Actual Confederate pension applications from Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee can be accessed here :
https://www.familysearch.org/ all that's needed is to create a free account.
I recently found a Lieutenant William Thomas Jones Company C 35th NC. (Moore County). Free Man Of Color. One of the Immortal 600. Son of a slave and her white owner. Following the war, he was a highly successful entrepreneur, and basically restored the economy of Carthage, NC. The records for these men are certainly out there.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10370746/william-thomas-jones