For the purchase of cavalry and artillery horses, eleven million dollars. For transportation of the army and its supplies, twenty-five million dollars. For the erection, hire, and repairs of barracks, quarters, and hospitals, one million seven hundred and thirty thousand dollars. For clothing, camp, and garrison equipage, twenty-seven million one hundred and thirty-six thousand dollars. To supply deficiency in the appropriation for maintenance and support of fleet of steam-rams from September thirtieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, to June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. For purchase of arms for volunteers and regulars, and ordnance and ordnance stores, thirteen million two hundred and twenty-six thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight dollars. For purchase of gunpowder and lead, one million five hundred thousand dollars. To supply deficiency in the appropriation for the medical and hospital department of the army, four million four hundred and seventy-four thousand dollars. For surveys for military defences, including the purchase of campaign maps, manuscript surveys of railroads, canals, of lines within the States in rebellion, fifty thousand dollars. For subsistence in kind for regulars and volunteers, eigh[t]een million one hundred and sixty-three thousand four hundred and fifty-seven dollars and twenty cents. CONTINGENT EXPENSES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. For folding documents, two thousand five hundred dollars. For furniture, repairs, and packing boxes for members, seven thousand dollars. CONTINGENT EXPENSES OF THE SENATE. For miscellaneous items, fifteen thousand nine hundred and forty-two dollars and ninety-eight cents. For clerks of committees, messengers, pages, horses, and carryalls, thirteen thousand seven hundred and eighty-six dollars and fifty cents. PUBLIC PRINTING. To supply the deficiency in the appropriation for paper for the public printing, two hundred and eighty-three thousand dollars. To supply the deficiency in the appropriation for the public printing, fifty thousand dollars. Approved February 12, 1863. Contingent expenses of House of Representatives. Of the Senate. Public printing. CHAPTER XXXIII. February 14, 1863. AN ACT to incorporate the National Association for the Relief of Destitute Colored Women and Children. lief of destitute and children" in Purposes. "National asso- Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of ciation for the re- the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Sayles colored women J. Bowen, Daniel Breed, George E. Baker, their associates and corporated. successors, being members of said society, by paying into its treasury the sum of two dollars annually, or life members by paying fifty dollars at one time, are hereby incorporated and made a body politic by the name of "The National Association for the Relief of Destitute Colored Women and Children," for the purpose of supporting such aged or indigent and destitute colored women and children as may properly come under the charge of such association; to provide for them a suitable home, board, clothing, and instruction, and to bring them under Christian influence; and by that name shall have perpetual succession, with power to use a common seal, to sue and be sued, to plead and be impleaded in any court of the United States, to collect subscriptions, make by-laws, rules, and regulations needful for the government of said corporation, not inconsistent with the laws of the United States; to have, hold, and receive real and personal estate by purchase, gift, or devise; to use, sell, or convey the same for the purposes and benefit of said corporation, and to choose such officers and teachers as may be deemed necessary, prescribe their duties, and fix the rate of their compensation. Powers. Officers. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the officers of said association shall consist of a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and a board of managers to be composed of nine members, the whole to constitute an executive committee, whose duty it shall be to carry into effect the plans and purposes for which said association was formed, all of which officers shall be elected on the fifteenth day of March next, and hold their offices till the second Tuesday of January, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, on which day, and annually on the second Tuesday of January in each succeeding year, at the annual meeting of said association, which shall be held on said day, their successors shall be elected and hold their offices for the term of one year, and un il their successors shall be duly elected. And in case of a vacancy it shall be filled by the other members of the executive committee. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That said society may receive into a house or building to be provided by it any destitute child or children at the request of the parents or guardians, or next friend, or the mother, if the father be dead, or has abandoned his family, or does not provide for their support, or is an habitual drunkard, such parents, guardians, or next friend, or mother, making a written surrender of such child or children. The superintendent or other officer in immediate charge may, with the concurrence of the executive committee, or of a board of trustees to be appointed by said committee, and to consist of three persons, Government of citizens of Washington city, govern the inmates, preserve order, enforce discipline, impart instruction in useful knowledge and some regular course of labor, and establish rules for the preservation of Society may redestitute ceive children. the institution. health, and for their proper physical, intellectual, and moral improvement. The trustees may, with the consent of the executive committee, bind out by indenture, such children as may be deemed capable of learning trades, or of becoming useful in other occupations, to such persons as will give them the benefit of good examples, wholesome instruction, and other means of improvement in virtue and knowledge, and the opportunity of becoming intelligent, moral, and useful members of society. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for said association, by and with the advice and consent of the Secretary of War, to occupy for the objects of said association any lands, not exceeding one hundred acres, and the improvements thereon, which the government may now own or may hereafter acquire, contiguous to the city of Washington, by confiscation or purchase, such occupation to continue for such a number of years as the Secretary of War may, in writing, prescribe. Approved February 14, 1863. Children may be bound out. What lands as sociation may occupy. CHAPTER XXXIV. AN ACT to establish the office of register of deeds for the District of February 14, 1863. Columbia. Register of deeds for the District of 1801, ch. 24, § 5, vol. ii, p. 115. Duty of register. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall Columbia. be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a register of deeds for the District of Columbia, who shall perform all the duties respecting the recording of deeds and other instruments of writing, and all other services connected therewith, authorized to be performed by the clerk of the circuit court of said district by the fifth section of the act approved March three, eighteen hundred and one, entitled "An act supplementary to the act entitled 'An act concerning the District of Columbia," and shall receive the same fees and emoluments for the same. And the said register shall receive and have the charge and custody of all the records, papers, and property which may be in the custody or possession of said clerk of the circuit court, properly appertaining to and belonging to the office of the register of deeds; and the said clerk is hereby required to deliver the same to said register upon proper application therefor. