Discharge Papers

I meant to post this yesterday for Military Monday. Last Friday I was able to stop by the National Archives and view a few more Mexican War pension files from Company G of the 5th Infantry Tennessee Volunteers (see my posts from last year on Company G Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3). The pension file of Merrill Breeden contained the actual discharge papers signed at Memphis, Tennessee on 20 July 1848. This is the same type of discharge paper that my 4th-great-grandfather Robert Thomas Jones would have received on that day in 1848.

From the Mexican War pension file of Merrill Breeden, National Archives

These papers were folded in half, then folded into thirds and were probably placed in Breeden's pocket for the journey back to Jefferson County, Tennessee.

In April last year the Archives staff was not able to find Breeden's pension file, but on last week's visit they were able to locate it. I'm glad I looked for this one again, as I had not seen an example of the actual discharge papers in any other file. Breeden received his pension from the government for service in the Mexican War.

I am close to completing the review of the pension files for the survivors from Company G, and have some stats to run. This will be featured in an upcoming post. For background, my original post on Company G's service and pension comparison is located here.