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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875

Journal of the Confederate Congress --THIRTEENTH DAY--MONDAY, December 21, 1863.

Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865 [Volume 6]
THIRTEENTH DAY--MONDAY, December 21, 1863.

OPEN SESSION.

The House met pursuant to adjournment, and was opened with prayer by the Rev. Mr. Keen.

The House resumed the consideration of the unfinished business of Saturday; which was the bill introduced by Mr. Clark, to be entitled

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An act to repeal so much of section 11 of the tax law as requires one-tenth of the sweet potatoes produced this year to be paid to the Government.

The yeas and nays, which had been ordered on motion of Mr. Clark to suspend the rule requiring the bill to be referred to a committee,

Are recorded as follows, viz:
• Yeas ... 41
• Nays ... 12

Yeas: Arrington, Ashe, Ayer, Bell, Eli M. Bruce, Horatio W. Bruce, Burnett, Chambliss, Chrisman, Clapp, Clark, Clopton, Collier, Curry, Dargan, Davidson, Farrow, Foote, Foster, Funsten, Gaither, Gartrell, Graham, Hanly, Hartridge, Hilton, Kenan of Georgia, Kenan of North Carolina, Machen, McDowell, McLean, McQueen, Miller, Moore, Read, Sexton, Simpson, Singleton, Swan, Vest, and Wright of Texas.

Nays: Boteler, Crockett, Freeman, Gardenhire, Garland, Heiskell, Lewis, Miles, Perkins, Preston, Russell, and Welsh.

So the motion was agreed to.

The bill having been read as follows, viz:

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That so much of section eleven of an act to lay taxes for the common defense and carry on the Government of the Confederate States, approved April twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, as requires farmers and planters to pay one-tenth of the sweet potatoes produced in the present year to the Confederate Government, be, and the same is hereby, repealed,

Mr. Hilton moved to amend by striking out after the word "Government," in the last line, the words "be, and the same is hereby, repealed," and inserting in lieu thereof the following, viz:
be so amended as to authorize producers of sweet potatoes in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-three to make commutation by payment of the money value of the tithe thereof, instead of paying in kind, at rates to be fixed by the commissioners under the impressment act.

The question being on agreeing to the amendment,

Mr. Clark demanded the yeas and nays; which were not ordered.

Mr. Gartrell, by unanimous consent, demanded the yeas and nays;

Which were ordered,

And are recorded as follows, viz:
• Yeas ... 53
• Nays ... 7

Yeas: Arrington, Atkins, Ayer, Bell, Boteler, Horatio W. Bruce, Burnett, Chambliss, Chilton, Chrisman, Clapp, Clopton, Crockett, Curry, Dargan, Farrow, Foote, Freeman, Funsten, Gardenhire, Garland, Gartrell, Goode, Graham, Hanly, Hartridge, Heiskell, Hilton, Kenan of Georgia, Kenan of North Carolina, Lander, Lewis, Machen, McLean, Menees, Miles, Miller, Perkins, Preston, Read, Russell, Sexton, Simpson, Smith of Alabama, Staples, Strickland, Swan, Trippe, Vest, Villeré, Welsh, Wright of Tennessee, and Wright of Texas.

Nays: Ashe, Clark, Collier, Davidson, Foster, Gaither, and McDowell.

So the amendment was agreed to.

The bill was then engrossed, read a third time, and passed.

On motion, the title of the bill was amended by striking out the word "repeal" and inserting in lieu thereof the word "amend."

Mr. Curry moved to suspend the rule requiring the bill to lie over for two days for reconsideration.

The motion was agreed to.

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Mr. H. W. Bruce offered the following resolution; which was unanimously adopted, viz:

Resolved, That the Speaker be, and he is hereby, instructed to tender to Major-Generals S. B. Buckner and McCown and Brigadier-Generals William Preston and John S. Williams seats in this Hall during their sojourn in the city of Richmond.

Mr. H. W. Bruce introduced

A joint resolution to be entitled "Joint resolution to correct the records of the War Department, concerning the Ninth Kentucky Regiment of Infantry;"
which was read first and second times and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.

Mr. H. W. Bruce presented a proposition on the currency; which, without being read, was referred to the Special Committee on the Currency.

Mr. Miles introduced

A bill to be entitled "An act to continue in service all troops now in the military service of the Confederate States;"
which was read first and second times and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.

Mr. Gartrell, by unanimous consent, offered an amendment to the bill; which was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.

Mr. Read, by unanimous consent, also offered an amendment; which was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.

