REVOLUTIONARY WAR-MILITARY AND NAVAL.

shall particularly describe the wound or wounds from whence the disability appears to be derived.

Every claimant must prove, by at least one credible witness, that he continued in service during the whole time for which he was detached, or for which he engaged, unless he was discharged, or left the service in consequence of some derangement of the army, or in consequence of his disability resigned his commission, or was after his disability in captivity, or on parole until the close of the revolutionary war. And in the same manner must prove his mode of life and employment since he left the service, and the place or places where he has since resided, and his place of residence at the time of taking such testimony.

Every claimant shall, by his affidavit, give satisfactory reasons why he did not make application for a pension before, and that he is not on the pension list of any State; and the judge or commissioner shall certify, in writing, his opinion of the credibility of the witnesses whose affidavits he shall take, in all those cases where by this act it is said that the proof shall be made by a credible witness or witnesses; and also, that the examining physician or surgeon is reputable in his profession.

SEC. 4. Every pension or income thereof by virtue of this act, shall commence on the day when the claimant shall have completed his testimony before the authority proper to take the same.'

SEC. 5. An increase of pension may be allowed to persons already placed upon the pension list of the United States, for disabilities caused by known wounds received during the revolutionary war, in all cases where justice shall require the same; Provided, That the increase when added to the pension formerly received shall in no case exceed a full pension.

SEC. 6. A full pension given by this act to a commissioned officer, shall be one half of the monthly pay legally allowed at the time of incurring said disability, to his grade in the forces raised by the United States; and the proportions less than a full pension, shall be the correspondent proportions of said half-pay; and a full pension to a non-commissioned officer, musician, soldier, marine, or seaman,

1 The rule is revived which declares that the evidence is perfect when no objection whatever exists to the admission of the claim. In future, therefore, the pension will commence at the date of the last certificate which authenticates the papers. Rule of War Department, January 30, 1832.

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shall be five dollars per month, and the proportions less than a full pension, shall be the like proportions of five dollars a month; but no pension of a commissioned officer shall be calculated at a higher rate than the half-pay of a lieutenant-colonel.'

SEC. 7. The pensions, or increase thereof which may be allowed by this act, shall be paid in the same manner as pensions to individuals who have been heretofore placed on the pension list, are now paid, and under such restrictions and regulations, in all respects, as are prescribed by law.

SEC. 8. From and after the passage of this act, no sale, transfer or mortgage of the whole or any part of the pension payable to any non-commissioned officer, musician, soldier, marine or seaman, before the same becomes due, shall be valid. And every person claiming such pension or any part thereof, under power of attorney or substitution, shall, before the same is paid, make oath or affirmation, before some magistrate, legally authorized to take the same, a copy of which, attested by said magistrate, shall be lodged with the person who pays said pension, that such power or substitution is not given by reason of any transfer of such pension or part thereof. And any person who shall swear or affirm falsely in the premises, and be thereof convicted, shall suffer as for willful and corrupt perjury.

SEC. 9. All laws of the United States heretofore passed, so far as they authorize persons to be placed on the pension list of the United States, for and in consequence of disabilities derived from known wounds received in the revolutionary war, shall be, and they are hereby repealed: Provided, That nothing in this repealing clause shall injure, or in any way affect, those persons already upon the pension list of the United States; and that the Secretary for the War Department shall proceed upon the testimony which has been transmitted to him by any claimant before the passage of this act, in the same manner as though this act had never passed.

1 An act approved April 24, 1816, increased the rates of monthly pensions, as follows: A first lieutenant, to seventeen dollars; a second lieutenant, to fifteen dollars; a third lieutenant, to fourteen dollars; an ensign, to thirteen dollars; a non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, to eight dollars. These rates represent the highest degree of disability: for disabilities of a degree less than the highest it is prescribed by the act that the sum shall be "proportionably less." For further particulars of this act, see "INVALID PENSIONS, REGULAR SERVICE," page 23.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR-MILITARY AND NAVAL.

SEC. 10. This act, so far as it authorizes the admission of persons upon the pension list of the United States, shall remain in force for and during the space of six years from the passage thereof, and no longer:1 Provided, That this limitation shall not affect or impair the right of any invalid who may have completed his testimony in the manner prescribed by this act, before this limitation commences its operation, but which has not been transmitted to the Secretary for the Department of War.

