SUPPLEMENT

OF

ACTS, OPINIONS, DECISIONS, REGULATIONS, &c.

1. ACTS AND PARTS OF ACTS, CONTINUED SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF THE FIRST EDITION OF THIS WORK.

[ 1.]

An act for the relief of the United States troops who were sufferers by the recent disaster to the steamship San Francisco.

APPROVED, MARCH 27, 1854.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be paid, under the direction of the President, to each of the officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates, who, on the twenty-first day of December, eighteen hundred and fiftythree, embarked at New York, under orders for California, on the steamship San Francisco, and who was on board that vessel on the occasion of her recent disaster at sea, and to Lieutenant Francis Key Murray, and any other officer or seaman of the United States Navy, who was on board the said steamship under orders, a sum equal in amount to his pay and allowances for eight months.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That if any such officer, noncommissioned officer, musician, or private, shall have died before receiving such payment, from any cause consequent upon said disaster, his widow, if one survive him, and if not, then his minor children, if any there be, shall be paid a sum equal in amount to six months' pay and allowances of the deceased. And that the widows and minor children of these officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates who perished by this disaster, or who died from disease in consequence thereof, shall be allowed pensions in the same manner in all respects as if the said officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates had been killed in battle.

[ 2.]

An act making further provisions for the satisfaction of Virginia land warrants. [This act, though not executed at the Pension Office, is introduced here on account of the equitable interest the state lines and navies of other states, who, jointly with Virginia, achieved the revolutionary conquest, and redeemed the lands in question from their jeopardy, whereby only, the Virginia reservations and promises to her officers were rendered effective. For the same reason we have introduced the highly interesting and profound opinions of Mr. Attorney General Cushing, upon the execution of that act; and also the regulations of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, in regard to the proceedings for issuing land scrip for the satisfaction of Virginia land warrants.] APPROVED, AUGUST 31, 1852.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all unsatisfied outstanding military land warrants, or parts of warrants, issued or allowed prior to the first day of March, eighteen hundred and fifty-two, by the proper authorities of the Commonwealth of Virginia, for military services performed by the officers and soldiers, seamen or marines, of the Virginia State and continental lines, in the army or navy of the Revolution, may be surrendered to the Secretary of the Interior, who, upon being satisfied, by a revision of the proofs, or by additional testimony, that any warrant thus surrendered was fairly and justly issued, in pursuance of the laws of said Commonwealth, for military services so rendered, shall issue land scrip in favor of the present proprietors of any warrant thus surrendered, for the whole or any portion thereof yet unsatisfied, at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents for each acre mentioned in the warrant thus surrendered, and which remains unsatisfied; which scrip shall be receivable in payment for any lands owned by the United States subject to sale at private entry; and said scrip shall moreover be assignable by endorsement, attested by two witnesses. In issuing such scrip the secretary is authorized, when there are more persons than one interested in the same warrant, to issue to each person scrip for his or her portion of the warrant; and where infants or femecoverts may be entitled to any scrip, the guardian of the infant, and the husband of the feme-covert, may receive and sell, or locate the same: Provided, That no less than a legal subdivision shall be entered and paid for by the scrip issued in virtue of this

act.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall be taken as a full and final adjustment of all bounty land claims to the officers and soldiers, seamen and marines, of the State of Virginia, for services in the war of the Revolution: Provided, That the State of Virginia shall, by a proper act of the legislature thereof, relinquish all claim to the lands in the Virginia military land district in the State of Ohio.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That in settling the claims of the State of Ohio, under the acts of March second, eighteen hundred and twenty-seven, and May twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and twenty-eight, granting lands to said State for canal

purposes, the same principles shall be acted upon as have been applied under the provisions of the act of May the ninth, eighteen hundred and forty-eight, entitled "An act in addition to an act therein mentioned," for the settlement of the claims of the State of Indiana accruing under the said act of March the second, eighteen hundred and twenty-seven.

[3.]

An act to continue half-pay to certain widows and orphans.

1. The five years half-pay granted to widows and orphans by the acts of the 21st July, 1848, and the 22d February, 1849, are extended, for a like term of five years respectively; the same, in case of the death or marriage of the widow before the expiration of the five years, to enure, for the balance of the term, to the child or children, of the deceased soldier, &c., under 16 years of age; also, the five years' pension granted by the aforesaid act of the 22d February, 1849, to be construed to extend to the widows and orphans of officers and privates of the regular army, militia, and volunteers of the war of 1812, and the several Indian wars since 1790. 2. The widows of officers and privates, &c., who were married subsequently to January, 1800, to receive pensions in the same manner as those who married previous to that date.