Mr. Foote offered the following resolution; which was agreed to:

Whereas it is represented there are sundry European papers and documents in the post-office of this city, addressed to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, upon which the postage is due and unpaid; and

Whereas there is no one authorized or required to advance postage in such case: Therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Doorkeeper of this House be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to pay the postage due on the papers and documents aforesaid and deliver them to such Committee on Foreign Affairs, and hereafter the said Doorkeeper be, and he is hereby, furthermore, required to advance postage due on all such papers or documents that may be in the post-office in this city and directed to any officer or committee of this House; and in all such cases the amounts so advanced shall be reimbursed to said Doorkeeper out of the contingent fund of the House of Representatives.

Mr. Foote offered the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, viz:

Resolved, That whenever any part of the forces now in the field shall be reconscripted, the battalions, regiments, or companies shall be allowed to select their officers.

Mr. Heiskell submitted a proposition relative to the currency; which, without being read, was referred to the Special Committee on the Currency.

Mr. Foote presented sundry communications from soldiers in the Army; which were referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.

Mr. Gray introduced

A bill to be entitled "An act supplementary and amendatory of the several acts for the sequestration of the estates, property, and effects of alien enemies," etc.;
which was read first and second times and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

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Mr. Sexton offered the following resolution; which was adopted, viz:

Resolved, That the Committee on Military Affairs be instructed to inquire into the expediency of furnishing to officers in service in the field rations and uniform clothing made up at Government prices.

Mr. Chambliss presented the petition of Capt. Richard Evans, Confederate States Navy, praying relief, etc.; which, without being read. was referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs.

Mr. Chambliss introduced

A bill to be entitled "An act to authorize refugee soldiers to purchase subsistence for their families at Government prices;"
which was read first and second times and referred to the Committee on Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments.

Mr. Russell offered the following resolution; which was adopted, viz:

Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary inquire into the expediency of enacting--

• 1. That the notes of all banks in the Confederacy held by alien enemies be confiscated.
• 2. That all such notes which shall not be deposited in the banks, respectively, which have issued the same, within ninety days after the passage of this act, shall be presumed to be held by alien enemies.
• 3. That any bank which may owe a debt to the Government by reason of such confiscation may discharge the same, or any part thereof, within a certain time, by paying a tenth thereof in specie, and the remainder in bonds of the Confederate States.
• 4. To apply similar principles to coupons and other paper negotiable by delivery.

Mr. Russell introduced

A bill to be entitled "An act to place in military service certain persons who have employed substitutes;"
which was read first and second times and, on motion of Mr. Russell, laid upon the table.

Mr. Goode presented joint resolutions of the general assembly of Virginia in relation to compensation allowed cavalrymen for the use of their horses in service, and also in relation to paying the actual value of the horses when lost in service; which were read and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.

The House then proceeded to the consideration of the special order of the day; which was the bill to be entitled "An act continuing in pay all discharged soldiers by reason of wounds and injuries received in the service."

Mr. Read moved that the bill and amendments do lie upon the table.

The motion was agreed to.

Mr. Read also moved that the bill reported from the special committee, to be entitled "An act to provide for wounded and disabled officers and soldiers," be taken up for consideration; which motion was also agreed to.

The bill having been read as follows, viz:

• Section 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That any commissioned or noncommissioned officer and any private or musician in the service of the Confederate States, who, after examination by a board of surgeons, shall be pronounced permanently disabled to perform any military duty whatever, by reason of wounds or injuries received, or disease manifestly contracted in the service, and in the line of his duty, may resign his commission, or demand his discharge (as the case may be), or continue in the service, as he may prefer.
• Sec. 2. That if such officer or soldier shall elect to remain in the service, he shall, so long as such disability continue, be considered as on furlough, but shall be entitled to no pay whatever, unless it be shown, to the satisfaction of the Secretary of War, that he is rendered unable by the wound, or injury, or disease, aforesaid, to

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  earn a livelihood by any trade, occupation, or calling; that he has no other means of subsistence, and has not been otherwise provided for by the Confederate, by any State government, or by any county, parish, city, or other municipal body; in which event he shall be entitled to receive, so long as such disability continues, and no longer, if a commissioned officer, half the pay proper; if a noncommissioned officer, or a private, or musician, the entire pay proper, which he is now entitled to receive, but without any emolument whatever.

