WASHINGTON, April 4. – Attorney General Bates has given his
opinion that acts of January, and August, 1813, granting pensions for wounds or
disabilities are applicable only to the forces thereby created, and will not
cover the cases of those called into service by the acts of 22d July last, nor
are their widows and orphans entitled to pensions under the act of 4th of July
1836.
Grave doubts may be suggested whether the existing laws make
provision for pensions to the widows of those now in service who may die from
disease or be killed in battle, and upon the whole question the Attorney
General inclines to the opinion that there is no adequate provision of law by
which such widows are entitled to a pension in addition to the bounties
conferred by the acts of July last, the militia received under the
Presidents Proclamation of the 15th of April 1861, which was in accordance
with the law of the 2d August, 1813, and in cases of wounds and disabilities,
entitled to pensions under its provisions.
Previous to adjournment to-day Senator Trumbull gave notice
that he would call up the confiscation bill, and press it until disposed of.
An official war bulletin from the War Department creates two
military departments. First, that
portion of Virginia and Maryland, lying between the mountains and the Blue
Ridge, to be called the Department of the Shenandoah, to be commanded by Gen.
Banks. Second, that portion of Virginia,
east of the Blue Ridge and west of the Potomac and the Fredericksburg and
Richmond Railroad, including the district of Columbia and the country between the
Patuxet to be called the Department of the Rappahannock, to be under command of
Gen. McDowell.
WASHINGTON, April 4. – A military hospital has been ordered
to be established and New Albany, Indiana, and Jefferson Barracks, near St.
Louis, has been converted into a military hospital.
The Secretary of War has communicated to Congress his opinion
that the present organization of the Medical Bureau is inadequate to the
service. He has authorized the Surgeon
General, of New Jersey, under the direction of the Governor, to organize a
Volunteer Surgeon Corps, to render medical aid when requested.
A similar organization has been made under the Governor of
Pennsylvania, and valuable service has been rendered.
– Published in the Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye,
Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, April 12, 1862, p. 4
