was enrolled with his company, the distance thence to the point at which he was mustered into service, the place at which he was discharged, and the distance thence to the place of his original enrolment. It must also be clearly shown, by the testimony of persons certified to be credible, that his statements in these respects are true, and the witnesses should specify the manner in which they obtained their information.

J. E. HEATH, Commissioner of Pensions.

[Form of a declaration to be made by the surviving officer or soldier.]

sonally appeared before me, a justice of the peace, [or other officer authorized to administer oaths for general purposes,] within and for said county and State aforesaid, , aged years, a resident of in the State of sworn, according to law, declares that he is the identical company commanded by captain

who being duly

who was a

in the regiment of

in the commanded by

in the war with Great Britain, declared by the United States on the 18th day of June, 1812, [or other wars embraced in the act, declaring what war;] that he enlisted [or volunteered, or was drafted] at

for the term of

A. D.

with presented.†

about the

day of

as will appear by his original certificate of discharge here

In addition to the actual service above described, he claims for at which he was enlisted, to

miles from where he was mustered into service, and for miles from at which he was discharged, to the said place of his enrolment. He makes this declaration for the purpose of obtaining the bounty land to which he may be entitled under the "act granting bounty land to certain officers and soldiers who have been engaged in the military service of the United States," passed 22d March, 1852, and that he is not entitled to, nor has received, bounty land under any other act of Congress. [Signature of the claimant.]

Sworn to and subscribed before certify, that I believe the said that he is of the age above stated.

me the day and year above written. And I hereby to be the identical man who served as aforesaid, and [Signature of the magistrate or other officer.]

[ 24.]

[Laws of the U. S., vol. 4, page 374.]

CHAP. 344. An act authorizing the President of the United States to accept and or ganize certain volunteer military corps.

APPROVED, FEBRUARY 6, 1812.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That

* If the claimant was a regimental or staff officer, the declaration must vary according to the facts of the case.

If the discharge has been lost or destroyed, the words in italics will be omitted, and the facts in relation to the loss of the discharge stated in lieu thereof. If the claimant never received a written discharge, or if discharged in consequence of disability, or if he was in captivity with the enemy, he must vary his declaration so as to set forth the facts of the case.

the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to accept of any company or companies of volunteers, either of artillery, cavalry, or infantry, who may associate and offer themselves for the service, not exceeding fifty thousand men.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That any company, battalion, regiment, brigade, or division, thus offering itself for the service, shall be liable to be called upon to do military duty at any time. the President of the United States shall judge proper, within two years after he shall have accepted the same; and shall be bound to continue in service for the term of twelve months after they shall have arrived at the place of rendezvous, unless sooner discharged.

*

*

*

*

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the heirs and representatives of any non-commissioned officer or soldier, who may be killed in action, or die in the actual service of the United States, shall be entitled to receive one hundred and sixty acres of land; to be designated, surveyed, and laid off, at the public expense, in such manner, and upon such terms and conditions, as may be provided by law.

[25.]

[Laws of the U. S., Statutes at Large, vol. 9., page 444] CHAP. 39. An act making appropriations for the payment of navy pensions for the year ending the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.

APPROVED, AUGUST 17, 1850.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums be, and the same are hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the pay of navy pensions for the year ending the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one :

To pay invalid pensions, forty thousand dollars.

Το pay the pensions of invalids who were wounded on board of private armed vessels during the last war with Great Britain, three thousand dollars.

INDEX.

The Index being the first thing looked at in a work of this character, we deemed it proper here, in order to enable all to consult this with the greatest profit, to give some elucidation of its arrangement, that it may attract the readiest attention, and thereby economize the time of the inquirer, as well as save him from the fruitless search he might occasionally be subjected to without such aid. Instead, then, of the simple alphabetical arrangement of catch words' and broken phrases, that convey little or no meaning more than to enable the reader to find the subject with which such words are connected in the text of the volume, with the execution of which we had at first intended to rest content, we have, upon further reflection, concluded to give such abstracts of the various subjects as we judged would be more useful to the reader, in preparing himself to make a more satisfactory examination of the details they refer to. To carry out this object with as great efficacy as practicable, we have, with no inconsiderable labor, cast the whole, as nearly as may be, into a chronological, analytical, and alphabetical, arrangement, with the view of combining every benefit that could promise to result to the reader, from the review of such a synopsis.

