WIDOWS AND ORPHANS-REGULARS, SINCE REVOLUTION.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That... And provided, further, That no moneys shall be paid to the widow or children, or any heirs of any deceased officer, on account of bounty, back pay or pension, who have in any way been engaged in, or who have aided or abetted, the existing rebellion in the United States; but the right of such disloyal widow or children, heir or heirs of such soldier, shall be vested in the loyal heir or heirs of the deceased, if any there be.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the fees of agents and attorneys, for making out and causing to be executed the papers necessary to establish a claim for a pension, bounty and other allowance before the Pension Office under this act, shall not exceed the following rates: For making out and causing to be duly executed a declaration by the applicant, with the necessary affidavits, and forwarding the same to the Pension Office, with the requisite correspondence, five dollars. In cases wherein additional testimony is required by the Commissioner of Pensions, for each affidavit so required and executed and forwarded (except the affidavits of surgeons, for which such agents and attorneys shall not be entitled to any fees), one dollar and fifty cents.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That any agent or attorney who shall, directly or indirectly, demand or receive any greater compensation for his services under this act than is prescribed in the preceding section of this act, or who shall contract or agree to prosecute any claim for a pension, bounty or other allowance under this act, on the condition that he shall receive a per centum upon or any portion of the amount of such claim, or who shall wrongfully withhold from a pensioner or other claimant the whole or any part of the pension or claim allowed and due to such pensioner or claimant, shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall, for every such offense, be fined not exceeding three hundred dollars, or imprisoned at hard labor not exceeding two years, or both, according to the circumstances and aggravations of the offense.

The remaining sections of this act may be found on page 28.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

The acts of June 7, 1794; March 16, 1802; April 12, 1808; January 11, 1812; January 29, 1813; and March

WIDOWS AND ORPHANS-REGULARS, SINCE REVOLUTION.

3, 1815, made provision for the widows and children of commissioned officers alone, who died in the service. The act of April 16, 1816, granted half-pay for five years to the widows and children of non-commissioned officers, musicians and privates of the regular army, who enlisted for either eighteen months or one year, and the widows and children of commissioned officers of the regular army, who died before or after being mustered out of service, of wounds received in the war of 1812. It also authorized the guardians of children of deceased noncommissioned officers, musicians and privates, who died of wounds or disease while in service in the war of 1812, to relinquish the bounty land to which the dead soldier, had he survived the war, would have been entitled, and to accept in lieu thereof half the monthly pay to which such deceased person was entitled at the time of his death, for five years. The time for making these relinquishments was by the act limited to one year, and subsequently extended five additional years; but this portion of the act, having expired by limitation, is no longer in force.

The act of March 3, 1817, fixes the pension of widows and children of soldiers at forty-eight dollars per annum, and of officers at half the pay of officers of the infantry. The act also places the widows and children of rangers on an equality, as to half-pay, with the widows and children of the infantry.

The act of March 2, 1833, relating to certain dragoons; the act of July 4, 1836, relating, in part, to rangers; and the act of May 19, 1846, relating to mounted riflemen, allow the widows and children of such persons as served in these corps, and died in the service, the same benefits as were by law granted to other portions of the

WIDOWS AND ORPHANS-REGULARS, SINCE REVOLUTION.

army. These acts relate back to the acts of April 16, 1816, and March 3, 1817.

A rule of evidence was established by the act of May 7, 1846, relieving widows of the trouble and expense of proving the service of their husbands, when the latter were pensioners at the time of their death.

By the act of July 21, 1848, the benefits of the first section of the act of July 4, 1836 (given in full in the preceding section), were extended to the widows and children of officers and soldiers who had died in the service since March 1, 1846, including the Mexican war. It also provided like pensions to the widows and children of officers and soldiers who had died since April 1, 1846, or might die during the war with Mexico, from wounds received or disease contracted in the line of duty, or while returning to their homes upon a discharge for disability, or while on the march to join the army in Mexico.

