| Show THE DAYS OF 76 When the Last Survivor of tho Great War Died A Widow Who Enjoyed for Seventyseven Tears a Pension Dating Enclc to tho War of Independence Old Time Venality l S HERALD Correspondence WASHINGTON June 23One by one th few remaining pensioners from the revolutionary war are passing away In almost every instance these worthy recipients recip-ients of government aid have lived to a good old age which seems to show some subtle connection between length of days and the enjoyment of a snug pension Quite recently it was on the2lth of May there died at Easton Pa a widow whose husbands pension dated back to the War of Independence and whose own term of years lacked i but one of rounding out tne century cen-tury This lady was Anna Maria Young I the widow of Captain Jacob Young a revolutionary soldier whom she married i in 1816 and with whom she enjoyed the blessings of wedded life for the brief period of six months only l She had i however enjoyed the pension granted her I soldier husband for some seventyseven years until her death Another curious feature of this case is the fact that Anna I Maria had had two husbands previous to i her marriage with Captain Young although al-though she was only twentytwo years old at the time A goodly company of grand children and great grand children are left to tell the story of her many virtues vir-tues tuesThe entire number of revolutionary pensioners still on the government rolls and it is amazing that any remains is I less than twentyand in no caseof course is the living beneficiary the party tow to-w hom the pension was originally granted The last l actual survivor of thereat I the-reat war Samuel Downing died in 1S67 As he had drawn a pension lor I some SO years ho is probably entitled to hold the national record in this respect His case is one of especial interest particularly > i deductions may be drawn from it as to the probable duration of life of pensioners from our late war Samuel Downing was born at Newbury port > Mass on Nov 301701 and died Edinburgh Saratoga county New York state on Feb 19 1567 He enlisted from Antrim N H at the ago of 16 at 3harlestown jSr H and served through the war in the Second New Hampshire regiment Some time after the signing of the treaty of peace he applied for and obtained a pension of 5180 from the United States government his applica ten being the last ever granted for a revolutionary rev-olutionary pension Despite the severe hardships suffered by the troops during the protracted war Mr Downing so far retained his vitality and physical strength that upon the celebra tion of his 100th birthday bo cut down a hemlock tree some five feet in circumference circumfer-ence and a cherry tree of considerable I size These stripped of their leaves were disposed of to the large assemblage of friends and neighbors congregated in honor of the old veterans centenary at his farm in Edmburg and were made I into canes and other mementoes of the in The of the eresting occasion Tie stump o I larger tree purchased and taken away to place Saratoga by R Bevins esq of that II In glancing over the records annals and documents dealing with the pensions J of the revolution and with the acts of Congress relative to them one meets with many a distinguished name Washington Washing-ton with records of grants votes of i thanks and presentations Lee Light I Horse tarry 1 and other great sons of the republic are found side by side with Lafayette Rochambeau and many another an-other of the brave foreigners whom sympathy with the cause of American independence in-dependence attracted tothis country with offers of assistance One wonders whether our gentle humorist C F Browne was aware that his nom plume Artemus Ward was the real name of one of the majorgenerals of the revolutionary revolu-tionary army and the name of W Wil mot captain of the Second Maryland regiment who was killed by a foraging party of British on November 4 1782 at tit Johns Island S C reminds that his was the last blood spilled in the long The first legislation in the Interests of the brave soldiers who risked their lives in the struggle to throw off the yoke ot foreign domination occurred as far back as 1776 In that year the Continental Congress recognizing the debt owed by the nation to her brave defenders turned te turnec its attention to the subject of military pensions In I long series of resolutions passed tho 26th of August in that year it was provided that every officer both commissioned com-missioned and noncommissioned as well as every private soldier who should in the service of the state receive such injury or disablement as to be rendered incapable for the future of earning his own livelihood liveli-hood should receive from the public funds during life or the continuance of such injury a pension equal to onehalf I his monthly pay such pension to commence com-mence from the date that his pay as a I soldier ceased It was also provided that in case the injury in-jury should not be so serious as to cause disablement the invalid should I total invald receive re-ceive such compensation as might be agreed upon by the legislature of the state in which his residence was located the compensation naturally never to exceed his half pay The different sorts pensions were also classified the two principal divisions being be-ing invalid and gratuitous pensions Invalid In-valid pensions nre defined as grants of money made to servants of the state injured in-jured in the performance of their duty gratuitous pensions as grants of money