"Abstracts of some 465 pension records of the soldiers in Virginia. In the majority of these files, the date of death of the soldier or his widow is shown, and the name of the executor or administrator is often given. If the soldier was killed in service, the place or the name of the battle, as well as statement of his wounds, appear. This book contains the names of more than 10,000 individuals."--Publisher.

This reprint of a rare United States Senate Document lists the names and residences of about 11,000 Revolutionary War soldiers and/or their widows who applied for pensions under the Acts of June 7, 1832, and July 7, 1838 and whose claims were rejected or suspended, along with the reasons. Most of the claims were for authentic service of actual Revolutionary soldiers but were rejected or suspended because the soldier did not serve for six months, his name did not appear on the rolls, or because a claim was suspended for further proof, such as proof of marriage. Still other claims were turned down on grounds of desertion, privateer service, or other service in a non-military category. The lists of suspended applications are arranged by states and thereunder by Act of Congress and category of rejection or suspension.

This unique source of Revolutionary War pensioners has never before been published and contains information which does not appear in the Pension List of 1813 or the Pension List of 1818. According to the Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives, "many of these pensioners were Revolutionary War veterans whose papers were presumably destroyed in the War Department fires of 1800 and 1814." This index is based on a War Department account book, or ledger, showing the amount of semi-annual payments made in March and September to each pensioner for each year of the reporting period, 1801-1815. During the period covered, pensions were paid to well over 2,000 Revolutionary veterans and to several hundred officers and soldiers who served in the frontier wars after 1783.

The Revolutionary War encompassed at least two struggles: one for freedom from British rule, and another, quieter but no less significant fight for the liberty of African Americans, thousands of whom fought in the Continental Army. Because these veterans left few letters or diaries, their story has remained largely untold, and the significance of their service largely unappreciated. Standing in Their Own Light restores these African American patriots to their rightful place in the historical struggle for independence and the end of racial oppression. Revolutionary era African Americans began their lives in a world that hardly questioned slavery; they finished their days in a world that increasingly contested the existence of the institution. Judith L. Van Buskirk traces this shift to the wartime experiences of African Americans. Mining firsthand sources that include black veterans’ pension files, Van Buskirk examines how the struggle for independence moved from the battlefield to the courthouse—and how personal conflicts contributed to the larger struggle against slavery and legal inequality. Black veterans claimed an American identity based on their willing sacrifice on behalf of American independence. And abolitionists, citing the contributions of black soldiers, adopted the tactics and rhetoric of revolution, personal autonomy, and freedom. Van Buskirk deftly places her findings in the changing context of the time. She notes the varied conditions of slavery before the war, the different degrees of racial integration across the Continental Army, and the war’s divergent effects on both northern and southern states. Her efforts retrieve black patriots’ experiences from historical obscurity and reveal their importance in the fight for equal rights—even though it would take another war to end slavery in the United States.

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