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History had Civil War Vets Marrying Much Later


The way the army pension law was written at the time, the widow got the pension continued for her lifetime. There were a lot of vets in their 70s and 80s who married girls in their teens, the understanding being that the girls were basically their home nurses for the time they had left, then the widows were set for life with the pension. Just taking advantage of a loophole.

Sort of like the story "Yours, Mine and Ours" was based on a combined family taking advantage of the then regulation that military party was then adjusted for number of dependents.

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