• Sec. 3. That any noncommissioned officer, private, or musician who may have heretofore been discharged from the service on account of wounds or injuries received, or disease manifestly contracted in the service, and in the line of his duty, may avail himself of the benefits conferred by this act, but, in that case, he shall be considered as having reenlisted, and shall be, in all respects, on the same footing as those who had resigned prior to the passage of this act.
• Sec. 4. In case the disability of any officer or soldier who may on furlough under the provisions of this act should cease, he shall be immediately ordered on duty.
• Sec. 5. That in all cases where an examination by a board of surgeons may be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this act, the Secretary of War may employ for that purpose any such board that may have been established by law, or may appoint a board or boards for that special purpose, as he may deem proper; and it shall be the duty of said Secretary to make all regulations that may be necessary to carry this law into effect, to prevent fraud or imposition on the Government, and to secure the prompt return to duty of any officer on furlough under this act whose disabilities may have ceased,

Mr. Read submitted the following amendment (in the nature of a substitute therefor), viz:

A bill continuing in pay all discharged soldiers by reason of wounds and injuries received in the service.

• Section 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That all commissioned and noncommissioned officers, musicians, and private soldiers who have been or who may hereafter be discharged from service by reason of wounds and injuries received or diseases contracted in the service and in the line of his duty, or that may have been so received in the service of any of the States comprising this Confederacy, whose services and troops have been recognized and received into the service of the Confederate States, and who shall have been declared wholly or in part disabled by wounds or injuries received in the service, so as to disable them from further service, or so as to render them unfit for labor, in whole or in part, shall be continued in pay from the date of their discharge until the present war shall have been concluded, at the rate and manner hereinafter declared: Provided, That the said officers, musicians, or privates shall not have received from the Government any office of pay or profit: And provided further, That on the appointment hereafter of any such officer, musician, or private to any office of pay and profit that his pay under this act shall cease.
• Sec. 2. All persons claiming the benefit of this act shall be examined by presenting their applications to one of the boards of physicians, known as the examining boards for the several States, as now established by law, and upon a certificate of any of said boards that the applicant is wholly disabled from physical labor, the person so applying shall be entitled to full pay at the rate to which he was or may be entitled at the time of his discharge: Provided, however, That no commutation shall be allowed to commissioned officers: And provided further, That should said examining board find any applicant only partially disabled from labor, that fact and the extent of disability shall be specially certified, and payment made in proportion to their disability.
• Sec. 3. Payment shall be made under this act semiannually, to wit: On the fourth day of March and fourth day of September of each year, which payments shall be made by any disbursing quartermaster under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of War, whose duty it shall be to prepare and furnish to the several examining boards now established by law, or that may hereafter be established, such regulations as may be necessary to protect the Government against frauds.
• Sec. 4. It shall be the duty of said examining board to retire from the service all persons within the purview of this act, so that inferior officers may take their places by promotion; but whenever it shall appear to said examining board that any person claiming the benefit of this act shall have been restored from such disability, such person shall be immediately returned to duty: Provided, That if such person be an officer he shall be assigned to post duty.
• Sec. 5. This act to take effect from its passage.

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On motion of Mr. Funsten, the bill and substitute were postponed--the bill ordered to be placed on the Calendar, and the substitute to be printed.

The House then took up for consideration a bill on the Calendar, to be entitled

An act to amend an act entitled "An act to regulate impressments," approved March 26, 1863, and to repeal the act amendatory thereof, approved April 27, 1863.

The bill having been read as follows, viz:

• Section 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That so much of the above-recited act as authorizes the commissioners appointed by the President of the Confederate States and the governors of the different States to fix the prices to be paid for property impressed be and, the same is hereby, repealed.
• Sec. 2. That in all cases where property is impressed for the use of the Army or Navy, or for other public use under said act, the same shall be paid for at the time of said impressment, according to the valuation ascertained and determined by loyal and disinterested citizens of the city, county, or parish in which the impressment may be made, in the manner and according to the regulations provided in the first, second, and third sections of the above-recited act.
• Sec. 3. Whenever the officer making the impressment of property, under the act hereby amended, shall believe that the appraisement is fair and just, he shall indorse his approval upon the certificate of appraisement, and make payment accordingly; but if he shall believe that it is not fair and just, then he shall refuse to approve, and indorse the reasons of his refusal on the certificate, and shall have the right to appeal from the decision of the appraisers by reporting the case to the commissioners appointed under said act, to which this is an amendment, for their decision, whose judgment shall be final, and in the meantime the property shall be held by the officer impressing the same, who shall give a receipt therefor to the owner.
• Sec. 4. The said commissioner shall have power to summon and examine witnesses to enable them to fix the value of the property impressed, which shall be the value of the property at the time and place of the impressment, and the sole duties of said commissioners shall hereafter be to fix the value of the property in cases of appeal, and all their other duties are hereby taken away; and when the commissioners shall have fixed the value of the property in cases of appeal, they shall furnish the owner and impressing officer with a statement of such value, which shall be paid for accordingly.
• Sec. 5. That said commissioners shall be sworn faithfully to discharge all their duties under this act and the act to which this is an amendment.
• Sec. 6. Be it further enacted, That the act amendatory of the above-recited act, approved April twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, be, and the same is hereby, repealed,

Mr. Staples offered the following amendment:

Insert, in section 2, after the word "impressment," in sixth line, the words "unless an appeal shall be taken from said valuation, as hereinafter provided."

