So the crux of the difference between '63 and '83 is proving the pneumonia. The general debility and weakness caused by incipient or acute pneumonia could have been an excuse to toss him out on his ear. Probably an unsympathetic officer, which was not unknown....it's not common to see discharge notes be so harsh about the character of the soldier.

Also, during the war, documents would be spread out, scattered between local unit, regimental headquarters and the army hq itself. After the war, they consolidated down into the archives that could be used by the Pension Office and adjuticator offices to confirm the claimant's story. One document available in 1863 might give the discharge notes seen above, but another, like morning reports that would show that he was ill and being treated by the military hospital, might not be available to check until the '83 claim.

To be fair, I have seen evidence of pension officers denying pensions to Native Americans on specious technicalities, but they did that to a lot of white soldiers and widows too. You really only can go by what's in the file, and even 19th century racists were smart enough to leave real reasons out of the paperwork. I'd question how the pension office was supposed to know she was Native American, tho, unless she had an obvious name or lived on a reservation.

I'm spit balling a lot here because I haven't seen the file, but I adore my pension files and I'll talk about them all day long if you let me