REVOLUTIONARY WAR-MILITARY AND NAVAL.

diers, and Indian spies, who shall have served in the continental line or State troops, volunteers or militia, at one or more terms, a period of two years, 2 during the war of the revolution, and who are not entitled to any benefit under the act for the relief of certain surviving officers and soldiers of the revolution, passed the fifteenth day of May, eighteen hundred and twenty-eight,3 be authorized to receive, out of any money in the Treasury, not otherwise appropriated, the amount of his full pay in the said line, according to his rank, but not exceeding in any case the pay of a captain in the said line; 5 such pay to commence from the fourth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, and shall continue during his natural

vented from receiving a commission by circumstances not under his contròl, will be required. Secretary Cass, February 21, 1833.

1 Those only are entitled to pensions, under this act, who formed a component part of the army, and were not only mechanics, but enlisted as soldiers. Secretary Ewing, July 18, 1849.

2 The war of the revolution did not terminate until April, 1783, upon ratification of the treaty of peace. Attorney-General Wirt, February 12, 1825. The deficiency of two years' service as captain can not be made up by service in an inferior rank. Attorney-General Butler, May, 2, 1834. Desertion forfeits all right to a pension. Secretary Porter and Commissoner Edwards, June 27, 1843. It is morally certain, from historical facts, that the Virginia militia served at least two years, at intervals, in the revolution. Assistant Secretary Goddard, September 9, 1850.

A resolution of July 14, 1832 (U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. iv, 608), provides that the time of imprisonment as a prisoner of war shall be computed as a part of the term of service.

A resolution of March 2, 1833 (U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. iv, 668), directs that the period of an applicant's service shall be computed from the time when he entered the service until the 11th day of April, 1783 (the date of the definitive treaty of peace), provided he served until that period.

3 These exclusive words should apply to cases in which the party applies in the same character in which he was entitled under act of 1827, and for the same description of service. Attorney-General Taney, May 18, 1833.

4 This restriction was repealed by act of April 5, 1856 (U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. xi, 3).

5 A surgeon in the revolution is not entitled to a pension higher than that of a captain of infantry. Attorney-General Butler, December 19, 1834. Surgeons, under the act of June 7, 1832, are entitled to the highest rate of pensions, according to length of service, including staff service. Secretary Porter, November 14, 1843.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR-MILITARY AND NAVAL.

life; and that any such officer, non-commissioned officer, musician or private, as aforesaid, who shall have served in the continental line, State troops, volunteers or militia, a term or terms in the whole less than the above period, but not less than six months, shall be authorized to receive out of any unappropriated money in the Treasury, during his natural life, each according to his term of service, an amount bearing such proportion to the annuity granted to the same rank for the service of two years, as his term of service did to the term aforesaid; to commence from the fourth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That no person receiving any annuity or pension under any law of the United States providing for revolutionary officers and soldiers, shall be entitled to the benefits of this act, unless he shall first relinquish his further claim to such pension; and in all payments under this act, the amount which may have been received under any other act, as aforesaid, since the date at which the payments under this act shall commence, shall first be deducted from such payment.

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SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the pay allowed by this act shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, be paid to the officer, non-commissioned officer, musician or private entitled thereto, or his or their authorized attorney, at such places and times as the Secretary of the Treasury may direct, and that no foreign officer shall be entitled to said pay, nor shall any officer, non-commissioned officer, musician or private receive the same until he furnish the said Secretary satisfactory evidence that he is entitled to the same, in conformity to the provisions of this act; and the pay hereby allowed shall not be in any way transferable or lia

1 An act approved February 19, 1833, prescribes that this shall not be construed to embrace invalid pensioners; and that the pensions of invalid soldiers shall not be deducted from the amount receivable by them under this act (U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. iv, 612). A pensioner can not at the same time receive half-pay under the act of July 5, 1832, providing for the claims of the State of Virginia, and a pension under the act of June 7, 1832. Attorney-General Legare, September 30, 1841.

2 All persons, whether residents or non-residents of the United States, who are embraced by the description contained in the first section, except "foreign officers," are entitled to avail themselves of its provisions. Attorney-General Taney, October 27, 1832.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR-MILITARY AND NAVAL.

ble to attachment, levy or seizure, by any legal process whatever, but shall inure wholly to the personal benefit of the officer, non-commissioned officer, musician or soldier entitled to the same.

1

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That so much of the said pay as accrued before the approval of this act, shall be paid to the person entitled to the same, as soon as may be, in the manner, and under the provisions above-mentioned; and the pay which shall accrue thereafter, shall be paid semi-annually, in the manner above directed; and in case of death of any person embraced by the provisions of this act, or of the act to which it is supplementary, during the period intervening between the semi-annual payments directed to be made by said acts, the proportionate amount of pay which shall accrue between the last preceding semi-annual payment and the death of such person, shall be paid to his widow,2 or, if he leave no widow, to his children. 3

1 Where a pensioner has pledged his certificate of pension for debt, a renewal of the certificate is not necessary, but payment may be made without it, on proof of identity. Attorney-General Taney, October 27, 1832.

