CHAPTER 85.-Approved, September 28, 1850.—Vol. 9, p. 520.

An Act granting bounty land to certain officers and soldiers who have been engaged in the military service of the United States.

That each of the surviving, or the widow or minor children of deceased commissioned and non-commissioned officers, musicians, or privates, whether of regulars, volunteers, rangers, or1 militia, who performed military service in any regiment, company, or detachment, in the service of the United States, in the war with Great Britain, declared by the United States, on the eighteenth day of June, eighteen hundred and twelve, or in any of the Indian wars since seventeen hundred and ninety, and each of the commissioned officers who was engaged in the military service of the United States in the late war with Mexico, shall be entitled to lands, as follows: Those who engage to serve twelve months or during the war, and actually served nine months, shall receive one hundred and sixty acres, and those who engaged to serve six months, and actually served four months, shall receive eighty acres, and those who engaged to serve for any or an indefinite period, and actually served one month, shall receive forty acres: Provided, That wherever any officer or soldier was honorably discharged in consequence of disability in the service, before the expiration of his period of service, he shall receive the amount to which he would have been entitled if he had served the full period for which he had engaged to serve: Provided, The person so having been in service shall not receive said land, nor any part thereof, if it shall appear, by the muster rolls of his regiment or corps, that he deserted, or was dishonorably discharged from service, or if he has received, or is entitled to, any military land bounty under any act of Congress heretofore passed.

SEC. 2. That the period during which any officer or soldier may have remained in captivity with the enemy shall be estimated and added to the period of his actual service, and the person so detained in captivity shall receive land under the provisions of this act in the same manner that he would be entitled in case he had entered the service for the whole term made up

1 Or state troops paid by United States after June 18, 1812, by act 22 March, 1852, chap. 19, sec. 4. 2 See same act, sec. 5, for a new mode of estimate.

by the addition of the time of his captivity, and had served during such time.

SEC. 3. That each commissioned and non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, for whom provision is made by the first section hereof, shall receive a certificate or warrant from the Department of the Interior for the quantity of land to which he may be entitled, and which may be located by the warrantee or his heirs at law at any land office of the United States, in one body and in conformity to the legal subdivisions of the public lands, upon any of the public lands' in such district then subject to private entry; and upon the return of such certificate or warrant, with evidence of the location thereof having been legally made, to the general land office, a patent shall be issued therefor. In the event of the death of any commissioned or non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, prior or subsequent to the passage of this act, who shall have served as aforesaid, and who shall not have received bounty land for said services, a like certificate or warrant shall be issued in favor and inure to the benefit of his widow, who shall receive one hundred and sixty acres of land in case her husband was killed in battle, but not to her heirs: Provided, She is unmarried at the date of her application. Provided, further, That no land warrant issued under the provisions of this act shall be laid upon any land of the United States to which there shall be a preemption right, or upon which there shall be an actual settlement and cultivation, except with the consent of such settler, to be satisfactorily proven to the proper land officer.

SEC. 4. That all sales, mortgages, letters of attorney, or other instruments of writing, going to affect the title or claim to any warrant or certificate issued, or to be issued, or any land granted, or to be granted, under the provisions of this act, made or executed prior to the issue, shall be null and void3 to all intents and purposes whatsoever; nor shall such certificate or warrant, or the land obtained thereby, be in any wise affected by, or charged with, or subject to, the payment of any debt or claim incurred by such officer or soldier prior to the issuing of the patent: Provided, That the benefits of this act shall not

1 Not heretofore brought into market: 3 March, 1851, chap. 32, sec. 1.

2 See 5 August, 1854, sec. 3.

But see 22 March, 1852, chap. 19, sec. 1.

4 Proviso repealed by act 4 Aug. 1854, chap 248, and 5 Aug. 1854, chap. 273.

accrue to any person who is a member of the present Congress : Provided, further, That it shall be the duty of the commissioner of the general land office, under such regulations as may be prescribed by the secretary of the interior, to cause to be located, free1 of expense, any warrant which the holder may transmit to the general land office for that purpose in such state and land district as the said holder or warrantee may designate, and upon good farming land, so far as the same can be ascertained from the maps, plats, and field-notes of the surveyor, or from any other information in the possession of the local office; and, upon the location being made as aforesaid, the secretary shall cause a patent to be transmitted to such warrantee: And provided, further, That no patent issued under this act shall be delivered upon any power of attorney or agreement dated before the passage of this act, and that all such powers of attorney or agreements be considered and treated as null and void.

[Approved, September 28, 1850.]

RESOLUTION 9.-Approved, July 29, 1850.-Vol. 9, p. 562.

