Civil War pension records can be an invaluable resource when trying to piece together the years between records in a veteran's life. In this case, there is information included that would not likely have been found in any other source. Henry Thompson survived his time in the American Civil War, but then went missing from his family for several years before turning up in a soldier's home in California in the early 1900s. His pension file answers some of the questions about where he was after the war, and as always, raises new questions for further research. This is part 1 of Henry's lost years: 1850 - 1870.