[62] that the pension to which a chaplain should be entitled for total disability should be twenty dollars a month; and it provided that the provisions of the act to which the section was an amendment should apply to the widows, children, mothers, and sisters of chaplains of the land forces who had died since the fourth day of March, 1861, or should die of wounds or disease contracted in the service of the United States, or while such chaplains were in the line of their duty. The bill was passed without a division. In the Senate, on the fourteenth, Mr. Wilson, from the Military Committee, reported back the bill without amendment, and it was passed without a division. On motion of Mr. Foster, a message was sent to the House, requesting the return of the bill, and it was returned. The Senate, on motion of Mr. Foster, reconsidered the vote passing the bill. Mr. Foster moved to amend it by adding after the word “that,” in the first section of the bill, “the rank of chaplain in the regular and volunteer service of the United States is hereby recognized. Chaplains shall be borne on the field and staff-rolls next after the surgeon, and shall be subject to the same rules and regulations as other officers of the army. They shall be entitled to draw forage for two horses, and to quarters and fuel, subject to the same conditions and limitations as are now by law provided in the case of surgeons. When absent from duty with leave, or on account of sickness or other disability, or when held by the enemy as prisoners, they shall be subject to no other diminution or loss of pay and allowances than other officers in the military service are under like circumstancess” Mr. Wilson moved to amend the amendment by adding, “and chaplains who have been absent from duty by reason of wounds or sickness, or when held by the enemy as prisoners, shall be entitled to receive full pay, without rations, during such absence;” and it was agreed to. Mr. Foster moved to amend the bill by adding, as section two, “that it shall be the duty of chaplains in the military service of the United States to make monthly reports to the Adjutant-General of the moral condition of the regiments, hospitals, or posts to which they may be attached; and it shall be the duty of all commanders of regiments, hospitals, and posts to render such facilities as will aid in the discharge of the duties assigned to them by the Government ;” and it was agreed to. Mr. Wilson moved further to amend it by adding, as a new section, “that all chaplains in the military service of the United States shall hold appropriate religious services at the burial of soldiers who may die in the command to which they are assigned to duty, and it shall be their duty to hold public religious services at least once each Sabbath;” and the amendment was adopted. The bill was passed without a division. The House, on the twenty-ninth, on motion of Mr. Schenck, disagreed to the amendments of the Senate, asked a committee of conference, and the Speaker appointed Mr. Garfield, Mr. Odell, and Mr. Smithers managers on the part of the House. The Senate, on the thirty-first, insisted on its amendments, agreed to a committee of conference, and appointed Mr. Wilson, Mr. Foster, and Mr. Riddle, of Delaware, conferees. In the Senate, on the sixth of April, Mr. Wilson, from the committee, reported
that the House of Representatives recede from their disagreement to the first amendment of the Senate, and agree to the same, with the following amendments, to wit, first, after the word “chaplain,” in the first line of said amendment, insert the words “without command;” second, after the word “surgeons,” in the fourth line of said amendment, insert the words “and shall wear such uniform as is or may be prescribed by the army regulations,” and that the Senate agree to the said amendments. That the House of Representatives recede from their disagreement to the third section of the amendments of the Senate, and agree to the same with the following amendments, to wit, first, after the words “Adjutant-General,” in the fourth line of said section, insert the words “ of the army through the usual military channels;” second, after the word “ condition,” in the fourth line of said section, insert the words “and general history,” and that the Senate agree to the said amendments. That the House of Representatives recede from their disagreement to the fourth section of the amendments of the Senate, and agree to the same with the following amendment, to wit, add at the end of said section the words “ when practicable,” and that the Senate agree to said amendment.The report was adopted. The House agreed to the report made on the same day by Mr. Garfield. So the bill passed, and was approved by the President on the ninth of April, 1864. No. Lxiv.--The Bill to increase the Rank, Pay, and Emoluments of the Provost-Marshal General. In the House, on the eighth of March, 1864, Mr. Schenck, from the Committee on Military Affairs, reported a bill to amend “an act for enrolling and calling out the national forces,” so as to increase the rank, pay, and emoluments of the Provost-Marshal General. On motion of Mr. F. W. Kellogg, of Michigan, the previous question on the passage of the bill was ordered, and it was passed — yeas, sixty-eight; nays, twenty-six. In the Senate, on the twenty-third, Mr. Lane, of Indiana, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to which it was referred, reported it back without amendment. On the eighteenth of April, on motion of Mr. Lane the Senate proceeded to its consideration. The Senate, on the nineteenth, resumed the consideration of the bill, and after debate, in which Mr. Lane, Mr. Fessenden, Mr. Grimes, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Harris, and Mr. Saulsbury participated, it was passed — yeas, thirty-one; nays, seven. It was approved by the President on the twenty-first of April, 1864.
