Hi Joseph,

You can use this Civil War Pension information to get the two types of documents at the National Archives in DC. But first, at a minimum you need the name of the soldier, his pension number, and if possible his military unit number. If you have more info about the soldier it helps in finding him.

Once you have this info, you can go to NARA to see the original documents or request, by mail, his pension packet and another, smaller group of documents that show his activity in the Civil War.

If you do a search on Civil War Pensions in the Military Forum, you will find very helpful info on how to conduct the search for the items you need to conduct a Civil War Pension search.

Good Luck,

Lee