WHO ENTITLED.

Numerous special acts granting pensions to individuals have been passed by Congress; but as these have no immediate relation to the general pension system of the United States, they do not come within the purview of this compilation.

takes in the whole of her navigation during the entire cruise. The officer who is killed, or dies by reason of a wound received by the falling of a spar in a tempest, is as entirely within the description of being killed, or dying by reason of a wound received in the line of his duty, as the officer who is killed or dies by a wound in battle. Attorney-General Wirt, March 31, 1825. Disability incurred from any cause by a person in the line of his military duty, if not occasioned by his own misconduct, is entitled to a pension. Attorney-General Butler, Dec. 20, 1833. The law is understood to embrace only those who have been injured in the service of the United States, while actually employed in duties peculiar to them as soldiers; or from exposure to inclemencies of the weather at the posts or stations at which they may have been put on duty; or while on the march to such stations. Secretary of War (through Surgeon- General), July 15, 1824. The soldier is to be regarded as being always in "the line of his duty," when he is not under arrest, in confinement, on furlough,* or absent without leave, although there may be peculiar circumstances in particular cases which should modify this construction. Secretary Ewing, April 10, 1849. Death by drowning, in the line of duty in the naval service, entitles the widow of deceased to a pension. Secretary Ewing, Feb. 19, 1850. Disability of a soldier incurred in the line of his duty in removing Indians, entitles him to a pension. Secretary Ewing, July 2, 1850. Where the death of a soldier is caused by intemperance, which is an offense against the military laws, he does not die from a disease contracted in the service and in the line of his duty; and therefore is not entitled to a pension. Secretary Stuart, October 10, 1850. Insanity, when the effect of injury received, or exposure in the line of duty, and resulting in suicide, entitles the widow to the benefit of the pension laws. Commissioner Waldo, June 4,

1853.

A seaman was taken prisoner, and attempted to escape, for which he was severely punished by the enemy, and thereby disabled. It was held that the disability was contracted while in "the line of his duty," and for which he was entitled to a pension.

A soldier discharged on account of a disease, under which he was laboring at the time he entered the service, is not entitled to a pension.

See for further decisions, etc., after GRATUITOUS PENSIONS.

A soldier on furlough is considered to be "in the service." Secretary Stuart, Jan. 27, 1852.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR-MILITARY AND NAVAL.

SECTION II.

INVALIDS OF THE REVOLUTION-ARMY AND NAVY.

Before proceeding to notice the laws still existing for the relief of invalids of the revolution, let us briefly review the acts which have been repealed or rendered entirely obsolete.

The Continental Congress, by a series of resolutions passed August 26, 1776, provided that every commissioned and non-commissioned officer and private soldier in the army, who should lose a limb in any engagement, or be otherwise so disabled in the service of the States, in the war then existing with the mother country, as to be rendered incapable "afterward of getting a livelihood," should receive during life, or the continuance of such disability, one half his monthly pay after his pay as soldier should cease. The same provision was made for the commanders, commissioned officers, marines and seamen, of ships-ofwar and armed vessels of the United States, who should lose a limb in an engagement in which no prize should be taken, or should be otherwise so disabled as to be incapable of obtaining a livelihood. In case a prize should be taken, the amount received by the disabled person as prize money should be considered as part of his half-pay. Should the wounds received not cause total disability, it was provided that the invalid should receive such monthly pension as might be deemed adequate by the Legislature of the State in which he resided-not exceeding his halfpay.

To obtain the benefit of these provisions, the invalid was required to produce to the receiving committee or officer appointed in the State of his residence, or to the Legislature of such State, a certificate from the command

REVOLUTIONARY WAR-MILITARY AND NAVAL.

ing officer in the same engagement in which the wound was received; or, in case of the death of the commanding officer, from some other officer of the corps, and the surgeon who attended him; or a certificate from the commander of the vessel engaged in the action in which the wound was received, and from the attending surgeon, of his name, office, rank, department, regiment, company, ship, the nature of his wound and the action in which such wound was received.

The State Legislatures were recommended to appoint persons to receive and examine the certificates, and keep a record of the same, as well as of the amount adjudged by the several Legislatures for the support of those partially disabled, and of the payments made, and the death of disabled persons. Quarterly reports of the proceedings of the committees were required to be made to the Secretary of Congress, or Board of War. The Legislatures were also recommended to make payment to such disabled persons, in accordance with the foregoing provisions, on account of the United States.

