In the "Souvenir of the Tarrytown Monument," already referred to, Raymond has published a considerable number of the Macdonald reminiscences; but so far as research has revealed up to this time, the source from which they were obtained was not disclosed, either in the quotations in the "Tarrytown Argus" or in the "Souvenir." Raymond also published in the ''Souvenir'' a number of reminiscences of Revolutionary events obtained from the Pension Papers of participants in this struggle. Historical accuracy and candor compel the admission that something more than the preservation of the records furnished the back-ground for many of these stories. The germ of the United States pension system lay in the provision by Congress near the beginning of the Revolutionary War that officers who should continue in the service till the end of the war should receive half-pay during seven years thereafter. In 1785 Congress recommended to the States that they should make provision for invalid pensioners, and in 1808 the United States assumed the pension obligations of the States. These were only for persons disabled in the service. In 1818 an act was passed granting pensions to all who had served nine months or more in the Revolutionary army, and were in indigent circumstances. More claimants applied than JOHN MACLEAN MACDONALD 95

could possibly have survived from Washington's army, and the amount required to be paid during the first year was eleven times what had been estimated, and in the second year seventeen times. Acts of 1836, 1848, and 1853 provided pensions for all widows of Revolutionary soldiers whenever married. A curious result was that in 1868, when all the Revolutionary pensioners were dead, there remained 888 widows of such soldiers; in 1893 thirteen remained. The early records of the Westchester County Bar show that procuring pensions was an important part of the practice of many lawyers.