Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

ISAAC ALLEN.

[To accompany bill H. R. No. 629.]

JANUARY 5, 1855.

Mr. A. STUART, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, made the fol

lowing REPORT.

The Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom were referred the petition and papers of Isaac Allen, ask leave to report:

That the said Isaac Allen was placed on the pension rolls by special act of Congress, approved March 3, 1845, at the rate of four dollars per month, in consideration of disability contracted in the war of 1812, while serving as a private in Capt. Herrick's company, Col. McCobb's regiment. His disability has since increased to three-fourths of a total disability, as appears from the affidavit of Philip Bradford, a physician and surgeon, duly certified to be reputable in his profession. Had Mr. Allen been placed upon the rolls under the general law, his pension would have been increased as soon as he should have produced satisfactory evidence of the increase of his disability to the Commissioner of Pensions; but having been pensioned by special enactment, the Commissioner does not feel authorized to allow the increase. Your committee seeing no reason why he should be treated differently from other pensioners, therefore recommend that he receive a pension at the rate of six dollars per month, commencing January 25, 1853, that being the day when the evidence of his increased disability was filed in the House of Representatives. The committee, therefore, ask leave to introduce a bill for that purpose.

[ocr errors]

CONGRESS

WYATT GRIFFITH.

[To accompany bill H. R. No. 630.]

JANUARY 5, 1855.

Mr. A. STUART, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, made the

following REPORT.

The Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom were referred the petition and papers of Wyatt Griffith, ask leave to report:

The said Wyatt Griffith enlisted as a private soldier at Ashe Court House, North Carolina, under Lieutenant Wiley Gordon, on the 8th day of September, 1814, and served in Captain Brannon's, afterwards Captain Parker's, company, Colonel Hamilton's 3d rifle regiment North Carolina infantry, for and during the war with Great Britain; and for this service bounty land warrant No. 8291, for 160 acres, issued to him on 21st January, 1817. While marching from North Carolina towards the Canada frontier, about the first of December, 1814, and when near Halifax Court House, from fatigue and exposure he took cold, which settled into rheumatism, and disabled him from service. most of the time until his discharge, and has continued ever since. The disability consists of a collection and hardening of humors in the right hip-joint, which has dislocated the joint, and rendered him incurably lame and totally disabled for life. This appears from the affidavit of the petitioner and from the records of the Pension Office; and petitioner is also sustained by Jesse Cox, a man who served in the same company and who knew him for twenty years immediately after his discharge from the service in North Carolina. Other satisfactory evidence shows the disability to have continued until the present time; and all of it agrees that said Griffith is, and always has been, a man of good character and habits. Although the evidence is such as to convince your committee, it is not such as would entitle Griffith to a pension under the rules of the Pension Office; and as he swears it is impossible to procure such testimony as the Commissioner of Pensions requires, his case appears to be a proper one for special legislation. Your committee therefore ask leave to report a bill.

GEORGE W. McCERREN.

[To accompany J. R. No. 42.]

JANUARY 5, 1855.

Mr. ETHERIDGE, from the Committee on Military Affairs, made the

following REPORT.

The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom were referred the memorial and accompanying papers of George W. Mc Cerren, asking pay and compensation for provisions in barrels which it is alleged were used, in 1847, by order of the officer in command at Brazos Santiago, in the construction of Fort Harney, report:

That in the early part of 1847 the petitioner was the owner of several hundred barrels of hard bread, a lot of pork in barrels, and a few barrels of beans; that these articles had been previously purchased by the petitioner at a public sale made by the proper officers of the government, the same being sold as "damaged." The petitioner seems to have been engaged in the business of purchasing such provisions as were considered unfit for the use of the army, and transporting the same to New Orleans. It appears that about this time a report reached Brazos Santiago that the Mexicans in great force were crossing the Rio Grande at Matamoros, which caused the officer in command at the former place to order the construction of fortifications for the defence of the post. Under this order the provisions above mentioned were used in the construction of Fort Harney, and wholly lost to the memorialist, without any fault of his own.

The above facts are fully established by the testimony of various witnesses, among whom are Wm. Monaghan and Charles Borland, who at that time were clerks in the commissary department; also the testimony of John Roach, who was at that time employed as clerk in the subsistence department.

The committee have not deemed it proper to inquire into the value of the provisions so used in the construction of Fort Harney, although proof has been taken to that point. They have deemed it right to report a resolution authorizing the War Department to adjudicate the claim of the petitioner, and to provide for its payment, which resolution, together with this report, is respectfully submitted.

« AnteriorContinua »