Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File S. 46002, Churchill Gibbs, Va.
Page 1

(3-1776)

SERVICE Va.

Gibbs Churchill

NUMBER

SH 6002.

B.L.Wt. 1694-200.
Va. Half Pay.

CONTENTS
N.A. Acc. No. 874
See 050 073 Half Pay
Churchill Gibbs

[stamped on bottom]
This Envelope Includes 
FINAL PAYMENT VOUCHER
H J  1-5-5-7
Received [illegible] GAO
Page 2

Revolutionary Claims
[Bald Eagle carrying branches with E Pluribus Unum banner to left of Revolutionary Claims]
No. 988 [to right of Revolutionary Claims]
Under the Act entitled An Act for the relief of certain surviving Officers and Soldiers of the Army of the Revolution approved 15 May, 1828.
I certify that [handwritten] Churchill Gibbs [end handwritten] of [ long line to indicate place left blank] in the County of [handwritten] Madison [end handwritten] in the State of [handwritten] Virginia [end handwritten] is entitled to receive pay under the above mentioned Act as a surviving [handwritten] Lieutenant of Infantry [end handwritten] in the [handwritten] Virginia [end handwritten] Line of the Army of the Revolution, at the rate of [handwritten] Twenty six [end handwritten] dollars and [handwritten] Sixty six 2/3 [end handwritten] cents a month, payable during his life on the third day of March and third day of September in each year. 
It is provided by law that the said pay shall not in any way be transferable or liable to attachment, levy, or seizure, by any legal process whatever. 
Given under my hand and the Seal of the Treasury of the United States this [handwritten] Eighth [end handwritten] day of [handwritten] March [end handwritten] in the year one thousand eight hundred and [handwritten] Thirty [end handwritten] and of Independence the fifty [handwritten] fourth. 
S D Ingham [end handwritten]
Secretary of the Treasury. 
Engd by [illegible] Washn.
[stamp on side: Final Payment {illegible} Received from GAO]
[in vertical margins: Pay Certificate of]
Page 3

Revolutionary Claims-- 1837.
For the purpose of obtaining the benefits of an act entitled an act for the relief of certain surviving officers and soldiers of the army of the Revolution, approoved [sic] the 15th of May 1828 I Churchill Gibbs of the County of Madison in the State of Virginia do hereby declare that I was an officer of the Continental line of the Army of the Revolution and served up to the end of the War. In the month of September 1775 I enlisted as a soldier under Capt. John Green (afterwards Col. John Green} who enlisted the first Company raised in Virginia. I continued in his company one year and then enlisted as a Sargeant [sic] [in] the Regiment commanded by Col. George Gibson and marched to the State of Pennsylvania in the early part of the year 1777 and joined the army commanded by General Washington. In the year 1778 I was commissioned a Lieutenant in Gibsons Regiment shortly after the Regiment was transferred to the Continental line in place of the North Virginia Regiment captured at Germantown. The evidence of the transfer of Col George Gibsons Regiment to the Continental line may be seen in Henings Statutes at large Volume the 9th page 337 I was at the battle of Monmouth and at the battle of Stony Point. I returned to Virginia in the year 1780 and continued in service in said Gibsons Regiment until June 1781 when I was taken a prisoner at Petersburg in Virginia and never exchanged until the end of the War, my Commission long since lost or rather worn out 
Churchill Gibbs
Page 4

Virginia Madison County To Wit

Before me Charles R. Gibbs a justice of the peace in and for the County of Madison in the state of Virginia personally appeared [crossed out] Churchill Gibbs, [end of cross out]Angus Rucker and John Breedlove this day both of the said County who did severally made oath that Churchill Gibbs by whom the within declaration was subscribed is generally reputed and believed to have been and officer of the Army of the Revolution in manner as there in stated, Witness my hand and seal this 26th day of February 1830
Chs R Gibbs [hand drawn seal]

I Belfield Cave, clerk of the Court of Madison 
state of Virginia, do hereby certify that Chs. R. Gibbs, before whom the foregoing affidavit was sworn, was at time a justice of the peace, and duly empowered to administer an oath.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and affixed the seal of the said Court the 26th day of February one thousand eight hundred & thirty.
Belfield Cave CMC

[round illegible seal attached]
Page 5

State of Virginia 
County of Fauquier S.S.

Be it known, that on this the 18th day of January 1855, before me a Justice of the Peace in and for the County and State aforesaid personally appeared Penelope Rixey a resident of said County, and made oath according to Law, that she is the legal heir of Lieut Churchill Gibbs who was an officer in the War of the Revolution, and who has heretofore made application for the benefit of the Pension Act of the -

That she is directly interested as claimant in said Pension, and makes this affidavit to be filed with such additional evidence or arguments as my agent may use in prosecuting said claim.

Contesting and revoking all powers of Attorney and authority heretofore given.  I hereby constitute and appoint Francis H Hill of Madison County Virginia my true and  lawful Attorney to prosecute the claim of Lieut Churchill Gibbs, for any amount of Revolutionary Pension, or increase of  Pension that may be due; and I here by authorize my said Attorney to examine all papers or documents in relation to said claim, on  file in the Department  at Washington City or elsewhere, to file additional evidence or arguments and to receive for any exclusive benefit, the certificate
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which may be issued for said claim, which certificate I wish made payable at the Washington City D.C. Agency, to appoint one 
or more substitutes under him for the purposes herein expressed, and to do all things that I might or could do, were I personally present.
Hereby ratifying and confirming all that my said Attorney and Agent shall lawfully do in the premises.
Penelope Rixey

Sworn to, subscribed, and acknowledged before me the day and year above written,
and I hereby certify that I believe the said Penelope Rixey to be directly interested in
said claim as set forth, and to be the identical party therein alleged
Hugh Chinn J.P.

State of Virginia 
County of Fauquier S.S.
It is here by certified that satisfactory evidence has been exhibited before me Clerk of Fauquier County Court, that Pen[elope]
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Penelope Rixey, the party who has sworn to, and acknowledged the foregoing Declaration, and Power of Attorney is the child of the reputed soldier an Officer aforesaid.  I further certify that Hugh Chinn, Esq before whom the foregoing affadavit and Power of Attorney were made and acknowledged was at the time of so doing a Justice of the Peace in and for said County and that the signature purporting to 
be his is genuine

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal of office this the 1st day of January 1855.
Wm H Jennings
Page 8

[folded letter left hand side written vertically]

I hereby substitute F L Brockett Esq. of Alexandria Va for the purposes herein 
expressed. Given under my hand 
Jan 8th 1855
F H Hill

[middle fold]
churchill Gibbs 
Virginia
Act 7 June 1832
AdmittedF L Brocket
Alexandria Virga.a
Page 9

[right hand page]
15 May 1828
Gibbs, Churchill, deceased
March 3. 1846
to
May 30 1846
2 mo. 27 days $77.33 Cls.

FINAL PAYMENT VOUCHER
Received from GAO

FINAL PAYMENT VOUCHER 
Received from GAO
Page 10

State of Virginia Madison County to wit

Be it known that before me Burwell Melone 
a Justice of the Peace in and for the county aforesaid duly authorized by law to administer oaths personally appeared Elizabeth Gibbs 
and made oath in due form of Law that she is the widow of Churchill Gibbs, the identical person who was a pensioner and is now dead and to whom a certificate of pension was issued, which is herewith surrendered- 

That the deceased pensioner resided in the 
County of Madison in the state of Virginia 
for the space of Fifty years before his death 
and that previous thereto he resided in the
County of Orange
Elizabeth Gibbs [her mark] X
Witness Thos N Welch
J C Gibbs

Sworn to and subscribed this 5th day of 
February 1847 - 
Burwell Melone J Peace

Know all men by these present that I Elizabeth Gibbs of the county of Madison and state of Virginia, widow of Churchill Gibbs who was a Revolutionary pensioner of the United States do hereby constitute and appoint Robert A. Banks ~~~ my true and lawful attorney for me and in my name to receive from the agent of the United States for paying pensions in Richmond State of Virginia the ballance of said pension from the 3rd day of March 1846 to the 30th day of May being the day of his death.
Elizabeth Gibbs [her mark] X

[hand drawn seal]
Witness my hand and seal this 5th day of February 1847 - sealed and delivered in presence of Thos N Welch  J. C. Gibbs 

State of Virginia Madison County to wit
Be it known that on the 5th day of February 1847 before the subscriber a Justice of the Peace in and for the said county duly authorized by law to administer oaths, personally appeared
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Elizabeth Gibbs above named widow of Churchill Gibbs and acknowledged the foregoing Power of attorney to be her act 
and deed.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set 
my hand the day and year last above mentioned.
Burwell Malone J Peace

State of Virginia Madison County to wit
I Belfield Cave Clerk of the Court of the Madison County [illegible] at the court - 
house in and for the said county do hereby certify, that satisfactory evidence has been 
exhibited to the said court, That Churchill 
Gibbs was a pensioner of the United States at the rate of Twenty six dollars and sixty six and 2/3 cents per month -was a resident of the county of Madison in the state of Virginia and
died in the said county and state in the year 1846 on the 30th day of May and that he left a widow whose name is Elizabeth Gibbs.

I further certify that Burrell Malone is a justice of the Peace in and for the said county duly commissioned and qualified and that the foregoing signatures purporting to be his are genuine.
 
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal of office this 7th day of February in the year of our Lord 1847.
Belfield Cave 
Clerk of the Court of Madison County.

[round black ink illegible seal attached]

State of Virginia City of Richmond to wit
Be it known that on the 7th day of February 
1847 before me a justice of the Peace in and for the said City duly authorized by the Laws of said State to administer oaths personally appeared Robert A Banks the attorney named in the foregoing Power of attorney and made oath that he has no interest whatsoever in the money he is authorized to receive, by virtue of the foregoing Power as attorney, either by any pledge, mortgage, sale assignment or transfer
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transfer and that he does not know or 
believe that the same has been dispersed 
of to any person whatever.
Robert A Banks

Sworn to and subscribed the day and year above mentioned before me.
James Evans J. Peace.

FINAL PAYMENT VOUCHER 
Received from GAO

Bank of Virginia, Richmond, 9 day of February 1847  received of the Bank of Virginia seventy seven dollars and 33 Cents being for two months and twenty days pension due to Churchill Gibbs deceased from  the 3rd day of March 1846 to the 30. day of May 1840, for which I have signed duplicate receipts.
$77.33 Cts.
Robert A Banks atty
Page 13

In reply to your request of ___, received ___
for a statement of the military history of 
Churchill Gibbs a soldier of the REVOLUTIONARY WAR, you will find below 
the desired information as contained in his
[crossed out: "or his widow's"]  application for pension on file in this Bureau.
S. 46002.

[chart included column headings]
DATES OF ENLISTMENT OR APPOINTMENT/
LENGTH OF SERVICE/RANK/ OFFICERS UNDER WHOM SERVICE WAS RENDERED/
STATE

Dates: 1775
Length Service: 1 yr
Rank: Pri
Officers: Captain John Green
State: Va

Dates: 1777
Length of Service: [Blank]
Rank: Sgt
Officers: Colonel George Gibson

Dates: 1778
Length of Service: [Blank]
Rank: Lieu
Officers: Colonel George Gibson

Dates: 1780
Length of Service: [Blank]
Rank: Adjutant & Aid 
Officers: detached to Gen. Geo R. Clarke Brigade & Major of Gen Parkers Brigade of Militia was taken prisoner at battle of Petersburg, released on parole after two months, and so remained until close of war.

Battles engaged in, Monmouth, Stoney Point, Petersburg

Residence of soldier at enlistment, not stated

Date of application for pension, Feb 20, 1830. 
His cl [claim] was al [allowed]

Residence at date of application, Madison Co Va.
Age at date of application, 73 yrs He d. May 30 1846.
Remarks: There is no data relative to family 
(this is [illegible]) In 1855 his dau Penelope Rixey lived in Fauquier Co Va.

Very Respectfully,
statements about grand child & Gr. Gr. child not use
not contemporaneous & not proven  au Commissioner.

6-2856

[written on left margin]
This paper completed by au, Mar. 16- 1921
Page 14

[left hand page]
April 6/82 W.A. Frost informed 
that no allowance can be made. 
Copy of letter of March 12 1858 
sent - Cin. Cir 486. Care of Capt, 
Ripley  W Chets

5 Augt 1885 Mrs E T Morehead, the
object for a history of the Soldier &
the ine  to be made of the information 
R E Tompkins Ohio that heirs Prior 
not entitled to anything Prior 
w Ju Esb A Bell that there is nothing 
due the Gain Prior 
JG Gooch - no pension or half pay due Prior
1913 Mch 14. History to Mrs. Harry Wood
1917 Mch 15. Hist to Mrs W.W. Kingsburg
1920 May 1-Hist to G.W. Barley Fulton Ma, EW
 1921 Mar 16 History to H.A. Dowd 
1922 Oct 23 History to Mrs. J.h. Russell
See letter in claim of Wm. Wayt

[middle page]
File # 465,002
Revy war
Name: Churchill Gibbs
Rank: Lieutenant...Comp'y: Colo. Gibson
Reg't : Virginia line Rev.y 
Virginia } Agency.

