American Union Lodge No. 1 - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic ...

captain of said company and regiment under the command of Colonel Jedediah Huntington; that he, Captain Jewett, marched with
Colonel Huntington to Long Island, and at the battle on the 27th of August, 1776, was taken prisoner, and, upon refusing to deliver
up his watch, was mortally wounded by a British officer, and died of the wound on the 31st of that month.
Nathan Jewett's affidavit says that the affiant well knew that his uncle, Captain Joseph Jewett, was in the war of the revolution as a
captain in the continental line in Huntington's regiment; that he went to Roxbury, in Massachusetts, at the breaking out of the war as
an officer in the militia; and that in July, 1775, he was persuaded, while in Roxbury or Boston, to give up his command in the militia
and accept of a commission as a captain in the continental line, and that he continued in the service until his death in August, 1776.
Oliver Raymond's affidavit states that he could recollect some of the incidents of the revolutionary war, and among those incidents
was the death of Captain Joseph Jewett, who was a captain in Huntington's regiment, and who was killed at the battle on Long
Island by a British officer for refusing to give up his watch when demanded, after having delivered up his sword.
One of said certificates of entries in the comptroller's books at Hartford states that Captain Jewett's name is in a pay-roll headed
"Marched from Lyme for the relief of Boston, &c., in the Lexington alarm, April, 1775 ;" and opposite his name are the following
entries, viz: "Captain, number of days in service 31," &c. This extract also states that the name of Captain Jewett is in "A pay-roll of
the 8th company of the 8th regiment raised per order of the General Assembly, Colony Connecticut, July, A. D. 1775."
The other certificate is as follows:
STATE OF CONNECTICUT, COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE,
Hartford, December 29, 1849. "I certify that upon application for further evidence of the service of Captain Joseph Jewett in the war
of the revolution, I have examined the books & documents remaining in this office, and find as follows, viz: 1st. In a ledger of the Pay
Table Office under the following heading, 'Col. Jeded'h Huntington, Reg't rais'd Jan'y, 1776, for one year,' appears the name of'
Capt. Joseph Jewett,' and opposite said name are the following entries, viz: Arms & Baggage taken or destroyed £23, Total £23.
2d. The entry of the above is in the Day Book as follows, viz: United States, Dr. To order on treas'r Capt. Jos. Jewett, for loss,
Huntington's Batt'l '76, £23."
"ABUAH CATLIN, Comptroller,
"By GEO. ROBINSON, Clerk."
It is clear, therefore, according to the claimant's evidence, that Captain Jewett was not engaged to serve in the continental army
during the war. He belonged to Huntington's regiment, raised in Connecticut in January, 1776, which regiment was to serve for one
year.
This case, therefore, is not embraced in the resolutions of the 16th and 18th of September, 1776, above referred to, and on which
the present claim is founded.
This claim for bounty land appears not to be embraced in said resolutions of September, 1776, for another reason, and that is, that
the captain was killed before the passage of those resolutions, which are prospective only. The expression to be construed is, "to
the representatives of such officers and soldiers as shall be slain by the enemy." That expression applies not to past, but to future
cases only. It is said that in the case of Colonel Knowlton, who was killed on the 15th of September, 1776, the bounty land was
refused, as the resolution relied on was not passed till the next day after his death. — (American State Papers, title "Claims," p.
848.) In 1838 a bill was introduced into one of the houses of Congress providing for the heirs of the officers and soldiers who were
killed before the 16th of September, 1776, but the bill does not appear to have become a law.—(Rev. Book, 402.)
There is another ground upon which this petition for bounty land must be refused. It is not shown that application has been made to
the proper executive department for the bounty land in question. Before we can take jurisdiction of such a case as this, it must
appear that the bounty land had been applied for at such department as aforesaid, and that the application had been refused.
There are statutes of limitations as to applications for bounty land, but the time limited for such applications has been extended from
time to time by Congress. By the act of 1854, the time was extended for five years, from the 26th of June, 1853.—(10 Stat. at Large,
267.)
It may be proper also to mention, that the only application which appears to have been anywhere made for the bounty land in
question, before the filing of the present petition, was made to Congress after a lapse of more than sixty years after the claim is
alleged to have accrued; and no satisfactory cause is shown for the delay.
We now come to the examination of the claim for the half-pay for seven years from the death of Captain Jewett.
The claimant, in support of this claim, refers to the following resolutions:
"Resolved, unanimously, That all military officers commissioned by Congress, who now are or hereafter may be in the service of the
United States, and shall continue therein during the war * * * shall, after the conclusion of war, he entitled to receive annually, for the
term of seven years, if they live so long, one-half of the present pay of such officers, &c."—(Res. May 15, 1778, 2 Journals Old Con.,
554.)
"Resolved, That the resolution of the 15th day of May, 1778, granting half-pay for seven years to the officers of the army who should
continue in service to the end of the war, be extended to the widows of those officers who have died, or shall hereafter die in the
service, to commence from the time of such officer's death, and continue for the term of seven years; or if there he no widow, or in
case of her death or intermarriage, the said half-pay to be given to the orphan children of the officer dying as aforesaid, if he shall
have left any ; and that it be recommended to the legislatures of the respective States to which such officers belong, to make
provision for paying the same on account of the United States."—(Res. Aug. 4, 1780, 3 Jour. Old Cong., 512.)
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