the December Terms of 1861 and 1862. The opinions of the supreme court, 1854-64, are published in an appendix to Washington (Terr.), Journal of the Council, 1864-65. U. S. COURT OF CLAIMS Throughout the war the military and naval forces of the United States, wherever they operated, seized and used private property of all kinds. Army detachments or foraging parties scoured the country for provisions, fodder, horses, mules, and wood--especially rail fences, a convenient source of firewood for campfires. Receipts for such property were sometimes given so that owners could claim remuneration. Churches, hospitals, schools, colleges, museums, saloons, and private dwellings were occupied and used for headquarters, offices, hospitals, quarters, and warehouses. It mattered not to the Army who the owner was--a loyal citizen, a southern Unionist, a Confederate, or a foreigner. Property was appropriated not only in occupied areas of the South and in the border States, where Federal armies took the offensive, but also in such States as Maryland and Pennsylvania, where Confederate invasions brought in large Union forces. The U. S. Government had no legal obligation to pay for the large amount of Confederate property seized or destroyed in the South, but it did have an obligation under international law to reimburse foreigners for seized property or bodily injury. The claims of foreigners were adjudicated chiefly by international commissions, whose activities and records are describedelsewhere in this Guide. The huge number of other claims against the Government resulting from war necessitated a better means for their adjudication. The Court of Claims, established by an act of Feb. 24, 1855 (10 Stat. 612), was merely a factfinding body that investigated claims and sent reports to Congress for its action. Because the court had no authority to issue enforceable judgments it had not greatly relieved Congress of the heavy burden of claims. Moreoever, since at the beginning of the Civil War two of the three judges were holdovers from the Buchanan administration and since business was to be heavier, the Lincoln administration desired to enlarge the court. In his first annual message, Dec. 3, 1861, Lincoln recommended that the Court of Claims be given authority to make final judgments, subject to appeal on questions of law to the Supreme Court. An act of Mar. 3, 1863 (12 Stat. 765), conferred this authority, provided for two additional judges, authorized them to appoint commissioners, and stipulated that the court was to hold one annual session beginning on the first Monday in October. The act extended jurisdiction of the court to cover "private claims against the Government, founded upon any law of Congress, or upon any regulations of an executive department, or upon any contract" with the Government. The earlier act of 1855, which that of 1863 amended, had authorized the hearing of any claims referred to the court by either House of Congress. In addition the new act gave the court "jurisdiction of all set-offs, counterclaims for damages, whether liquidated or unliquidated, or other demands whatsoever, on the part of the Government" against claimants. Judgments of the court were to be final except for cases involving over $3,000, which either party might appeal to the Supreme Court. The jurisdiction of the Court of Claims over war claims was modified, extended, or restricted by subsequent legislation. An act of Mar. 3, 1863 (approved Mar. 12; 12 Stat. 820), gave the court jurisdiction over claims of owners of captured and abandoned property that had been collected and disposed of by agents of the Treasury Department. This act pertained to such commodities as cotton, rice, sugar, and tobacco, but not to armaments, munitions, ships, steamboats and other craft, furniture, forage, and military supplies. Claimants under the act were required to show proof of ownership and of loyalty to the United States during the war. Under this act the court between 1864 and 1883 considered 1,578 claims for $77,785,962 and awarded $9, 833, 423 (18 Ct. Cl. 703-704). An act of July 4, 1864 (13 Stat. 381), provided that the jurisdiction of the court was not to extend to any claim against the United States resulting from "the destruction or appropriation of, or damage to, property by the army or navy" during the war. Soon afterwards the court decided that it was estopped by this act from determining some cases then pending (Corbett's Case, Oct. 1864, 1 Ct. Cl. 139). The act of July 4, 1864, was amended by an act of Feb. 21, 1867 (14 Stat. 397), which declared that it "shall not be construed to authorize the settlement of any claim for supplies or stores taken or furnished for the use of, or used by, the armies of the United States, nor for the occupation of, or injury to, real estate, nor for the consumption, appropriation, or destruction of, or damage to, personal property, by the military authorities or troops of the United States, where such claim originated during the war for the suppression of the southern rebellion, in a State, or part of a State, declared in insurrection by the proclamation of the President of the United States, dated July first [1862]. "' The claims of disloyalists originating before Apr. 13, 1861, were barred from payment by an act of Mar. 2, 1867 (14 Stat. 571). An act of June 25, 1868 (15 Stat. 75), provided that the United States might appeal to the Supreme Court adverse judgments of the Court of Claims. Sec. 7 of this act authorized the executive departments to send to the court claims made upon them which involved "disputed facts or controverted questions of law" if the amount involved exceeded $3, 000 or if the decision would affect a class of cases or establish a