The American Civil War ended in 1865, but as of last September, the Department of Veterans Affairs still pays out two pensions from that conflict. Privacy rules prevent the release of the names or reasons for the pensions, but it's likely that the recipients are the disabled elderly children of veterans:
Department of Veteran Affairs spokesman Phil Budahn says the VA last checked in on the benefits recipients in the fall. Both were alive, but in poor health.
Budahn says it's likely that the children of the Civil War veterans, who have wished to remain anonymous, both had illnesses that prevented them from ever becoming self-sufficient..
Trevor Plante, a reference chief at the National Archives says it's also possible that the beneficiaries were young when their fathers died and had no living mothers to care for them, which would also qualify them for their fathers' pensions.
Link -via Hell in a Handbasket | Photo (unrelated) via the Ohio Historical Society