Of this number, 218,775 were “survivors and invalids,” 102 were nurses, and 281,225 were widows and other dependents.
In 1921, just before the Pension Bureau moved out of this building and 56 years after the end of the war, there were still a half-million Civil War pensioners on the rolls. The Bureau of War Risk Insurance took over administration of some veterans benefits. World War I brought many changes to the Pension Bureau, leading eventually to its consolidation with other agencies and its move out of the Pension Building. Pensioners from southern states who were eligible due to their service in other wars-particularly the Indian Wars and the Mexican-American War-were dropped from the federal pension rolls during the Civil War, but reinstated in 1872. Many states that had joined the Confederacy, however, did pay out pensions. Forty percent of the legislation introduced in the House and 55% in the Senate consisted of special pension acts.Ĭonfederate veterans and their dependents were not eligible for pensions from the federal government until 1958. Pensions made up almost one-third of the federal budget in the 1880s and took up much of the business of the 49th Congress (1885–1887), a group that included many Union veterans. In that time, less than 20 years after the war, 890,000 pension claims had been filed on behalf of those killed or wounded in the Civil War (though not all were approved). Upon its completion in 1887, the space accommodated approximately 1,500 clerks and officers who serviced 324,968 Civil War pensioners. The building was Meigs’ final and most important architectural work, and the one of which he was most proud. Meigs was appointed as both the architect and engineer for the building. This tremendous growth is what prompted Congress, in 1881, to commission the Pension Building. Not only did the Civil War greatly increase the number of pensioners, the war also created a demand for federal workers and office space to administer the pensions. By 1871, new claims and new eligibility provisions added over 250,000 new pensioners to the rolls-and the numbers kept increasing. However, by 1864, of the 51,135 pensioners on the rolls, more than 48,000 had served in the Civil War. Pension Bureau, to provide a suitably grand space for Washington’s social and political functions, and to commemorate the service of those who fought on the side of the Union during the Civil War.īefore the Civil War, most pensions (money or land grants offered to veterans disabled in the course of military service and to the widows and orphans of officers killed) were paid out by state governments, as many veterans served in state militias, not for the federal government. The historic home of the National Building Museum was built between 18 for three distinct purposes: to house the headquarters of the U.S.
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