APPROVED, FEBRUARY 3, 1853.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all widows and orphans who were granted and allowed five years' half-pay by the provisions of the act approved the twenty-first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, entitled "An act amending the act granting half-pay to widows or orphans where their husbands or fathers have died of wounds received in the military service of the United States, in case of deceased officers and soldiers of the militia and volunteers, passed July fourth, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six," or an act approved the twenty-second day of February, one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, entitled "An act granting five years' half-pay to certain widows and orphans of officers, noncommissioned officers, musicians, and privates, both regulars and volunteers," be, and they are hereby, granted a continuance of said half-pay, under like limitations and restrictions, for a further period of five years, to commence at the expiration of the halfpay provided for by the aforesaid acts: Provided, however, That in case of the death or marriage of such widow before the expiration of said term of five years, the half-pay for the remainder of the term shall go to the child or children of the deceased officer or soldier whilst under the age of sixteen years; and in like manner the child or children of such deceased, when there is no widow, shall be paid no longer than while there is a child or children under the age aforesaid: And provided further, That no greater sum shall be allowed in any case to the widow or the child or children of any officer than the half-pay of a lieutenant colonel: Provided, further, That the act approved the twenty

second of February, one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, "granting five years' half-pay to certain widows and orphans of officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates, both regular and volunteer," be so extended and construed as to embrace the widows and minor heirs of the officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates of the regulars, militia, and volunteers of the war of eighteen hundred and twelve, and of the various Indian wars since 1790.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the widows of all officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates, of the revolutionary army, who were married subsequent to January, A. D. eighteen hundred, shall be entitled to a pension in the same manner as those who were married before that date.

[ 4.]

An act making appropriations for the support of the army for the year ending the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.

The 4th section provides for completing the muster rolls of Mexican volunteers (military or naval) who served in California with a view to their pay, and particularly with a view to the allowance of their claims for bounty lands in the Pension Office.

APPROVED, MAY 31, 1854.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to receive and cause to be placed on the files of his Department, such additional musterrolls of the battalion of volunteers commanded by Lieutenant Colonel J. C. Fremont in California, duly authenticated by the proper officers, as have not heretofore been received and filed, and to cause such corrections of the muster rolls to be made in regard to the periods of enlistment and terms of service, and the omission of names of the members of said battalion as, upon satisfactory proof, he may deem right and proper, and as far as practicable, to correspond with the pay-rolls of Major P. B. Reading, paymaster of said battalion with respect to the period of service, so that all who served in the military service of the United States in California during the late war with Mexico, whether under the command of naval or military officers, may be entitled to all the benefits of all the acts of Congress, providing for the enrollment of volunteers in the Mexican war: Provided, That no payment shall be made in consequence of this section, beyond the sum heretofore appropriated.

[5.]

An act to supply deficiencies in the appropriations for the service of the fiscal year end. ing the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, and for other purposes.

Appropriations for paying pensions to widows and orphans under the act of 3d February, 1853; and for paying privateer pensioners, of the war of 1812.

APPROVED, August 5, 1854.

For paying pensions under the act of the third of February, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, one hundred and twenty-eight thousand dollars.

For paying pensions of invalids who were wounded on board of private armed vessels during the last war with Great Britain, from the first of July, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, to the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight hundred and fiftyfour, eight thousand four hundred dollars; and the office for paying privateer pensions in Boston is hereby abolished; and the said pensioners shall be paid as privateer pensions are paid at other places.

[6.]

An act to repeal the first proviso of the fourth section of the act entitled "An act granting bounty land to certain officers and soldiers who have been engaged in the military service of the United States," approved September twenty-eighth, one thousand eight hundred and fifty.

The proviso repealed, says, "the benefits of this act shall not accrue to any person who is a member of the present Congress."

APPROVED, AUGust 5, 1854.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the first proviso of the fourth section of the act entitled "An act granting bounty land to certain officers and soldiers who have been engaged in the military service of the United States," approved September twenty-eighth, one thousand eight hundred and fifty, be, and the same is hereby, repealed.

II. OPINIONS OF ATTORNEYS GENERAL, CONTINUED SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF THE FIRST EDITION OF THIS WORK.

[ 1. ]

[Brevet rank, without corresponding command, is but honorary, and does not carry with it an increase rate of pay nor of pension: On the contrary, a case cited by the claimant as a precedent for such increase according to his brevet rank, is a flagrant violation of law, not sustained by other decisions.]

ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE, August 30th, 1853. SIR: The case of Brevet Major McReynolds, submitted to me by your letter of the 13th instant, presents the following facts: Andrew T. McReynolds was a captain in the third regiment