WAR OF THE REVOLUTION-MILITARY AND NAVAL. AS AN inducement to the commissioned officers of the revolutionary army to remain in the service until the close of the war, a resolution was passed by the Continental Congress, on the 15th day of May, 1778, promising: Resolved, unanimously, That all military officers commissioned by Congress, who now are or hereafter may be in the service of the United States, and shall continue therein during the war, and not hold any office of profit under these States or any of them, shall, after the conclusion of the war, be entitled to receive, annually, for the term of seven years, if they live so long, one half of the present pay of such officer: Provided, That no general officer of the cavalry, artillery or infantry shall be entitled to receive more than the one half part of the pay of a colonel of such corps, respectively: And provided, That this resolution shall not extend to any officer in the service of the United States, unless he shall have taken an oath of 'allegiance to and shall actually reside within some one of the United States. The half-pay promised by this resolution is a bounty rather than a pension; but as it is in the nature of a pension, and, quasi, a gratuity, it is introduced here as its most appropriate place. The same may be said of several of the resolutions which immediately follow. The resolution of May, 1778, it will be observed, relates only to officers of the army, commissioned by Congress. Naval officers seem to have been overlooked. REVOLUTIONARY WAR-MILITARY AND NAVAL. Measures having been taken by Congress to reduce and regulate the army, a preamble and resolution were adopted, October 3, 1780, which provide: And whereas, by the foregoing arrangement, many deserving officers must become supernumerary, and it is proper that regard be had to them: Resolved, That from the time the reform of the army takes place, they be entitled to half-pay for seven years, in specie or other current money equivalent, and also grants of land at the close of the war, agreeably to the resolution of the 16th of September, 1776.1 By a resolution of October 21, 1780, half-pay for life was promised to officers who should remain in the service to the close of the war. A resolution of January 17, 1781, grants half-pay pension for life to certain officers in the hospital department and medical staff; and introduces a new rule for determining the rate. It is as follows: Resolved, That all officers in the hospital department and medical staff hereinafter mentioned, who shall continue in service to the end of the war, or be reduced before that time, as supernumeraries, shall be entitled to and receive during life, in lieu of half-pay, the following, viz: The director of the hospital, equal to the half-pay of a lieutenant-colonel; chief physicians and surgeons of the army and hospitals, and hospital physicians and surgeons, purveyor, apothecary and regimental surgeons, each equal to the half-pay of a captain. The several States were, by a supplementary resolution, recommended to pay these pensions annually, and to draw upon the "Superintendent of Finance" for the repayment of the sums advanced. Half-pay having been regarded in an unfavorable light, and the officers of the army having memorialized Congress on the subject, resolutions were adopted, on the 22d day of March, 1783, allowing full pay for five years 1 See title "BOUNTY LAND," page 309. ! REVOLUTIONARY WAR-MILITARY AND NAVAL. in lieu of half-pay for life to such officers as might elect to receive such commutation. These resolutions are as follows: 1. Resolved, That such officers as are now in service, and shall continue therein to the end of the war, shall be entitled to receive the amount of five years' full pay in money, or securities on interest at six per cent. per annum, as Congress shall find most convenient, instead of the half-pay promised for life by the resolution of the 21st day of October, 1780; the said securities to be such as shall be given to other creditors of the United States: Provided, It be at the option of the lines of the respective States, and not of officers individually in those lines, to accept or refuse the same: And provided, also, That their election shall be signified to Congress through the commander-in-chief, from the lines under his immediate command, within two months, and through the commanding officer of the southern army, from those under his command, within six months from the date of this resolution. 2. The same commutation shall extend to the corps not belonging to the lines of particular States, and who are entitled to half-pay for life, as aforesaid; the acceptance or refusal to be determined by corps, and to be signified in the same manner and within the same time as above mentioned. 