Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 10.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[10] be an ordained minister of some Christian denomination; leaving the pay precisely as it is now;

The tenth section authorizes the President to fill the vacancies in the Military Academy on the recommendation of Senators;

The eleventh section abolishes three months pay for reenlistments;

The twelfth section provides that two dollars a month shall be retained, instead of one dollar, from the soldier's pay; the object to make every soldier feel that he has got so much reserved interest;

The thirteenth section repeals the fifth section of the act approved September twenty-eighth, 1850, which requires the Secretary of War to discharge from the service all minors;

The next section provides that in all cases of enlistment or reenlistment, the oath of allegiance may be administered by a commissioned officer of the army;

The fifteenth section provides that the regiments of dragoons, mounted riflemen, and cavalry, shall all be consolidated and be one arm;

The sixteenth section provides for the alteration of the army ration, increasing it to a small extent — increasing the bread and not the meat;

The seventeenth section provides that there may be allowed in the hospitals fruits, milk, butter and eggs;

The eighteenth section provides that there shall be appointed, by the Secretary of War, on the recommendation of the council of administration, and approval of the commanding officer, as many sutlers as the exigency may require.

The remaining sections are taken from the bill to create a retired list.

This bill now presented as a substitute has been examined most carefully in the Adjutant-General's office, in the Secretary of War's office, and finally was examined and revised by General Scott. It received the unanimous sanction of the Committee on Military Affairs. Mr. Grimes moved to amend the amendment by adding five new sections providing for a retired list of the navy. Mr. Hale, Chairman of the Naval Committee, declared his opposition to both propositions. Mr. Grimes thought there were at least twenty naval officers that ought to be retired; “It would be for the interest of the Government to get rid of these men, who are effete, unable to perform the duties of their positions, and take young, active, and patriotic men and place them in their stead.” Mr. Grimes's amendment to Mr. Wilson's amendment was agreed to.

Mr. Hale moved to amend the amendment by striking out all relating to retiring boards for the army and navy, and adding three sections relating to double rations, brevet commissions, and commutation of forage, adopted by the Senate on motion of Mr. Wilson, and not included in his pending amendment. Mr. Nesmith opposed the section relating to the commutation of forage, and Mr. Hale withdrew it. Mr. Wilson demanded the yeas and nays on Mr. Hale's motion to strike out of his amendment the sections relating to retired lists in the army and navy, and to insert the new sections concerning brevet rank, and double rations for department commanders. Mr. Hale's motion was supported by Mr. Baker of Oregon, and opposed by Mr. Foster of Connecticut, Mr. Ten Eyck of New-Jersey, and Mr. Fessenden of Maine. The question being taken by yeas and nays, resulted — yeas, eleven; nays, twenty-seven.

Mr. Rice, of Minnesota, moved to amend the twentieth section at the end of the nineteenth line by adding — that should the Lieutenant-General be retired under this act, it should be without reduction in his current pay, subsistence, or allowances — yeas, twenty-nine; nays, eleven; so the amendment was agreed to. Mr. Hale moved to amend the bill, so as to give to retired officers “half-pay,” instead of “pay.” Mr. Collamer, of Vermont, suggested that “the amendment should be that they should retire upon half the pay to which they were entitled at the time of their being retired, provided that the same should never be less, by the year, than a certain named sum, say five hundred dollars a year, so as to give a man a support.” Mr. Sherman moved to amend the bill so as to give the retired officer the pay proper of his rank, and no other allowances. Mr. Hale withdrew his amendment, and Mr. Sherman's amendment was agreed to. On motion of Mr. Sherman, sections two, three, and six of the bill increasing the adjutant-general's, the commissary, the quartermaster, and the medical departments were stricken out, and the following added as a new section: “That the President be authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, eight assistant adjutant-generals, six commissaries of subsistence, four quartermasters, and twenty assistant quartermasters, ten surgeons and twenty assistant surgeons, to have the pay, rank, and allowances, and perform the duties of similar officers in the present military establishment, and to hold their offices three years unless sooner discharged.”

Mr. Hale moved as an additional section: “That so much of the sixth section of the act of August twenty-third, 1842, as allows additional or double rations to generals or other officers commanding geographical departments or divisions, or to the commandant of each permanent or fixed post garrisoned with troops, be, and the same is hereby, repeated.” Mr. Wilson suggested that the amendment be so modified as to apply only to officers commanding in fixed fortifications and garrisons. Mr. Hale accepted the modification, and his amendment as modified was agreed to. On motion of Mr. Hale, the Senate, by a vote of twenty-one to eighteen, amended the bill by adding: “That officers having brevet commissions shall not be entitled to any increase of pay or emoluments, because of the exercise of command according to their brevet rank.” Mr. Baker, of Oregon, wishing to make sure that this provision did not apply to General Scott, moved to amend the bill by adding, “That nothing in this act contained shall in any ”