Chapter CVI. making Appropriations for the Support of the Army for the Year ending the thirtieth June, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight
3,406 words·~15 min read·
/statutes-at-large/vol-11/chapter-cvi-822228·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Chap. CVI.— An Act making Appropriations for the Support of the Army for the Year ending the thirtieth June, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight. March 3, 1857. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, That the following sums be and 1858, ch. 4.*Post*, p. 200.the same are hereby appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the support of the army for the year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-eight.
Recruiting and reënlistment.For expenses of recruiting, transportation of recruits, three months’THIRTY-FOURTH CONGRESS. Sess. III. Ch. 106. 1857.201 extra pay to non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates on reenlistment, one hundred and ten thousand dollars. For pay of the army, three million five hundred and fifty thousandPay. and two dollars. For commutation of officers’ subsistence, nine hundred and ninety-nineCommutation of subsistence. thousand two hundred and one dollars.
For pay of officers of the Military Academy, one thousand six hundredMilitary Academy. and eighty dollars. For commutation of subsistence of officers of the Military Academy, one thousand and twenty-two dollars. For commutation of forage for officers’ horses, one hundred and twenty-threeCommutation of forage. thousand nine hundred and thirty-six dollars. For payments to discharged soldiers for clothing not drawn, fifty thousandClothing. dollars. For payments in lieu of clothing for officers’ servants, thirty-nine thousand eight hundred and sixty dollars.
For subsistence in kind, one million nine hundred and eighty-nine thousandSubsistence in kind. eight hundred and thirty-four dollars. For clothing tor the army, camp, and garrison equipage, eight hundred Clothing, &c. and ninety-five thousand six hundred and seven dollars and seventy-three cents, and that hereafter all the accounts and vouchers of the disbursingAccounts, how audited and set tied. officers of the quartermaster’s department of the army shall be audited and settled by the third auditor of the treasury.
For the regular supplies of the quartermaster’s department, consistingQuartermaster’s department. of fuel for the officers, enlisted men, guard, hospitals, storehouses, and offices; forage in kind for the horses, mules, and oxen of the quartermaster’s department at the several posts and stations, and with the armies in the field; for the horses of the two regiments of dragoons, the two regiments of cavalry, the regiment of mounted riflemen, the companies of light artillery, and such companies of infantry as may be mounted, and for the authorized number of officers’ horses when serving in the field and at the outposts; of straw for soldiers’ bedding, and of stationery, including company and other blank books for the army, certificates for discharged soldiers, blank forms for the pay and quartermaster’s departments; and for the printing of division and department orders, army regulations, and reports, one million two hundred thousand dollars.
For the incidental expenses of the quartermaster’s department, consisting of postage on letters and packages received and sent by officers of the army on public service; expenses of courts-martial and courts of inquiry, including the additional compensation to judge advocates, recorders,1802, ch. 9,§§ 21, 22.Vol. ii. p. 136 members, and witnesses, while on that service, under the act of March sixteenth, eighteen hundred and two; extra pay to soldiers employed under the direction of the quartermaster’s department, in the erection of barracks, quarters, storehouses, and hospitals; the construction of roads and other constant labor, for periods of not less than ten days, under the acts of March second, eighteen hundred and nineteen, and August fourth, eighteen hundred and fifty-four, including those employed as clerks at1819, ch. 45.Vol. iii. p. 488.1854 ch. 247, § 6.Vol. x. p. 576. division and department headquarters; expenses of expresses to and from the frontier posts and armies in the field; of escorts to paymasters, other disbursing officers and trains, when military escorts cannot be furnished; expenses of the interment of non-commissioned officers and soldiers; authorized office furniture; hire of laborers in the quartermaster’s department, including hire of interpreters, spies, and guides, for the army; compensation of clerk to officers of the quartermaster’s department; compensation of forage and wagon-masters, authorized by the act of July fifth,1838, ch. 162, § 10Vol. v. p. 257. eighteen hundred and thirty-eight; for the apprehension of deserters, and the expenses incident to their pursuit; the following expenditures required for the two regiments of dragoons, the two regiments of cavalry, the regiment of mounted riflemen, and such companies of infantry as may202 be mounted, viz: the purchase of travelling forges, blacksmiths’ and shoeing tools, horse and mules shoes and nails, iron and steel for shoeing, hire of veterinary surgeons, medicines for horses and mules, picket ropes, and shoeing the horses of those corps, four hundred and forty thousand dollars.
