1 Including 864 to members of the Twenty-seventh Maine Infantry. See page 10, ante.

TABULATED BY GRADES.

NOTE. The rank given in this table is that held by recipients at the dates of the events for which medals were awarded, without regard to any higher rank subsequently attained. Thus the medals issued to several general officers of the Regular Army are accounted for in the table among the number of awards to officers of volunteers of lower grades.

By a joint resolution of Congress approved May 2, 1896, the Secretary of War was authorized to issue to any person to whom a medal of honor had been or might thereafter be awarded under the provisions of the joint resolution of July 12, 1862, and the act of March 3, 1863, a rosette or knot, to be worn in lieu of the medal, and a ribbon to be

worn with the medal, each to be of a pattern to be prescribed and established by the President.

On the 10th of November, 1896, the Secretary of War described in orders the pattern of the ribbon and knot as determined by the President; and on February 18, 1897, he issued regulations for the distribution of the decorations, the distribution to former members of the Volunteer Army to whom medals of honor had been awarded to be made by the Chief of the Record and Pension Office. These regulations require that the applicant shall be identified by the sworn testimony of at least two reputable persons, who have had a personal acquaintance with him for a period of not less than five years.

The contract for furnishing the ribbons and knots provided for by the joint resolution of May 2, 1896, was given to Messrs. Tiffany & Co., of New York, who were authorized by the Secretary of War to sell them to persons entitled to wear them, under conditions indicated. in a letter, of which the following is an extract:

WAR DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,

Washington, February 18, 1897.

Messrs. TIFFANY & Co.,

New York, N. Y.

GENTLEMEN: Referring to your letter of the 5th instant, relative to the ribbon for the medal of honor and the bowknot to be worn in lieu of the medal, I have the honor to advise you as follows in reply to your several inquiries:

While the Department is authorized by the joint resolution approved May 2, 1896, to issue a new ribbon to replace any ribbon previously issued under the provisions of that resolution, which shall have been lost, destroyed, or rendered unfit for use, without fault or neglect on the part of the person to whom it was issued, it is probable that many wearers of the medal will prefer to procure new ribbons by purchase rather than to make application to the Department for a gratuitous issue of them. In view of this probability, it is considered desirable that you should keep a supply of the ribbon on hand for sale to those who may be entitled to wear it and who may desire to purchase it, provided that you will adopt such rules as will restrict its sale to those who are entitled to wear it.

The Department has authority under the law to issue to each recipient of the medal a single bowknot to be worn in lieu of the medal, but it has no authority to issue knots to take the place of those that may have been lost, destroyed, or rendered unfit for use. There will undoubtedly be a large demand for the knots owing to the fact that, being constantly worn, it will be necessary to replace them very frequently. It is considered desirable, therefore, that you should keep a supply of the knots on hand, their sale being subject to the same restrictions as those which should govern the sale of the ribbon.

It is suggested that the sale of both the ribbon and the bowknot should be rigidly restricted to those who present evidence of their right to wear them, such evidence to be either the exhibition of the medal itself, of a certificate of membership in the Medal of Honor Legion, or of an official statement from this Department that a medal has been awarded. The Medal of Honor Legion may desire to make special arrangements with you for supplying its members with the ribbon and the knot, and, with this end in view, it is suggested that it may be advisable for you to correspond with the officials of that association. But it should be observed that there are many recipients of the medal who are not members of the Medal of Honor Legion, and for whom, consequently, that association can not properly make any rules or arrangements. The sale of the ribbon or the knot to such persons should not be refused, provided they can produce evidence of their right to wear them, such evidence to be either the exhibition of the medal itself or of a statement from this Department to the effect that a medal has been awarded. Should you be in doubt at any time as to the right of any particular individual to wear the medal, the ribbon or knot, the Department will, upon your application, promptly advise you as to the facts in the

case.

Very respectfully,

DANIEL S. LAMONT,
Secretary of War.

Under the provisions of the law and the established regulations 417 ribbons and 613 knots were issued by this office to former officers and enlisted men of the volunteer forces up to the close of the last fiscal year.

