Title: African American soldiers’ pension application ledger, 1891

Identifier: 0248-b2-fb   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/62722)

Description: African American Soldiers’ Pension Application Ledger for Black troops who served the U.S. Army and Navy during the Civil War from the New Bern, N.C. area and Eastern North Carolina. The claims request compensation for wounds and injuries received or diseases contracted by the applicants. Claims were submitted either by the veterans themselves or by their survivors. The military units, ships, and actions in which these men were involved are mentioned, as well as the conditions under which the men served. The ledger also contains marriage and medical certificates and genealogical information concerning the marriages and births among enslaved people. The ledger contains an index which provides the names, units, page numbers, and usually claim numbers for claimants. The ledger was once the property of Frederick Douglass, a black lawyer, minister, and teacher of New Bern who handled the claims. Claims in this volume were also handled by Douglass' secretary William H. Pender. Refer to finding aid for additional information on the arrangement of the index and using the item for research.