RATE PER MONTH AND DATE 
COMMENCEMENT
$320 per an. Comm'g Mar 8, 1830
Act May 15 1828
See claim set July 5 1832 for half pay
14433 finally allowed

DATE OF CERTIFICATE, AND TO WHOM WENT [left blank]

[right hand  page]
88
1889
Augt 12 1889
Sept 24 Nov 7
Page 15

No 14433
3126
Churchill Gibbs
Lieut
1st VA
Revolution
Discharged ........., 18
4026
See admitted files 46.002
for (illegible) under act 1828
H J Pay    Act 32

Second Page
1880 Nov 22 A. F Randall (unknown) that 
report No 138 - 30th Congress 2 @ (Seficor?) made
 to H.R. Feby 28 1949 contains the 
information desired _ also _ that March
28. 1849 Hlf pay allowed as oft to date
of death Viz May 30. 1846
1885 Augt 18 Mrs. E J March ad for 
history of Soldier  V use to be made of the
in formation
(Margin note) 1889 Aug 12
R E Tompkins Rain not entitled
to anything    Prior
(Margin Note) 1889 Sept
24 MM Julieat A Bell _ that his half pay
$7.9 81.53 was paid in full March 29. 1849
& there is nothing due the heir - Prior
(Margin Note) Nov 7 1890
I. G Gooch - no pension or half pay due   Prior
(Margin Note) March 1
Baldwin & Baldwin & R N Hunter
heirs have no claim to commutation
Page 16

(3-223.)
No. 3984
-----, Ex'r.
OLD WAR INVALID. 
Churchill Gibbs
[crossed out: P. O.]
Lt from Va Revy war
Page 17

                            City of Richmond, July 22, 1824.
Sir, 
            By a resolution of the Citizens of Richmond, we are authorized to make arrangements for the reception of General La Fayette (should he be pleased to honor our City with a visit) in such a manner "as may best comport with his convenience and testify the veneration of the Citizens for his character, their sense of his service and their affection for his pension." It would certainly be of very high gratification to the General, as well as to our Citizens, to see him surrounded by the few of his remaining Brothers in arms who are living in "Virginia the theatre of his toils and of his glory," we therefore respectfully invite you to be present, with him, when he shall arrive. We intend to make every exertion to get the earliest intelligence of the time of the generals expected visit., and shall do so ourselves the pleasure of communicating it to you, but if from any circumstances, we should be disappointed in our intention on this respect and you should be apprised of the visit, through any other authentic source, we pray you to repair to town immediately. On the occasion contemplated, the Citizens of Richmond would be much flattered if you would allow them to consider you as their guest and, under the hope that you will assent to this, we shall deem it a part of our duty, to provide suitable accommodations, as well for you as for the illustrious man, whose contemplated visit is associated with every feeling of gratitude, patriotism and joy.

We Are Sir, very respectfully, 
Your obedient Servants,
 
John Adam, Mayor
Page 18

The pleasure of your company is requested 
at the BALL, at the EAGLE HOTEL, to be given in honor of GENERAL LA FAYETTE.

MANAGERS.
JOHN MARSHALL, ROBERT POLLARD, 
JAMES GIBBON, JOHN BROCKENBROUGH, WILLIAM H CABELL, JOHN  COALTER, 
BENJ. WATKINS LEIGH, JOHN ROBERTSON
PHILIP N NICHOLS, THOMAS RITCHIE, 
PETER V DANIEL, ANDREW STEVENSON,
JAQUELINE B. HARVIE, ROBERT G. SCOTT
BERNARD PEYTON, WILLIAM LAMBERT,
TEMPLE GWATHMEY, THOMAS N PAGE,
JOHN G WILLIAMS, THOMAS GREEN, 
WYNDHAM ROBERTSON, JAMES LYONS, JR 

Richmond, October 15, 1824.
Page 19

I was acquainted with Capt. Gibbs and know that he served during the war of our revolution. I was not myself engaged in [illegible] but was in the fort the morning after its capture and Capt. Gibbs has stated to me a number of minute circumstances which convince me that he was engaged in the action. 

J. Marshall
Page 20

Churchill Gibbs
J. Marshal's certif.
icate

81

Churchill Gibbs
Va. SH 6002

THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES
Page 21

No
Churchill Gibbs
Va
R[illegible]
Letter to Wm. Helm 11. June 1844
copy off[illegbile] enclosed to [illegible]
J.S. Pendleton H.R. Dec 26. 1846
do letter S. F. Leake H.R. Feb. 23. 1847
Hon. AG Jenkins. Mch 12/88 [illegible]
Act June 7 32
Page 22

Churchill Gibbs
Let to Hon. H. Johnson
28 Dec. 1847 -
rec'd [illegible] July 31
Page 23

Churchill Gibbs, [illegible]
Act 5 July '32
claim for half-pay
[illegible]  March 184[illegible]
Page 24

H[illegible] of the papers in the case of "Churchill Gibbs" refered to by Mepir Barbour Jwaldo - in Bowmaler case - 
R W
To
Mr Pritchette   Aug 28/54
Page 25

Will Mr Cole do me the favor to send by the Bearer the papers, mentioned in
the within memorandum of the Secretary.
The Atty Genl [General] has the case of Bowman before him, and asks for them
With Great Respect
Your obs[illegible] Sot[illegible]
K Pritchette
Clk
S Cole Esq
Acting Comm of pensions
Page 26

Dear Sir.

Gatsby's Thursday Evening?

You will receive with this note a copy of the report of the Committee meeting of the House of [intelligible] on the claim of Gibbs.  It is concurrent in its [intelligible] with the report of the Senate Committee & each report is sent to the Secretary of War by the order of its [intelligible] body.
That the conclusion reached by these exhibits is just & legal, I am thoroughly convinced.
If you suppose that I have any wish to embarrass or [intelligible] in this matter, then you [intelligible] great injustice.
I have held no communication with any Member of either Committee or the [intelligible] of the claim, outside of the Committee room. The subject has been [intelligible] in committee,  & no where else.  It was fully & fairly investigated in the facts of
Page 27

day, without permosive entreaty
or any extraneous influence of any
kind whatever. I cannot withold
the expression of my belief, that
from some cause, and that cause
wholly unknown to me, you have
imbibed a prejudice to the claim
or to its advocate. It has given
the pain to perceive this and
pair to express it. I think I do
serve other consideration in it
and if any circumstance has or
carred to awaken or empire the
distruct, ought to know it. Your
frankness & kindness to me at [illegible]
[illegible] day, have undergone a visible
change. I am unconscious of any
just cause for it. I have conversed 
freely with Judge Mason of
this matter on several occasins,
& he can bear me witness, that
nothing has come from me to him
drawing into question, your readers (&
by confidence in it) to do justice
to those concerned. What has he aide
his charge? That some change
Page 28

has taken place in your feelings to me in two plain to be mistaken. 
I am very [illegible]
[illegible]
JS Barbour
Govr Marcy
Page 29

Line 1:  [illegible-read] Januar 17 1848
Line 2: J. S. Barbour [illegiblie-Esg]
Line 3: Enclosed report of the Committee
Line 4: of the [illegible-stonse] of Representation in 
Line 5: the name of Churchill Gibbs_
Line 6: Thanks to the secratary had inscribed
Line 7: a [illegible] produced against the
Line 8 claim or its advocate.

Transcriptor Note: Upside down text start 
Line 1: The H of VA
Line 2: W. L. Marcy
Line 3: War Department [illegible]
Page 30

The Harth

 W. L. Marcy
Page 31

LIne 1: J. S. Barbour Dear sir [illegible-Rev/pensn]
Line 2: of Gov  Marcy and asks that he
Line 3: will be far enough to give
Line 4: an early a decision in the Barrogh
Line 4: in (and sign) [illegible-perplexing] matter of Gibbs'
Line 5: representatives as his other duties
Line 6: if [illegible- hayber] may he will will allow
Line 7: It is nearby a [illegible] [illegible]
Line 8: [illegible] first committee, he witten the case
Line 9: [illegible part the action of Country . to that
Line10: of the War Department and I deerly re-
Line 11: gret that I ever has any corrextion
Line 12: write the case_ for it has been to me
Line 13: a Source of [illegible- unmilifacted ] vexation (and sign]
Line 14: dissappointment_ Febr 23rd 1848
Page 32

Line 1: Monday Morning
Line 2: J S Barbour [Illegible-written] to
Line 3: there Marcy (and sign) witnesses with
Line 4: {illegible- notary] a [Illegible- Rev] [illegible-pens] [illegible-Md] from
there Hunter of the Vermont {illegible-state]
is informed that their  [illegible-horse as]
Line 5: of the vermont is in 10 unit of (and sign]
Line 6: write revolutionary in [illegible] Department of
Line 7: war
Line 8: This hapens be there [illegible]
Line 9: the [illegible] boy case heried by
Line 10: the [illegible] revolutionary of War
Line 11: can be retained at the 3rd [illegible- Revolutionary]
Line  12: Office or will be sowrn by
Line 13: their in office of Va as 9ans sign0 soon
Line 14: as he [illegible]
Line 15: Janry 17th 1848
Page 33

Line 1: Janry 17 1848
Line 2: Hon JS Barbour _
Line 3: The Hon
Line 4: W. L. Marcy
Page 34

Line 1: Dear Col-
Line 2: I formed just now
line 3: in a package of paper-
Line 4: on a different subject_
Line 5: Leaf [Illegible- Lrthirps'] paper
Line 6: yours [illegible]
Line 7: H.C.
Line 8: May 18th
Page 35

Dear Sir:
Mr. Hunter of the [illegible]
to see me las night, and informed me that his colleague Mr. Mason had not [illegible] from [illegible] Ide is exhausted every [illegible]
I wish that I could have an interview with you at some early time - for I think and hope a [illegible] the proper [illegible] your house to Gibbs and his [illegible] that I can satisfy you of the [illegible] that is done to both.

With best Respects
[illegible]
J S Barbour
Jan, 18th 1848

[illegible]
W. L. Marcy
Page 36

Sir:  January 10th 1848

If a [illegible] to you I will [illegible] you a [illegible] in [illegible] to the difficulty that exists   [illegible] in paying Gibbs.  I think is [illegible] of the questions that can be presented.
Respectably [illegible]
J S Barbour
Page 37

[Line 1]: James M Marshall
[Line 2]: cash
Page 38

Line 1: Pens. Off. page 155.
Line 2: Case of James M. Marshall
Line 3: War paid by the State whereto
Line 4: Janry 1. 1842- The Department by division
Line 5: of Janry 10 1845. paid balance wife to Dec 11 1844- the date of his death.
[ Case not in- [illegible]]
Line 6: The cases probably intended to be
Line 7: informed to by the Claimants Ally are those in which
Line 8: judgements were given for half pay to commission
Line 9: at the close of the war Apl 22. 1783, and the De
Line 10: partment allowed back to the date when the
Line 11: officers quitted the services 1781 and 1782.
Page 39

Handed J W Barbour
Feb 8
[illegible] Atty [illegible] Clifford
Rep Treasury [illegible] Cases
Hon J N Mason to SSB
Voters Case, [illegible]
Page 40

Line 1: Dear Sir.
Line 2: warrant to bounty who the
Line 3: Residents of Virginia have given x their mark
Line 4: State of Ky or Virginia code. A {illegible]
Line 5: copy of which I left ask the copies
Line 6: {illegible- Read] the letter of {illegible} been in
Line 7: Va [illegible-made] [illegible-of] orginal last (and sign) the 3rd [illegible- October]
Line 8: letter of Sate Virginia of the [illegible]
Line9: of which I will verify [illegible- whereafter]
Line 10: Revolutionary Pensions
Line 11: J. S Barbour
July 8th '48 (1848)
Line 12: Hon. [ illegible- Campbell] 
Line 13: Chief Clerks
Page 41

Line 1: [illegible-Roberts] of the
Line 2: Secrath (and sign) Ho. Of Reps
Line 3: (and sign) [illegible-correspondence]
Line 4: of the Secratary Interior (and sign)
Line 5: [ illegible] Ho. Of Reps
Line 6: Also the Letter
Line 7: of Hon VA Jno' Bell
Line 8: to
Line 9: Hon. T Ewing
Line 10: Secratary Interior
Page 42

THIRTIETH CONGRESS -- SECOND SESSION.
Report No. 138.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

CHURCHILL GIBBS.

FEBRUARY 28, 1849.
Laid upon the table.

Mr. LYNDE, from the Committee on Revolutionary Claims, made
the following
REPORT:
The Committee on Revolutionary Claims, to whom was referred the
petition of Churchill Gibbs, have carefully examined the case,
with the accompanying documents, and submit the following
report:

It appears that Churchill Gibbs entered the military service as a soldier in the first Virginia State regiment in the year 1775; that he rose by promotion to the rank of lieutenant in that regiment, which office he held at the close of the war in 1783. He was a lieutenant in the regiment commanded by Colonel George Gibson, and was a meritorious officer. By an act of the general assembly of Virginia, passed in May, 1779, half pay for life was promised to the officers of this regiment; and the payment of such debts as this was within the provision of the third section of the act of Congress, approved August 5, 1790, "for settling the accounts between the United States and the individual States;" which class of claims was not presented for settlement within the time limited by the said act of Congress; but this delay was accounted for in the memorial of Virginia, presented to the Senate and House of Representatives in December, 1831; and the act of July 5, 1832, was passed to alleviate the State of Virginia, and the officers of the State line, from the prohibition in the act of August, 1790, and to let in for payment, then, these half pay debts to the enumerated officers, to the same effect as if settled within the time
Page 43

