Chapter 208. For the relief of the Fourth Arkansas Mounted Infantry
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CHAP. 208.— An Act For the relief of the Fourth Arkansas Mounted Infantry. February 27, 1899. Preamble.Whereas during the latter part of eighteen hundred and sixty-three and the early part of eighteen hundred and sixty-four, under authority of Major-General Frederick Steele, dated October twenty-third, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, in northwestern Arkansas, several hundred men were recruited in Arkansas for the United States Army, and organized the Fourth Arkansas Mounted Infantry Volunteers, under the command of Elisha Baxter, colonel commanding, and were put into active service in Arkansas with other United States soldiers there, and were furnished arms, ammunition, and uniforms by the United States Government, and participated in several battles, and lost a number of men in killed and wounded; and Whereas said regiment was disbanded in June, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, at Devall Bluff, Arkansas, without having been actually mustered into the service of the United States, and most of the members thereof then enlisted in other United States regiments, having then served as members of the said Fourth Arkansas Mounted Infantry for a period of from six to eight months; and Whereas on account of never having been mustered into the Army of the United States the names of the members of said regiment do not appear on the rolls of the Army, and the members of said regiment have never received any pay for said services; and Whereas Congress, by joint resolution approved March eighteenth, eighteen hundred and seventy, authorized the War Department to pay such claims as were satisfactorily proven, but, through the avarice of claims agents or others, rolls of the members of said regiment were made up largely in excess of the actual membership of said regiment, and this without the knowledge or fault of the actual members thereof, which led the War Department to refuse to make any payment thereon whatever; and Whereas there remain about one hundred members of said regiment, now old and decrepit, and nearly all in destitute circumstances, to whom the pay so long due them from the Government would be a great relief in their declining years:
Therefore, *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, * Fourth Arkansas Mounted Infantry. Investigation and payment of claim of, authorized. That the Secretary of War be, and is hereby, authorized and directed to appoint and detail a competent and experienced officer of the United States Army as referee, who shall have authority to administer oaths, who shall give notice of the times and places of taking testimony in the State of Arkansas or elsewhere, if necessary, that claimants and their witnesses may appear before him, and shall carefully examine into the facts and take proof upon the claims for service of the members of the Fourth Arkansas Mounted Infantry, and return the same, together with his report thereon, to the Secretary of War; and that the Secretary of War is hereby directed to pay such claims to the members of said regiment, FIFTY-FIFTH CONGRESS.
Sess. III. Chs. 208–210. 1899. 895 or to their heirs, as he shall be satisfied are due under the joint resolution of Congress approved March eighteenth, eighteen hundred and seventy. Said officer shall receive compensation for actual expenses incurred under the provisions hereof. Approved, February 27, 1899.