Read twice, referred to the Committee on Invalid Pensions, and
ordered to be printed.
Mr. Keifer, by unanimous consent, introduced the following bill:
A BILL granting pensions to certain Union soldiers and sailors
of the late war of the rebellion who were confined in so called
Confederate prisons.
Whereas during the late rebellion many soldiers and sailors of
the Federal Army and Navy, through the fortunes of war, became
prisoners and were confined in so called Confederate prisons, to
the detriment and permanent injury of their health, but whose
debility is of such a general and indefinable character as to
exclude them from the benefits of existing pension laws: Therefore
_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled_, That the Secretary
of the Interior be, and he hereby is, authorized and required to
place upon the pension-rolls of the United States, upon application
and proof being made to the satisfaction of the Department, all
honorably discharged soldiers and sailors of the Federal Army and
Navy who, during the late war, were captured and confined, during
the period of six months or more, in any of the prisons or places
commonly used for the confinement of prisoners by the so called
Confederate authorities during the late rebellion, and who are not
now beneficiaries, nor entitled to become so under existing pension
laws of the United States.
SEC. 2. That such pension shall in each case begin from the date of
the discharge of the soldier or sailor aforesaid from the military or
naval service of the United States, and shall be at the rate of eight
dollars per month in cases where the term of imprisonment shall have
been more than six months and less than one year, and one dollar per
month additional for each full month of such imprisonment in excess
of one year. And the said pension shall be paid at the same time
and in the same manner as other pensions are paid: _Provided_, That
nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize the reduction or
to prevent the increase of the pension of any person now receiving or
entitled to receive the benefits of existing pension laws.