2 Rep. No. 138.

prescribed by the act of Congress of August 5, 1790. The first section of the act of Congress, passed July 5, 1832, provides for the return to the State of Virginia of the money she had paid those officers; and it expressly admits and declares that such payments were "on account of half pay for life promised the officers aforesaid by that commonwealth." The second section requires the payment to Virginia of numerous "unsatisfied judgments," then obtained against that commonwealth by the officers of certain enumerated "regiments and corps;" in which enumeration is "the officers of the regiment commanded by the late Colonel George Gibson."
The third section is in these words: "That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, directed and required to adjust and settle those claims for half pay of the officers of the aforesaid regiments and corps, which have not been paid or prosecuted to judgments against the State of Virginia, and for which said State would be bound on the principles of the half pay cases already decided in the supreme court of appeals of said State."
It will be seen, by an examination of the various laws, that the petitioner is clearly entitled to his half pay for life, as due to him "for the general and particular defence," on admission of the State of Virginia, prior to the 24th day of September, 1788; provided he was an officer of the State line of Virginia, in the regiment commanded by the late Colonel George Gibson, unless he had forfeited his claim by unworthy conduct, or had a half pay judgment against Virginia unsatisfied at the passage of the act, July 5, 1832, or unless he had been paid his half pay by Virginia before that time. And if none of these contingencies excluded his right, then the Secretary of the Treasury was required to adjust and settle his half pay claim, as set out in the said third section; and having adjusted and settled it on the half pay principles decided in the half pay cases in the supreme court of Virginia, "that it should be paid him out of any money in the treasury not otherwise
appropriated." Yet this has not been done.
Questions of fact and not of law, seem alone to present themselves in adjusting and settling, on prescribed principles, the several claims provided for in this section. This claim has been rejected by the Secretary of War upon the opinion of the late Attorney General, as your committee believe, upon a misconception of the facts. The evidence clearly shows that the "discrimination" referred to in that opinion does not preclude the right of this petitioner. (See the letter of the Commissioner of Pensions filed herewith ) And it is believed that his imputed fault showed a spirit and a patriotism, which was commended at the time as worthy of all praise.--See the account of the battle near Petersburg, at the bridge, (where Gibbs is said to have been taken prisoner,) Muhlenberg's Life, and Steuben's general orders, and Governor Jefferson's letter, pages 249, 250, 251. It is in proof that the petitioner had not a judgment for half pay unsatisfied in July 1832, and it is equally so that he never received a payment in half pay according to his contract with Virginia prior to the 24th September, 1788.
It is obvious that the third section of the act of July 5, 1832,
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Rep. No. 138. 3
was mandatory upon the Secretary of the Treasury, and required him to adjust and settle the claim of this petitioner, as one of a class of officers enumerated in the law, unless his half pay had already been paid, or unless he had a judgment for half pay.  The law gave no discretion to the executive officer in this duty.  He was required to pay a defined debt, unless that debt so defined had been previously paid, or unless a judgment for this defined debt had "been obtained and was then unsatisfied."  It is not true (as has been shown to this committee) that Gibbs, the petitioner, was ever paid his "half pay," or that he ever obtained a "judgment for half pay."  It is true that half pay was what was actually due him, and neither more nor less.
There was no contract for commutation.  Half pay was the original debt made by the law of 1779.  Half pay was the only debt due the 24th September, 1788, which is the date of the assumpsit made by the United States, in the act of August 5, 1790.  The act of July 5, 1832, assumed this half pay debt due on the principles adopted in the law of 1790 for adjusting such debts, precisely as if it had been demanded within the time which that law prescribes.  After this assumpsit by the United States, it was not competent for Virginia to change that debt without the consent both of the officer to whom it was due and that of the United States who assumed its payment.  This view is so well sustained in two reports made to this House, and on this subject, by Judge Underwood, of Kentucky, in May, 1838, and by Judge F. A. Marshall, of Kentucky, in 1836, that reference is now made to them.
It is true that the petitioner did receive a judgment for five years' full pay, in lieu of half pay for life.  But at that date a resolution of the general assembly of Virginia, passed by concurrent vote of the senate and the house of delegates the 22d December, 1783, "directed the auditors  not to pay the officers of the State line their half pay until the further order of the general assembly."  That resolution was never revoked.  To speak of a commutation of a debt, solely at the will of one party, where there is not election allowed the other, is  not only a solecism in language, but a confusion of all the distinctions resting in the moral stability of contracts.  In this view, Virginia, when she applied to Congress to discharge this obligation, (after the decision of her courts in 1839,) explicitly stated in her memorial "that she had not commuted her half pay claims, with her State line, as had been done by Congress with the continental line."  And that memorial added, "it was not competent to her to do so."
It is shown that, in numerous instances of these half pay claims, prior to the passage of the act of Congress of July 5,, 1832, commutation of the half pay (by five years' full pay in lieu of it) had been granted by Virginia in special acts of assembly, made on the expressed condition that it was in lieu of the half pay for life.  Here the parties came together, and, in point of fact, there as good pretext for alleging a compromise of the claim.  Notwithstanding this, when the Secretary of the Treasury came to "adjust and settle" the half pay claims of those officers so receiving the
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4 Rep. No. 138.
commutation, he regarded the money thus paid by Virginia, and refunded by the United States, as a pro tanto payment on account of the half pay debt; and, deducting this commutation from the half pay demand, he paid the balance; and yet, in this case of Gibbs, where the commutation was paid by judgment, it was insisted that like justice could  not be done, because it was "a judgment."  It is just to the Attorney General to say that he yielded this point, and admitted that there was no such distinction to be maintained; and in this view the committee fully concur, as Virginia did not legally commute by election her half pay debts in five years' full pay under special laws; so she did not legally commute by particular judgment.
Especially so, as the judgment commutation was for service during the whole war, and was paid, as is stated, in a warrant worth in market only one-eighth of its nominal amount, while the "special act commutation" was often for less service, and was paid by Virginia, in cash, dollar for dollar.
"Did the law intend to draw a distinction between persons wo had performed the same description of service, and to give to one what was refused to another for the like service? I think not.  Such a discrimination would have no foundation in justice."  This quotation is from the present chief justice, when an Attorney General of the United States, delivered on his view of the rights of parties and the duties of the government; not on this question, but upon one closely akin to it in its material analogies.  (See page 910 Opinions of Attorney General.)
The judgments of 1792 were not the prohibited judgments of the third section.  Every case of the half pay claimants had then been technically "prosecuted to judgment;" and Mr. McLane has aptly said so in his letter on Dr. McClurg's claim, in January, 1833.  If this excluding construction may be given to those words "prosecuted to judgment," then no claim whatever can be paid, for everyone had been "prosecuted to judgment;" and, by such an interpretation of the third section, the object and intent of the law would be defeated by the language it employs to give it effect.  The spirit of the act is to do justice.  Where the cases prosecuted to judgment in 1792 denied all pay, full payment has since been made at the Treasury of the United States "according to the principles of the half pay cases decided in the supreme court of appeals," and in those cases prosecuted to judgment in 1792 for a partial payment of the half pay so due, then the claim for half pay must be adjusted and settled by the same principles.  Mr. Attorney General Butler says this is a positive rule in that law, and we are not permitted to look out of it.  (See his opinion.)  Concurring in the several reports heretofore made in this case, two of which have been sanctioned by the vote of the Senate of the United Sates and the House of Representatives, it would be useless labor to provide other and further legislation for payment of this petitioner, That the claim is just, is scarcely contested by the Attorney General; for he refers it to Congress for relief; and if it be just, (as
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Rep. No. 138. 5
the committee think it is,) then it can be settled, and ought to be settled and paid, under the third section of the act of July 5, 1832.  The committee therefore report the following resolution:  Resolved, That the committee be discharged from the further consideration of this case, and that the petitioner have leave to withdraw his papers.

Agreed to by House, + ordered to be printed.
SJ Anderson Clerk
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(3-1776) service VA
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25th Congress, 2d Session. (Rep. No. 121.) Ho. of Reps.
William Vawter - Heirs of. (To accompany bill H.R. No. 139)
December 22, 1837.  Adopted by the committee, and order to be reprinted.
January 26, 1837.
Mr. Underwood, from the Committee on Revolutionary Claims, made the following 
Report:  The Committee on Revolutionary Claims, to which was referred the case of William Vawter's heirs, report:  This case has heretofore received the consideration of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims, and a report at length made thereupon on the 26th January, 1835, by Mr. Marshall.  Your committee adopt the views contained in the said report, and, in conformity thereto, report a bill.
January 26, 1835.  The Committee on Revolutionary Claims, to which was referred the case of William Vawter's heirs, report:  that, on the 25th of May, 1832, an act was approved allowing five years' full pay to the heirs of William Vawter, for their father's services in the revolutionary war, with interest thereon, according to the funding act of August, 1790; which five years' full pay is declared to be commutation of his half pay for life.  On the 5th of July, 1832, the act entitled "An act for liquidating and paying certain claims of the State of Virginia," became a law.  This act provides, among other things, that the Secretary of the Treasury shall pay to the officers of certain regiments of the Virginia line, named in the act, "those claims for half pay which have not been paid or prosecuted to judgment against the State of Virginia, and for which said State would be bound on the principles of the half-pay cases already decided by the court of appeals of said State."  Among the regiments named in the act, and to which the provision just cited relates, is that commanded by Colonel George Gibson; and the main principle of the half-pay cases decided by the court of appeals of Virginia was, that the officers of the Virginia State line who served to the close of the revolutionary war, or who, becoming supernumerary by the reduction of any of the State line regiments, &c., did not refuse to reenter the service if required so to do, were entitled to half pay for life, under the Virginia Act of May, 1779.  The provision of the act of 5th July, 
Thomas Allen, print.
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1832, above recited, is an assumption by the United States of the liability of Virginia, thus defined, to pay to the officers of the regiments named in the act their half pay for life.
William Vawter was a lieutenant in the regiment commanded by Colonel George Gibson, and was one of the officers of that regiment who had brought himself within the principle by which, according to the decision of the court of appeals of Virginia, he was entitled to half pay for life.  (See Reports of the House, 1st session 22d Congress, doc. 191, page 53.)  The claim of William Vawter to half pay for life, having never been paid or prosecuted to judgment against the State of Virginia, is clearly one of those which the Secretary of the Treasury is directed to pay by the act of July 5, 1832.  Accordingly, after the passage of that act, his heirs, alleging that the five years' full pay, with interest, allowed to them in the name of commutation by the special act in their favor of the 25th of May, 1832, was  not equal to the half pay for the life of their father, payable under the act of the 5th of July, applied at the Treasury for payment of the difference under the provisions of the latter act.  This application was refused, upon the ground that the Committee on Revolutionary Claims had, in December, 1831, reported that William Vawter was embraced in the resolution of Congress of 21st October, 1780, promising half pay for life to certain officers, and was, therefore, entitled to commutation; and that a bill, allowing commutation, & c., to his heirs, had passed, &c.
Treasury Department, December 10, 1832.  Sir:  In answer to your letter, I have the honor to inform you that the State of Virginia passed an act in 1779, giving half pay to their military officers, both State and continental, who should become supernumerary, or serve until the close of the war, unless they should refuse to rejoining the army, if supernumerary, and required so to do, or "Congress do not make some tantamount provision for them."  On the 21st October, 1780, Congress passed a resolve allowing half pay for life to the officers of the continental line who should serve to the end of the war, or become supernumerary.  It appears, by the report of the 23d December, 1831, of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims of the House of Representatives, that William Vawter was a lieutenant of Colonel George Gibson's regiment of the Virginia line on continental establishment, and so continued until the resolves of the 3d and 21st October, 1780, made him a supernumerary, and that, as such, he was entitled to the provisions of the resolve of Congress of the 21st October, 1780.  The committee therefore, reported a bill for his relief, which passed, giving him commutation, with interest.  This placed him on a footing with other Virginia continental officers, who, if Congress had  not made provision for them by the resolve of the 21st October, 1780, would have been entitled to half pay for life from Virginia.  Under these circumstances, it is not conceived that Mr. Vawter has any claim on the United States.  I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Louis McLane, Secretary of the Treasury.  The Hon. R. M. Johnson, H. of Reps.
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[Rep. No. 121] 3
It is evident that the belief that Vawter was embraced by the resolution of 21st October, 1780, led to the allowance of commutation to his heirs, and to their exclusion from the provision of the act of 5th July, 1832.  The basis of the report, and of the allowance of commutation, is the fact that the 9th Virginia continental regiment having been captured at Germantown, Gibson's regiment, acknowledged to have been originally a State regiment, commanded by State officers, was, by an act of the Virginia Legislature, substituted in the place of the captured regiment until the latter should be exchanged; and that it did, in fact, serve for some period, not exactly known, with the continental army, out of the State of Virginia.  The report goes on to state, that Vawter had served with this regiment until, by the arrangement of the army, at the close of the year 1780, he was deranged; and, from these facts, concludes that he was embraced in the resolution of 21st October, 1780.  The facts here stated certainly present very strong ground for the conclusion to which the committee came, and for the allowance of commutation.  They were of the most persuasive force, when the alternative seemed to be, that of Vawter's case did not come within the resolution of 21st October, 1780, his services were to go unremunerated.  But the evidence already referred to (contained in doc. 191, 1st sess. 22d Cong.) was  not only not before the Committee on Revolutionary Claims when the facts of this case were first investigated, and the report made thereon, but its existence was scarcely known, even in Virginia.  The discovery of that evidence forced upon Virginia the full acknowledgment of her liability, under the act of May, 1779, to pay to the officers of her State regiments the half pay for life promised in that act.  This evidence proves that, notwithstanding the facts stated with respect to Gibson's regiment, it was, at the close of the war, regarded as a State regiment, whose officers were entitled to the provision of the act of May, 1779, and were not embraced by the resolve of October, 1780.  The subsequent application of Virginia to the United States (in 1831) to assume the performance of her promise of half pay for life to the officers of this and other regiments, and the express assumption of the United States, by the act of 5th July, 1832, to pay the half pay for life to the officer of this regiment, as due to them under the act of May, 1779, show conclusively the opinion of both Governments as to the character of the regiment, and determine finally the rights of its officers.  If they were entitled to the half pay for life from Virginia, they were not entitled to half pay for life, or commutation, under the resolves of Congress; and if embraced by the resolve of Congress of October, 1780, they were thereby deprived of all claim to half pay for life from Virginia.  In affirming their right to the half pay from Virginia, the public acts referred to decide, finally, that they were not embraced by the resolve of 21st October, 1780.
The case of Vawter cannot be distinguished from that of the other officers of his regiment, either as regards the application of the resolve of Congress, or the effect of the decision implied in the act of July 5, 1832.  If, because he was an officer of a regiment which had been substituted in the place of a continental regiment, he is to be considered as one to whom the resolve of October, 1780, offers half pay for life, for the same reason that offer must be considered as extending to all the officers of the same regiment.  If the fact that he was reduced or deranged at
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4 [Rep. No. 121.]
the end of the year 1780 demonstrates that he was embraced by the resolution, or of itself brings him within it, the fact that the others were retained had the same effect as to them; for the resolution provides as well for the officers who should be retained, as for those who should be reduced.  The act of 5th July 1832, asserting the right of the officers of Gibson's regiment to half pay for life from Virginia, denies their right to the half pay under the resolve of Congress, and to the five years' full pay, into which it was commuted.  It makes no discrimination between the officers of that regiment, who had brought themselves within the decision of the court of appeals, but deems all such entitled to half pay from Virginia, and provides for the payment of all arrearages to them.
It is unquestionable that, but for the allowance of commutation by the act of 25th May, 1832, Vawter's heirs would have received the full amount of their father's half pay for life, under the act of 5th July.  What, then, is, and ought to be, the effect of the former act?  Does it preclude Vawter's heirs from the benefit of the latter?
The act of 25th May was passed upon the supposition, and impliedly asserts the fact, that the officers of Gibson's regiment were embraced in the resolve of 21st October, 1780.  The act of 25th May, so far as it relates to that regiment, rests upon, and impliedly asserts, the fact that its officers were not embraced in that resolution.  If the fact assumed in the first act to be true, then neither Vawter nor the other officers of Gibson's regiment were entitled to the half pay for life from Virginia, which the last act directs to be paid.  If the fact assumed in the last act be true, then Vawter was not entitled to the commutation allowed to his heirs by the first; and he and all other officers of Gibson's regiment, whose services brought them within the principle of the cases decided by the court of appeals of Virginia, were entitled to half pay for life from that State, and were properly provided for by the act of 5th July.  Comparing these two acts, in every point of view; considering the source of the application for each; the nature of the evidence on which each was based; the amount of money involved in each; and the degree of consideration given to each, by both Houses of Congress, the committee are of opinion that, as to all matters of fact and principle involved in each, the act of 5th July must be allowed superior weight and authority.  There are, moreover, of the opinion that the evidence in support of the right of the officers of Gibson's regiment, as settled by the act of 5th July, is, itself, entitled to great weight.  It follows that, when the act of 25th may passed, allowing commutation to Vawter's heirs, they had no claim whatever against the United States, either for commutation or for half pay, but  had a claim against the State of Virginia for half pay during the life of their father; which claim against the State of Virginia was afterwards assumed by the United States, by the act of 5th July.
There is no ground to suppose that, in applying for commutation, or in allowing it, either party intended to deceive the other; on the contrary, the facts, as then believed, justified both the application and allowance.  The question, then, is, whether the payment by the United States to Vawter's heirs of a sum supposed to be due from the former to the latter, when, in fact, nothing was due between the, shall be held to be a full satisfaction of a greater sum actually due from Virginia to Vaw-
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[Rep. No. 121.] 5
ter's heirs, and of which the payment was afterwards assumed by the United States?  In the opinion of the committee, this question can only be answered in the negative.
It is a known fact, that in cases in which Virginia, shrinking from the full discharge of her promise, had authorized partial payments, (for instance, five years' full pay,) with the express declaration that they were to be taken as a full discharge of the half pay for life, and the payments were made and received under this declaration, they have yet been considered at the Treasury of the United States as (what they in reality were) mere partial payments; and the residue of the half pay for life has been paid, under the provisions of the act of 5th July.  But if a partial payment by Virginia, the real debtor, made and received under an express declaration on her part that it is to be taken as full satisfaction of the whole demand, cannot, in that elevated sense of moral right which characterizes this Government, be considered as extinguishing the residue of a just debt; upon what principle can the United States, after having assumed to pay to the officers of Gibson's regiment the entire amount of the half pay for life promised by Virginia, and remaining unpaid, claim that a previous payment to one of those officers (to whom they then owed nothing) of a sum less than that which, by the assumption, is now found to be due to him, shall be considered as a full satisfaction of this greater sum justly due?  The committee do not find authority for this position in any principle compatible either with justice or the character of the Government, and think it would better comport with both to consider the payment made under a mistaken liability, and in a mistaken name of commutation, as so much paid towards the real claim of half pay for life, rather than to rest upon the full discharge of the mistaken claim as a full satisfaction of a greater one which is real.  Upon the whole, the committee do not find, in the passage of the act for the benefit of Vawter's heirs, and the payment under it, a reasonable ground for excluding them from the benefit of the act of 5th July, 1832, which as been, mor may be, received by all the other officers of Gibson's regiment.  They therefore report a bill authorizing the payment to the heirs of William Vawter of so much of the half pay for the life of their father as remains unpaid, after crediting the sum already paid under the said act of 25th May, 1832.
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29th Congress, 
2d Session. 
Rep. No.88. 
Ho. of Reps.
Churchill Gibbs.
March 3, 1847.
Read and Laid Upon the Table.
Mr. Joseph Johnson, from the committee on revolutionary claims made the following REPORT:
The committee on revolutionary claims, to whom was referred the petition of Churchill Gibbsm make the following report:
The petitioner sets forth that he entered the military service of the country the 22d day of September 1777, and that he continued in service in that office to the close of the war of the revolution. And his petition is, that he be paid commutation of five years full pay from the United States, because that regiment was transferred in October 1777, from the State Line of Virginia into the continental line of the army of the United States, in lieu of the ninth Virginia regiment captured at the battle of Germantown. The committee have bestowed the greater deliberation on this claim because similar demands have been presented for commutation by other officers of that regiment, who are similarly situated with this petitioner. 
It is in proof to the committee that
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Line 1: Pensioners Voucher
Line 2: The Gibbs
Page 59

