Memorial Day is set aside to
remember the men and women who died while serving in the US Armed Forces. Formerly
known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to
commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers
who died in the Civil War. It has since extended to honor all Americans who
have died while in military service.
But what about the widows?
There is a saying taken from a poem
by John Milton, “they also serve who only stand and wait.” Milton
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| Colonial widow's gown, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation |
During the Revolutionary War in the
South Carolina
For more than a century before the
beginning of the Revolutionary War, British colonies in North
America provided pensions for disabled soldiers and sailors.
During and after the Revolutionary War, to its credit, the federal government
established a system of pensions—disability or invalid pensions awarded to
servicemen for physical disabilities incurred in the line of duty; service
pensions to veterans who served for specified periods of time; and widows’
pensions to women whose husbands had been killed in the war or were veterans
for specified periods of time.
In the first category, pensions
were awarded to men disabled prior to 8/26/1776. In 1782, there were 1,500
invalid pensioners on the rolls. In 1780, half-pay for life went to officers
and widows of those officers, and in 1788 Congress granted seven years half-pay
to officers who served to the end of the war.
In 1794, unless a private act of
Congress was introduced on her behalf, a widow of a veteran was limited to
receiving only that part of a pension that remained unpaid at the time of her
husband's death. By an act of Congress approved July 4, 1836, some widows of
Revolutionary War veterans were again permitted, as a class under public law,
to apply for pensions. The act provided that the widow of any veteran who had
performed service as specified in the pension act of June 7, 1832, was eligible
to receive the pension that might have been allowed the veteran under the terms
of that act, if the widow had married the veteran before the expiration of his
last period of service. An act of July 7, 1838, granted 5-year pensions to
widows whose marriages had taken place before January 1. 1794. On July 29, 1848,
Congress provided life pensions for widows of veterans who were married before
January 2, 1800. In 1853 and again in
1855, all restrictions pertaining to the date of marriage were removed .On
March 9, 1878, widows of Revolutionary War soldiers who had served for as few
as 14 days, or were in any engagement, were declared eligible for life
pensions.
By 1867, most pensioners on the
rolls had died. Daniel F. Bakeman was the last soldier on the roll. He died in
1869 at the age of 109. There were 887 widows on the rolls by 1869.
To apply for a widow’s pension, generally
an applicant appeared before a court of record in the state of her residence and
was required to provide information concerning the date and place of her
marriage. The application statement or "declaration," as it was
usually called, with such supporting papers as property schedules, marriage
records, and affidavits of witnesses, was certified by the court and forwarded
to the official, usually the Secretary of War or the Commissioner of Pensions,
responsible for administering the specific act under which the claim was being
made.
The last Revolutionary War widow’s
pension was paid in 1906—131 years after the Battles of Lexington and Concord
