Abstract:
The American Civil War was a transformative time for military pensions. Previous legislation had established a legal framework for pensions and widow benefits, but the nature of the war created a need for a new plan to serve the veterans of the Civil War, as well as any future wars. The United States federal government thus enacted major legislation and policies to change the pension plan many times from the start of the war in 1861 through 1912. Changes to the pension law, including benefit increases and new beneficiaries, and the politics behind some of the decisions are included to provide a historical context for the plan. The actual costs of the pension plan under these numerous pensions acts during the Reconstruction-era were often not in agreement with the original estimates. As an attempt to better estimate the costs for the legislation, I have conducted an actuarial valuation of the pension plan as of the passage of the Consolidation Act of 1873. Actuarial assumptions and methodology are reviewed, and an analysis of the results of the valuation and the actual payments made by the Pension Bureau follows.