I do hereby certify that Capt. Churchill Gibbs of the County of Madison in the state of Virginia enlisted in the Revolutionary war under Capt. John Green of Cullpeper county in the state of Virginia in Sept 1775 for one year and marched to Williamsburg an served his time out at which time he said Gibbs was discharged and further say that said Gibbs enlisted as a seargant in the first 1777 and march to Williamsburg the first of 1777 and joined Col George Gibsons Regt and early in 1777 marched to Pennsylvania and joined the main continental army commanded by Gen Washington and while at the north he was appointed a lieutenant in 1778 in Col George Gibsons Regement. After that regiment was transfered to continental establishment in the place of the 9th Virginia Continental Regt taken at Germantown and continued in the Northern Army untill the said Regt marched to Virginia in 1780 and belong to said Rgt when he was taken prisoner in 1781 and was not exchanged until the end of the Revolutionary war. I further state that he held his commission untill the end of the revolutionary war as a lieutenant but has since lost it from every thing I have heard and believe given under my hand this
Angus Rucker
Formerly Captin
Col George Gibsons Regt
Madison County 
This day Angus Rucker personally appeard before me a justice of the peace in and for  said County and made oath to the above Certificate, Given under my Land and Seal this 20th day 1830
Chs R Gibbs seal
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Transcription Note: Only text in cursive transcripted, and line numbered by row of appearnce of cursive text.

Line 1: Churchill Gibbs
Line 2: Madison
Line 3: Virginia
Line 4: Philip P Barbour
Line 5: Lieutenant
Line 6: Contiental
Line 7: Commanded by Col [ G or 6] George Gibson
Line 8: Twentith Febuary
Line 9: 1839 Eighteen Hundred and Thirty
Line 10: Churchill Gibbs
Line 11: James Blakey
Line 12: Lewis S Evrett
Line 13: Charliz R Gibbs
Line 14: Madison Virginia
Line 15: Churchill Gibbs
Line 16: Twenteth Febuary
Line 17: 1830 Eighteen Hundred and Thirty
Line 18: Chl R Gibbs
Line 19: Belfield Cave_
Line 20: Madison_ Virginia
Line 21: Charles R Gibbs_
Line 22: 22nd Febuary
Line 23 One thousand eight hundered thirty
Line 24: Belfied Cave Ensg
Line 25: R.S. Briscoe
Line 26: Washington Dristrict Columbia
Line 27: Philip P Barbour
Line 28: 8th March
Line 29: 1830 R.S Briscoe J. Peace
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Churchill Gibbs
No. 1694
[illegible]
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Transcription Note: Lines ordered by the appearance of row of cursive. Example : line 1 is the first transcript line where cursive appears on document. Only cursive text transcripted.

Line 1: Dristrict of Columbia
Line 2: Washingto
Line 3: Churchill Gibbs about Seventy Three 
Line 4: [illegible] the [illegible] United States One
Line 5: George Gibson Virginia as a Lieutenaunt
Line 6: Churchhill Gibbs
Line 7: Location Braces: { District of Columbia
Line 8: Washington County}
Line 9:  to not Aforesaid
Line 10: Nobl. Clarke Justice of the Peace of the County
Line 11: Churchill Gibbs
Line 12: [illegible-facts] thirteen states 13th Decm.
Line 13: Nobl Clarkle
Line 14: I [illegible-issued] evidence from the Treasury Department , see Certificate
Line 15: filled with the papers upon which Warrant No 1695 [illegible-issued] to
Line 16: Capt. Angus Rucher of the Virginia line
Line 17: Wm Gordon
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Line 1: Why of
Line 2: opnion of this [illegible-the] land
Line 3:[illegible-case]
Line 4: or Mc Clurg's case
Line 5: " a judgement in 1792
Line 6: is no bar to " [illegible- Haebpos" or Latin reference]"
Line 7: " under the Act 5th July 1832"
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Top Left Note:
Line 1: W Clauir
Line 2: for this is must
Line 3: have been filed wi this
Line 4: Case for reference

Letter
Line 1: Treasure Department
Line 2: Copy January 26th 183
Line 3: Sir
Line 4: After the best consideration I have been able to give
Line 5: the claim which you left with me on behalf of the representatives
Line 6: of the late Dr. M. Clurg under the act of the 5th of July lest,
Line 7: I cannont satisfied, that, as "director general of the hospital"
Line 8: he was entitled to half pay under the laws of Virginia . It
Line 9: appears that he was appointed " Physician and Director Gen=
Line 10: eral of the Hospital" in January 1777, and  severed in that
Line 11: capacity until June following, when the medical depart=
Line 12: ment was recognized; and that he was afterwards con=
Line 13: tinued as " Director General of the Hospital" untill January
Line 14: 1780, where he was dismissed a a super [illegible-numerary]. The half
Line 15: pay debts of Virginia make no provision for " Director Gen=
Line 16: eral of the Hospital," therefor whatever claim he may have
Line 17: has must be as Physcian under his appointment in January 1777. And although the terms of the act of May 1779
Line 18: confine the half pay of Physicians to those applinted to the
Line 19: virginia "battalions or any of them who served to the end of
Line 20: the war, or became [illegible-supernumerary] on the reduction of any
Line 21: the said battional" (and sign) If is is to believed, that , looking
Line 22: to the true intent of that Act, tis perovisions maybe extended
Line 23: to the case of Dr. M. Clurg. If is true that are adverse de=
Line 24: cisions was made by the Court of appeals in 1792. But
Line 25: many of the half pay claims which were finally allowed
Line 26: by the [illegible-superance] Court of appeals were in like manner
Line 27: reflective in 1791 and 1792. The Secratary of the Treasury,
Line 28: however is by the act of Congress required to adjust and
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Line 1: settle claims under the act according to the principles of the
Line 2: half pay cases already decided in the sureme Court appeals;
Line 3: and I am of opnion that the principles of these cases apply to
Line 4: that of Dr. M. Clurg.
Line 5: These difficulties being removed, another presents
Line 6: itself, arising from the from the phreaseology of the act of  Congress
Line 7: the 3rd section of which, giving the Secratary of the Treasury
Line 8: power over these claims, refers particulary to the claims of 
Line 9: offices belonging to the regiments and corps mentioned in thee
Line 10: foregoing section. But in regard to this, also I am disposed
Line 11: to look rather to the spirit and intention of Congress, that,
Line 12: to the strict letter of the law, and consider the case as 
Line 13: withstanding the favorable views which have been taken
Line 14: of the case, and the liberal construction that has been given
Line 15: to the laws relating to it, no other allowance can be made
Line 16: thasn the half pay of a Physician. But this rate of allowance
Line 17: If I mistake not, accords with that by which law as
Line 18: granted to Dr. M. Clurg for the same services by the State
Line 19: of Virginia at the close of the War.
Line 20: the claim will be settled accordingly and the amount
Line 21: transmitted to whoever may be authorized to recieve it. 
Line 22: Yours (and sign)
Line 21 (signed) Lewis Mc. Laine
Line 23: Secty of the Treasury
Line 24: B Watkins Leigh Esgn
Line 25: Richmond
Line 26: Va
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No claim for James McAdams or McDow or Moses Nelson described in these papers.  Thymus have been filed for reference in this claim.
State of Tennessee}
Bedford County}. SS
Be it known that before me Geo W Ruth a justice of the Peace in and for the county and state above mentioned personally appears Moses Nelson an made oath in  [illegible] front  of law and [illegible] that he was well acquainted with James McAdams a private in a company of foot men in revolutionary war and that he was a resident of the State of North Carolina and under General Marion and Captain McPEak and several others as he went out several times he [illegible] Moses Nelson does not remember who was his other captains and that he served under Sergt Gates and was at Gates [illegible] and that James McAdams Jr is his youngest son [illegible] sworn to and subscribe before me this 1 day of July 1957
Geo W Ruth. Moses X Nelson his mark
Witness
State of Tennessee
Buford County SS 
I Jas H Thompson Clerk of the COuinty Court of [illegible] territory do hereby certify that Geo W Ruth whose
Page 67

No. 4
Brief of the case of Churchill Gibbs dec?

