So far as it relates to the soldiers of the late civil war, the bounty
it affords them is given thirteen years earlier than it has been
furnished the soldiers of any other war, and before a large majority of
its beneficiaries have advanced in age beyond the strength and vigor of
the prime of life.
It exacts only a military or naval service of three months, without any
requirement of actual engagement with an enemy in battle, and without a
subjection to any of the actual dangers of war.
The pension it awards is allowed to enlisted men who have not suffered
the least injury, disability, loss, or damage of any kind, incurred in
or in any degree referable to their military service, including those
who never reached the front at all and those discharged from rendezvous
at the close of the war, if discharged three months after enlistment.
Under the last call of the President for troops, in December, 1864,
11,303 men were furnished who were thus discharged.
The section allowing this pension does, however, require, besides a
service of three months and an honorable discharge, that those seeking
the benefit of the act shall be such as "are now or may hereafter be
suffering from mental or physical disability, not the result of their
own vicious habits or gross carelessness, which incapacitates them for
the performance of labor in such a degree as to render them unable to
earn a support, and who are dependent upon their daily labor for
support.
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