[1784, January 26.]

Resolved, That half pay cannot be allowed to any officer, or to any class or denomination of officers, to whom it has not heretofore been expressly promised.

[1784, February 11.]

The committee to whom was referred a letter of 20th January last, from J. Pierce, paymaster general, respecting claims which have been made by certain officers to half pay and the commutation for half pay, report:

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That, by a resolve of November 24, 1778, it was provided that all deranged officers should be entitled to one year's pay; and it was further provided, that officers who had been prisoners with the enemy, and then were, or thereafter might be exchanged, should, if appointed by the authority of the State, be entitled to return into the service in the same rank they would have had if they had not been captured, under certain restrictions, and that they should receive half pay till the time of their entering again into the service. Under this act certain officers claim half pay to the end of the war, and the commutation for half pay from that period during life: on which the committee observe, that the half pay first mentioned was promised as a temporary support to such officers as should be reappointed by their respective States, and to none besides; and that all other continental officers who have been prisoners with the enemy, and deranged, are entitled to one year's pay, and nothing besides. That such was the intention of Congress, is explained by the subsequent acts of May 22, 1779, and May 26, 1781. There is no act under which those officers can claim the commutation for half pay. It is provided, by a resolve of the 28th June, 1782, 'that there shall be such additional pay and emoluments to the pay of captains and subalterns serving as aids-de-camp to major and brigadier generals, and to brigade majors, as shall make their pay and emoluments equal to the pay and emoluments of a major in the line of the army.' Under this resolution certain aids and brigade majors, who are captains or subalterns in the line, claim commutation equal to that of a major in the line. This claim appears, for sundry reasons, to be ill-founded. The offices which those gentlemen held out of the line were temporary, and the additional pay and emoluments were certainly promised to them while they continued to serve in those offices, and no longer. If they are supposed to found their claim to the commutation of a major, under the head of additional emoluments, their claim must be ill-founded; for it is clear, from the terms of the resolution, that pay and emoluments do not signify the same thing, but the commutation is the substitute for pay alone, or half pay, and not for rations nor any other emolument. On the whole, the committee are of opinion that the paymaster general, in settling the accounts of the army, in all claims which may be brought for half pay or commutation, should be determined by the act of the 26th January, 1784."

Resolved, That Congress agree to the said report.

[1785, March 8.]

Resolved, That the officers who retired under the resolve of the 31st December, 1781, are equally entitled to the half pay or commutation with those officers who retired under the resolves of the 3d and 21st October, 1780.

[1828, May 15.]

An Act for the relief of certain surviving officers and soldiers of the army of the Revolu

tion.

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That each of the officers of the army of the Revolution in the continental line, who was entitled to half pay by the resolve of October twenty first, seventeen hundred and eighty, be authorized to receive, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the amount of his full pay in said line, according to his rank in the line, to begin on the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-six, and to continue during his natural life: Provided, That under this act no officer shall be entitled to receive a larger sum than the full pay of a captain in said line.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That whenever any of said officers has received money of the United States as a pensioner, since the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-six, aforesaid, the sum so received shall be deducted from what said officer would otherwise be entitled to under the first section of this act; and every pension to which said officer is now entitled shall cease after the passage of this act.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That every surviving non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, in said army, who enlisted therein for and during the war, and continued in servicè until its termination, and thereby became entitled to receive a reward of eighty dollars, under a resolve of Congress passed May fifteenth, seventeen hundred and seventy-eight, shall be entitled to receive his full monthly pay in said service, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to begin on the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-six, and to continue during his natural life: Provided, That no non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, in said army, who is now on the pension list of the United States, shall be entitled to the benefits of this act.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the pay allowed by this act shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, be paid to the officer or soldier entitled thereto, or to their authorized attorney, at such places and days as said Secretary may direct; and that no foreign officer shall be entitled to said pay, nor shall any officer or soldier receive the same, until he furnish to said Secretary satisfactory evidence that he is entitled to the same, in conformity to the provisions of this act; and the pay allowed by this act shall not, in any way, be transferable or liable to attachment, levy, or seizure, by any legal process whatever, but shall enure wholly to the personal benefit of the officer or soldier entitled to the same by this act.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That so much of said pay as accrued by the provisions of this act before the third day of March, eighteen hundred and twenty-eight, shall be paid to the officers and soldiers entitled to the same, as soon as may be, in the manner and under the provisions before mentioned; and the pay which shall accrue after said day,` shall be paid semi-annually, in like manner, and under the same provisions.