Act 5 July '32

Prepared by G. W. Crump
Page 68

Gibbs' Administrators act of 5 July 1832
It is summited
1st That the court of appeals of Virginia in 1830 decided, that the officers of certain Regiments who had no resigned or otherwise vacated their commissions before the proclamation of peace were entitled of absolute right to the "half pay for life" promised by the act of the Virginia Legislature in May 1779.
2nd That Virginia in consequence of that decision and of the judgements rendered under it, applied to Congress for relief by a memorial setting forth distinctly three objects.
1st. An appropriation to refund all the had paid in consequence of the obligations she had contracted under the Act of May '79 promising half pay for life [illegible]
2nd - An appropriation equal to the amount of the judgements then recently rendered and outstanding. ([illegible] amt. of judgements and 2d section of act of 5th July 1832)
3d to exonerate her from all future liability for claims founded upon the promise in the act of May '79, as expounded by the decision of the Court of Appeals in 1830.
3d That this memorial was referred to a committee, who reported at length in favor of each of the foregoing objects of its prayer - [illegible] to refund
Page 69

2d to indemnify against judgments.
3d. to provide a full exoneration for all claims of half pay recognized by that decision of the Court of Appeals.
4th - That the 1st & 2d Sections effectually provide for the refunding and indemnity which [illegible] the 1st and 2d objects sought by the memorial and sanctioned by the report
5th - That the 3d Section framed with the express purpose of fulfilling the 3d object of the memorial and report (viz. the exoneration of Virginia from all future liability for the half pay claims founded upon the act of '79, as expounded in the late decision of the Court of  Appeals) vests the authority and imposes the duty upon the Department, "to adjust and settle those claims for half pay" for which Virginia "would be found on the principles of the half pay cases already decided by the supreme Court to Appeals" "which have not been paid or prosecuted to judgment"
6th. That the phraseology of this section conforms strictly and literally to the exoneration sought by the memorial and sanctioned by the report
1st By conferring the ^judicial authority to adjust and settle - 
2d. By describing the particular class of claims to be adjusted and settled.
3d. By establishing as the rule of
Page 70

adjudication that Virginia "would be found on the principles of the half pay cases already decide in the Supreme Court of Appeals of that State"-
7th. That all claims for half pay for which the State of Virginia "would be found upon the principles of the half pay cases already decided by the Supreme Court of Appeals of that State" are provided for in [totidem verbis underlined] which has not been paid or prosecuted to judgement - 
8th. That the exclusion of the half pay claims for which Virginia would be found on the principles of the decision referred to, was necessary introduced to adopt the act. to the facts set forth in the memorial.
1st that Virginia has "paid" "claims for half pay" "for which she was found on the principles" of that decision - 
2d that there were "claims for half pay which have been" prosecuted to judgement for which Virginia was indemnified by the 2d Section of the Act.
9th. That it is admitted that Gibbs served to the end of the war, and if he had never received any part of the half pay promised by the Act of '79 the Department would be found to adjust it under the 3d. Section by paying him according to the decision of the Court of Appeals half pay to the day of his death - 
10th. That this "claim for half pay upon the principles of the decision of the Court of Appeals" (which are adopted
Page 71

as the rule of adjudication in adjusting and settling the half pay claims) has been partially discharged in 1791, while claimant was alive, by a judgement for 5 years full pay (which the Continental officers had consented to receive in heir of their half pay for life, but) which the officers of his Regiment was never entitled to upon the principles of that decision which are in words adopted as the rule of adjusting his claim founded upon the promise of the Act of May '79)
11th - That from the passage of the Act to the present time the partial payment of commutation under special acts to the heirs of supernumerary officers retiring before the end of the war, has constituted no bar to the adjustment of their half pay claims upon the principles lately decided by the Court of Appeals deducting such partial payments, although that payment was made upon condition of relinquishing all other claim
12th That the report of the Commissioner of Pensions, admits that there is no reason why the receipt of commutation and interest in 1791. either by judgement in the particular or ^a parallel case, should be a bar to his claim for the half pay for which Virginia would be bound on the principles of the half pay cases lately decided in executing an act which has been uniformally interpreted to provide for the half pay claims of those who received commutation by the special favor of a particular enactment - any other
Page 72

interpretation would place those officers who literally fulfilled the condition, upon which half pay was promised, and which the Court of Appeals in the decision referred to, decreed was [illegible] absolute right, upon a worse forting, in adjusting that right than the supernumerary officers, who retired before the end of the war, and yet have uniformally received the benefit of this Act passed with the sole intent to discharge Virginia from all the consequences of that decision of the Court of Appeals in 1830
13th That his "claim for half pay" has not been prosecuted to judgement or paid," and that the receipt by himself in 1791 of 5 years full pay, by the judgement of an inferior court on account of that claim, cannot be conclusive against his right to half pay for life under a contract subsequently ascertained and defined by the decision of the highest Court of the State , upon any principle of law by which the fulfilment of contracts is secured - 
The legal presumption that a judgement was final in relation to its subject matter, between the parties, is overrode, by the subsequent decree of the Court of final resort, and the statuatory proceeding repudiating that judgement and providing for the adjustment full rights under the contract as defined by that decree - 
14th That the act being remedial is entitled to any interpretation which shall effectually carry out the acknowledged and definite object contemplated by its enactments which may not strain
Page 73

or violate the language employed
Page 74

Document in Print
Page 75

Document in Print. page 2of 2 see image 74.
Page 76

1837

No. of Virginia Payment 1046

Revolutionary Claims
Treasury Department 
5 March 1830

Churchill Gibbs
In the County of Madison in the state of Virginia has applied to the Secretary of the Treasury of the benefits of the act, entitled, "An Act for the relief of certain surviving officers and soldiers of the army of the Revolution," approved on the 15th of May, 1828. He also states that he was an officer on the Continental line, and served as such to the end of the [illegible] at which period he was a Lieutenant in the ---- regiment of the Virginia line; and that he received commutation certificates for the five years full pay granted by the resolve of 22 Mach, 1988; and further, that he has received as a pensioner since the 3d of March, 1826, nothing. [[strikethrough]] dollars paid to him by the [[/strikethrough]] agent in the State of 
The Third Auditor is requested to report how far these several statements are corroborated by the records in his office.

By the order of the Secretary F. A. Dickens.

Treasury Department
Third Auditor's Office, 8 March 1880
[illegible]
It appears by the records in this office, that final settlement certificates have been issued for the commutation of five years full pay to Churchill Gibbs-[illegible] in the Virginia line, [[strikethrough]] accounting to dollars [[/strikethrough]]. It further appears that Churchill Gibbs is now on the pension list of the any [illegible] agency that has been since the 3 March 1826 [[strikethrough]] at the rate of per month[[/strikethrough]]. 

The Revolutionary [illegible] in this Office furnish no information whatever in relation to the services of Lieutenant Churchill Gibbs of the Virginia Line.

- Peter Hagner and
Page 77

Churchill Gibbs
Act July 532

Cab dated Mar 28' 49
Recorded Volume
43, Page 201.
Page 78

Pension Office
March 28 1849
I hereby certify that I have examined the
claim of the legal Representatives of Churchill
Gibbs, under the act of Congress of the 5th July 1832, entitled "An act to provide for liquidating and paying certain claims of the State of Virginia", and that I find the said Churchill Gibbs was a Lieutenant in the First Virginia State Regiment when he was captured by the enemy on the 25th April 1781, and that he continued a prisoner until the end of the war
and thereby became entitled to half pay for
life. That he died on the 30th May 1846, and
Thomas W. Welch is the administrator on his
estate.

I am therefore of opinion that his claim should be allowed at the rate of one hundred and sixty dollars per annum from the 6th February 1781 to the 30th day of May 1846; that there should be deducted therefrom two thousand four hundred and sixty eight dollars, being the amount paid by the State of Virginia to the said Gibbs in his life time as commutation and interest, and that the balance should be paid to the said Administrator Thomas N. Welch.

J. L. E

approved
(Signed T. Ewing
Sec. [illegible]
Page 79

Top of page note
Line 1: No claims for this
Line 2: John Neson
Line 3: or Moris Nelson

Location Brace : State of Virginia
Line 2: Beaford County
 Letter
Line 1: This day comes before me
George W Ruth acting Just
Line 2: of the Peace in and for said
Line 3: county Sarah Marshall and swor her oath
Line 4: in [illegible] form of Law and sayeth that the
Line 5:was well aquainted with Capt John Nelson
Line 6: of the Revolutionary War and this Moris Nelson
Line 7: is a sone of the [Illegible-Captain] John Neloson who Commisioned
Line 8: a [illegible- company] of [illegible- lads] in the Revolutionary War and
Line 9: the [illegible- Capt or leiuf] John Nelson was a resident of the state
Line 10: of North Caroline and from the County of [Illegible}
Line 11: and was [illegible] of the [illegible] of the North
Line 12: Caroline when he went into the country 
Line 13: of which is work to and subscribed to before
Line 14: me this July 1st 1857
Line 15: Her
Line 16: Sarah X Marshall
Line 17: mark
Line 18: Geo. W. Ruth J. Peace

Line 19: Location brace: State of Virgina
Line 20 : Beaford County

Line 21: J [illegible-Jr] [illegible-H  or S 9and sign) ]Thompson
Line 22: Clerk of the County
Line 23: Court of said County do hereby certify
Line 24: that Geo W Ruth whose given [illegible]
Line 25: [illegible- witness] to the sworn affidavit is and
Line 26: acting Justice of the peace in and for
Line 27: said county duty [illegible] [illegible] served
Line 28[illegible-untill] [illegible] and thut his extended
Line 29:  [illegible-hath] an instructed to tell truth and
Line 30: endure. Here written wherefor I have
Line 31: hereunto part my hhand and
Line 31: affixed it [illegible-the] seal of my office
Line 32: [illegible] office in [illegible] make this
Line 34: 1st day of July 1857
Line 35: JS H Thompson or [illegible- SVr S and Thompson]
Line 36: Clerk
Page 80

Madison County, Virginia 31st day of July 1843
Commissioner of pensions
Sir:
When I made my application for a pension under the act of congress of June 7th1839 I claimed for my service as Lieutenant [illegible] I was not aware of that time that services in the staff would entitle me to additional pay but having learned that Captain Philip Slaughter and 2 others have received an increase of pension for such services I use [illegible] to [illegible] upon oath my service in the staff during the Revolution: I was a Lieutenant in Col George Gibsons Regiment in the winter of 1779 [illegible] from the north in May 1780. I was in Williamsburg VA where I settled my accounts and was serving the [illegible]
by General George Roger Clark his Aid de Camp having preciously acted as Adjutant to a Brigade that was forming to march the invasion of General Leslie, I acted as Aid de Camp to General Clark as long as he [illegible] upon that station when he left for the west I was [illegible] by General Parker Brigade Major tp his Brigade of Militia in which capacity I acted until this [illegible] for left the coasts of [illegible] and the brigade was discharged and during my service a for said I was taken prisoner in Petersburg VA together with Major Meere, Major Mitchell, Jeffery Yancey Lieutenant Holms, Rudder, Glasscock and about one hundred soldiers [illegible] one and all placed on board a prison ship where we were kept about two months [illegible] were paroled
Page 81

in which situation I remained untele the final closing of the war.  In the confusion of the time when I was captured, I lost my orderly book and consequently have lost the best [illegible] of my staff services and know of no [illegible] now living who can testify to my service of [illegible] de [illegible] + Brigade Major but for the truth of what I have stated I appeal to the God before whom I must shortly appear for its [illegible]
Churchill Gibbs

State of Virginia
Madison County SS

I Robert A Banks, a justice of the peace in foresaid county in the state aforesaid do hereby certify that Churchill Gibbs did this day swear before me on the Holy Evangelist that the statements in the foregoing declaration are true to the best of his knowledge recollection.  The belief and that he also subscribed the same; I do further certify that I am well acquainted with the said Churchill Gibbs, that he is receiving a Pension as a Lieutenant in the army of the Revolution and that his is a gentleman of veracity + integrity and entitled to full credit in his statements above.
Given under my hand + seal this 12th day of September 1843
Robert A Banks J Peace
Page 82

State of Virginia
Madison County
I Belfield Cave Clerk of the County court of said county of madison certify that Robert A. Banks is a magistrate as above and that the foregoing certificate purporting to be his is genuine - 
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto affixed my seal of office, and subscribed my name this 16th day of September in the year 1843.
Belfield Cave Clerk
William Helm
Warrenton,
Virginia
Page 83

This court of appeals held in Richmond the 2 day of May 1792 this Commonwealth 
against Churchill Gibbs state a lieutenant in the first Virginia state regiment            appeller
Upon an appeal from an [illegible] of the District Court held in Richmond the tenth day of September 1791.
whereby I was ordered that the auditor of public accounts should issue to the appeller  certificribes for five years full pay in commutation for half pay during life bearing an interest at the rate of set four centum per annum from the twenty second day of April 1783, the day on which the troops roused for the last war were discharged in this state.  
This day came the appeller by his counsel and therefore the successful of the record of the order a foresave being seen and inspected.  It seems to the court here that there is no error in 
the said order.  Therefore, it is considered that the same be affirmed.
Which is ordered to the certified to the said District Court a copy [illegible]
J Brown C. C. A.
[illegible] 480
480
  20
12/500 of 48 per month
   25 [illegible] for annum 9 years
[Illegible] a cert for [illegible] 480 [illegible] int was for [illegible] 260. 80   
Churchill Gibbs
25.g  4.  0
       1.4o
260   8.0 int

4th May 1792. Churchill Gibbs {illegible} 480.   commutation

The [illegible] is a copy from a voucher on file in the department 
[illegible] Office Richmond
11 February 1530
Jas E Heath
[illegible] pub accounts of Virginia
Page 84

Churchill, Gibbs esq.

Madison 
Court House
Page 85

                                  Auditor Office Nov 12 1829


I certify that it appears from a list in this office of such of the officers and Soldiers of the Virginia line during the Revolutionary war, who received certificates for the  balance of the full pay or depreciation, that Churchill Gibbs a Lieutenant of infantry received on the 26th March 1783 a warrant for 236.66.

                                        Given under my hand 
                                         as Auditor of Virginia
                                        (signature)
                                         Jas E. Heath

Dear Sir,
   (illegible) (illegible) leaving (illegible) securely a moment to (illegible) to the writing of Letters have prevented my (illegible) answering yours of 13th oils. Above I send you all the information this office will furnish.

