SEC. 16. That if any commissioned officer of the army, or of the marine corps, shall have become, or shall hereafter become, incapable of performing the duties of his office, he shall be placed upon the retired list and withdrawn from active service and command and from the line of promotion, with the following pay and emoluments, namely: the pay proper of the highest rank held by him at the time of his retirement, whether by staff or regimental commission, and four rations per day, and without any other pay, emoluments, or allowances; and the next officer in rank shall be promoted to the place of the retired officer according to the established rules of the service. And the same rule of promotion shall be applied successively to the vacancies consequent upon the retirement of an officer: Provided, That should the brevet lieutenant-general be retired under this act, it shall be without reduction in his current pay, subsistence, or allowances: And provided, further, That there shall not be on the retired list at any one time more than seven per centum of the whole number of officers of the army, as fixed by law. SEC. 17. That, in order to carry out the provisions of this act, the secretary of war, or secretary of the navy, as the case may be, under the direction and approval of the President of the United States, shall, from time to time, as occasion may require, assemble a board of not more than nine nor less than five commissioned officers, two-fifths of whom shall be of the medical staff, the board, except those taken from the medical staff, to be composed, as far as may be, of his seniors in rank, to determine the facts as to the nature and occasion of the disability of such officers as appear disabled to perform such military service, such board being hereby invested with the powers of a court of inquiry and court-martial; and their decision shall be subject to like revision as that of such courts by the President of the United States. The board, whenever it finds an officer incapacitated for active service, will report whether, in its judgment, the said incapacity result from long and faithful service, from wounds or injury received in the line of duty, from sickness or exposure therein, or from any other incident of service. If so, and the President approve such judgment, the disabled officer shall thereupon be placed upon the list of retired officers, according to the provisions of this act. If otherwise, and if the President concur in opinion with the board, the officer shall be retired, as above, either with his pay proper alone or with his service rations alone, at the discretion of the President, or he shall be wholly retired from the service, with one year's pay and allowances; and in this last case his name shall be thenceforward omitted from the Army Register or Navy Register, as the case may be: Provided, always, That the members of the board shall in every case be sworn to an honest and impartial discharge of their duties, and that no officer of the army shall be retired, either partially or wholly, from the service without having had a fair and full hearing before the board, if, upon due summons, he shall demand it. SEC. 18. That the officers partially retired shall be entitled to wear the uniform of their respective grades, shall continue to be borne upon the Army Register or Navy Register, as the case may be, and shall be subject to the rules and articles of, war, and to trial by general court-martial for any breach of the said articles. SEC. 19. That so much of the sixth section of the act of August 23, 1842,' as allows additional or double rations to the commandant of each permanent or fixed post garrisoned with troops, be, and the same is hereby, repealed. SEC. 20. That officers of the army, when absent from their appropriate duties for a period exceeding six months, either with or without leave, shall not receive the allowances authorized by the existing laws for servants, forage, transportation of baggage, fuel, and quarters, either in kind or in commutation. [Sections 21, 22, 23, and 24, being exclusively for retiring naval officers, are omitted here.] SEC. 25. That retired officers of the army, navy, and marine corps may be assigned to such duties as the President may deem them capable of performing, and such as the exigencies of the public service may require. [Approved, August 3, 1861.] 1 Chap. 186, which included the superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point as the commandant of that post. CHAPTER 47.-Approved, August 5, 1861.-Vol. 12, p. 314. An Act supplementary to an Act entitled "An Act to increase the present military establishment of the United States," approved July twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one.1 That it shall be lawful for the President of the United States, during the existing insurrection and rebellion, upon the recommendation of the lieutenant-general commanding the army of the United States, or of any majorgeneral of the regular army of the United States, commanding forces of the United States in the field, to appoint such number of aids-de-camp, in addition to those now authorized by law, as the exigencies of the service may, in the opinion of the President, require; such aids-de-camp to bear respectively the rank and authority of captains, majors, lieutenant-colonels, or colonels of the regular army, as the President may direct, and to receive the same pay and allowances as are provided by existing laws for officers of cavalry of corresponding rank. The President shall cause all aids-decamp appointed under this act to be discharged whenever they shall cease to be employed in active service, and he may reduce the number so employed whenever he may deem it expedient so to do. Any officers of the regular army appointed aids-de-camp under this act, and detached or assigned to duty for service as such, shall, upon their discharge, resume their positions in the regular army, and shall be entitled to the same rank and promotion as if they had continued to serve in their own regiments or corps. CHAPTER 54.