Barracks, &c.For constructing barracks and other buildings at posts which it may be necessary to occupy during the year; and for repairing, altering, and enlarging buildings at the established posts, including hire or commutation of quarters for officers on military duty; hire of quarters for troops, of storehouses for the safe keeping of military stores, and of grounds for summer cantonments; for encampments and temporary frontier stations, six hundred thousand dollars. Mileage of officers.For mileage or allowance made to officers of the army for the transportation of themselves and their baggage, when travelling on duty without troops or escorts, one hundred and twenty thousand dollars.
Transportation.For transportation of the army, including baggage of the troops when moving either by land or water; of clothing, camp and garrison equipage from the depot at Philadelphia to the several posts and army depots; horse equipments and of subsistence from the places of purchase and from the places of delivery under contract, to such places as the circumstances of the service may require it to be sent; of ordnance, ordnance stores, and small arms, from the foundries and armories, to the arsenals, fortifications, frontier posts, and army depots; freights, wharfage, tolls, and ferriages; for the purchase and hire of horses, mules, and oxen, and the purchase and repair of wagons, carts, drays, ships, and other sea-going vessels and boats for the transportation of supplies, and for garrison purposes; for drayage and cartage at the several posts; hire of teamsters; transportation of funds for the pay and other disbursing departments; the expense of sailing public transports on the various rivers, the Gulf of Mexico, Water.and the Atlantic and Pacific; and for procuring water at such posts as from their situation require that it be brought from a distance; and for Roads.clearing roads, and removing obstructions from roads, harbors, and rivers, to the extent which may be required for the actual operations of the troops on the frontier, one million eight hundred thousand dollars.
Horses.For the purchase of horses for the two regiments of dragoons, the two regiments of cavalry, the regiment of mounted riflemen, the companies of light artillery, and such infantry as it may be found necessary to mount at the frontier posts, one hundred and ninety thousand dollars. Contingencies.For contingencies of the army, thirteen thousand dollars. Mediant, &c. department.For the medical and hospital departments, one hundred and five thousand dollars. Miscellaneous.For contingent expenses of the adjutant-general’s department, at division and department headquarters, four hundred dollars.
For compensation of the clerk and messenger in the office of the commanding general two thousand dollars. For contingent expenses of the office of the commanding general, three hundred dollars. Fortifications.For armament of fortifications, three hundred thousand dollars. Ordnance, &c.For ordnance, ordnance stores, and supplies, including horse equipments for the mounted regiments, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. For the current expenses of the ordnance service, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Arsenals, including one in California.For arsenals, including fifty thousand dollars for arsenal in California, one hundred and thirty-seven thousand two hundred and fifty dollars. Purchase of land adjacent to Washington Arsenal.To enable the Secretary of War to purchase, not exceeding seven hundred and fifty-two thousand seven hundred and fifty-one square feet of ground adjacent to the Washington Arsenal, and for the use thereof, at a price not exceeding ten cents per foot, and for the purchase of the improvements upon said ground, and for the necessary draining of a203 part thereof, eighty thousand four hundred and fifty dollars and ten cents.
For continuing the experiment of sinking Artesian wells upon the publicArtesian wells. lands, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of War, one hundred thousand dollars. For repairs and new machinery at Springfield armory, Massachusetts,Springfield Armory. sixty-eight thousand six hundred and eighty-five dollars. For the erection and completion of the water-shops at Springfield armory, seventy thousand nine hundred and eighty-five dollars. For repairs and improvements and new machinery at Harper’s Ferry,Harper’s Ferry Armory. thirty-four thousand nine hundred and seventy dollars.
For finishing and furnishing the armory for the militia of the DistrictArmory in District of Columbia. of Columbia, seven thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven dollars. For surveys tor military defences, geographical explorations, and reconnaissances,Surveys. for military purposes, seventy-five thousand dollars. For purchase and repairs of instruments, fifteen thousand dollars. For continuing the survey of the northern and northwestern lakes, including Lake Superior, fifty thousand dollars.
For printing charts of lake surveys, five thousand dollars. For machinery, tools, and fixtures required for an arsenal of constructionArsenal at Fayetteville. at Fayetteville, North Carolina, including the cost of putting the machinery in place, fifty thousand three hundred and fifty dollars. For repairs of the government bridge over mill creek, Old Point Comfort,Bridge at Old Point Comfort. Virginia, eight hundred dollars. For rebuilding the barracks at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, which were destroyedBarracks at Carlisle. by fire on the twenty-second January, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, twenty-five thousand dollars.
