The Civil War service and pension records for Edwin Barlow
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In the early 1990's, I learned that Grandma Hendrickson's Grand Father, Edwin Barlow, had served in the Civil War. I was able to request both his service records and pension records from the National Archives and Records Administration. Copies of those records are available to read or download on the other pages in this section.
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Barlow’s service record are copies of the muster roll kept by the 16th Michigan as record or receipt of bi-monthly pay days. These records cover the period, July 31, 1861 to Dec, 1862.
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There is an additional entry for July, 1865 when the 16th Michigan made a final accounting of the regimental roster when the unit was mustered out of service in Jeffersonville, IN.
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Barlow’s pension records, the bulk of the records in this collection, include the documents that Barlow collected to apply for a disability pension in 1862.
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The pension records also include the records that document Barlow’s efforts to have his pension increased due to his growing disability because of his wound.
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Barlow was awarded a pension on April 7, 1863 and he pretty much left it at that for about 10 years.
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In the 1870's, Barlow got physical every two years and applied for a pension increase due to increasing disability. For these physicals, Barlow most likely traveled from his home in Whitehall to the Veterans Hospital in Grand Rapids.
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By 1884, Barlow was living in the Dakota Territory and complained that he was coughing up blood and could not sleep unless sitting up. The examining Doctor also noted that Barlow had, “a decidedly nervous temperament, is restless under the examination, jerking of muscles, etc.”
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Also in the July, 1884 Declaration for an Increase of an Invalid Pension, it is interesting to note that in his account of his service, Barlow now claims that he was held as a prisoner of war for 96 days in Libby Prison and that he was taken to Bellview Hospital [sic] in New York City. Whether old age and memory confused Belle Isle in Richmond with Bellvue in New York or if Barlow or his claim representative embellished the record, I leave to the reader.
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But the Doctor reported that Barlow’s health issues were “due largely to an immoderate use of tobacco.”
Again, Barlow’s request for an increase in pension was denied.
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In 1887, Barlow request for a pension increase was approved as the United States moved towards a comprehensive plan for pension disability.
In 1889, a further request for a pension increase went unanswered. This 1889 document is the first time text from a typewriter appears in any document.
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In 1898, The United States Pension Agency sent out a questionnaire asking the pensioner about his family and current state of affairs.
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In 1904, The USPA reported that Edwin Barlow was dead and that file 10,800 could be closed.
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In 1915, Lulu Langill and Ether Taylor filed a request to find out what happened the their father’s land in South Dakota.
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In 1916, the Pension Office replied to request with information and photocopies of documents but as far as I can tell, no answers about the land claim.
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This was the final document in the EDWIN BARLOW (#10,800) PENSION FILE at the United States National Archives and Records Administration.
A QUICK LOOK AT CIVIL WAR PENSION HISTORY
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The first comprehensive pension disability bill was put together in 1887. This bill was almost identical to the bill to be passed in 1890 in that it granted pensions to all Union veterans suffering from a disability, regardless of its origin. However, it was distinct from the 1890 bill in two ways. First, it awarded all eligible veterans a $12 monthly pension. This differed from the Dependent and Disability Act, which gave pensions worth between $6 and $12 depending on the severity of the disability in question. Second, it required applicants to prove that they were financially dependent on another source, a feature that was absent from the final version of the bill passed in 1890.
Although many lawmakers expected Cleveland to sign the bill, he instead vetoed it on February 11, infuriating the GAR and ensuring that pensions would be a central issue in the 1888 election. Cleveland’s primary objections to the bill were that it would be extremely costly, that determining the extent to which applicants were dependent on others would be too difficult, that the pension was ungraded and that the system would be abused by fraud. The bill returned to the House but did not garner enough votes to override the President’s veto.
1888 Election and Act's Passage
When the 1888 election rolled around, the GAR was at the peak of its political influence and, refusing to back down, carried the fight into the 1888 election. The Republican Party nominated Civil War veteran Benjamin Harrison to run against the incumbent Cleveland, promising to push for more extensive pensions and winning the support of the GAR in the process. Cleveland won the popular vote but Harrison won the crucial swing states of Indiana and New York, which contained 38,000 and 45,000 veterans receiving pensions respectively. The Republican Party’s pension rhetoric may have proved indispensable in these two states; Harrison captured them by just 2,300 and 13,000 votes respectively.
Following his inauguration, Harrison reorganized the Pension Bureau and appointed James Tanner as the new commissioner of pensions. Although there was widespread corruption under Tanner and his successor Green Raum, Congress continued moving toward legislation aimed at expanding the federal pension program. Harrison pushed for a disability bill, which ultimately passed without a single vote from a Southern congressman.Under the final form of the law, any disabled Union veteran who had served at least ninety days was eligible to receive a pension, regardless of whether or not his disability was incurred in service. The final version of the act also allowed for the collection of pensions by widows of veterans and for children under the age of 16.
Impact
The Disability and Dependent Pension Act was, according to the GAR national pension committee, “the most liberal pension measure ever passed by any legislative body in the world.” It resulted in an enormous spike in federal expenditures on pensions. In 1890, just 537,944 veterans were receiving pensions. By 1893, that number had already almost doubled to 966,012. In 1889, the federal government spent $89,000,000 on these pensions, a figure that jumped to $159,000,000 by 1893. By 1894, 37% of the government budget was set aside for pension payments.
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from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependent_and_Disability_Pension_Act