CODIFICATION OF RULES OF PRACTICE.

Considerable attention was given during the past year to a codification of the rules of practice in cases coming before the office and involving questions concerning the construction of the laws and War Department orders and regulations affecting the status of former officers and enlisted men of the volunteer forces. For this purpose typical cases were carefully briefed and referred to the Judge-AdvocateGeneral of the Army, and his conclusions were subsequently submitted to the Secretary of War for an authoritative decision upon the questions involved. For convenience of reference, and to secure a uniform application of the rules thus established, the opinions of the law officer of the Department and the action of the Secretary of War thereon have been printed in the form of circulars, from which the following syllabi are extracted in chronological order:

1. CIRCULAR OF SEPTEMBER 20, 1900,

(a) Dates of discharge of volunteer officers and enlisted men who are absent from their commands when these are mustered out of service.

The regulations of 1898 (published in General Orders, No. 124, of that series) had the same effect as those of 1863 (published in General Orders, No. 108, of 1863)—that is, to discharge all absentees not retained in service by competent authority on the dates of the muster out of the organizations to which they belonged.

(b) Nunc pro tunc procedure on the part of the War Department.

It is not competent for the War Department to issue orders affecting the past history of officers and soldiers which shall undertake to introduce into it as a fact happening on a given date something which did not actually occur at the time stated. Orders, in the cases of officers or enlisted men, directing or making appointments, acceptances of resignations, discharges from service or muster out of service, to date from or take effect from dates prior to the issuance of the orders therefor are illegal.

2. CIRCULAR OF FEBRUARY 15, 1901.

(a) Discharge; fourth article of war.

A certificate of discharge is not necessary to a discharge, but a soldier may be discharged without a certificate or before he is furnished with a certificate, upon notice, actual or constructive, and when volunteers are mustered out it is that act that separates them from the service.

(b) Muster out; discharge furlough.

A discharge furlough (civil war), so called, was in fact a discharge from the service, the discharge certificate, if any, subsequently furnished, being evidence only of the fact of prior discharge.

(a) Public records.

3. CIRCULAR OF MARCH 18, 1901.

A muster-in roll of a volunteer officer, prepared by a public officer authorized to perform that function, and filed in the Record and Pension Office, is a public record and is to be accepted as showing the correct record of muster into service in preference to a roll submitted by the interested officer.

(b) Nunc pro tunc musters in.

The War Department can not recognize the authority of a mustering officer to muster in an officer on one date, to date from an earlier date, and recognize the officer so mustered in as of the grade conferred by such muster in from the earlier date mentioned in the muster-in roll.

(c) Constructive muster in.

In the absence of legislation requiring it, the War Department can not recognize a volunteer officer as having held the grade to which he was commissioned, even though he may have been in the performance of the duties of the grade, in an organization in which there was a legal vacancy, unless he was actually mustered in. Officers of volunteers appointed by governors of States can not be constructively mustered in.

(d) De facto officers.

Under certain circumstances persons may be de facto officers without muster in; but de facto officers can not themselves acquire rights based on their defective title.

(e) Appointment of officers.

The constitutionality of past legislation vesting in the States the appointment of officers of volunteers should not now be questioned.

(a) Relative rank.

4. CIRCULAR OF MARCH 23, 1901.

In determining the relative rank of officers under section 1219, Revised Statutes, the period between enrollment and muster in can not be counted. (b) Acceptance of volunteers into the military service of the United States.

Enrollment for service in the Volunteer Army is only a declaration of an intention to enter such service. The muster in fixes the date of commencement of service, as the muster out fixes the date of its termination. There can be no entry into the military service of the United States without the consent of the United States.

(c) Status of volunteers between dates of enrollment and muster in.

An act of Congress granting pay for the period between enrollment and muster in is a recognition of the fact that volunteers were not in the service of the United States during that period. Had they been, no such legislation would have been necessary.

5. CIRCULAR OF MARCH 25, 1901.

Acceptance of volunteers into the military service of the United States.

In raising the volunteer troops of the civil war and of 1898, there were three parties to the act-the individual, the State, and the United States. Acceptance by the United States completed the act.