For the purchase of stoves for the quarters of officers and soldiers ofStoves. the army, twenty-thousand dollars. To enable the Secretary of War to settle the accounts of the three officersOfficers sent to Europe in 1855. of the army who were sent to Europe in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-five to collect information on military affairs, four thousand six hundred and seven dollars and twenty-nine cents. For the purpose of making further tests of gun metal for heavy cannon,Tests of gun metal. twenty-five thousand dollars.
For completing the Point Douglas and Saint Louis River road, thirty-onePoint Douglas and St. Louis River road. thousand four hundred and twenty-five dollars and fifty cents. For completing the Point Douglas and Fort Ripley road, four thousandPoint Douglas and Fort Ripley road. six hundred and ninety-five dollar’s and one cent. For repairing the bridge over Cannon River, two thousand dollars.Bridge over Cannon River. Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted*, That there shall be added to theFive additional military store-keepers.Pay of store-keepers. quartermaster’s department of the army five military storekeepers, who shall give the bond and security required by the existing law; and they and all other military storekeepers shall have in kind, and in kind only, the fuel and quarters of first lieutenant of the army.
Sec. 3. *And be it further enacted*, That the master armorers at the nationalPay of master armorers. armories shall receive fifteen hundred dollars each per annum. Sec. 4. *And be it further enacted*, That the provisions of the act approvedAct of 1819, ch. 88, as to sale of sites, extended.Vol. iii. p. 520. March third, eighteen hundred and nineteen, entitled “An act authorizing the sale of certain military sites,” be and they are hereby extended to all military sites, or to such parts thereof which are or may become useless for military purposes: *Provided, nevertheless*, That nothingSuch sites to be subject to taxation after sale. in this act, nor in the act above mentioned, shall be so construed as to impair in any wise the right of the State within which any such site or reservation may be situated to impose taxes on the same, in like manner as upon other lands or property owned by individuals within the State after such sale.
Sec. 5. *And be it further enacted*, That [there be appropriated] forNew Mexico volunteers in 1866. pay, subsistence, and commuted allowance of six companies of volunteers,204 called into the service of the United States in New Mexico, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-five, one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars; and for forage, transportation, camp and garrison equipage, and incidental expenses of said troops while in service, seventy-two thousand five hundred dollars; and for reimbursement of the quartermaster’s department, for the Spy company in 1854.expenses of a spy company, called into service by Brigadier-General Garland, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-four, ten thousand five hundred and ninety dollars and sixty cents.
Sec. 6. The appropriation for military roads, 1855, ch. 110, extended.Vol. x. p. 610.*And be it further enacted*, That the appropriations contained in the “Act making appropriations for improving certain military roads in the Territory of Minnesota,” approved February seventeen, eighteen hundred mid fifty-five, shall be understood to apply, and are hereby made applicable, to the improvement of the said roads as may be judged necessary by the Secretary of War, as well as to the purpose of “cutting out the timber,” as specified in said act.
Sec. 7. Barracks and quarters at some post to be selected in the northern part of Minnesota.*And be it further enacted*, That for the construction of barracks and quarters at a military post to be established in the northern part of Minnesota Territory, for the protection of the settlements on the Red River of the North, fifteen thousand dollars be appropriated, in addition to the sum of five thousand dollars appropriated by the act entitled “An act for the erection of a military post on or near the Pembina River, in the Territory of Minnesota, and for other purposes,” approved the seventeenth of February, eighteen hundred and fifty-five; said post to be 1865, ch. 105, repealed so far as location is concerned.located and constructed under the direction of the Secretary of War, the location to be at such point as he shall deem best adapted for the protection of said settlement; and so much of the aforesaid act, approved February seventeen, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, as indicates the location Vol. x. p. 608.of said post, is hereby repealed.
Sec. 8. *And be it further enacted*, That the words “non-commissioned Act of 1854, ch. 247, increasing pay, to include all enlisted men.Vol. x. p. 575.officers, musicians, and privates,” in the first section of the act entitled “An act to increase the pay of the rank and file of the army and to encourage enlistments,” approved August fourth, eighteen hundred and fifty-four, shall be construed to include all enlisted men of the army of the United States. Sec. 9. *And be it further enacted*, That the Secretary of War be and Payment to Arkansas.he is hereby authorized and required to pay to the State of Arkansas, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums of money as were paid by said State, under the authority of the act of the legislature of that State, approved January fifth, eighteen hundred and forty-nine, to the Benton county militia, called into service by Colonel W.
