvious in my opinion that the two soldiers were one in the same. Had the mother not connected his alias name at Fort Delaware to his real name we may never have known his true identity. Needless to say history now has a false Confederate CMSR's for this soldier although they are really only Federal POW records. Changing names during the war made it difficult for the bureua of pensions and many times they took the sworn statements as their only evidence to give a pension or deny one. In the case of the mother getting the Union deserters pension perhaps the strongest statements were made by two former Union soldiers. They had sworn that they knew him and were playmates growing up. They claimed they had heard that he was with a Maryland unit and while at Fort Gaines, Alabama in the spring of 1865 had run across him in the Maryland unit under an alias name and had conversations with him. Also as evidence was the alias soldier writing letters home to his real parents. The fellow soldiers who claimed to have talked to him had good Union CMSR's and were in that area when he was there. They also had known in my opinion that their friend had also been a Union deserter but did not disclose that information to the pension office. If they would have a mother in their small hometown would not have received any money from the Federal government. They did not lie, but they also did not tell the whole truth in my opinion.