precedent. Aliens who were citizens of nations that accorded reciprocal privileges to citizens of the United States were allowed to file claims in the court under an act of July 27, 1868 (15 Stat. 243). The act of July 4, 1864, cited above, required the Quartermaster General and the Commissary General to examine claims of loyal citizens of States outside the Confederacy and, if convinced that the claims were just and the claimants loyal, to report them to the Third Auditor of the Treasury for settlement. The terms of this act excluded claims of loyalists in the seceded States. They might, of course, present their claims to Congress; but, since Representatives from the Southern States were admitted only gradually during 1866-70, very few such claims were submitted. Favorable legislation on these claims came finally with an act of Mar. 3, 1871 (16 Stat. 524), under which loyalists in the seceded States might present their claims to the Southern Claims Commission. When this commission was terminated in 1880, there were still many unsatisfied claimants who turned to Congress for relief. Agitation for further consideration of claims resulted in the adoption of the Bowman Act, Mar. 3, 1883 (22 Stat. 485). By this legislation either House of Congress or any executive department might refer claims to the Court of Claims for investigation of the facts through judicial procedure and for report of its findings to Congress or the department. Actually, under the terms of this law and of other limiting legislation, only claims that had previously been presented to some officer or tribunal could be received. A modification of the Bowman Act was effected by the Tucker Act, Mar. 3, 1887 (24 Stat. 505), which permitted the referral to the court of any bill providing for the payment of a claim except a pension bill. Under the terms of this act many new claims came before the court, among them petitions of churches and schools. The court continued to consider cases under all these acts until their repeal by sec. 145 of the Judicial Code of Mar. 3, 1911 (36 Stat. 1137); but under sec. 151 of the code some other claims were heard until an act of Mar. 3, 1915 (38 Stat. 996), deprived the court of all jurisdiction over Southern war claims. Although the Court of Claims sits in Washington, its jurisdiction has always been nationwide. In the early days proposals for giving the district courts jurisdiction over claims against the Government were made, but these were rejected in favor of a central court at the National Capital with a bench specializing in the law of claims and with the necessary papers available in the Government files. According to a decision of the Supreme Court in 1867 (United States v. Alire, 6 Wall. 573), judgments can be given only for money. Appropriations are made by Congress in gross sums to satisfy the judgments of the Court of Claims. Since cases are decided on written documentary evidence and oral evidence is not heard by the court, the files are usually voluminous. A direct tax of $20, 000, 000 for war revenue was apportioned among the insurrectionary States as well as the loyal ones by sec. 8 of an act of Aug. 5, 1861 (12 Stat. 294). Measures for collecting this tax in the South were prescribed by an act of June 7, 1862 (12 Stat. 422), under which lands of defaulting owners were seized and sold in a number of Southern States. Sales of land under the authority of that act continued until 1866. The constitutionality and inequities of the law were attacked after the war, and efforts to obtain redress finally resulted in an act of Mar. 2, 1891 (26 Stat. 822), for reimbursing to the States the amounts collected under the direct tax act. Cases of individual restitution authorized by the act were handled by the Court of Claims. An act of July 27, 1861 (12 Stat. 276), directed the Secretary of the Treasury to indemnify States for expenses incurred in raising, equipping, paying, and transporting troops for the Union Army. Years after the war several States brought suit in the Court of Claims for reimbursement. Many drafted men from Kentucky who had paid commutation or furnished substitutes but who still had been drafted sued for the refunding of money paid by them (act of Feb. 28, 1867, Mar. 1, 1869; 14 Stat. 417, 15 Stat. 282). No general law has given the Court of Claims jurisdiction over claims by Indian tribes against the Government. But many acts have been passed giving the court special jurisdiction in such suits as those relating to claims of loyal Indians, claims of freedmen among Indian tribes, the enrollment of Indians, compensation for lands taken from them, failure by the Government to afford protection to them, and the restoration of annuities to the Sioux. Further particulars on the relation of most of these claims to the Civil War are in the section of this Guide on the Office of Indian Affairs. An act of Mar. 3, 1891 (26 Stat. 851), vested in the Court of Claims jurisdiction over claims for depredations by Indians on the property of citizens of the United States. Within the 3 years stipulated by the act 10, 841 claims were presented to the court. Some of these were for depredations in the early years of the 19th century, but most arose from Indian hostilities in the years following 1860 and from Indian attacks on miners, ranches, stagecoaches, and trains. Among the kinds of claims considered by the Court of Claims are many relating to the Civil War. The Army and Navy cases include claims for bounty for destroying armed vessels, bounty for military service, arrears of widows' pensions, pay of officers' servants, transportation after discharge, reimbursement for dismissal of officers, and loss of horses in service. Captured property cases arising