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[1832, July 5.]

An Act to provide for liquidating and paying certain claims of the State of Virginia. Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the proper accounting officers of the Treasury do liquidate and pay the accounts of the Commonwealth of Virginia against the United States, for payments to the officers commanding in the Virginia line in the war of the Revolution, on account of half pay for life promised the officers aforesaid by that Commonwealth, the sum of one hundred and thirty-nine thousand five hundred and forty-three dollars and sixty-six cents.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby required and directed, to pay to the State of Virginia the amount of the judgments which have been rendered against the said State, for and on account of the promise contained in an act passed by the General Assembly of the State of Virginia, in the month of May, anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine, and in favor of the officers or representatives of officers of the regiments and corps hereinafter recited, and not exceeding, in the whole, the sum of two hundred and forty-one thousand three hundred and forty five dollars, to wit:

First. To the officers, or their legal representatives, of the regiment commanded by the late Colonel George Gibson, the amount of the judgments which they have obtained, and which are now unsatisfied.

Second. To the officers, or their legal representatives, of the regiment denominated the second State regiment, commanded at times by Colonels Brent and Dabney, the amount of the judgments which they have obtained, and which are now unsatisfied.

Third. To the officers, or their legal representatives, of the regiments of Colonels Clark and Crockett, and Captain Rogers's troop of cavalry, who were employed in the Illinois service, the amount of the judgments which they have obtained, and which are now unsatisfied.

Fourth. To the officers, or their legal representatives, serving in the regiment of State artillery, commanded by the late Colonel Marshall, and those serving in the State garrison regiment, commanded by Colonel Muter, and serving in the State cavalry, commanded by Major Nelson, the amount of the judgments which they have obtained, and which are now unsatisfied.

Fifth. To the officers, or their legal representatives, who served in the navy of Virginia, during the war of the Revolution, the amount of the judgments which they have obtained, and which are now unsatisfied.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, directed and required to adjust and settle those claims for half pay, of the officers of the aforesaid regiments and corps, which have not been paid or prosecuted to judgments, against the State of Virginia, and for which said State would be bound, on the principles of the half-pay cases already decided in the supreme court of appeals of said State; which several sums of money herein directed to be settled or paid shall be paid out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated by law.

[1835, March 3.]

By the fourth section of the act entitled "An act to continue the office of Commissioner of Pensions," approved the 3d day of March, 1835, the

duties to be performed by the Secretary of the Treasury, under the provisions of the two last-recited acts, were transferred to, and made the duties of, the Secretary of War, from and after the first day of June, eighteen hundred and thirty-five.

CHAPTER II.

Resolutions, Ordinances, and Acts of the old and new Governments, providing Bounty Lands for the Officers and Soldiers of the Revolution.

[1776, September 16.]

Resolved, That eigthy-eight battalions be enlisted as soon as possible, to serve during the present war; and that each State furnish their respective quotas in the following proportions, &c.

That Congress make provision for granting lands in the following proportions to the officers and soldiers who shall so engage in the service, and continue therein until the close of the war, or until discharged by Congress, and to the representatives of such officers and soldiers as shall be slain by the enemy. Such lands to be provided by the United States; and whatever expense shall be necessary to procure such land, the said expense shall be paid and borne by the States, in the same proportion as the other expenses of the war, viz:

That the bounty and grants of land offered by Congress, by a resolution of the 16th instant, as an encouragement to the officers and soldiers to engage in the army of the United States during the war, shall extend to all who are or shall be enlisted for that term.

[1776, November 12.]

Resolved, That all non-commissioned officers and soldiers, who do not incline to engage their service during the continuance of the present war, and shall enlist to serve three years, unless sooner discharged by Congress, shall be entitled to and receive all such bounty and pay as are allowed to those who enlist during the continuance of the present war, except the 100 acres of land; which land is to be granted to those only who enlist without such limitation of time.

[1780, August 12.]

Resolved, That the provision for granting lands by the resolution of September 16, 1776, is hereby extended to the general officers, in the following proportion :

To a major general,

"brigadier general,