In accordance with the provisions of this law a large number of lists containing the names of persons entitled to pensions were transmitted by the District Judges to the Secretary of War, and by him to Congress, to be placed by special acts upon the pension rolls.2

The act of 1806 is still in force so far as relates to the payment of pensions; although it is presumed that few (if any) persons are drawing pensions under its provi

sions.

An act of March 18, 1818, grants pensions to such of the surviving officers, musicians, private soldiers, and all officers in the hospital department and medical staff as served in the war of the revolution until the end of the

1 This section was revived and kept in force by sundry acts until May 24, 1832. The reason why it was permitted to expire at that time was, evidently, that the liberal provisions of the act of June 7, 1832, rendered the continuance of this section unnecessary.

2 By an act approved April 25, 1808, the Secretary of War was authorized and directed to place on the pension rolls of the United States all persons remaining on the pension lists of the several States, for disability occasioned by known wounds received in the revolutionary war, whether in the land or sea forces of the United States, or of any particular State, in regular corps, volunteers, or militia. Pensions, under this act, were restricted to the amounts prescribed in the sixth section of the act of 1806; and applicants for the benefits of this enactment were required to furnish evidence of their being upon the pension lists of the States, by producing satisfactory documents from the proper officers of the several States. An act of March 3, 1819, authorized the Secretary of War to place upon the pension rolls the names of all persons entitled to pensions, without reporting the same to Congress.

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same, or for a term of at least nine months at some period of the war,' on the continental establishment; and also to the surviving officers, seamen and marines, who served for a like term in the navy of the United States, and who were, or thereafter might be, in reduced circumstances in life, and unable to obtain a livelihood. To such indigents (whether invalids or otherwise) the act allows a pension for life, as follows: commissioned officers, twenty dollars per month; and to non-commissioned officers, musicians, marines, seamen, and private soldiers, eight dollars per month. But to obtain the benefits of this act, an invalid must relinquish any pension he may previously have been receiving; and is precluded from claiming one under any other act.

This act, with the regulations and forms pertaining thereto, will be found under the title "GRATUITOUS PENSIONS-REVOLUTION;" to which the reader is referred.

From the passage of the act of March 18, 1818, invalid pensions for injuries received in the revolution were merged in gratuitous pensions; and no acts specially relating to the former were subsequently passed. Should any applications for pensions remain to be made for services rendered in the revolution, they should be made under the act of May 15, 1828, or the act of June 7, 1832, which will be found in full under "GRATUITOUS PENSIONS-REVOLUTION," pp. 111 to 113.

1 The war of the revolution terminated in April, 1783, upon ratification of the treaty of peace. Opinion of Attorney-General Wirt, February 12, 1825.

2 Should a pension received under the act of April, 1806, be relinquished, in order to obtain the benefits of the act of March 18, 1818, and should the pensioner subsequently be deprived of his pension under the last-named act, he can claim to be restored to the pension which he relinquished. See act of May 1, 1820, sec. 3, U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. iii, 570.

REGULARS, SINCE REVOLUTION.

CHAPTER III.

INVALID PENSIONS.

SECTION I.

MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT OR REGULAR SERVICE SINCE THE REVOLUTION.

2

By "an act for regulating the military establishment of the United States," approved April 30, 1790,1 provision is made for the formation of a regiment of infantry, consisting of three battalions, and a battalion of artillery. After prescribing the organization of the several corps, the act proceeds:

SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That if any commissioned officer, non-commissioned officer, private or musician aforesaid, shall be wounded or disabled, while in the line of his duty in public ser ́vice, he shall be placed on the list of the invalids of the United States, at such rate of pay, and under such regulations as shall be directed by the President of the United States for the time being: Provided always, That the rate of compensation for such wounds or disabilities shall never exceed, for the highest disability, half the monthly pay received by any commissioned officer at the time of being so wounded or disabled; and that the rate of compensation to non-commissioned officers, privates and musicians, shall never exceed five dollars per month: And provided also, That all inferior disabilities shall entitle the person so disabled to receive only a sum in proportion to the highest disability.

Three regiments were added to the establishment by an act of March 5, 1792, "for making further and more

1 U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. i, p. 119.

2 An additional regiment of infantry was attached to the establishment by act of March 3, 1791 (U. S. Stats., vol. i, 222), with the same provisions for wounds or disability in the line of duty as other troops of the United States.