A Resolution for restoring the settlement of the "three months' extra pay” claims to the accounting officer of the treasury.

That, from and after the passage of this act, the unsettled claims of the officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates for three months' extra pay for services in the war with Mexico, as provided for by the fifth section of the act approved July 19, 1848, chapter 104, which, by a joint resolution of Congress, approved July 29, 1848, it was made the duty of the pay department of the army to settle under such regulations as the paymaster-general, with the approval of the secretary of war, shall establish, be, and the same are hereby, directed to be settled by the second auditor and certified by the second comptroller of the treasury. That all muster and pay rolls, and all other papers relating to said claims on file in the paymaster-general's office, be transferred to the second auditor's office, and that the settlements made by the pay department, under the joint resolu tion2 approved the 29th day of July, 1848, be considered as valid as if they had been made by the accounting officers of the treasury.3

1 But see 22 March, 1852, chap. 19, sec. 1.

2 See Resolution No. 20.

All these claims, it is presumed, have been paid.

RESOLUTION 20.-Approved, September 28, 1850.-Vol. 9, p. 564.

Joint Resolution explanatory of certain acts therein mentioned.

That the provisions of the second section of the act entitled "An act amending the act 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,"" approved July twenty-one, eighteen hundred and fortyeight, extended by the act of February twenty-two, eighteen hundred and forty-nine, shall be construed to embrace the widows and orphans of all persons designated therein who died while in actual service in the late war with Mexico, or in going to and returning from the same; and also to the widows and orphans of all such persons as, having been honorably discharged, or having resigned, shall have died after the passage of said last-mentioned act, or who may hereafter die, of wounds received or from disease contracted while in said service: Provided, That the army rolls showing the death of any of said persons in the army shall be sufficient evidence to establish that fact.

CHAPTER 22.-Approved, March 3, 1851.-Vol. 9, p. 593.

An Act making appropriations for the support of the Military Academy for the year ending thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-two.

That hereafter, in lieu of the pay proper, ordinary rations, forage, and servants, heretofore received under the provisions of the act of April twelfth, [twenty-ninth,] eighteen hundred and twelve, the professors of engineers, philosophy, mathematics, ethics, and chemistry shall be entitled to receive two thousand dollars, each, per annum, and the professors of drawing and French, fifteen hundred dollars, each, per annum; and that the adjutant of the Military Academy shall hereafter be entitled to receive the same pay and allowances as an adjutant of a regiment of dragoons."

4 All professors now receive $2240 per annum.

3 Chap. 72.

5 Established 28 Feb. 1803, chap. 13, sec. 2, and made professors by 8 Aug. 1846. chap. 96.

6 Same salary as the other professors: 3 March, 1855, chap. 208. See act of 1812, chap. 72, and 1850, chap. 54.

CHAPTER 25.-Approved, March 3, 1851.-Vol. 9, p. 595.

An Act to found a military asylum for the relief and support of invalid and disabled soldiers of the army of the United States.1

That all soldiers of the army of the United States, and all soldiers who have been, or may hereafter be, of the army of the United States, whether regulars or volunteers, and who have contributed, or may hereafter contribute, according to section. seven of this act, to the support of the military asylum hereby created, shall, under the restrictions and provisions which follow, be members of the said asylum, with all the rights annexed thereto.

SEC. 2. That, for the good government and attainment of the objects proposed by the institution aforesaid, the general-in-chief commanding the army, the generals commanding the eastern and western geographical military divisions, the quartermastergeneral, the commissary-general of subsistence, the paymastergeneral, the surgeon-general, and the adjutant-general, shall be, ex officio, commissioners of the same, constituting a board of commissioners, a majority of whom shall have power to establish, from time to time, regulations for the general and internal direction of the institution, to be submitted to the secretary of war for approval, and may do any other act or acts necessary for the government and interests of the same, as authorized herein.

SEC. 3. That the officers of the institution shall consist of a governor, a deputy governor, and a secretary, for each separate site of the asylum, the latter to be also treasurer; and the said officers shall be taken from the army, and appointed or removed, from time to time, as the interests of the institution may require, by the secretary of war, on the recommendation of the board of commissioners.

SEC. 4. That the following persons, members of the army asylum, according to section one, shall be entitled to the rights and benefits herein conferred, and no others, viz.: every soldier of the army of the United States who shall have served, or may serve, honestly and faithfully twenty years in the same, and

1 The military asylums at Washington and Harrodsburg were established under this act: the latter was ordered to be abolished by 3 March, 1857, sec. 10. For material changes in this act, see chap. 83, 3 March, 1859, sec. 4, 5, 6, and 7.