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

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[64] that the same should have been pledged or promised to them by any officer or person who, in making such pledge or promise, acted by authority of the War Department. That the same premium should be allowed for each colored recruit then mustered or thereafter to be mustered into the service as should be allowed by law for white recruits. The amendment was agreed to — yeas, thirty-two; nays, five.

Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, moved to amend the bill, so that all negroes in the military service should be discharged when the rebellion should be suppressed — yeas, ten; nays, twenty-seven; so it was rejected. Other amendments were offered by Mr. Davis, but they were rejected. Mr. Hendricks, of Indiana, moved to amend as a new section, that the pay of the soldiers and non-commissioned officers of the army of the United States should thereafter be fifty per cent greater than was then allowed by law. Mr. Carlisle moved to amend the amendment, by adding as a proviso, that the pay of the non-commissioned officers should not exceed twenty-two dollars per month, and Mr. Hendricks accepted it. After debate, the amendment was rejected — yeas, six; nays, thirty. The bill as amended was then passed — yeas, thirty-six; nays, one.

In the House, on the thirtieth of April, Mr. Stevens reported back, from the Committee of Ways and Means, the Senate amendments. Mr. Holman, of Indiana, opposed the amendment equalizing the pay of soldiers, and moved to strike out of the section, putting colored soldiers on an equality with other soldiers, the word “pay;” but the motion failed — yeas, fifty-two; nays, eighty-four. Mr. Schenck, of Ohio, moved to amend the Senate amendment; but the motion was lost — yeas, fifty-eight; nays, sixty-five. He then moved to amend so much of the Senate amendment as gave to colored volunteers, under the call of October seventeenth, 1863, the same bounties as were given to white soldiers, so that the bounty should not exceed one hundred dollars--yeas, seventy-eight; nays, fifty-one. Mr. Stevens moved to amend, by striking out the section of the Senate amendment, authorizing the Secretary of War, on proof, to allow full pay to volunteers who were promised it when enlisted, and to insert a provision that all free persons of color should receive the same pay as other soldiers — yeas, seventy-three; nays, fifty-four.

The Senate, on the third of May, voted to disagree to the House amendments to the amendments of the Senate, and asked a committee of conference. Mr. Fessenden, Mr. Wilson, and Mr. Henderson were appointed managers on the part of the Senate. The House insisted on its amendments, agreed to the conference, and the Speaker appointed Mr. Stevens, Mr. Schenck, and Mr. Morrison, of Illinois, managers. The committee reported that they were unable to agree; and a new conference committee, consisting of Mr. Collamer, Mr. Nesmith, and Mr. Grimes, on the part of the Senate, and Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, Mr. Farnsworth, of Illinois, and Mr. Griswold, of New-York, were appointed. On the twenty-fifth, Mr. Morrill, from the conference committee, made a report, which was disagreed to — yeas, twenty-five; nays, one hundred and twenty-one.

On motion of Mr. Stevens, the House further insisted, asked a further conference, and Mr. Stevens, Mr. Pendleton, and Mr. Thomas T. Davis, of New-York, were appointed managers. The Senate, on the twenty-seventh, agreed to another committee, and Mr. Howe, of Wisconsin, Mr. Morrill, of Maine, and Mr. Buckalew, of Pennsylvania, were appointed managers. On the tenth of June, Mr. Howe reported: “That the House recede from their disagreement to the eighth amendment of the Senate, and agree to the same with an amendment as follows, and the Senate agree to the same: strike out all after the enacting clause, (being section four,) and insert in lieu thereof the following: ‘That all persons of color who were free on the nineteenth day of April, 1861, and who have been enlisted and mustered into the military service of the United States, should, from the time of their enlistment, be entitled to receive the pay, bounty, and clothing allowed to such persons by the laws existing at the time of their enlistment. And the Attorney-General of the United States is hereby authorized to determine any question of law arising under this provision.’ ” After debate, in which Mr. Howe, Mr. Sumner, Mr. Conness, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Wilson, and Mr. Fessenden participated, the report was agreed to on the eleventh.

The House accepted the report on the thirteenth--yeas, seventy-one; nays, fifty-eight By this legislation, colored troops were placed on the same footing as white troops. From the first of January, 1864, colored volunteers in the loyal States, under the call of the seventeenth of October, 1863, were allowed the same bounty as white volunteers; and all colored soldiers free on the nineteenth of April, 1861, were to receive full pay; and the Attorney-General was authorized to decide whether colored men not free on the nineteenth of April were entitled to the same pay as white soldiers. The bill was approved on the fifteenth of June, 1864.

No. Lxvii.--The Bill to increase the Pay of Soldiers in the United States Army, and for other purposes.

In the Senate, on the fourteenth of December, 1863, Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, introduced a bill to increase the bounty to volunteers and the pay of the army, which was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, and reported back by Mr. Wilson on the sixteenth, with amendments. The bill provided that there should be paid to such persons as had enlisted under the proclamation of the seventeenth of October, 1863, calling for three hundred thousand volunteers, and to such persons as might thereafter enlist for the term of three years, the following bounties, namely, to veterans, four hundred dollars; to all other persons, three hundred dollars. That the Secretary of War be authorized to pay a premium not exceeding