                                   Yours very Respectfully
                                               (signature)
                                           Jas E. Heath (seal)
Page 86

I do hereby certify that Capt Churchill Gibbs of the County of Madison and state of Virginia enlisted in 1775 as a soldier under Capt John Green (illegible) and served twelve months in said company. Shortly after he was discharged, he enlist3ed as a sergeant and march'd to Williamsburg and joined Col. Gibson's Regiment n the first of 1777 and early in the same year march'd to the north , and joind the main Continental Army under the command of Genl. Washington in Pennsylvania, and while at the north was appointed a Lieutenant in said Gibson's Regt. In 1780 march'd to Virginia and in the year 1782 was taken Prisoner and was not exchanged until the end of the war. (illegible)  state that I believe he has lost his Commission. Given under my hand this 20th day of January 1831
his 
(signature)
John Breedlove
mark
Madison County Va. (illegible)
This day John Breedlove personally appeared before the subscriber a justice of the peace in and fore the County afore said and made oath that he had reason to believe the above certificate to be substancially true, Given under my hand Seal this 20th day of February 1830
(signature)
Chs R Gibbs (seal)
Page 87

Col. Campbell
Certificate
Page 88

(illegible) spring of the year 1777 I was (illegible) with (illegible) Churchill Gibbs who was then in the army raised for the defence of this State, in the month of June following the (illegible) to which he was attach. Marched to joined the army to the north under the Command of the Gen Washington where he continues until about (crossed out) Commencement of the year 1780 when part of that army was marched to the south as re rec. d the Commutation in Lieu of half pay for life, he was considered to be in Service until (illegible) End of the war (crossed out).
                                                         Wm Campbell
Richmond 4th (illegible) 1815
Page 89

Line 1: Copy
Line 2: The United States -D
Line 3: To Churchill Gibbs deceased
Line 4: Dristrict in the 1st VA state Dept
Line 5: for this half -pay from 6 July 1781
Line 6: to May 30 1846 when he died, living 65 years
Line 7: Illigible
Line 8: deducting therefore, the amount
Line 9: paid by the state of virginia as
Line 10: Communtation (and sign) intrest
Line 11: 2.468oo/7.981.53
Line 12: Allowed by decision of the Secratary
Line 13: of the Interior, dated March 28 1849
Line 14: Act _ to provide for liquidating
Line 15: (and sign) paying [illegible-arbitration] claims of the State of
Line 16: Virginia, appeared July 5, 1832
Line 17: Dollr 7.981.53
Line 18: [illegible-Treausury] Depart-
Line 19: Off of And for Office
Line 20: March 29, 1849
Line 21: Stated by
Line 22: J.B. Kirkpatrick

Left Side Notation:
Line 23: Tresury Dept-
Line 24: [illegible] Comm Pensions Office
Line 25: March 29 1849
Line 26: EX J.W or J.M.
Page 90

Sir, Washington (illegible) 21st 1848
I read on the morning of the 19th your letter of the 17th. I delayed a reply to this morning for reasons with which it is (illegible) to trouble you. It is painful to me that our conversations should now wear a complexion (illegible) with that respectful (illegible) which I sincerely feel for you, + which I would greatly prefer to, cherish + cultivate. So that "your reasonable anxiety to remove any 
(illegible) favorable opinion I may acertain" has (illegible) reciprocity in a wish that I would proudly indulge. But you do the great (illegible) in the (illegible) which accompanies this expression, that I would either desire or be willing that you should do for me any act, "without being convinced that it is just." I am persuaded into a (illegible) conviction that wrong + injustice are alone me + the friend whose interest is implicated in this enquiry, because you will not hear the (illegible) explanation of those (illegible) of fact and opinion, which have (illegible) your judgement + which I am not allowed the opportunity to remove. Whether I would do you wrong to any one + in any sense of the (illegible) I placed on (illegible) & a (illegible), if those errors were rightfully dispelled, you may perceive in the concluding page of the bottom to the Senate now before you. And which when (illegible) I had little expectation (illegible) ever reach your eye - for I wish that instead of (illegible) you all the papers that a (illegible) declaratory Revolution should have if one (illegible) you with the (illegible) of the joint (illegible) of the several vote of both House of Congress. Nor in the interest of my friend in this matter more than six (illegible) have (illegible), (illegible) (illegible) in (illegible) senses I can feel but little even for that friend (illegible) I am free to admit that other considerations enter into my anxiety
Page 91

far exceeding in magnitude, all that you can at present suppose; but which [illegible] occasion, i will explain to you
(3-1776)
SERVICE                                   NUMBER
Va.             Gibbs Churchill      SH6 002.
                                                B.L. Wt. 1.694-200.
                                                Va. Half Pay.
Page 92

Va. Gibbs Churchill    SH6002

B.L. Wt. 1.694-200

Va. Half Pay

N. A. Ace No. 874

See 050073 Half Pay

Churchill Gibbs



This Envelope Includes 
Final Payment Voucher
Received HE [or J] and  4-5-57
Page 93

Will (something ) on done knowingly  ( word knowingly is underlined) what is done at all. Besides this, I certainly understood you to say that this curious of man made and curious only on a front and recess of the front ( for they were out all before not legiable word and which everything the actual cx fractions of the act of ( not readable ) for 16 years. I should with appreciative care and I unclear word throughly examine it. And I have a unclear word and I that much . You said you cannot but examine it until the meeting of company . I halienty this decoy.
Number 1342 is written sideways with a line under.
I ll confer with you on to the character of the rest I can of the two kisses now before you stay on and know an cx /I the of can use the claim is cleared to be first. I which have and I heard this before also admit lost ring. It also care that the it is to prevent 
I have never fore to any incumbent of the
Page 94

[illegible] 27.48
Hon. J. S. Barbour
The Hon
W. L. Marcy
Secretary of War
Washington
Page 95

Sir. Washington Feby 27th 1848
The prince adopted in the Clifford opinion, which
seems also to be that which you will probably adopt, in refering
Gever' claim for half pay is of more serious import than at
first glance, may appear to you.
It carries within it the admission of a pow
in this government to contract with one of the States, to pay a debt
for revolutionary service
of Such State made by it since the ratification of the
federal constitution a doctrine like this has never yet by
sanctioned as far as I can learn by any act of this God
Men &
the debt for Half pay contracted before the
ber 1788, is a debt of the U. States clearly within the 8th
of Confederation, and the Act of August 1790 and it was
this view of it, that Virginia asked it payment in 1830 and
in the same ground that the Committee of Congress in 1832
reported favorably to its payment (in its report & provided
for it in the Bill accompanying that report which be
came the law of July 5th 1832
The Commutation is another debt substion and for
half pay, (without the election of the claimant) by Virginia in
1790 in the month of December which Congress had no power
to put or hay in 1832, and which it have did in and to
a piece or pay: and which as between the officer & the Sole
Virginia had no rightful power in their 1790, to interfer and
this Government owed the half pay and had the power and assigns
the duty to pay it. It never one commutation & therefore could
not pay it. nor regard it as a payment of the real debt the
made by Virginia, after Septr 1788 & August 1790, prior to 1832
Very Resply is J.S. Barbour
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Page 96

Com
Edwards
Certificate
Page 97

                    (illegible) Pension Office
                            March 28, 1848

I hereby certify that -I have examine the claim of the legal Representatives of Churchill Gibbs, under the act- of Congress of the 5th July 1832, entitled "Our act - to provide for liquidating and pating certain claims of the State - of Virginia"- And that- I find the said Churchchill Gibbs was a Lieutenant in the First Virginia State Regiment- when he was captured by the enemy on the 25th April 1781, and that - he continued a prisoner until the end of the war, and thereby because entitled to half-pay for life-that he died on the 30th May 1846 and Thomas N. Welch is the Administrator on his estate. 

I am therefore of opinion that - his claims should be allowed at the rate of one hundred and sixty dollars per annum from the 16th February 1781 to the 30th day of May 1846, that- there should be deducted there from two thousand four hundred and sixty eight-dollars bring the amount paid by the State of Virginia to the said Gibbs in his lifetime as commutation and interest and that- the balance should be paid to the said Administrator, Thomas N Welch.
                                                      J. L Edwards
                                                (illegible) Pensions

Notes left side:
Appeared, T. Ewing
Sec of the Interior
Page 98

Pension Office
March 26, 1849

Sir,
I enclose herewith a copy of a
letter from the Hon. W. L. Marcy, to the Hon
J. S. Barbour, dated March 2, 1848, relative
to the claim of the representatives of Churchill
Gibbs, deceased. This is the only letter on the
records of the War Department in relation
to the subject, from Mr. Marcy. I am not
aware of the existence of any other letter from
Mr. M. on the subject, except a short note
to the late Attorney General requesting his opinion.

I have the honor to be
Very respectfully,
Your Obt Servant,
J. L. Edwards

Hon. Reverdy Johnson,
Attorney General
Page 99

Letter of John R. Martin as to the Record of C. Gibbs
Page 100

Richmond VA
March 9th 54
Dr Sir
In reply to yours of yesterday. I would say that in the Petition of Churchill Gibbs he does not say that he was taken prisoner in Petersburg Simply that "your Petitioner entered into [illegible] in the first Virginia [illegible] Regt in 1776 and was in 1777 appointed as Ensign and afterwards promoted to a Leuit. He continued in actual service until 11th May 1787 when he was taken prisoner by the British he was pardoned on the 25th of the same month and remained on [illegible] until the end of the war."
Your Truly
John K Martin
Robt. H. Gray
War [illegible]
Page 101

Letter of
R. H. Grey
March 11, 1854
James Taylor
Page 102

Wash. City March 11 1854
Sir
Enclosed is a letter from Jno K Martin Esq. by which you will see that Churchill Gibbs stated in his declar in 1792, that he was taken first-was handled- and remained sup to the end of the war; and no doubt, this fact, as to the manner of his being in Petersburg was made to appear to the Court by The Commonwealth all in his objection to the claim, as it was much centered on 2 [illegible] informed.
The cases of Gibbs and Taylor are precisely and [illegible]. They both enlisted as privates, and were promoted and taken prisoners at the same time and place no doubt and remained suj to the end of the war.
In the case of Taylor the mind of the Eneaming cluk has centered on the only point on which any [illegible] objections to the allowance of the clause caudad est. to with. as to the condition of the State Garrison Regt. at the time he Taylor [illegible] Lawson in the south, which must have been towards the latter part of div. 1780- or Lawson did not leave N with his 500 vols. until Nov 22d, 1780. and it was after Lawson had arrived in the south before he Taylor left N. with other vols. to join him. at which time History informs us that Porterfield detached of 200 men compound of the state Gar Regt. Armands and Armstrong
Page 103

corps was reduced to 1/3 of that number by the actions at Camden august 16th 1780 and only a portion of which vernmant could leave because of the state Goer Regt. The most of whose time were out (of what remained) or on before the 30th of Sept 1780 - and have shown you before. There----
Independent of the lights, and facts already elicited in regard to the H ints. of the Regt., I will draw your attention to the leader of the N. Leg of the day of Oct 80 in regard to the consolidation of the State Regts and which was no doubt induced growing mainly out of the almost entire destruction of the state Gar. Regt - and other disasters no other Regt having suffered so much in action - nor their men enlisted for so short or so limited a time which showed also that this Regt. was not designed to be continued to the end of the war and the further fact that in oct 1780 the Garrisons of Williamsburg and York were after that time to be manned by [Invd] pensioners, is a proof positive that no part of the state Gar. Regt performed any duty of this sort after that time but that what from there was left were War mes[illegible] and became attached to Dabney Regt - and that all the officers of it became sub or sought other service as legioned by the Proclamation of Col muter Commifs of war. Sept 1780. -except 2 (Mann and Vaughn) who joined Col Dabney as required to do. I trust that as a proper duty has been
Page 104

(3-1776)
SERVICE NUMBER
Va Gibbs Churchill S46 002
B. L. Wt. 1694 - 200
Va Half Pay
Contents
N. A. Ace no. 874
See 050073 Half Pay
Churchill Gibbs
This Envelope Includes
FINAL PAYMENT VOUCHER
Page 105

Richmond Va. 21 Feby 1854
Sir
I am in receipt of your letter of the 14 inst, in reference to the revolutionary service of "James Taylor who was in 1779 a Lieut of the State garrison regiment" - my engagements and condition of health are such that it will be impracticable to comply with your wishes. - 
Very respectfully
You obt servt
Joseph Jackson
S. P. Waldo Esq
Court of Pensions
On the 17th or 18th, a letter was written to Mr. Jackson, to request him to look at the record of the District Court, in the judgement in favor of Churchill Gibbs, to [illegible] ascertain and report, whether a particular state of facts was set up in the defense.
So Mr. Jacksons' engagements prevent his complying with the request, is it to be understood that his services can be no [illegible] longer expected to be rendered for this department?
Feb. 22. 54 Examiner
Page 106

(3-1776)

SERVICE |   | NUMBER
Va. | Gibbs, Churchill | SH6002.
  |   | B.L.Wt.1694-200.
  |   | Va.Half Pay.

CONTENTS
  |  | N.A.Acc.No.874
  |  | See 050 073 Half Pay
  |  | Churchill Gibbs
Page 107

worded to discharge, that [illegible] as it existed in 1788 on the 24th [illegible], and to extrude every other [illegible] [illegible] & [illegible] change of that [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] [illegible] or attempt [illegible] had no power to five [illegible] to [illegible]; to whilst it became in [illegible], under the constitution to [illegible] the [illegible] of the confederacy [illegible] "for the [illegible] or [illegible] defiance", and the [illegible], and the act of [illegible] , 5th 1790 [illegible] 3rd section, fixes those [illegible] at what they were the 24th July 1788. My [illegible][illegible]: [illegible] 1832 places  this [illegible]- and the language of the act (Aug 1790) and the act of 1832 in the "strict conformity" to this view. [Illegible] you [illegible], that in my [illegible] be the real question is so plain, when [illegible] [illegible]that it [illegible] [illegible] a [illegible] should be allowed to [illegible] in. I am in haste and ask [illegible] [illegible]  for a return to perfect health. Your very respectfully [Illegible signature]
you [illegible] [illegible] in what hurry [illegible] by the [illegible] in this [illegible] [illegible]. Mr. L. Marey
Page 108

Line 1: Wm. Campbell 20 Feb 1820
Line 2: Thor Armistead 25 Feb 1826
Line 3: Charles Evertt 3 Feb 1825
Line 4: William Brodus 5 Feb 1825
Line 5: Angus Rucker  9 Jany 1826
Line 6: John Russell 13 Jany 1826
Line 7: Frederick Woodson 21 Fed 1826
Line 8: Elliot Rucker 15 Feb 1826
Line 9: Thomas Carter 23 Feb 1826
Line 10: George Triplett 8 Jany 1827
Line 11: Nathaniel Welch 6 Jany 1827
Line 12: John Nelson 12 Jany 1827
Line 13: Dudley Digger 27 Feb 1827
Line 14: Sam Tinsley 2 March 1827
Line 15: William Armistead 27 Feb 1827
Line 16: Christopher Roon Acts of [Illegible- session] 1827 (and sign) 28.
Line 17: Nathaniel Savage  Acts of [Illegible- session] 1827 (and sign) 28.
Line 18: Elias Edmonds Jany 14, 1829
Line 19: Humphrey Marshall Jany 16 1829
Line 20: William Graves Feby 10 1829
Line 21: John Fleet  Feb 16 1829
Line 22: Acts of 1820- 1825. 1826.1827.1828(and sign) 1829.-
Page 109