-Approved, August 5, 1861.-Vol. 12, p. 316. An Act making appropriations for fortifications and for other purposes. [SEC. 1. Appropriates $100,000 for contingencies of fortifications. ] SEC. 2. That any commissioned officer of the army, navy, or marine corps who, having tendered his resignation, shall, prior to due notice of the acceptance of the same by the proper authority, and without leave, quit his post or proper duties with the intent to remain permanently absent therefrom, shall be registered as a deserter, and punished as such. SEC. 3. That flogging as a punishment in the army is hereby abolished. 1 Chap. 24; but this act is repealed by chap. 200, sec. 19, 17 August, 1862; but the repeal did not dismiss those who held commissions under it at that date, provided they were appointed in strict conformity with the act, and the 7th section of chap. 133, July 5, 1862, requires that they be nominated to the senate for its advice and consent. CHAPTER 56.-Approved, August 6, 1861.-Vol. 12, p. 317. An Act to punish certain crimes against the United States. That if any person shall be guilty of the act of recruiting soldiers or sailors in any state or territory of the United States to engage in armed hostility against the United States, or who shall open a recruiting station for the enlistment of such persons, either as regulars or volunteers, to serve as aforesaid, shall be guilty of a high misdemeanor, and upon conviction in any court of record having jurisdiction of the offence, shall be fined a sum not less than two hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, and confined and imprisoned for a period not less than one year nor more than five years. SEC. 2. That the person so enlisted or engaged as regular or volunteer shall be fined in a like manner a sum of one hundred dollars, and imprisoned not less than one nor more than three years. CHAPTER 57.-Approved, August 6, 1861.-Vol. 12, p. 317. An Act to promote the efficiency of the engineer and topographical engineer corps, and for other purposes. That there shall be added to each of the corps of engineers and topographical engineers, by regular promotion of their present officers, two lieutenant-colonels, and four majors." SEC. 2. That there shall be added to the corps of topographical engineers one company of soldiers, to be commanded by appropriate officers of said corps, to have the same pay and rations, clothing, and other allowances, and to be entitled to the same benefits in every respect, as the company created by the act for the organization of a company of sappers and miners and pontoniers, approved May sixteenth (15th), eighteen hundred and forty-six. The said company shall be subject to the rules and articles of war, and shall have the same organization as the companies of engineer soldiers attached to the corps of engineers. SEC. 3. That vacancies hereafter occurring among the com 1 See Neutrality Act, chap. 88, 20 April, 1818. 3 Chap. 21. missioned officers of the volunteer regiments shall be filled by the governors of the states respectively, in the same manner as original appointments. And so much of the tenth section of the act approved July twenty-second, eighteen hundred and sixty-one,' as is inconsistent herewith, be, and the same is hereby, repealed. SEC. 4. That the President of the United States is hereby authorized to appoint two additional inspectors-general for the United States army; said inspectors-general to have the same rank and receive the same pay and allowances as now provided by law for inspectors-general. SEC. 5. That so much of the first section of the act approved August fifth, eighteen hundred and fifty-four, as authorizes the appointment of civilians to superintend the national armories, be, and the same is hereby, repealed, and that the superintendents of these armories shall be appointed hereafter from officers of the ordnance department. [Approved, August 6, 1861.] CHAPTER 58.-Approved, August 6, 1861.-Vol. 12, p. 318. An Act to authorize an increase in the corps of engineers and topographical engineers. [This act has 3 sections, which are in the same words as sec. 1, 2, and 4 above.] CHAPTER 63.-Approved, August 6, 1861.-Vol. 12, p. 326. An Act to increase the pay of the privates in the regular army and in the volunteers in the service of the United States, and for other purposes. That the pay of the privates in the regular army and volunteers in the service of the United States be thirteen3 dollars per month for three years from and after the passage of this act, and until otherwise fixed by law. SEC. 2. That the provisions of the act entitled "An act for the relief of the Ohio and other volunteers," approved July twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, be, and the same 1 Chap. 9. 3 $12 by chap. 247, 4 August, 1854. 2 Making 4 inspectors-general. 4 Chap. 16. |