Officers were accepted in the grades to which they were appointed and the well-established method of accepting them was by muster in.

When, after a regiment had been mustered in, a vacancy in an office occurred and an appointment to it was to be made, by promotion or otherwise, the concurrence of the United States was essential, and this concurrence was again evidenced by a muster in. A former muster in related to the appointment then made; it could not possibly cover a subsequent appointment to another office.

6. CIRCULAR OF MAY 3, 1901.

Inviolability of the records of the War Department.

In the absence of legislation requiring it, the War Department can not accept ex parte affidavits to invalidate records which do not themselves present reasons for questioning their accuracy. But this should not be held to exclude them in

the case of disagreeing records when they are offered for the purpose of sustaining one of the records, although impeaching the other.

7. CIRCULAR OF MAY 22,1901.

Construction of records of discharge.

An enlisted man can not be held to have been discharged on account of disability (a) unless the official record shows specifically that he was so discharged, or (b) unless the order under which he was discharged directed that he be discharged on account of disability.

A commissioned officer can not be held to have been separated from the service on account of disability (a) unless the fact is specifically shown by the official records, or (b) unless the order discharging him or accepting his resignation was

based upon a physician's certificate of disability and the records do not show any other ground for the issuance of the order than the disability of the officer, or (c) if the resignation was tendered on account of disability and other grounds additional thereto, unless the records show that the officer was seriously disabled at the time of tendering his resignation.

Except under the conditions set forth in the first of these rules, the discharge of an enlisted man upon an application made by him or in his behalf, and not upon surgeon's certificate of disability in the manner prescribed by Army Reg lations, must be held to have been a discharge by way of favor, notwithstanding the fact that disability may have been alleged as the basis for the application of that the records may show that the soldier was more or less disabled prior to his discharge.

Except under the conditions set forth in the second of these rules, the acceptance of a resignation tendered by an officer on grounds other than that of disability exclusively can not be held to have been a separation from the service on account of disability, notwithstanding the fact that the records may show that the officer was more or less disabled prior to his separation from service or that disability may have been alleged as one of the reasons for tendering his resignation.

Character of discharge.

8. CIRCULAR OF JUNE 1, 1901.

An officer of volunteers who was discharged by reason of the muster out of his company, he being absent without leave at that time, is held to have been discharged without honor.

The discharge without honor is distinguished from the honorable discharge and the dishonorable discharge. Since 1892 it has been recognized as an absurdity that a soldier whose status or condition at the time of his discharge was not one of honor should be held to have been honorably discharged. It was an error to hold, as the War Department did previously, that if a discharge was not dishonorable-i. e., by sentence of court-martial-it must have been honorable.

In holding that, under General Orders, Nos. 108 of 1863, 124 of 1898, and 13 of 1899, an absentee from a volunteer organization on the date of muster out thereof was discharged on that date it is not held that any deserter was so discharged. It is held that those orders did not operate to discharge deserters from service. It may be remarked that the partial codification of the rulings of the Department relating to the questions arising in the administration of the current business of this office has proved to be of such value as to encourage a further prosecution of the work.

RECORDS- SPANISH WAR AND PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION.

By the act of Congress approved May 9, 1892, establishing the Record and Pension Office as a bureau of the War Departurent, the Chief of that office was charged with the custody, under the Secretary of War, of the military and hospital records of the volunteer armies, and the transaction of the business of the War Department connected therewith, and in the act of April 22, 1898, under which the Volunteer Army in service during the war with Spain was created, it was specifically provided that upon the disbandment of the volunteer and militia organizations the records pertaining to them, including the reports of medical officers serving with the volunteer troops and the records kept by such officers, should be filed in the Record and Pension Office.

Under these enactments the military and hospital records of the Spanish war were filed in this office, and during the closing months of the last fiscal year the records of 13 of the 26 regiments of volunteers organized under the act of March 2, 1899, for service in the Philippines and in the island of Porto Rico, were received. The records of 9 additional regiments of the latter class have been received since the close of the fiscal year.