2
Pension Office
April 6. 1847
Comm. of Pensions

relative to half pay
under Act July 5. 1832,
case of Churchill Gibbs
Page 110

Pension Office
April 6, 1847
Sir
I have the honor to enclose herewith the papers in the case of Churchill Gibbs, who was a Lieutenant in one of the Virginia State regiments during the revolution and who asks for the benefits of the 3d section of the act of July 5, 1832,  entitles "An act to provide for liquidating and paying certain claims of the state of Virginia." In my report to you of the 3d inst which you have now on your files, the case is more fully stated. The 3d section of the act above alluded to [illegible] the settlement of those claims for half-pay "which have not been paid or prosecuted to judgements against the State of Virginia, and for which said State would be bound on the principle, of the half-pay case, already decided in the Supreme Court of appeals of said State." In May 1833 when he presented the claim to the treasury it was rejected by the Secretary of that Depart-
Page 111

ment on the ground that the claim of Gibbs "had been prosecuted to judgment against the State of Virginia, and that the judgment, which was for commutation, with interest, was paid, 7th May 1792." 
The claim has since been presented, and the question which arise, in the case is this: Is the claimant excluded from the benefits of the 3d Section of the act, in consequence of his having obtained judgment for commutation, or five years full pay, in lieu of half pay for life? If he had obtained judgment for half pay, there could be no question on the subject. The claimant, and his attorney, urge the claim, believing that the law intended to exclude those officers only who have obtained judgments for half pay, and not those who have prosecuted their claims to judgments for five years full pay, or commutation, upon this point, your opinion, or that of the Attorney General, is required.
I enclose a copy of the letter of the Secretary of the Treasury, of the 17th of May 1833, containing his decision in the case of Gibbs
I have
Page 112

I have the honor to be
Very respectfully
Your Obt Servant
J.L. Edwards

Hon. W. L. Marcy
Secretary of War
Page 113

Apr 15th 1847
Dear Sir,
I deeply regret that uncontrollable circumstances have so delayed the decision of the claim of Churchill Gibbs's representation for half pay. I have considered the suggestion, which you made to me this morning, that it would be agreeable to the * of War, for me, to give an opinion on the Law of the Case, in the absence of the Attorney General. I am sure you will appreciate the considerations of delicacy, which influence me, in declaring, that with every * to expedite * of this heirs, I am constrained to decline doing so - my opinion, deliberately formed, I long entertained in * to the * of War, and to the Attorney Genrl. I am aware too, that the inclination of the Atty Genrl's mind is against the claim - I shall not fail to present to him my * on a question in which I regard the honor of the State is involved - 

The Act of 1832 was intended fully to exonerate this state from her liabilities, and to meet by a * *, the promises of the State who were entitled under her Resolution
Page 114

of May 1779. The first section provides for * to this state of what she had paid. -
The 2nd Section provides for payment to the State all un* judgments against her. and guard against judgments which were not paid or justified by the principles settled by the decision of the Board of Appeals, it enumerates the Corps review in which entitled the officer to the pay for life.
The 3rd section provides for the settlement of payment of such claims, as has not been paid or prosecuted to judgment, "and for which * said State would be found on the principles of the Half Pay case, alread decided in the Supreme Board of Appeals of said State" This transferred the settlement of the cases to this hearing of which paym had * been satisfied by payment or judgment. But if these had been but a partial payment, or judgment had been * for a life amount there that to which any officer was entitled for the principle settled, the officers of the hearway were to adjust * items - taking this whole case together, it is * manifest, that congress intended to intended to assume and settle all claims, justified by those principles - and
Page 115

surely nothing mor can be required, than that such claimant shall be required to give credit for what has been said to him, if the accounting office * shall be satisfied on *. that he is entitled to the half pay promised by the state, and which promise was assumed by congress. Not only in these cases, but in regard to all the * * and liabilities of the * States in their War of the Revolution.
 The Law seems to me to be clear, and this question is one of fact. To be settled on *. I shall present these * to the Atty Genrl. But cannot cement, under my strong commitment on this question, to give to the Secy of War, an opinion for his guidance.
If on the *, Churchill Gibbs, was no entitled, I cannot see, how his judgment for commutation to which he was entitled, can far the legal *, or subject his heirs another condition how to give credit for what was paid by the State and refunded at the Treasury to *. The object of the 3rd section, was to pay all who were entitled to half pay, and whose * were not satisfied. If he had received a judgment, there would be
Page 116

no dispute about paying his heirs. If this judgment was founded on mistake of his rights, and for * then by Law he was entitled to, on the principles established, I repeat, I cannot see on what principle he can be deprived of the difference between his legal claim, & the amt of the of the pledge of payment to him.
Page 117

Department of The Interior
Washington Sept. 2d 1854
Sir:
I herewith return to your office The Papers in the case of Churchill Gibbs decd.
I am respectfully Your obedient Servant.
R. McClelland
Secretary
S. Cole Esquire
Acting Commissioner of Pensions
Page 118

Warrenton May 13th 1847.
Sir, I have been requested to ask you to expedite any decision that may be advised to the claim of the representatives of the C Gibb decd? Until an additional person of Testimony fixing the liaisons of Virginia & the [rev] can be sent on in. If the decision be [unreadable] than the necessity for a moments delay cannot exist. The question seems to me, & to all other judges & lawyers plan (for several of other [sp] have contradictory [] on it is for surprise. I fulfill the request made me, by this letter [unreadable] with.
With all Respect
J. S. Barbour
The Humble M. L. Mareq?
I worded and own this request to Sir Clifford (the afer Earl) support the commissioning? be made to you & through you to him. I . L . B
Page 119

Warrenton, Virginia 17th December 1846
Sir
I was employed by Major Churchill Gibbs more than a year ago to prosecute his claim for Virginia for additional County land the petition is now pending before
the executive of Va & I wish a copy of his petition
filed by me asking an increase of pension for
him on the ground of his Staff Service
this application was made 18 months or
2 years ago, Please have it copied as soon
as it can be duly certified, & forwarded to me
I am very respectfully
yr obt servt
Wm Helen
J. L. Edwards Esq
Com Pensions
Page 120

House of Reps: Feby: 19th 1847
Sir
I ask your prompt attention to the enclosed letter from Mr. Barbour. Please furnish me the information [illegible] at your earliest convenience.
Very Resy.
Yr. Obt. Servt:
Shelton F Luke
J S Edwards Esq.
Commr. [illegible]
Page 121

Feby 9. 48
Hon J. S. Barbour

The Hon
W. L. Marcy
Secty of War
Washington
Page 122

Service Va. Gibbs Churchill Number Sh6002
B. L. Wt 1694-200
Va Half Pay
Contents N.A. Acc No 874 See 050073 @ half pay
Churchill Gibbs
Page 123

Service Va Gibbs Churchill Number Sh6002
B.L. Wt. 1694-200
Va. Half Pay
N.A. Acc No 874
See 050073@ half pay
Churchill Gibbs
This envelope includes
Final Payment voucher
illegible
Page 124

[illegible]
J. S. Barbour
Honable
W. L. Macey 
Secty of War.
Page 125

J. S. Barbour
Gibbs case.
1328.
Recd. Jany 17, 48.
Pension office
Honable
Secretary of War
Page 126

Sir Washington Jany17th 1848
I entreat you not to detain me here any longer in the matter of Gibbs claim Law, justice, and usage, in my condescending belief, requiring payment. The commissioning of administrator requires and if you will excuse me for plain & frank language, your over considering in this question also requires it. The enclosed letter to James for Mason of Virginia proves to you, from the records of his Hagners office that you have paid his claims where Virginia had allowed five years full pay in lieu of back pay, before the [illegible] of the act of July 1832. The cases are identical in principle, the one with the other and I request to know why is it that one crop of claimant with the same right in law the same equity, the same [illegible], the same contract of 1779, the same principle of the [illegible] case decide by his const of appeals of Va. the same act of [illegible], [illegible] those principles, for settlement of [illegible] cases. Why those shall be paid, and have been paid and by yourself too- and this one denied? The guideline is founded in the law & the [illegible] of all the detachments [illegible] that law and the [illegible] must test that only its consisting of administration but the right to equal & identical justice upon a like & identical claims. [illegible] Mason, your colleague in administration, the only representative that Virginia has in the cabinet said in a letter addressed me but in[illegible] for your eye, (the 15th of april last)
Page 127

"That the Honor of the state of Virginia is involved in this question." The Honor of the state is involved in being that this claim is settled as others precisely like it in every [illegible] & right , have been already settled. Twice has this party been turned away from [illegible] with an admission that the claim is just and that a present and [illegible] law provides for its payment. In the present instance the Senate & the House of Representatives (by vote of said body for leasing investigation by this several [illegible]) have sent you the claim for payment. The opinion of your Army General was sent recorders by you in the cases of Major Nelson & Lieut John Fleet, both heard by your senior his Clifford [illegible]. The one being paid in July last & the other in Novr last and between their cases so paid , & this claim for Clifford himself over & over sogs, there is no distinction to be made. Beside these cases (so recently paid) since your house here in office, your house allowed the claims of Armistead, of Woodson, of Marshall, & of Ewell, in all this is [illegible]missed the right, & the principle, on which this revth for payment. On what principle is Gibbs to be rejected? The opinion of your commisioner of pensions. The [illegible] & administrative note of for all pastm[illegible], in its principle - the opinion of your colleague Judge Mason, late attorney Ewell (also familiar with this [illegible] from his part[illegible] opening in its is
Page 128

Va., Gibbs Churchill SH6 002
B.L. Wt. 1694-200.
Va.Half Pay
N.A.Ace No. 874
See 050073 Half Pay
Churchill Gibbs

This Envelope Includes FINAL PAYMENT VOUCHER
[signature typed?]
H.J. 7-5-57
Page 129

Washer, Jany 15/48.
J. S. Barbour
Ashe settlement of the
claims of the Reps of C. Gibbs,
for Half-pay
---
B. 28, Lee Jany 15/48
Pension Office
Page 130

Sir Washington January 15th 1848
the resolutions of both Houses of Congress
have brought to your notice the claim of the representative of C. Gibbs to his half pay due by the act of Assembly of the State of Virginia of May 1779, and required to be liquidated paid by the act of Congress of July 5th 1832. The claim
is now finally disposed of by Congress not only by the mission that it is past has because its payment is required by a law now existing

I hope that this exposition of the right of the claimant & the duty of the department charged
with executing the law will release & relieve you of all further embarrassment in allowing this claim, and that I may be detained no longer with the case i owe to it.

Before the late action of Congress in this subject the department had interpreted the act in question to require the payment of Half pay in all cases
where commutation had been paid by Virginia prior to the decision of her Court in 1830, and when said was voluntary received in lien of half pay and both her Clifford & her Taney advised or expressed the opinion that there worn
this respect he distinction between a commutation received under proper & one hand by law & recd with the consent of the party. The reasons for which are to be for repetition. And the Clifford at this moment entertain that opinion. His opinion that the allowance of any half pay in latter case & in this particular reproves the whole usage of the department, War & Treasing
from the papage of the law in July 1832. A lisage that
Page 131

VA Gibbs Churchill SH6 002
B. L. Wt. 1694 - 200
Va. Half Pay
N. A. Ace No. 874
Sep 050 073 Half Pay
Churchill Gibbs
Page 132

P.S. after writing this letter, I carried it to Mr Clifford ┃ Genl and he read it. No Mechan was made to it ┃ I thought it and myself that he should see it ┃J. S. Barbour
Page 133

Senate Chamber Jany 25
1848
Hon. Wm L. Marcy, Secretary of War
Sir:
You will, I feel assured, excuse the liberty which
 I venture to take in declaring the [illegible] &
intense solicitude, which (for various reasons
public and private, not necessary here to be
stated) I feel in regard to the case
of
Churchill Gibbs, which has been under the
care & direction, for some time past, of
my esteemed relative and friend, John
T. Barbour Esq. of Virginia. I hope
that you will find it practicable to accord
to M Barbour an early audience and
prompt decision of this matter, without interfering seriously with this discharge of your
other arduous official directives & without infringing in the least upon your own high sense of
further duty.
[illegible]
Nelly I Toole
Page 134

February 19. [illegible]
Hon J. S. Barbour.
Page 135

Service Number
Va.  Gibbs Churchill SH6002
B.L.Wt.1694-200
Va. Half Pay
Contents
N.A.Acc. No. 874
See 050073 Half Pay
Churchill Gibbs

This Envelope Includes
FINAL PAYMENT VOUCHER 
9-5-57
Page 136


in May 1779 and that it was the legislative intention of the Congress to retract
the settlement of all such claims for Hapsburg as were not not provided  for in the preceding sections of the act of July 1832
to a payment in strict conformity to the act of Congress of August
1790,  and property used for that intention, the words, in requiring settlement, 
"for which said State would be bound " on the principles of the Hapsburg cases already decided "in the Supreme Court of that State."

