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

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[66] sums in bounty as the President should order in the different States and parts of the United States, not exceeding one hundred dollars. That all persons enlisted and mustered into service as volunteers, under the call dated October seventeenth, 1863, for three hundred thousand volunteers, who were at the time of enlistment actually enrolled and subject to draft in the State in which they volunteered, should receive from the United States the same bounty, without regard to color. That all persons of color who had been enlisted and mustered into the service, should be entitled to receive the pay and clothing allowed by law to other volunteers in the service, from the date of their muster into the service: Provided, 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.

The Senate, on the seventh, on motion of Mr. Wilson, proceeded to the consideration of the bill. On the eighth, the Senate resumed its consideration, and Mr. Davis moved that the loyal owners of slaves taken into the service should be paid their fair value, which should be determined by a commissioner appointed by the district court. On the ninth, Mr. Davis spoke at great length in favor of his amendment, and against the policy of the measure; and on the tenth, the vote was taken on the amendment, and it was rejected — yeas, six; nays, thirty-one. The bill was then passed — yeas, thirty-one; nays, six.

On the twelfth of April, Mr. Wilson introduced a bill concerning the pay and subsistence of the army. It provided: That the army rations should thereafter be the same as provided by law and regulations on the first day of July, 1861, excepting the ration of pepper. That during the continuance of the war there should be added to the pay of all non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates of the army, a sum equivalent to the reduction of the ration, which sum was determined and declared to be two dollars per month. The bill was read twice, and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.

On the twenty-second of April, on motion of Mr. Wilson, the army appropriation bill was amended by adding as an amendment the bill which passed the Senate on the tenth of March, to equalize the pay of soldiers.

In the House, on the twenty-ninth of April, Mr. Schenck, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to which the bill to equalize the pay of soldiers had been referred, reported it back with amendments. The bill and amendments were ordered to be printed, and recommitted with leave to report at any time. On the third of May, Mr. Schenck reported it back with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. The substitute provided: That after the first day of May, 1864, the pay of soldiers should be sixteen dollars per month. That the army rations should be the same as provided by law and regulation on the first day of July, 1861. That so much of the act to authorize the employment of volunteers as provided that each company officer should furnish his own horse, and should receive forty cents per day for use and risk, should be repealed. That the pay of clerks of paymasters in the army should be one thousand two hundred dollars per annum. That the act of the third of March, 1863, for enrolling and calling out the national forces should be so amended that an officer might have leave of absence, without deduction from his pay, for other causes than for sickness or for wounds. The substitute was agreed to, and the bill passed — yeas, one hundred and thirty-five; nays, none.

In the Senate, on the eleventh, Mr. Wilson, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to which had been referred the House amendments, reported them back with amendments; and the Senate, on the sixteenth, proceeded to their consideration. The first amendment of the Military Committee of the Senate proposed to strike out the first section of the House amendment, and insert: “That on and after the first day of May, 1864, and during the continuance of the present rebellion, the pay per month of non-commissioned officers and privates in the regular army, and volunteer and drafted forces in the service of the United States, shall be as follows, namely, sergeant-majors, twenty-six dollars; quartermaster-sergeants of cavalry and artillery, twenty-three dollars; of infantry, twenty dollars; first sergeants of cavalry, artillery, and infantry, twenty-four dollars; sergeants of cavalry, artillery, and infantry, twenty dollars; sergeants of ordnance sappers and miners and pontoniers, thirty-four dollars; corporals of ordnance, sappers and miners, and pontoniers, twenty dollars; privates, first class of the same corps, eighteen dollars; privates, second class of the same corps, sixteen dollars; corporals of cavalry, artillery, and infantry, eighteen dollars; chief buglers of cavalry, twenty-three dollars; buglers, sixteen dollars; farriers and blacksmiths of cavalry and artificers of artillery, eighteen dollars; privates of cavalry, artillery, and infantry, sixteen dollars; principal musicians of artillery and infantry, twenty-two dollars; musicians of artillery and infantry, and musicians of sappers and miners and pontoniers, sixteen dollars; hospital stewards of the first class, thirty-three dollars; hospital stewards of the second class, twenty-five dollars; hospital stewards of the third class, twenty-three dollars. The amendment was agreed to without a division.”

The next amendment was to insert as new sections three, four, five, and six, after the second section of the House amendments: “That hereafter rations shall not be issued to soldiers sick in hospital, but commutation of rations shall be allowed and paid into the hospital fund, at the rate now established by law, for each soldier reported by the surgeon in charge as sick in hospital; and the receipt of the surgeon in charge shall be a sufficient voucher for the paymaster, or other disbursing officer, who may be charged with the payment of such commutation: Provided, That the hospital fund shall be devoted solely to ”