charge and receive for their services in locating all military bounty land warrants issued since the 11th day of February, 1847, the same compensation or per centage to which they are entitled by law for sales of the public lands for cash, at the rate of $1 25 per acre, the said compensation to be hereafter paid by the assignees or holders of such warrants.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That registers and receivers, whether in or out of office at the passage of this act, or their legal representatives in case of death, shall be entitled to receive from the Treasury of the United States, for services heretofore performed in locating military bounty land warrants, the same rate of compensation provided in the preceding section for services hereafter to be performed, after deducting the amount already received by such officers under the act entitled "An act to require the holders of military land warrants to compensate the land officers of the United States for services in relation to the location of those warrants," approved May 17, 1848: Provided, That no register or receiver shall receive any compensation out of the treasury for past services who has charged and received illegal fees for the location of such warrants: And provided further, That no register or receiver shall receive for his services during any year a greater compensation than the maximum now allowed by law.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That in all cases where the militia or volunteers or State troops of any State or territory were called into military service, and whose services have been paid by the United States subsequent to the eighteenth of June, eighteen hundred and twelve, the officers and soldiers of such militia, volunteers, or troops, shall be entitled to all the benefits 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, eighteen hundred and fifty, and shall receive lands for their services according to the provisions of said act, upon proof of length of service, as therein required; and that the last proviso of the ninth section of the act of eleventh of February, eighteen hundred and forty-seven, be, and the same is hereby, repealed: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall authorize bounty land to those who have heretofore received or become entitled to the

same.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That where any company, battalion, or regiment, in an organized form, marched more than twenty miles to the place where they were mustered into the service of the United States, or were discharged more than twenty miles from the place where such company, battalion, or regiment was organized; in all such cases, in computing the length of service of the officers and soldiers of any such company, battalion, or regiment, with a view to determine the quantity of

land any officer or soldier is entitled to under said act, approved 28th of September, 1850, there shall be allowed one day for every twenty miles from the place where the company, battalion, or regiment was organized, to the place where the same was mustered into the service of the United States; and also one day for every twenty miles from the place where such company, battalion, or regiment was discharged, to the place where it was organized, and from whence it marched to enter the service.

[ 2.]

[Laws of the United States, Pamphlet Edition for 1845.] CHAP. 15. An act restricting the grant of pensions in certain cases. Widows' pensions limited.

APPROVED, FEBRUARY 20, 1845.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this act a pension shall not be granted to any widow for or during any part or portion of the time her husband may have received one, whose declaration therefor shall not have been made on or before the thirtieth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, and shall not have been received at the pension office on or before the twenty-third day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-five.

[ 3.]

CHAP. 267. An Act making appropriation for the support of the army for the year ending the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.

The acts of the 28th September, 1850, the 22d March, 1852, and the 3d February, 1853, so far as they affect the rights of certain widows to bounty lands, explained.

APPROVED, AUGUST 5, 1854.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the act approved September twenty-eight, one thousand eight hundred and fifty, entitled "An act granting bounty land to certain officers and soldiers who have been engaged in the military service of the United States," the act approved March twenty second, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, entitled "An act to make land warrants assignable, and for other purposes," and the act approved February 3d, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, entitled "An act to continue half pay to certain widows and orphans," shall not be so construed as to deprive any widow from the benefits therein granted for the services of her husband, though she may have married again: Provided, however, That the applicant is a widow at the time of making the claim: Provided, Such party shall not receive pension during coverture.

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: but from further considerations, we have thought proper to subdivide the secondary matters into two parts. Accordingly, PART I refers to the Laws: PART II refers to the Opinions of Attorneys General: and PART III refers to the Decisions, Regulations, and Forms of the Pension Office.

To the subjects however, of PART I, PART II, and PART III 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 of each Part, into 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 five 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, falls 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 contra-
distinction 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 invalids disabled during the revolution, military and naval combined, and two
of invalids disabled since the revolution, military and naval, arranged under separate
heads.

TII. OF PENSIONS TO INDIGENTS AND OTHER SURVIVING SOLDIERS AND SEAMEN OF THE
REVOLUTION.—We have also arranged the two anomalous classes of revolutionary pen-
sioners, 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 advance of pen-
sion over half pay, to continue for life or during their indigence; and the second com-
prises 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 supple-
mentary acts.

IV. OF PENSIONS TO WIDOWS OR LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES.-The same indiscriminative-
ness 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 period, 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 observation;
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 con-
dition, and for the widows and orphans of those who were prevented by death from doing
so, there was no parallel provision for naval officers and their widows and orphans,
under like circumstances. Nay, the request of the resolution of the 24th August, 1780,
that the legislatures of the several States would make provision for paying their mili-
tary officers, and the widows and orphans of those military officers, strongly indicate
that naval officers, and the widows and orphans of naval officers, under like circum-
stances, were not 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 revolutionary war entitled to
'seven years' half pay," and "half pay for life," or "commutation." 2. Widows and
orphans of military officers and soldiers since the revolution; together with those of
officers, (military and naval,) soldiers, seamen, and marines, of the revolution, who were
provided for by the acts concerning "indigents," and other "survivors" of that war;
for the latter of whom the legal provisions being too much blended, in many instances