2 Under this act an administrator could never have been recognized by this office as a claimant, until the act of June 19, 1840, permitted it to be paid to him "for the sole use and benefit of the children, to be distributed among them in equal shares, and never to be regarded as assets." Commissioner Heath, October 17, 1851, and Secretary Stuart, March 17, 1852.

3 See title "ARREARS OF PENSIONS," page 000. In case of the death of the pensioner, leaving neither widow nor child, the arrears of pensions go to his legal representative. Attorney-General Butler, February 28, 1834. If a soldier dies after March 4, 1831, and before June 7, 1832, leaving a widow, who also dies before June 7, 1832, the children of the widow who are not children of the soldier, can not claim the arrears of pension due under this act; but the children of the soldier may claim the same. Attorney-General Butler, April 13, 1837. The children of soldiers or of their widows may draw what was due the parents when they died, although not claimed, or proof not perfected, at their death. Secretaries Woodbury and Poinsett and Commissioner Edwards, April, 1839. Under the act of Congress, passed on 7th of June, 1832, providing for the relief of certain surviving officers of the revolution, and its several supplements, the word children in the act embraces the grand-children of a deceased pensioner, whether their parents died before or after his decease, and they are entitled, per stirpes, to a distributive share of the deceased parent's pension. Walton et al. v. Cotton et al., 19 Howard, 355.

An act of April 2, 1862, prohibits the allowance of a claim for a pension,

REVOLUTIONARY WAR-MILITARY AND NAVAL.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the officers, non-commissioned officers, mariners or marines, who served for a like term in the naval service,' during the revolutionary war, shall be entitled to the benefits of this act, in the same manner as is provided for the officers and soldiers of the army of the revolution.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

The acts to which reference should be had, in preparing applications for pensions for revolutionary soldiers, are those of March 18, 1818, May 15, 1828, and June 7, 1832. The first named act is applicable, only, to persons in indigent circumstances, who served in the continental line, or in the naval service. Applications should not be made under this act, unless unavoidable, as the act of June 7, 1832, is much more favorable to the applicant.2 The act of May 15, 1828, applies to persons-officers and soldiers of the army, but not of the naval forces-who served in the continental line during the entire war. It extends to field and line officers, major and brigadiergenerals, directors of the hospital, chief physicians and surgeons of the army or hospital, hospital physicians, surgeons, purveyors and apothecaries, and regimental surgeons. No other staff officers are entitled to its benefits. The act of June 7, 1832, has the widest application. This embraces every description of persons belonging either

or an increase of pension, to the children or other descendants of a person who served in the revolution, or of his widow, when the soldier or his widow died without having established a claim to a pension.

1 This language can not be construed to apply to privateers. AttorneyGeneral Taney, July 21, 1832.

2 It is more favorable in this: at least nine months' service must be proved, to obtain the benefits of the act of March 18, 1818; and under this law a pension commences at the time when the proof is completed. Under the act of June 7, 1832, pensions commence from March 4, 1831. In the latter case the pension, though smaller for each year, would be much greater in the aggregate, on account of the accumulation.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR-REGULATIONS AND FORMS.

to the land or naval forces, whether serving as regulars, state troops, Indian spies, volunteers or militia; and who served for at least six months, in one or more tours. Those who served two years in all, are entitled to full pay, during life; but in no case can this exceed the pay of a captain in the line. A service of less than two years, and not less than six months, entitles the claimant to pay for life, proportioned in equal ratio, to the term served. Persons entitled to the benefits of the act of May 15, 1828, are not entitled to pensions under the act of June 7, 1832.

Invalid pensioners of the revolution are entitled to the benefits of the acts of May 15, 1828, and June 7, 1832, without relinquishing their pensions as invalids.

Foreign officers are not entitled to the benefits of the acts of May 15, 1828, and June 7, 1832.

Applications for gratuitous pensions must be made to the Commissioner of Pensions, to whom all letters and papers should be addressed. Postage on letters to him, upon official business, need not be paid.

SECTION II.

REGULATIONS AND FORMS FOR OBTAINING GRATUITOUS PENSIONS FOR SURVIVORS OF THE REVOLUTION.

As the act of June 7, 1832, is more favorable to claimants, at the present time, than that of March 18, 1818, it is not deemed necessary to provide forms to be used in making applications under the latter act.

Nor is it deemed necessary to insert a series of forms applicable to the act of May 15, 1828; as it is not probable that any claims under this act remain unadjusted.

The following regulations govern applications for pensions under the act of June 7, 1832.