R. Ogden in July, eighteen hundred and forty-six, under requisition of the governor of that Slate, to resist incursions of the Cherokee Indians: *Provided*, that the amount so to be paid shall not exceed the sum of twelve hundred and twelve dollars. Sec. 10. Western Military Asylum to be abolished and site, &c. to be sold and proceeds restored to the fund.*And be it further enacted*, That the Secretary of War be and he is hereby authorized and directed to abolish the Western Military Asylum, located at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, and under the direction of the President of the United States to sell the said site, fixture, and other property belonging to the same, at such time and in such manner as may seem best, and the amount arising out of such sale shall be restored to the Military Asylum Fund.
Sec. 11. *And be it further enacted*, That the Secretary of War be and he is hereby authorized and required to cause to be audited and settled Accounts of Florida to be audited and settled.the accounts of the State of Florida against the United States for money advanced by that State in payment of volunteers called into service for the suppression of Indian hostilities in eighteen hundred anti forty-nine and eighteen hundred and fifty-two: *Provided*, It shall be satisfactorily shown that said claims have been actually allowed and paid by the State. 205 Sec. 12. *And be it further enacted*, That the Secretary of War be and he is hereby authorized and directed to settle the actual and necessaryPayment of expenses of militia of New Mexico, called out in 1854. expenses incurred by the militia called into service in the Territory of New Mexico by acting Governor Messervey, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-four, to suppress Indian hostilities in said territory, upon the presentation by the governor of said territory, to the said secretary, a full, accurate, and detailed statement or estimate of the actual and necessary expenses incurred by said militia, accompanied by proper vouchers and satisfactory proof of the correctness thereof, authenticated in conformity with the usages of the department, and that the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars be and the same is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to carry the provisions of this section into effect: *Provided*, That the said secretary shall be first satisfied that the calling out of said militia was necessary and proper for the defence of the territory.
Sec. 13. *And be it further enacted*, That the Secretary of War be authorized and directed to pay to the commissioners appointed by himPayment of commissioners on military expenses in Oregon. under the provisions of the eleventh section of an act making appropriations tor certain civil expenses of the government for the year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, approved August eighteenth, eighteen hundred and fifty-six, such sums of money for their1856, ch. 129,§ 11. services and expenses as he may deem reasonable and just, provided the sum does not exceed in the aggregate the sum of twelve thousand dollars:*Ante*, p. 92. *Provided*, that such of these commissioners as were officers in the army be not paid in both capacities.
Sec. 14. *And be it further enacted*, That for the purpose of carrying into effect the joint resolution entitled “Joint resolution directing the paymentPay of expenses of volunteers in war with Mexico. of certain volunteers and militia, under the limitations therein prescribed,” approved August eight, eighteen hundred and forty-six, so much motley as will be sufficient to pay said volunteers who have not been paid,Vol. ix. p. 115. not exceeding four thousand dollars. Sec. 15. *And be it further enacted*, That for payment of the arrearagesPay of clerk of board of army officers on supplies to Fremont’s volunteers.1852, ch. 110. § 6.Vol. x. p. 108. of salary due to the late clerk of the Board of Array officers appointed under the act of thirty-first August, eighteen hundred and fifty-two, at the time it was dissolved, two thousand four hundred and sixty-five dollars.
Sec. 16. *And be it further enacted*, That the joint resolution, approved February fifteen, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, “authorizing the PresidentConstruction of the joint resolution, authorizing the title of lieutenant general.Vol. x. p. 723. of the United States to confer the title of lieutenant-general by brevet,” shall be so construed from and after March twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and forty-seven in favor of the brevet lieutenant-general appointed under said act, while exercising command according to that rank, as to entitle him to the pay, allowances, and staff specified in the fifth section of the act, approved May twenty-eight, seventeen hundred1798, ch. 47, § 5.Vol. i. p. 558. and ninety-eight, “authorizing the President to raise a provisional army,” and also the allowances described in the sixth section of the act approved August twenty-third, eighteen hundred and forty-two, “granting additional1842, ch. 186, § 6.Vol. v. p. 513. rations to certain officers:” *Provided, however, and it is hereby declared*, That the brevet lieutenant-general shall not, except in time of war, beAids and secretary of lieutenant-general. entitled to more than two aids and one secretary; nor shall this act, nor the above-mentioned resolution of the fifteenth of February, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, have any retrospective effect in regard to those who were the aids or staff of General Scott antecedently to his appointment to the rank of brevet lieutenant-general.
Approved, March 3, 1857.