Such of the officers, soldiers, marines and seamen, thus entitled to a pension, as were capable of doing guard or garrison duty, were to be formed into a corps of invalids, and employed accordingly.

By a resolution of the 25th of September, 1778, the provisions of the resolutions of August 26, 1776, were extended to all persons who lost a limb, or were otherwise disabled in the service of the United Colonies or States of America before the passage of the last-mentioned resolutions; and by a resolution of April 23, 1782, all such sick or wounded soldiers as were reported unfit for duty, either in the field or garrison, were entitled to a discharge upon application for the same; and also to re

REVOLUTIONARY WAR-MILITARY AND NAVAL.

ceive as a pension five dollars per month, in lieu of all pay and emoluments.

These resolutions lie at the foundation of the pension system of the United States.

By act of Congress of the 29th September, 1789, the payment of the pensions thus provided was assumed by the United States for one year, under regulations to be prescribed by the President; by acts of July 16, 1790, and March 3, 1791, the payment was assumed for two additional years; and by act of March 23, 1792, the pensions were confirmed for life, and their payment assumed by the United States, under regulations prescribed by the act.

Sundry acts were subsequently passed, altering, modifying or repealing the last-named act; and they in their turn submitted to like processes; and, finally, by act of April 10, 1806, all former laws were repealed, and general provision was made for the payment of pensions to invalids of the revolution. This act being deemed to be still in force for some purposes, is here given in full.

AN ACT to provide for Persons who were Disabled by known Wounds received in the Revolutionary War.1

SECTION 1. Be it enacted, That any commissioned or non-commissioned officer, musician, soldier, marine or seaman disabled in the actual service of the United States, while in the line of his duty, ' by known wounds received during the revolutionary war, and who did not desert the service; or who in consequence of disability as aforesaid, resigned his commission or took a discharge; or who, after incurring disability as aforesaid was taken captive by the enemy, and remained either in captivity or on parol, until the close of said revolutionary war, or who, in consequence of known wounds re

1 U. S. Statutes at large, vol. ii, 376. The benefits of this act were by act of April 25, 1808, extended to commissioned and non-commissioned officers, musicians and privates wounded since the revolutionary war, while in the line of duty, whether belonging to regulars, volunteers, or militia.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR-MILITARY AND NAVAL.

ceived as aforesaid, has, at any period since, become and continued disabled in such manner as to render him unable to procure a subsistence by manual labor, whether such officer, musician, soldier, marine or seaman, served as a volunteer in any proper service against the common enemy, or belonged to a detachment of the militia which served against the common enemy, or to the regular forces of the United States, or of any particular State, he shall, upon substantiating his claim in the manner hereinafter described, be placed on the pension list of the United States, during life, or the continuance of such disability, and be entitled, under the regulations hereinafter mentioned, to receive such sum as shall be found just and proper by the testimony adduced.

SEC. 2. In substantiating such claim, the following rules and regulations shall be complied with, that is to say:

All evidence shall be taken on oath or affirmation, before the judge of the district, or one of the judges of the Territory in which such claimant resides, or before some person especially authorized by commission from said judge.

Decisive disability, the effect of a known wound or wounds received while in the actual service and line of duty, against the common enemy during the revolutionary war, must be proved by the affidavit of the commanding officer of the regiment, corps, company, ship, vessel or craft, in which such claimant served; or of two *other credible witnesses to the same effect, setting forth the time when, and the place where such known wound or wounds were received, and particularly describing the same. The nature of such disability and in what degree it prevents the claimant from obtaining his subsistence, must be proved by the affidavit of some reputable physician or surgeon, stating his opinion, either from his own knowledge and acquaintance with the claimant, or from an examination of such claimant, on oath or affirmation; which when necessary for that purpose, shall be administered to said claimant by said judge or commissioner. And the said physician or surgeon, in his affidavit,

1 This was afterward (act of April 18, 1814) so amended as to authorize the testimony to be taken before any judge of any State or Territorial Court.

By an act of March 2, 1829 (U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. iv, 350), it is provided that the testimony, in cases of applications for wounds received in the revolutionary war, may be authenticated in the same manner as in applications for pensions for wounds received in the war of 1812.