My Ancestor’s Struggles with the Civil War Pension Office

As I write our series of tips about how to do Civil War genealogy, I think regularly about my own ancestors in the Civil War. My great great grandfather, Newell Elijah Gile, comes to my mind very often. He fought hard to receive an adequate pension for wounds he received during the conflict. I imagine his struggle with the US Pension Office will be very familiar to many veterans out there trying to get VA benefits. So, this post is for him and for all his fellow vets who find themselves in similar circumstances.

Newell Elijah Gile and his Civil War Wounds

Newell Elijah Gile served for the Union Side during the war, in Battery G of the 4th US Artillery. He spent most of his time fighting as part of the Army of the Potomac, where he experienced many of the most famous battles of the war. During his service, he received the following wounds:

• A support beam snapped as he unloaded artillery from a rail car, striking him in the head. This wound rendered him unfit for anything other than light duty. He spent the rest of the war tending to and driving the horses that pulled the artillery guns. Later, as a farmer in Kansas, he found himself unable to tend to his crops. His head wound caused serious migraines and caused him to be easily “sunstruck.”
• A Confederate soldier bayoneted him in the face during the Battle of Malvern Hill. The blade pierced his cheek and knocked out almost all of his upper teeth.
• A piece of artillery shell struck him in the shoulder at the Battle of Gettysburg, giving him back problems.
• While at an overcrowded and filthy military field hospital tending to one of his wounds, he contracted serious diarrhea, which caused hemorrhoids so severe that he rode wagons standing up for the rest of his life.
• One day, while driving the horse-drawn artillery through the mud, the large guns tipped over on top of him–directly onto his stomach and genital region. He suffered from a hernia for many years after.
• On top of all this, after the war, he dealt with what his doctor in Ohio called “mental derangement.” Nowadays we would probably call this PTSD.

Dealing With the Civil War Pension Office

With all of these injuries, Newell was certainly entitled to a pension. He did receive one, though not without stressful and frustrating fights with the Pension Office that continued for decades. I ordered a copy of his full pension file, over 250 pages, and got a glimpse of his struggle. He basically came back from the war only to find himself fighting another battle against his own government. He was forced to prove, re-prove, and prove once again the injuries he had received during his military service.

The rules were strict. For each injury, Newell had to visit a neutral, approved doctor to verify it. He also had to have each personal doctor he had seen since leaving the service testify that he had suffered from the wound continually from the time of his service. He then had to prove that the wound had been received in the course of his duty. This was done either through written testimony from fellow soldiers who saw the injury happen or through hospital records kept during the war.

The problem was, Newell’s unit, unlike most in the Civil War, did not consist of men who all lived in the same area. Because of this, Newell found it difficult to contact his old comrades, many of whom were dead by the time he tried to find them. Since Newell had moved from Ohio to rural North Central Kansas in the years after the war, he also lost touch with his doctor back in Ohio. Eventually, this doctor died, and the doctor’s wife informed him that his medical records were lost.

The Breaking Point

Because of all this, Newell found himself able to prove only some of the wounds he had received to the satisfaction of the Pension Office. Throughout his life, he only received a portion of his rightful entitlements.

Often, the Pension Office took the lack of reference to Newell’s injuries in their own poorly-kept military medical records as proof that he had not received the wounds he claimed. For example, they say at one point “There is no record of your having received medical treatment in the service for chronic diarrhea”. But of course there wasn’t! The entire reason he contracted diarrhea was because of the horrible conditions of the field hospital he was in. A field hospital that kept poor records!

At other times, the Pension Office requested evidence that it already had in its possession! Newell then had to gather the witness testimonies all over again, which took months. That is, it took months if the witnesses were still alive. If they weren’t, Newell was out of luck. He faced a reduced pension, all because Pension Office workers were too lazy to read their own files!

In one letter Newell personally wrote to the Pension Office, dated 30 Apr 1889, he says “What is the matter with you people[?!]”

Well said, Grandpa Newell. Well said.

Veterans Today

My great great grandpa Newell faced many of the same problems in his time that veterans face today. Our own soldiers still find the VA benefits process frustrating, stressful, confusing, and bureaucratic. I like to think of my ancestor as fighting alongside them for his rights, blazing a path for them. Demanding better of his government. My hat’s off to veterans today. They continue this fight, and they need us to work alongside them to hold Washington accountable for their service.