made at the close of a war or upon other occasions to person meriting special distinction dis-tinction and reward for eminent services rendered to the state To this latter class belong the sums of money equaling the full pay of a major general granted by Congress to the family fam-ily of Lafayette for a term of five years during which the distinguished Frenchman French-man was languishing in an Austrian prison the sum of 5200000 and 1 township town-ship of land voted in 1824 to the same gallant soldier upon the occasion of his last visit to America in consideration of his important services and expenditures during the American revolution and 1 tho sums of 4000 voted in 1795 and later 100 annually for a period of five 400 nnnualy perod fve years granted by Congress to each of the four daughters of Count de Grease as a token of the nations appreciation of their fathers gallant conduct and valuable assistance as-sistance To this class also properly belongs the halfpay granted to the widows and orphans of those who died either upon the field of battle or later In consequence conse-quence of injuries received during the term of service I In May 1778 Congress as an inducement Induce-ment to the officers of the revolutionary army to remain in active service until the cessation of hostilities passed a resolution resolu-tion granting half pay to tho survivors of tho war for a space of seven years A large amount of legislation regulating regulat-ing the subject of pensions was finally brought to a satisfactory conclusion on June 7 1832 I was then enacted that each of the surviving officers noncom missioned officers musicians soldiers II i ofcers and Indian spies who shall have served I in the continental line or state troops volunteers or militia for one orjmore terms I period of two years during the trms of xhe revolution shall receive the amount I of his full lay in the said line according to his rank such pay to commence I com-mence from the 4th day of March 1831 and continue during his natural life This act was supplemented in July 1836 and again in February 1848 by acts ex I I tending the payment of pensions under certain well defined rules and conditions to the widows of such soldiers as died in consequence ot wounds received or sickness incurred during S term of aer S vice viceAs might expected upon the close of I I the war before even Congress had fairly S 555 sfA I i disentangled state matters and commenced com-menced the regulation of affairs of public weal the pension bureau was flooded with applications from participants in the sanguinar conflict between tha two nations na-tions and who imagined themselves entitled en-titled to benefits under the various acts relative to pensions then in force These applications were granted indiscriminately indiscrimi-nately in immense numbers Politics favor nepotism were all called into service ser-vice with such effect that in 1820 the then secretr of war J C Calhoun was directed di-rected by act of Congress to prepare and place upon the table of the House for the information of the members a report and list of the existing pensioners who under the act of March 18 181S were inscribed in-scribed upon the rolls of the various I states and territories I The number was found to reach the enormous total of over 16000 to be exact ex-act 16163 and requiring lor payment an annual appropriation from the public funds of 3000 a sum aggregating over ao OCOAlmost Almost the first thing done was to subject sub-ject to rigorous examination the condition condi-tion of tne revolutionary pensions the list of which had swollen year by year i ous until its proportions had oecome enorm ousThis This investigation revealed a atate of affairs corruption and venality as even the pension frauds of our day cannot proportionately pro-portionately surpass one of the legislators legis-lators claiming to know personally many men receiving pensions for wounds received re-ceived in the late war who had wholly recovered re-covered from their injuries and were as hale and hearty as any in the community Legislation upon the subject folio ned The pension list was curtailed and remained re-mained curtailed saving to the country an amount equal to more than 1510000 annually Since then by the natural process of decay the number of revolutionary pensioners pen-sioners has been slowly decreasing year by year Today there only remain borne fifteen or sixteen and even many of these are only in existence by reason of the adroitly ad-roitly arranged marriage which is one of the most curious features disclosed by I pension statistics I Although few would be sufficiently intrepid in-trepid as todeny the possibility of Love I the conqueror arranging match even between veteran ot S and a young girl I of 20 the great disparity found to exist between the ages ot some of the living I widowed pensioners and that of their late husbands is so marked as to lead the already somewhat skepticallyminded individual I in-dividual today to the conclusion hard though it be that marriage to a disabled veteran is evidently looked upon as one I Lof tile most profitable forms of investment invest-ment The husband is not regarded as I the protector of a weak woman so much as the incumbrance accompanying a neat little annuity of which marriage is the I purchase money 1 certain disparity of age between bride and bridegroom being I apparently looked upon as de regeur and certainly has tho effect of prolonging the I interest of the government in the happy JOHN NITCHIE i couple NITCHE |