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Secretary of InInterior be directed to appropriate such rooms in any of the public buildings under his charge, for the use of said register, as may be necessary for his accommodation, unless it shall appear to said Secretary that such rooms cannot be so appropriated without interfering with the business of his department; and in that event the said register shall procure, with the approbation of said Secretary, such rooms, in the city of Washington, as may be necessary for the security of the records and the convenient transaction of the business of said office. terior to furnish rooms. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That all acts and parts of Repealing clause acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act be, and the same - are hereby, repealed. Approved February 14, 1863. February 16, 1863. Register steamship Karnak. CHAPTER XXXVI. AN ACT to issue an American register to the steamship Karnak. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the to United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby directed to issue an American register to the steamship or vessel known as the Karnak, of the collection district of the port of New York, the same being a British built vessel, but now owned by American citizens. Approved February 16, 1863. CHAPTER XXXVII. February 16, 1863. AN ACT for the relief of persons for damages sustained by reason of depredations and injuries by certain bands of Sioux Indians. Damages Sioux Indians. Preamble. by Whereas the United States heretofore became bound by treaty stipulations to the Sisseton, Wahpaton, Medawakanton, and Wah pakoota bands of the Dakota or Sioux Indians to pay large sums of money and annuities, the greater portion of which remains unpaid according to the terms of said treaty stipulations; and whereas during the past year the aforesaid bands of Indians made an unprovoked, aggressive, and most savage war upon the United States, and massaered a large number of men, women, and children within the State of Minnesota, and destroyed and damaged a large amount of property, and thereby have forfeited all just claim to the said moneys and annuities to the United States; and whereas it is just and equitable that the persons whose property has been destroyed or damaged by the said Indians, or destroyed or damaged by the troops of the United States in said war, should be indemnified in whole or in part out of the indebtedness and annuities so forfeited as aforesaid: Therefore Treaties with certain Sioux Indians annulled in part. Two thirds of unexpended an Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all treaties heretofore made and entered into by the Sisseton, Wahpaton, Medawakanton, and Wahpakoota bands of Sioux or Dakota Indians, or any of them, with the United States, are hereby declared to be abrogated and annulled, so far as said treaties or any of them purport to impose any future obligation on the United States, and all lands and rights of occupancy within the State of Minnesota, and all annuities and claims heretofore accorded to said Indians, or any of them, to be forfeited to the United States. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That two-thirds of the balnuities to be paid ance remaining unexpended of annuities due and payable to said to commissioners, Indians for the present fiscal year, not exceeding one hundred and apportioned among survivors thousand dollars, and the further sum of one hundred thousand dollars, being two-thirds of the annuities becoming due and payable to said Indians during the next fiscal year, is hereby appropriated, and shall be paid from the treasury of the United States of massacres. out of any moneys not otherwise appropriated, to the commissioners hereinafter provided for, to be apportioned by them among the heads of families, or, in case of their decease, among the surviving members of families of the State of Minnesota who suffered damage by the depredations of the Sisseton, Wahpaton, Medawakanton, and Wa[h]pakoota bands of Sioux or Dakota Indians, or by the troops of the United States in the late Indian war in the State of Minnesota, not exceeding the sum of two hundred dollars to any one family, nor the actual damages aforesaid, and no moneys shall be paid under this section except upon those claims which shall be presented to said commissioners on or before the first day of June next, for the payment of which the said commissioners shall take and return to the Secretary of the Interior and to the Secretary of the Treasury duplicate vouchers therefor, certified by them. Limit in time and amount. Three commis Powers. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That, for the purpose of sioners to be apmaking the proper distribution of the moneys hereby appropri- pointed. ated for the present relief of such families, and for the purpose of ascertaining the whole amount of said damages and the persons who have suffered the same, it shall be lawful for the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint three commissioners, not more than one of whom shall be a resident of Minnesota, who shall take an oath in the manner prescribed by the laws of the United States to faithfully discharge their duties; they shall entertain and hear the complaints (in Duties. writing, duly verified on oath) of all and every person aggrieved by the depredations of said Indians, and by the troops of the United States in said war; they shall have power to compel the attendance of witnesses, and to administer the proper oaths to them to testify the truth; they shall have power to compel the claimants to be examined and cross-examined on oath, to be administered by them, as to their said claim; they shall hold their sessions at such times and places as will give the persons complaining the fairest opportunity of verifying their claim with the least expense; they shall take care that no unjust or fictitious claim shall be established; and if they have any reason to suppose that any such claim is presented, they shall have power, and it shall be their duty, to procure any countervailing proof, to their knowledge, that the same may be finally rejected, The testimony of the witnesses and the examination of the complain- Testimony. ant shall be reduced to writing, signed and certified by them, respectively, and shall, with the petition and all the papers relating to each case, with the finding of the commission, be transmitted to the Secretary of the Interior for his approval, rejection, or modification, to be by him laid before the next Congress. A majority of the commission may select their presiding officer, and Presiding shall be competent to decide all questions arising before them. Sessions. cers. First session. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That said commissioners shall hold their first session at Saint Peter's, in the State of Minnesota, on or before the first day of April next, for the hearing of claimants, and that all claims must be presented to said commisioners on or before the first day of September next, or the same shall not be heard by them; and the said commissioners shall make sion. and return their finding, and all the papers relating thereto, on or before the first day of December next. offi Limit of existence of commis |