Federal Military Pension Application for Asahel C Wilmot (National Archives And Records Administration – Archival Or Special Access)

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Thank you.

*Reply to: RR1R-24-17508-PH*

Kenneth Marshall
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 156826
263 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115

via EMAIL: requests@muckrock.com

Dear Mr. Marshall :

This is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for a
Pension File # 194530 for Union Civil War veteran Sergeant Asahel C.
Wilmot, who served in Company D, 5th Wisconsin Infantry and who died in
1937. Your request was received in this office on January 12, 2024, and
assigned case number 24-17508.

The Archives 1 Reference Branch (RR1R) in Washington, DC, holds Civil War
and Later Pension Files. However, it is important to note that the pension
records in our custody only include files that were closed or inactive
before 1930. Because Asahel Wilmot died in 1937, it is unlikely that we
will have his pension file. Nevertheless, we searched our holdings for
pension file #194530, but we were unable to locate it.

We double-checked the Civil War & Later Veterans Pension Index (1861-1934),
and found that the number you provided--194530--refers to the soldier's
original application (SO) number given by the Bureau of Pensions. The
number next to it--157106--indicates that the pension was approved and
given a new case file number; in this case, this is the soldier's
certificate (SC) number. Please see the attached pension index card from
Ancestry.com. As you will notice from the attachment, there is also an XC
pension number listed at the bottom of the card. We searched our pension
records under the two additional file numbers--SC-157,106 and XC-896108,
but we were unable to locate a pension file under either file number.

As we noted earlier, the pension files in our custody only include those
that were closed before 1930. These are the files that were initially
transferred from the Veterans Administration (VA) to the National Archives
in 1938. If a veteran or widow was still living in 1930 then their claims
were still active and the VA retained their files. As these claimants died
off over the ensuing years, there were no mechanisms in place to allow
their pension files to be transferred to the National Archives on any
routine basis. Consequently, there are many Civil War pension files that
are still in the custody of the VA to the present day. We currently receive
batches of Civil War pensions from the VA but only after researchers have
contacted the VA first to enquire about the files. At that time they are
then reviewed, declared closed, and sent to NARA (but these transfers are
now sent to the National Archives at St. Louis, rather than being
integrated with the existing files in Washington, DC, due to lack of
storage space).

Therefore, we recommend that you contact the National Archives at St. Louis
directly to request a search of their Civil War Pension Files. Staff at
that facility can be reached via email at stl.archives@nara.gov. If St.
Louis does not have the file in question, then it is likely still in the
custody of the VA. If that is the case, then the NARA staff in St. Louis
will provide instructions on how to obtain the file from the VA.

This completes the processing of your request. If you have additional
questions, you may email me at paul.harrison@nara.gov.

We do not consider this reply a denial of your Freedom of Information Act
request because we searched for but did not locate the pension file you are
seeking. We have provided you with information on where this record might
be located and how to contact staff at the National Archives at St. Louis.
However, if you are not satisfied with our action on this request, your
options for appeal and dispute resolution are outlined in the enclosure.

This concludes the processing of your request.

Sincerely,

PAUL HARRISON
Archives I Reference Division (RR1R)
Archival Operations—Washington, DC
National Archives and Records Administration

**********

---------- Forwarded message ---------
Date: Thu, Jan 11, 2024 at 8:00 AM
Subject: Fwd: Freedom of Information Act Request: Federal Military Pension
Application for Asahel C Wilmot (National Archives And Records
Administration – Archival Or Special Access)

Hello,

I am forwarding this request to your office for response.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: requests@muckrock.com <
requests@muckrock.com>
Date: Wednesday, January 10, 2024 at 7:30:57 AM UTC-5
Subject: Freedom of Information Act Request: Federal Military Pension
Application for Asahel C Wilmot (National Archives And Records
Administration – Archival Or Special Access)
To: specialaccess_foia@nara.gov <specialaccess_foia@nara.gov>

National Archives And Records Administration – Archival Or Special Access
FOIA Office
Room 5500
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740

January 10, 2024

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following
records:

Complete Federal Military Pension Application for Sergeant Asahel C Wilmot.
His Civil War pension application #194530 was filed on 27 Jul 1874. Asahel
was born on 28 Sep 1839 Chautauqua, NY and died on 17 May 1933 in Chicago,
IL. He served with the Union Army as a Sergeant in Company D, 5th Wisconsin
Infantry in the Civil War. He enlisted and mustered on 20 Aug 1864 and was
discharged 15 May 1865. He appears in the U.S., Civil War Pension Index:
General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934. Because Asahel died after 1929,
I am unable to order directly from NARA's eServices portal. Thank you in
advance for your assistance with this request.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and
this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform
me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer
the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or
CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I
look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business
days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Kenneth Marshall

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Thank you for contacting the Archives 1 Reference Branch in Washington, DC.

We will assign your request to a staff member who will contact you with a more substantive response. Our standard response time is approximately 3 weeks. Due to the number of reference requests received and the limitation of staff time available to answer correspondence, requests may take longer than the usual time to receive a response.

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Sincerely,
Archives 1 Reference Branch (RR1R)
National Archives in Washington, DC