Schuylkill County PA Archives Military Records.....Potts, Charles P. 1916 Civilwar - Pension ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Guy Potts http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00017.html#0004214 November 7, 2009, 5:14 pm Charles P. Potts Vs. United States 74th Congress } House of Representatives { Document 1st Session } { No. 740 CHARLES P. POTTS Letter from the Chief Clerk of the Court of Claims Transmitting a Copy of the Findings of the Court in the Case of Charles P. Potts Against the United States. February 19, 1916 - Referred to the Committee on War Claims and ordered to be printed. Court of Claims, Clerk's Office Washington, February 18, 1916 To the Speaker of the House of Representatives Sir: Pursuant to the order of the court, I transmit herewith a certified copy of the findings of the fact and conclusion filed by the court in the aforesaid cause, which case was referred to this court by resolution of the House of Representatives under the act of March 3, 1911, known as the Judicial Code. I am, very respectfully, yours, Saml. A. Putman, Chief Clerk Court of Claims Statement of Case This is a claim for three months' extra pay for military services during the late Civil War. On June 22, 1912, House bill 23375, was referred to this court by resolution of the United States House of Representatives under the provisions of section 151 of the Judicial Code. The section of the bill which relates to this case reads as follows: "That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to pay to each of the persons hereinafter in this section named, or if deceased, to the party entitled thereto, the sum of $300, or so much thereof as may be necessary, being for three months' pay proper of the grade held by each of them when honorably discharged from the volunteer service of the United States after March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, namely, * * * Charles P. Potts, * * *." The claimant thereafter appeared in this court and filed a petition, in which it is alleged, in substance: That he is a citizen of the United States, resident in the county of Schuylkill, State of Pennsylvania, and that he is one of the proposed beneficiaries under said bill 23375 above set forth. That he was enrolled in the military service of the United States in the One hundred and fifty-first Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and was honorably discharged March 5, 1865, as second lieutenant. That the act of March 3, 1865 (13 Stats., 497), provides: "Sec. 4. That all officers of volunteers now in commission, below the rank of bragadier general, who shall continue in the military service to the close of the war, shall be entitled to receive upon being mustered out of said service three months' pay proper." That by the act of July 13, 1866 (Stats., 94), it was declared that this act should be "so constructed as to entitle to the three months' pay proper, provided for therein, all officers of volunteers below the rank of brigadier general who were in service on the third day of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and whose resignations were presented and accepted, or who were mustered out at their own request, or otherwise honorably discharged from the service after the ninth day of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-five." That by act of July 3, 1884 (23 Stats., 66), the law was further extended "to entitle to the three months' pay provided for therein the heirs or legal representatives of all officers of volunteers specified therein who were killed or who died in the service between the third day of March and the tenth day of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-five." That a claim for the benefits of this law was duly presented to the accounting officers of the Treasury and was disallowed upon the ground that it was not embraced within the terms of the act of March 3, 1865, as amended. The amount claimed is $135. The case was brought to a hearing on its merits on the 10th day of January 1916. C. D. Pennebaker, Esq., appeared for the claimant, and the Attorney General, by P. G. Walker, Esq., his assistant and under his direction, appeared for the defense and protection of the interests of the United States. The court, upon the evidence and after considering the briefs and arguments of counsel on both sides, makes the following Findings of Fact I. The claimant, Charles P. Potts, was enrolled in the military service for nine months on October 15, 1862. He was mustered in November 7, 1862, as second lieutenant, Company I, One hundred and fifty-first Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry; was captured July 1, 1863; paroled March 1, 1865; and was discharged March 5, 1865, the date of his arrival in a loyal state. His company was discharged July 27, 1863. II. A claim for three months' extra pay proper under the act of March 3, 1865 (13 Stats., 497), as amended by the act of July 13, 1866 (14 Stats., 94), was presented to the accounting officeers of the Treasury and disallowed, they holding that claimant "not having remained in service until April 10, 1865 (close of war), he is not entitled to the three months's extra pay proper under the act of March 3, 1865." Except as above stated the claim was never presented to any officer or department of the Government prior to the presentation to Congress and reference to this court, as hereinbefore set forth in the statement of the case. Conclusion Upon the foregoing findings of fact the court concludes that the claim herein is neither a legal nor an equitable one against the Unted States, and any amount that may be appropriated in payment of the demand rests in the judgment of Congress. By the Court Filed January 17, 1916 A true copy: Test. this 18th day of February, 1916 [Seal] Saml. A. Putman Chief Clerk Court of Claims Source: infoweb.newsbank.com Publication: Serial Set Vol. No. 7201 Session Vol. No. 148 Report: H. Doc. 740 This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/pafiles/ File size: 6.4 Kb