George Kirkland, who was more than three-quarters white, enlisted as a white in the Union Army in 1861 after the war broke out. He was killed in action on August 10, 1861. After difficulties in establishing her son's racial identity, Elizabeth Keckley gained a pension as his survivor; it was $8 monthly (later raised to $12) for the remainder of her life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Keckley