This act was enlarged by the act of February 22, 1849, so as to embrace the widows and children of persons who were wounded or contracted disease in the service, of which they died after their discharge and return home. By the joint resolution of September 28, 1850, the acts of July 21, 1848, and February 22, 1849, were construed to embrace the widows and children of those who had died, after the passage of those acts, from disability accruing in the service, as well as of those who might thereafter die. It also makes army rolls showing the death of such persons sufficient evidence to establish that fact.

The joint resolution of March 3, 1849, directed that the returns on the rolls of the disease of which a soldier died, and the opinion of the surgeon-general thereon, that the disease was contracted in the service, should be taken as conclusive evidence of that fact.

WIDOWS AND ORPHANS-REGULARS, SINCE REVOLUTION.

The act of February 3, 1853, extended for five additional years the half-pay granted the 21st of July, 1848, and the 22d day of February, 1849; and directed that the last-mentioned act should be construed to apply to the widows and children of officers and soldiers who served in the war of 1812, and the Indian wars since 1790.

The act of June 3, 1858, granted half-pay for life, or during widowhood, to such widows as were entitled to half-pay for five years, and to children under sixteen years of age, in certain cases, to commence at the expiration of the five years' half-pay allowed by the act of February 3, 1853. The act of August 5, 1854, provides that this act shall not deprive widows of deceased officers and soldiers who had married again from claiming a pension, provided they were widows when making their claim.

The act of July 14, 1862, makes provisions for the widows of persons who have died since March 1, 1861, or who may hereafter die of disability incurred in the war of 1861.

The acts to which reference should be had in making applications for widows and orphans of regulars, in general, are those of April 16, 1816 (this relates to the war of 1812 only); February 22, 1849; and June 3, 1858. For widows and orphans made so by the war with Mexico, the acts of July 21, 1848; February 22, 1849; and June 3, 1858; and the joint resolution of September 28, 1850, should be consulted. For widows of the war of 1861, the act of July 14, 1862, is the most favorable.

The special act in the case of those who perished in the steamship San Francisco, relates to the general acts granting pensions to the widows and orphans of regulars.

WIDOWS AND ORPHANS-REGULARS-REGULATIONS AND FORMS.

SECTION II.

REGULATIONS AND FORMS FOR OBTAINING PENSIONS FOR WIDOWS AND ORPHANS OF REGULARS.

PENSION OFFICE, February, 1862.

To procure the half-pay provided under the various acts of Congress, for the widows or minor children of officers and soldiers who have died in the military service of the United States, or of wounds or disease incurred in such service, in the line of duty, applicants must make their declarations and establish their proof substantially in accordance with the subjoined instructions and forms:

1. The declaration of the widow, or of the guardian duly appointed and qualified in the case of a minor child or children, must be made, under oath or affirmation before a Court of Record [or before a Judge or Clerk of such Court] (unless satisfactory reason is shown for making such affidavit before some other magistrate having authority to administer oaths), according to the forms accompanying these instructions. In all cases the official character of the magistrate must be duly certified by the proper officer, under his seal of office.

2. If the applicant be a widow, she must prove the legality of her marriage, the death of her husband, and that she is still a widow. She must also furnish the names and ages of her children under sixteen years of age at her husband's decease, and the place of their residence. On a subsequent marriage her pension will cease, and the minor child or children of the deceased officer or soldier, if any be living, under the age of sixteen years, will be entitled to the same, in her stead, from the date of such marriage.

3. If application be made in behalf of a minor child of the deceased officer or soldier, the marriage of his parents must be proved, the death of his father, the death or re-marriage of his mother, and that he is still a minor, under sixteen years of age.

4. In case the deceased officer or soldier was a pensioner, that fact should also be stated, as well as the act under which he was pensioned, and the agency at which he was paid. In such case, a reference to the evidence filed in his application will be sufficient to prove the service.

5. Proof of the service of the deceased officer or soldier must be had from the muster rolls or other documentary evidence in custody of the executive Departments (which the claimant is not required to