WIDOWS AND ORPHANS-INDIAN WARS.

The first section of the act of July 4, 1836, entitled "an act granting half-pay to widows or orphans, where their husbands and fathers have died of wounds received in the military service of the United States in certain cases, and for other purposes," grants half-pay to the widows or orphans of militia, volunteers, rangers, and sea-fencibles, who died since April 20, 1818; a rule of evidence is established by act of May 7, 1846; another rule of evidence is prescribed by a joint resolution of September 28, 1850; an act of February 3, 1853, extends the benefits of the act of February 22, 1849, to the widows and orphans of officers and soldiers who served in the various Indian wars since 1790, and also extends the half-pay granted by said act of February 22, 1849, for five years. An act of August 5, 1854, provides that the widow of a deceased officer or soldier who has married again, may claim the benefits of the act of February 3, 1853, if she be a widow at the time of making her application; and an act of June 3, 1858, continues for life or widowhood, to widows, and until sixteen years of age, to orphans, the half-pay that may have been granted them for five years, by any former laws: all which acts and resolutions, with accompanying notes, will be found under "WIDOWS AND ORPHANS-VOLUNTEERS AND MILITIA,' page 198.

Reference is also here made to an act of May 19, 1846, adding a regiment of mounted riflemen to the regular army for service on the route to Oregon, and making provision for the widows and children of such of these troops as might die, or be slain; which act will be found on page 167.

WIDOWS AND ORPHANS-INDIAN WARS.

SECTION II.

REGULATIONS AND FORMS FOR OBTAINING PENSIONS FOR WIDOWS AND ORPHANS: INDIAN WARS.

As all the acts grouped in the preceding section may be found under either "WIDOWS AND ORPHANS-REGULARS," or "WIDOWS AND ORPHANS-VOLUNTEERS AND MILITIA," claimants are referred to those titles for the necessary form and regulations in making applications for widows or orphans whose husbands or fathers served in Indian

wars.

WIDOWS AND ORPHANS-NAVAL.

CHAPTER XII.

GRATUITOUS PENSIONS.

SECTION I.

WIDOWS AND ORPHANS—NAVAL, SINCE REVOLUTION—INCLUDING NAVY PROPER, PRIVATEERS, SEA-FENCIBLES AND MARINES.

AN act approved March 2, 1799, entitled "an act for the government of the navy of the United States,"1 contains the following:

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That every officer, seaman or marine, disabled in the line of his duty, shall be entitled to receive, for his own life and the life of his wife, if a married man at the time of receiving the wound, one half his monthly pay.

This act was repealed by an act of April 23, 1800; but not to the prejudice of any rights acquired while it was in existence.

་

By an act of January 20, 1813, entitled "an act providing navy pensions in certain cases," half-pay for five years is granted to the widows or children of officers of the navy and marines, who may be killed or die in the service. This act is as follows:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That if any officer of the navy or marines shall be killed or die, by reason of a wound received in the line of his duty, leaving a widow, or, if no widow, a child or

1 U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. i, 716.

2 Ibid, vol. ii, 790.

3 This embraces all the operations of the ship, whether civil or military, and 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

WIDOWS AND ORPHANS-NAVAL.

children under sixteen years of age, such widow, or, if no widow, such child or children shall be entitled to receive half the monthly pay to which the deceased was entitled at the time of his death, which allowance shall continue for and during the term of five years; but in case of the death or intermarriage of such widow, before the expiration of the said term of five years, the half-pay for the remainder (sic) shall go to the child or children of the said deceased officer: Provided, That such half-pay shall cease on the death of such child or children; and the money required for this purpose shall be paid out of the navy pension fund, under the direction of the commissioners of that fund.

A general act, granting pensions to the widows and orphans of officers, seamen and marines belonging to the public and private armed vessels of the United States, who died or might die in such service, was passed on the 4th day of March, 1814;1 and is as follows:

AN ACT giving Pensions to the Orphans and Widows of Persons Slain in the Public and Private Armed Vessels of the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That if any officer,2 seaman or marine, serving on board any private armed ship or vessel, bearing a commission of letter-of-marque, shall die, or shall have died since the eighteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twelve, by reason of a wound received in

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.

Under the navy pension act of January 20, 1813, and the second section of a like act of March 4, 1814, it does not occur to me that the death need occur in the naval service, provided it be proved to have been occasioned by a wound received while in the service, and in the line of his duty. Attorney-General Butler, April 6, 1838.

1 U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. iii, 103.

2 A navy agent is not "an officer, seaman or marine," and his widow is not entitled to a pension. Attorney-General Butler, April 7, 1837.

3 This was amended and explained by act of April 16, 1818.

2

WIDOWS AND ORPHANS-NAVAL.

3

the line of his duty, leaving a widow, or, if no widow, a child or children under sixteen years of age, such widow, or, if no widow, such child or children shall be placed on the pension list by the Secretary of the Navy, who shall allow to such widow, child or children half the monthly pension to which the rank of the deceased would have entitled him, for the highest rate of disability, under "an act regulating pensions to persons on board private armed ships," which allowance shall continue for the term of five years; 3 but in case of the death or intermarriage of such widow, before the expiration of the term of five years, the half-pay for the remainder of the term shall go to the child or children of the deceased: Provided, That the half-pay shall cease on the death of such child or children. And the several pensions hereby granted shall he paid, by direction of the Secretary of the Navy, out of the fund provided by the seventeenth section of an act entitled "an act concerning letters-of-marque, prizes and prize goods," and from no other.1

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That if any seaman or marine belonging to the navy of the United States shall die, or if any officer,5 seaman or marine belonging to the navy of the United States shall have died since the eighteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord

1 A widow entitled to a pension, who marries again, may make application for the amount due up to the time of her marriage; and, in case of her death, her legal representatives may claim. Attorney-General Wirt, June 9, 1825; Attorney-General Butler, April 5, 1836. Two decisions. See also notes to preceding act.

2 See, for this act, "INVALID PENSIONS-NAVAL," page 84.

3 This was continued for an additional five years, by act of April 16, 1818 (U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. iii, 427); April 9, 1824 (U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. iv, 18); May 23, 1828 (U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. iv, 288); and June 19, 1834 (U. S. Statutes at Large, vol. iv, 679).

4 This fund is exhausted.

5 The act of March 14, 1814, deals only with the past case of officers, and makes no provision for future cases, but leaves the future to stand solely upon the provisions of the act of January 20, 1813. Attorney-General Wirt, March 31, 1825.

6 Under the second section of the navy pension act of March 4, 1814, it does not appear to me that the death need occur in the naval service, provided it be proved to have been occasioned by a wound received while in the service, and in the line of duty. Attorney-General Butler, April 6, 1838.