Revolutionary War Pension Timelines

• half pay for officers and enlisted men, including those on warships and armed vessels, who were disabled in the line of duty and who were not able to earn a living.
  The half pay was to continue for the duration of the disability.

• Officers:
  • half pay for seven years after the conclusion of the war to all military officers who remained in the Continental service to the end of the war.
• Enlisted men
  • who continued to serve for the duration of the conflict were each to receive a gratuity of $80 after the war

Pension legislation for widows.

• half pay for seven years to widows and orphans of officers who met the requirements included in the terms of the resolution of May 15, 1778.

Resolution of May 15, 1778, was amended to

• provide half pay for life to officers after the war.  Reduced to five years at full pay by the Act of March 22, 1783

The Federal Government assumed responsibility for State pensions. (This act, provided that invalid pensions previously paid by the States, under previous resolutions of the Congress, should be continued and paid for one year by the Federal Government. Other legislation would often extended this time limit.)

Veterans not already receiving invalid pensions under previous resolutions could apply for them directly to the Federal Government.

Veterans of State troops and militia service eligible for Federal pensions. This act would replace all previous Revolutionary War invalid-pension legislation.

Officers and enlisted men in need of assistance were eligible if they had served in a Continental military organization or in the US naval service (including the Marines) for nine months or until the end of the war. Pensions granted under this act were to continue for life.

Required every pensioner receiving payments under the 1818 act, and every would-be pensioner, had to establish a need for assistance. Any pensioner unable to prove the need for assistance would be removed from the pension list. They were allowed to reapply if there was a need for assistance by the act of March 1 1823.

Granted full pay for life to surviving officers and enlisted men of the Revolutionary War who were eligible under the resolution of May 15, 1778.

Last service pension act for Revolutionary War veterans. The act provided that every officer or enlisted man who had served at least two years in the Continental Line or State troops, volunteers or militia, Naval and Marine officers, were eligible for a pension of full pay for life.

Partial pay was granted to Veterans who had served less than two years, but not less than six months.

The act of 1828 and 1832 did not required applicants to demonstrate need. Under the act of 1832 money due from the last payment until the date of death of a pensioner could be collected by his widow or by his children.

Claims under the resolution of August 24, 1780, expired in 1794.

Widows were authorized the pension that would have been available to their veteran husbands when they were living, so long as they had married before he left service.

This act granted five-year pensions to widows whose marriages had taken place before January 1, 1794. These pensions were continued by acts of March 3, 1843; June 17, 1844; and February 2, 1848.

Congress provided life pensions for widows of veterans who were married before January 2, 1800. All restrictions pertaining to the date of marriage were removed by acts of February 3, 1853, and February 28, 1855.

Widows of Revolutionary War soldiers who had served for as few as fourteen days, or were in any engagement, were declared eligible for life pensions.