3. That all officers belonging to the hospital department, who are entitled to half-pay by the resolution of the 17th day of January, 1781, may collectively agree to accept or refuse the aforesaid commutation, signifying the same through the commander-in-chief within six months from this time; that such officers as have retired at different periods, entitled to half-pay for life, may collectively, in each state in which they are inhabitants, accept or refuse the same; their acceptance or refusal to be signified, by agents authorized for that purpose, within six months from this period: that with respect to such retiring officers, the commutation, if accepted by them, shall be in lieu of whatever may now be due them since the time of their retiring from service, as well as what might hereafter become due; and that so soon as their acceptance shall be signified, the superintendent of finance be and is hereby directed to take measures for the settlement of their accounts accordingly, and to issue to them certificates bearing interest at six per cent.: that all officers entitled to half-pay REVOLUTIONARY WAR-MILITARY AND NAVAL. for life, not included in the preceding resolution, may also collectively agree to accept or refuse the aforesaid commutation, signifying the same within six months from this time.1 By resolution of January 26, 1784, Congress refused to extend the benefits of the foregoing resolutions to any officer or class of officers not expressly designated therein. All the preceding resolutions are practically repealed, having become obsolete by subsequent and more favorable legislation; but they belong to the history and exhibit the growth of the system of gratuitous pensions in the United States, and could not, therefore, with propriety, have been omitted from this compilation. Before March 18, 1818, the payment of money, in the form of gratuities for eminent services rendered in defense of the country, was by law restricted to certain army officers of the revolution. Naval officers, marines, seamen, non-commissioned officers of the army, and private soldiers, who served in the same war, were not admitted to a participation in the benefits thus conferred. But an act of the last-mentioned date, entitled "an act to provide for certain persons engaged in the land and naval service of the United States, in the revolutionary war," in a measure destroyed the unwarrantable distinctions which, up to that period, had been made in the bestowal of the national bounty. This act is as follows: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That every commissioned 1 The commutation of five years' full pay, granted to officers under resolution of March 22, 1783, in lieu of half-pay for life, can not be construed to warrant the payment of interest on arrears of the same from the time when such commutation might have been claimed by the party entitled thereto. Attorney-General Berrien, October 2, 1830. 2 U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. iii, 410. REVOLUTIONARY WAR-MILITARY AND NAVAL. officer, non-commissioned officer, musician and private soldier, and all officers in the hospital department and medical staff, who served in the war of the revolution until the end thereof, or for the term of nine months or longer at any period of the war, on the continental establishment, and every commissioned officer, non-commissioned officer, mariner or marine, who served at the same time and for a like term in the naval service of the United States, who is yet a resident citizen of the United States, and who is or hereafter, by reason of his reduced circumstances in life, shall be in need of assistance from his country for support, and shall have substantiated his claim to a pension in the manner hereinafter directed, shall receive a pension from the United States: If an officer, of twenty dollars per month during life; if a non-commissioned officer, musician, mariner, marine or private soldier, of eight dollars per month during life: Provided, No person shall be entitled to the provisions of this act until he shall have relinquished his claim to every pension heretofore allowed him by the laws of the United States." SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That to entitle any person to the provisions of this act, he shall make a declaration, under oath or affirmation, before the district judge of the United States of the district, or before any judge or court of record of the county, State or territory in which the applicant shall reside, setting forth, if he belonged to the army, the company, regiment and line to which he belonged, the time he entered the service, and the time and manner of leaving the service; and in case he belonged to the navy, a like declaration, setting forth the name of the vessel and particular service in which he was employed, and the time and manner of leaving the service, and shall offer such other evidence as may be in his power; and on its appearing, to the satisfaction of the said judge, that the applicant served in the revolutionary war, as aforesaid, against the common enemy, he shall certify and transmit the testimony in the case and the proceedings had thereon to the Secretary of the Department of War, whose duty it shall be, if satisfied the applicant comes under the provisions of this act, to place such officer, 1 This was no advantage to invalid officers above the grade of first lieutenant, as their pensions already exceeded the amount here fixed. (Act of April 24, 1816.) 2 A pensioner under this act can not receive an invalid pension also. Attorney-General Butler, February 27, 1834. |