Civil War Pensions
by Kathleen L. Gorman
History of the Union federal and Confederate state pensions systems

“ . . . Confederate veterans faced an entirely different set of problems than their northern counterparts. They were returning home to a region that had lost the war and had been completely changed by it. They were not eligible for assistance from the federal government and their home states were a mess in every possible way. And they were heroes despite it all. It was that image of Confederate soldiers as heroes that made it almost mandatory for each of their home states to provide for them. The eligibility requirements for each Southern state were slightly different but close enough that Georgia provides a model for all of them.

Artificial limbs were the first form of tangible assistance provided to Southern veterans. Georgia began providing free (if you ignore the cost of travel and work time lost) artificial limbs in 1871. It is hard to imagine what those veterans had been doing to get by in the years since they had been injured and it is hard to imagine them making the trip to the state capital to get their new limbs.

Most Southern pension systems followed the basic federal model although they started much later. Assistance was provided first to those disabled during the war at rates based on their level of disability. It was in 1889 that Georgia began providing annual pension payments to “disabled and diseased” veterans with the amounts varying depending on disability. Widows became eligible in 1893. Three years later pension payments began to those unable to economically care for themselves [indigent], again following the federal model. It was not until 1920 that income restrictions were removed. Widows saw continuing changes in their eligibility rules until in 1944 they could get pensions ($30 a month) even if they had remarried. . . .”

http://www.essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com/civil-war-pensions.html