In the first place it must be remarked, that, taken together, the legislative enactments, as referred to under the heads of pensions to "invalids" disabled during and since the revolution, to indigents, and to survivors of the revolution, and their widows and orphans respectively, and also under the head of bounty lands of various periods and denominations, together with the supplementary acts relating to these subjects in the first part of this volume, constitute the principal and paramount matters of the work, whilst all the other items, as contained in the "Appendix," are mere accessories to them, and may be regarded as incidents, only, connected with, and carrying out the execution of the laws providing for pensions and bounty lands. Hence, conforming to this fundamental order of principal and accessory, or primary and secondary subjects, we should present an Index of two parts--1st, an Index of the laws, or the subjects provided for in the said laws; and 2d, an Index of administrative measures, with their details of advisory opinions, decisions, instructions, and forms: and this division we have made accordingly.

To the subjects however, both of PART I. and PART II. of this Index, we have given an alphabetical arrangement, as nearly as practicable, consistently with their arrangement in classes, and according to the chronological order of their legislative enactment, or their administrative expounding and execution. Passing by the miscellaneous items, which are referred to in the simple alphabetical order, we have combined the chronological and alphabetical arrangement of the principal subjects, in classes, according to their respective denominations, as follows, viz:

I. Of Half Pay PENSIONS.--The "half pay" for life, or its "commutation" to full pay for seven years, to certain officers of the revolution, and extended to their widows and orphans under certain circumstances, constitute a very different kind and class of pensions from those of invalids, or of widows and orphans as heirs and representatives of deceased invalid pensioners, or of persons killed, or who died of wounds or casualties

happening to them in the line of their duty. This class of pensioners, always very
limited, fall into a very simple arrangement. Remarks upon them, as gratuities, may be
seen in the Introduction--where also the pensions to indigents and other survivors of
the revolution, and to widows and orphans, are considered as gratuities in contradistinc-
tion from invalid pensions.

II. OF INVALID PENSIONERS. --The manner of making legal provision for invalids
of the military and naval service during the revolution, appears to have been too much
blended to admit of any discrimination in the classification of them; for they all come
under the general denomination of invalids disabled during the revolutionary war, of
whom lists were furnished from time to time, by the State authorities, under the request
of Congress. From those lists, however, and other official evidences, the pensioners of
the naval service formed a very small proportion to those of the military establishment.
But the provisions for invalids in either branch of the service since the revolution, have
been somewhat more distinct, which has enabled us, accordingly, to arrange them under
two distinct divisions--thereby making three divisions of invalid pensioners--one of in-
valids disabled during the revolution, military and naval combined; and two of invalids
disabled since the revolution, military and naval, arranged under separate heads.

III. OF PENSIONS TO INDIGENTS, AND OTHER SURVIVING SOLDIERS AND SEAMEN
OF THE REVOLUTION. --We have also arranged the two anomalous classes of revolu-
tionary pensioners, provided for at comparatively recent dates, immediately after the third
class of "invalids." Of these, the first comprises the "indigents" of the army and
navy of the revolution, provided for by the act of the 18th March, 1818, at a small ad-
vance of pension over half pay, to continue for life or during their indigence; and the
second comprises other surviving worthies of the revolution, provided for at full pay for
life, under the act of the 15th May, 1828, its supplement of the 7th June, 1832, and
other supplementary acts.

IV. OF PENSIONS TO WIDOWS, OR LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES.--The same indis-
criminativeness observed in regard to the legislative provisions for revolutionary invalids
in the two branches of the service, applies, perhaps even to a greater degree, to those for
the widows and orphans of officers and others of the army and navy of the same pe-
riod, if, indeed, there was any made for the widows and orphans of the latter, at all,
during that period, of which there is no evidence extant that has come under our obser-
vation; and those made for the widows and orphans of the military officers, were not
made for them as representatives of invalids, or of officers slain, but of officers to whom
seven years' half pay was promised, if they continued in the army to the end of the
war; but who, having died during the war, could not execute their contract, and claim
their seven years' half pay. But of this provision for military officers who performed
that condition, and for the widows and orphans of those who were prevented by death
from doing so, there most probably was a parallel provision for naval officers, and their
widows and orphans under like circumstances, (or ought yet to be,) though the fact does
not appear. Nay, the request of the resolution of the 24th August, 1780, that the
legislatures of the several States would make provision for paying the widows and or-
phans of those military officers, strongly indicate that the widows and orphans of naval
officers, under like circumstances, were provided for in like manner. Our arrangement,
therefore, could only dispose of the legal provisions for widows and orphans under the
following heads, viz: 1. Of widows and orphans of military officers of the revolution-
ary war entitled to "seven years' half pay" or "commutation." 2. Widows and or-
phans of military officers and soldiers since the revolution; together with those of off-