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. Russell submitted the following amendment; which was agreed to, viz:

Add at the end of section 2 the words "or in the eighth section thereof, when it is applicable."

Mr. Gartrell offered the following amendment; which was agreed to, viz:

Add at the end of section 3 the words "who shall also have the right of appeal, as herein provided."

Mr. Clark moved to amend by striking out the third section.

The motion was lost.

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Mr. Foster offered the following amendment:

Add to the end of third section the words "Provided, however, That the officer shall pay the owner what he may conceive a fair compensation for the property thus impressed: Provided further, That the owner may receive the price offered by the impressing officer without prejudice to his claim to receive the higher compensation."

The amendment was lost.

Mr. Staples offered the following amendment; which was not agreed to:

In section 4, after the word "witnesses," strike out the words "to enable them to fix the value of the property impressed, which shall be the value of the property at the time and place of the impressment, and the sole duties of said commissioners shall hereafter be to fix the value of the property in cases of appeal, and all their other duties are hereby taken away; and when the commissioners shall have fixed the value of the property in cases of appeal, they shall furnish the owner and impressing officer with a statement of such value, which shall be paid for accordingly," and insert the following: "or take the depositions of the witnesses, where either party prefer this mode of proof."

Mr. Clark offered the following amendment; which was agreed to, viz:

Add at the end of the fourth section the words "which valuation by the commissioners shall be made within three months from the time of impressment."

Mr. Clopton offered the following amendment; which was agreed to, viz:

In section 6, after the words "eighteen hundred and sixty-three," insert these words: "and so much of the first section of said act as requires an affidavit to be made by the owner or his agent, that such property was grown, raised, or produced by said owner, or is held or has been purchased by him not for sale or speculation, but for his own use or consumption."

Mr. Sexton offered the following amendment as an independent section, to come in between the fifth and sixth sections:

Be it further enacted, That the tenth section of the act to which this is amendatory be stricken out, and the following enacted instead thereof:

"No slave laboring on a farm or plantation exclusively devoted to the production of grain and provisions shall be taken for public use without the consent of the owner, except in case of urgent necessity and upon the order of the general commanding the department in which said farm or plantation is situated."

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. Machen offered the following amendment; which was agreed to, viz:

In section 2, after the word "valuation," insert the words "agreed upon between the parties or."

Mr. Clopton offered the following amendment as an independent section:

Sec. 8. Be it further enacted, That no impressments shall be made under this act or the act to which this act is amendatory for the use or benefit of contractors with the Government, and no impressments shall be made unless the impressing officer or agent exhibit to the owner of the property, upon demand, either an order from the Secretary of War or the commanding general of the department authorizing such impressments to be made.

Mr. Machen offered the following as an amendment to the amendment:

Strike out after the word "Government" the words "and no impressments shall be made unless the impressing officer or agent exhibit to the owner of the property, upon demand, either an order from the Secretary of War or the commanding general of the department authorizing such impressments to be made."

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The amendment to the amendment was agreed to, and the amendment as amended was also agreed to.

The bill was then engrossed, read a third time, and passed.

On motion of Mr. H. W. Bruce, it was ordered that the Speaker make temporary appointments to the Committee on Enrolled Bills during the absence of members of said committee.

On motion of Mr. Chambliss, it was ordered that the Speaker make a temporary appointment to the Committee on Naval Affairs, in place of Mr. Hodge.

On motion of Mr. Chilton, it was ordered tat the Speaker make a temporary appointment to the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads, in place of Mr. Royston.

The Speaker laid before the House a message from the President; which is as follows, viz:

Richmond, December 19, 1863.

To the House of Representatives:

I herewith transmit for your information a communication from the Secretary of War, covering copies of several reports of military operations.

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

On motion of Mr. Heiskell, the message and accompanying documents were ordered to be printed, and that the usual number of extra copies also be printed; which motion was referred to the Committee on Printing.

Mr. Lyons moved that when the House adjourn to-morrow, the Senate consenting, it adjourn to meet on Monday, the 28th.

Pending the consideration of which motion,

The House,

On motion of Mr. Heiskell,

Adjourned until 12 o'clock to-morrow.

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