from the war include claims for captured and destroyed property, for the occupancy and use of property, and for rents of abandoned property; claims by aliens who were alleged to have given aid and comfort to rebellion; claims for mules captured in transitu; and many claims relating to Confederate cotton. Cases arising from contracts with the Government concern Army transportation (including horses, mules, wagons, and gunboats), General Frémont's contracts, muskets and other arms, provisions, supplies, wood, and construction. Many of the cases referred by Congress to the court originated during the war and concerned stores, supplies, cotton, and wood taken by United States forces, occupation of and damage to buildings, infringement of patents, reimbursement for losses sustained from false imprisonment, and payment for the use of machines. Real property cases, in which compensation was claimed for rent and damage to buildings, involved many structures in the South and in Washington, D. C. Shipping cases included the capture of vessels, salvage, charters, detention of ships under neutrality laws, seizure of steamboats and other vessels, loss of vessels, and damage to or collision and destruction of vessels in military service. Disbursing officers' cases relate to claims for funds lost without negligence on the part of the officers. As the above discussion indicates, the Court of Claims records afford valuable data on many subjects. They give much information on the conduct of Unionists in the South during the war, the operations of the Army and the Navy in the South, and their administrative and procurement practices. Indian cases document relations with the tribes and conditions on the frontier that was subject to Indian depredations. Cases involving captured Confederate property throw light on slavery and plantation economy during the war. The act establishing the Court of Claims authorized the President to appoint three judges and a solicitor to represent the Government before the court. Soon afterwards (Aug. 6, 1856; 11 Stat. 30) the President was authorized to appoint an assistant solicitor, and the solicitor was permitted to employ a deputy. The office of solicitor was abolished by an act of June 25, 1868 (15 Stat. 75), which transferred its functions to the Attorney General. Judges of the Court of Claims during the war period: Klingberg, The Southern Claims Against Governments, Including the Record Group 123. --The Court of Claims records in the National Archives consist chiefly of several large series of case files. The largest of these and the most significant for the Civil War period is the generaljurisdiction case files, 1855-1939. These files comprise petitions stating the claimants' cases, answers, and other pleadings; motions, briefs, powers of attorney, depositions, affidavits, interrogatories, transcripts of testimony, orders, findings of facts, and conclusions of law; opinions of the Court of Claims, petitions for certiorari, orders, mandates, and opinions of the Supreme Court; and counterclaims filed by the Government. Evidentiary materials filed by claimants and the Government include correspondence, contracts, construction permits, patents, blueprints, drawings, charts, wills and testaments, titles to real estate, certificates, indictments, vouchers, invoices, and publications. These cases cover claims in which suits were brought directly in the court for violation of contracts, violation of Indian treaties, infringement of patents, unlawful imprisonment, and loss of funds by disbursing officers; tax claims; and claims for pay of Army, Navy, and civilian employees of the Government. Other cases relating to the Civil War in these files concern property abandoned and captured during the war and seizures of property after the war. Congressional-jurisdiction case files, 1884-1943, contain papers about claims referred to the court by Congress for investigation and report. These include petitions and memorials; copies of congressional bills and resolutions; orders to and reports of commissioners; answers, motions, briefs, depositions, and affidavits; interrogatories and orders; findings on loyalty, and findings of fact and opinions of the court. Evidentiary materials, many of them derived from Government records, include correspondence, contracts, muster rolls, certificates of burial, oaths of allegiance, inventories of captured subsistence stores, detailed statements of military service, proceedings of courts-martial, and documents from captured Confederate archives. Oversize materials such as maps, blueprints, drawings, record books, statements, and other exhibits are in a separate file. Far less numerous are the departmental-jurisdiction case files, 18831943, relating to claims referred by the departments under the Bowman and Tucker Acts. For cases founded upon the Constitution or statutes the court could render judgments; for other cases it reported findings of fact and conclusions of law. The files contain letters from the departments referring claims to the court; orders referring cases to claims commissioners and reports of the commissioners; petitions, answers, other pleadings, motions, briefs, depositions, and interrogatories; orders remanding cases for argument; and findings of fact and opinions of the court. Evidentiary materials furnished by the departments relate to transports, mail routes, sales of property, money advanced as bounty to U. S. recruits, and the numbers of recruits mustered and delivered by the States. Claims for Indian depredations had to be submitted to the Court of Claims within 3 years of the passage of the act of Mar. 3, 1891, but consideration of the claims went on through 1920. The adjudication of the |