The National Archives Needs Your Help Transcribing Revolutionary War Records

How many times did David Beach apply for his Revolutionary War pension? How much did Joseph Smead of Massachusetts receive for his? Did Ephraim Blackmer ever get the land warrant he applied for after fighting with the Green Mountain Boys?

Reviewing and transcribing records such as these may seem like doing Department of Veterans Affairs paperwork 200 years too late, but it's actually an exciting opportunity for everyday Americans to learn about and preserve their country's fascinating early history.

The National Park Service (NPS) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) are asking Americans to join them in collaborating on a very special project. More than 83,000 pension records from the Revolutionary War require preservation ahead of commemorations of the conflict's 250th anniversary in 2026. The agencies are looking for "citizen archivists" to review and transcribe these documents.

While many of these records are likely reviews of pensions and land grants made to Revolutionary War soldiers, widows and children, archivists might uncover stories left untold for centuries -- but we'll never know until we start to examine them.

A number of pension laws were passed in the years following the War of Independence. Known as the Revolutionary War Pension Acts, they gradually expanded eligibility for pensions between 1818 and 1836. The first act allowed Continental Army soldiers formerly under George Washington's command to apply for federal pensions. In 1820, a new act required them to prove financial need. In 1832, yet another act lowered the standard to those with six-month enlistments, which meant that state militia members were then eligible.

This is where the records could get interesting. The Pension Act of 1832 required Revolutionary War veterans to not only apply for benefits but to also appear before a court and provide an oral testimony that could be corroborated by at least one witness. They answered the required questions, but also began providing more background information on their experiences in the war. By then, most surviving veterans were well over 70 years old at a time when the average male life expectancy was around 41 years.

As the NPS website puts it, many of these veterans began speaking, "perhaps seeing this as their chance -- as elderly and largely illiterate men in the twilight of their lives -- to get their stories on the record."

In 1836, widows became eligible for pensions so long as they were married to the veteran before the war's end in 1783. They, too, were required to appear before the court and provide testimony and stories about their experiences, stories which were also written into the record. All of these stories now require transcription.

For those worried about accidentally destroying fragile paper documents that were first written between 1800 and 1912, there's no need to fear. In the 1970s, the United States began taking photos of the documents and storing them on 2,670 microfilm reels, which are now digital. They could be anything from pension applications to descendants' inquiries about their ancestor's service record.

To learn more about the Revolutionary War Pension Project, visit the National Park Service's Guide for the Curious. You can also volunteer to become a NARA citizen archivist on the National Archives website.

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