The Hapsburg alone was alone was [illegible] on the 24th September 1788, and to have allowed anything but what was
to come into subsequent settlement in 1832
their [illegible] was directly  in the teeth of the Statute for settling the revolutionary debt,  between the [illegible] states &
the State individually;  and the invention of the words "for
when the state would be bound on the principles of the Hapsburg cases,"  (by the expression of the one, was the exclusion
of all others) restrained the right to payment and the duty of Settlement to debt due in Sept 1788 because the act of 1790 expressly declares of the claims within the States, & allowed by the state, that no claim  shall be admitted (to any citizen)  until the same was allowed
by such State, before the 24th day of September one thousand
Seven Hundred & Eighty eight", and I will shew you that on [illegible]application to Congress by individuals & otherwise,  to [illegible] this act of July 1832 [illegible] by ear
Page 137

Instruction or by amendment, [illegible] of the Habsburg by Virginia
since Sept 1788, Congress has uniformly 
refused to do so and attend to its obligation to buy Half [illegible] & nothing but Half
[illegible]  that being the
debt really due by Virginia prior to August 1790
& that on the promises of the Revolutionary settlement nothing else , subsequently allowed could be paid [illegible] , breaking up the principles of the Revolutionary
settlement , which [illegible] the law of August 1790.  
and if this be now departed from you will
said journey at Sea without Chart or compass , with winds & waves in every side of your bark,  for Virginia her Commonwealth claims
allowed  since 1788 &
in departure of the Half pay principles
equal to $91.000. and others not yet prevented. 
I will send you a full & candid view of
this surrendering,  as soon as I can for the
[illegible] from the Capital. Till then, I pray that you will not at you
will not permit you judgment to be warped by any mis[illegible] of the facts.
pension of the fact
Very Respectfully yr
J. T. Barton
Hindle 
Mr.  L. Marey
Page 138

Pension Office,
February 13, 1849
Sir:
In answer to your letter of the 10th instant, I have to inform you that on a List of the officers of the Virginia State line to whom payment was made the the auditors on account of their commutation of five years full pay from 1791 to 1796 the name of Churchill Gibbs appears as a Lieutenant. The payment was made under a judgment of the Court of Appeals. It does not appear that he ever received half-pay; nor does it appear that he ever received any payment but the commutation set out in the report, Doc. No. 191, Vol. 1 Reports of Committees, House of Representatives 1831-32. The half-pay rights of officers are not affected by the remarks against them on the discriminated list.
I have the honor to be,
Very respectfully,
Your obt. Sert.
J. L. Edwards
Hon. D. P. King,
House of Representatives
Page 139

Hon. J. S. Barbour
Page 140

(3-1776)  Service   Number
Va.   Gibbs, Churchill   S H 6  002
B. L. Wt. 1694-200
Va.  Half Pay.

Contents  N.A. Ace No. 874
See  050 073 Half Pay
Churchill Gibbs

This Envelope Includes
Final payment voucher
[stamped] Received [handwritten] H Eard 
8-557
Page 141

Notes

1st  It is conceded that Virginia contracted with her officers by the Act of (illegible) of May 1779 for half pay & with for Commutation.

2nd  It is conceded that the  (illegible)by the Act of (illegible) of July 5th 1832 stipulated to pat half pay & with Commutation.

3rd It is conceded that the payment by Virginia of Commutation in lieu of half pay fo rlife, is no bar to the recovery of half pay (illegible) the act of July 1832, if that Commutation was paid by Act of the (illegible) (illegible), (illegible) in full for half pay, if the commutation be deducted for (illegible) the half pay. 

4th It is conceded by the (illegible) in his (illegible) to the Secretary of (illegible) of the 3rd of April 1847, that no proper (illegible) can be taken in the execution of the Act of (illegible) of July 1832 between a commutation paid by Virginia through her judicial organization & commutation paid by legislative act.

5th It is conceded that payments have been (illegible) of half pay in full in a number of (illegible) where commutation was already paid by law.

6th The only impediments to (illegible) was this (illegible) of the act of Juky 1832, by paying half pay to all officers in the 3rd Section of that act, which is being (illegible) (illegible) conformed half pay & Commutation (illegible) & the (illegible) (illegible), whichever every law, (illegible) and adjudication makes the two (illegible) & (Illegible). By force of the (illegible) a commutation of half pay, commutation half pay.
Page 142

Mr McLane regarded them as distinct in execution
of the law-- The law itself in opening & dividing payment has not the slightest allusion to commutation, but to half pay and to half pay only and it is completely aperted that Mr. McLane never examined 
the question now presented (under the 3rd Section of the act of Con of July 1832) but that he accepted the error of his Clerk (her Dickinson) error so glaring that it cannot fail of being detected by the casual glance of a legal mind-
And this error is pointed out by the Report of a
standing Committee of the Harpe of Right made in the case of Gibbs; & the case remitted by that committee, to the
Secretary of War, that he may conform to it-
7th. It may not be amiss to say that there were
hear 200 officers many of whom had recd. commutation, from Virginia - and those were all handed their half pay. It is believed that not more than
three or four cases remain to be settled
& Can it be best (in the face of the law to the
contrary) to put them off with commutation?

It is believed that [illegible] Mason is very
familiar with the question now raised, and that he investigated it thoroughly - 
submitted with all Respect & in great buring
J. S. Barbour April 8th
When the words "it is conceded" reference is had to the opinions of Mr. McLane & to those of Sir Edwards-- both of whom made
in their prior decision, these concessions - J.S.B.
Page 143

Service Number
Va. Gibbs Churchill SH6002.
B.L.Wt. 1694-200
Va. Half Pay
Contents
N.A.Ace. No.874
See 050073 Half Pay
Churchill Gibbs
This envelope includes
Final Payment Voucher
HJ 8-5-57
[illegible]
Page 144

Service               Number
Va.   Gibbs Churchill.    SH6002.
                                        B.L. Wt. 1694-200.
                                        Va. Half Pay
Contents
                                    N.A. Acc. No. 874
                                    See 050073 Half Pay
                                    Churchill Gibbs




                                   This Envelope Includes
                                    Final Payment Voucher
                                   Received. (form is wrinkled and difficult to read).  HJ  9-5-57
Page 145

Senate Chamber
Dear Sir        8th Feby 1848
Some time since the claim of the legal representative of Churchill Gibbs was presented to the Senate and referred to the Committee on Revolutionary claims the case was referenced to myself and where an examination of the evidence the law upon [illegible] subject and the information furnished by yourself I became perfectly satisfied of the correctness of the claim and that it was provided us by existing laws a [illegible] that effect was made to the Senate and  all the papers ordered by resolution directed [cross out] to be such to the Secretary of War for his action  From a [illegible] [illegible] received from Judge Barbour is seeing that a member of the Committee who may not [illegible] when the investigation took place may [illegible] himself dissatisfied with the conclusion to which the Committee came   In as much as there are always  [illegible] of different officers of the Government who have examined this
Page 146

claim and [illegible] but a young member of the Senate   I take the liberty of enclosing the letter of Judge Barbour to you and asking that of a early a day as your convenience will permit you will answer the [illegible] taken in that latter and forward me with such other information as may be in your [illegible] which will place the case of [illegible] Gibbs representation in a [illegible] light
Your [illegible] information upon these subjects and the high reputation which you have for doing [illegible] and infr[illegible] justice give weight to any [illegible] of opinion of yours
Very respectfully
yours
Tho J Rush
Page 147

[illegible] off
Sir    Feby '48-
Agreeably to your request I have the honor to reply to the interrogations [illegible] in the  letter of W. Barbour to you, respecting the care of the [illegible] of Churchill Gibbs dec 2 under the act of 5 July '32  Did the memorial of[illegible] presented to Congress by the late Gov. Gilmer distinctly state that Va [illegible] his State Troop officers halfpay under the act of assembly of that state [illegible] in May 1779.  By reference to pages 14 & 64 of Ho. Doc 191.22 Congress you will receive that memorial aparted "The state of Va has never commuted the halfpay of her officers"  "It was not comfroten for her to do so as otherwise to vary the contract under which the claims were aparted without the consent of the contracting [illegible] lies and the officers of the state [illegible] never petitioned for commutation as those officers [cross out] of the continental dine did"  "The 3rd [illegible}
Page 148

includes these claims for halfpay which
have not yet been prosecuted against the 
State or on which no Judgements have
been rendered. The amount of these can
not be accurately known untill the officers or their reprs come forward & establish
these claims. As the state of Va never
committed the half pay claims of her
officers and as it is probable that the
claimants would not now take five years
full pay instead of the half pay for life "to the 
above quotations also includes an answer to the 2 question.
3" 
Did the report of the Auditor of Va also
state that in those cases in which
Va had granted those officers of the State
Supre [ink mark] five years full pay in commutation
of halfpay for life, such "officers
would urge their application to be
their companions in arms and it would
be placed on an equal footing with their companions in arms and it would be difficult to perceive on what principles of justice they could be excluded &c"? The report
Page 149

of the Auditor of Va on file in this office
says "those officers moreover who have
already received commutation of five years
full pay will urge their application to
be placed upon an equal footing
with their companions in arms -Many
of them will be entitled to receive double
or triple the amount heretofore granted
by the State & it is difficult to perceive
upon what principle they
can be excluded while the rest with no
stronger claim are so liberally provided
for - Admitting these claims therefore
the sum to be provided by the state in
order to extinguish this reading debt
will be greatly augmented"-

To the 4th question I would reply by referring to my letter to Hon H. Johnson while the case was pending before the Committee of the Senate by which you will perceive that the claims of those officers in which 5 years full pay had been granted by special acts
of Va on the condition of relinquishing all
further claim to the half pay promised
Page 150

by the act of May 79, have been adjusted under 3 [illegible] of the act 5 July 32 deducting the commutation paid, from its passage. 
This question is answered by the act & the decision of the Court of affairs. Gibson was a state, not a continental regt and therefore was not embraced in the resolve of March 1783 offering commutation of 5 years full pay in lieu  of the Half pay for life - The 6 question is already answered in my report to the Sect. of War of Sept. last in which it was stated that I could discover no reason why halfpay should not be allowed in those cases which been disallowed upon the ground of having rec'd t years full pay by judgement or other [illegible] of VA in 1792, as well as in there where commutation has been granted by special acts -
The administration of the act is with the Head of the [illegible] so far as this establishment of rules & principles of adjudication
Page 151

are concerned.
Hon T J Rusk
Senate
Page 152

Recd. Aug 25, 1847
Page 153

Catalpa, Aug 21. 1867.
J. S. Barbour.
asks action of Dept on the claim of Churchill Gibbs.
B 224. Recd. 28 Aug '47.
Pension office
Page 154

Dear Sir
Catacha August 21st 1847
It becomes my duty early in the month of
July to address you a letter of enquiry relating to matters that had been entrusted to me by the representation of [illegible] Churchill Gibbs. Re[illegible]  the enquiries were in repetition
of what I had said to you verbally, & received from you verbal & acceptable answers, there were circumstances that made me provide a repetition of those answers in writing, not
only from the possibility of misunderstanding you, but for the [for then] duty of putting the subject before some of the claimant
in a written view, that they should have no pretext for misre-presentation. My letter was in language the most respectful
and in spirit the most [illegiblbe] for your department to [illegible] to allow so kind, that 


we had been so respectful, and as far as duty in office
seemed to allow so kind, that reciprocity. & perhaps thankfully exceeding reciprocity resulted from it. 
After some time had elapsed, and on the repeated in- formality of others who were pecuniarily interested, I again
addressed youthrough the Comm'r of Pensions & recd a verbal reply, under date the 29th July (from the words,
that "you would reply to me in a short time".

After the [illegible] of another fortnight, and at the same in-formality
I again took the duty on me of writing you another letter to the same effect and another fortnight has sow
gone by without your answer. And now I am under the [illegible] & I do it reluctanty of failing you once more - not in anger but for those in sorrow, not in
Page 155

discounting, but in respectful tone & temper.
When I complained that the alto Genl was to decide on questions which the act of Congress had put in the Secretary of War and his *Commissioner of Pension, your reply was "that
you would decide it after you obtained his opinion". I asked if I could reply to his opinion. So that the argument on
both sides should be before you. Your reply was, "that I might".

Now this was my understanding of that paper, which I had reported to others, in whose behalf I was acting. Yet I might have misapprehended your meaning, and there were reasons making it prudent for me to behave [illegible] beg and the reasons of [illegible] in this respect. I wished an opportunity of doing my duty to others, by Showing you, that if that Clifford opinion
was right, that this, the practice of the department for fifteen years, (in the execution of the Law drawn into question) was wrong. 
That his opinion conflicts with the decision of the Court of Appeals in Va where that decision is [illegible] the Rule for your action. In the words of Mr. Attorney General Butler "That this is being [illegible] direction, we (you) have no right to look out of it". Mr Taney, Mr. McLane ,Mr Butler are all uprooted by the opinions of the present Attorney General. 

And finally that so far Mr. Clifford's opinion [illegible] (underlined) the only open question in the law, is information to the claimant. 

If in all this I was guilty of any breach of decorum to you, which furthered the neglect of my letter, I am wholly unconscious of it.
Perhaps I sacrificed the interest, it is my duty to protect, by writing you this letter. Complaints of injustice
Page 156

however meek their language, are not apt to propitiate favour, from the mind chaffed by their utterances.
But I invoke your Justice, and to that I have a request, and if this offends you, I have mistaken your Character, & must bear the penalty of by error
I am Sir with all Respect you
J. S. Barbour
The [illegible]
W. L. Marcy

* I doubt the power to send the subject to the
[Attorney General] after the decision of this forwards in its favor, and I have authority
for that [illegible] in the opinion of a former [Attorney General].
Page 157

Judge Barbour
Page 158

Dear Sir.
Your statement as to the facts of my having [illegible] rated with you in the package of the Bill of 1832 is [illegible] I have, always, believed that Gibb's recovery of a Ju[illegible] for 5 years full pay, is, no bar to his receiving at the Treasury 
[illegible] half pay -
of the U.S. - That he was not entitled to commutation, and that the partial payment did not release the State from the payment of half pay for life - All that could be acquired in the enforcement of the [illegible], by which such payments being left than the full amount due, should be credited against the half pay demased - 
You have therefore, by no means misunderstood or misstated my opinion in reference to this claim -----

Very Resply.
W. Friend [illegible]
J. G. Mason
Feby 9th 1848

Hon John S. Barbour
Washington City -
Page 159

Service Number
Va. Gibbs Churchill SH6002
B.L. Wt 1694-200
Va. Half Pay
Contents
N.A. Ace. No. 874
See 050 073 Half Pay
Churchill Gibbs
This Envelope Includes
Page 160

Pension Office
December 28th, 1847
Sir,
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a letter from Hon. J. D. Bright, enclosing the petition of the Aom[illegible] of Churchill Gibbs, deceased, and also the letter of Hon. J. S. Barbour in relation to the subject matter of said petition, and beg leave to make the following reply to you as requested by the Chairman  When the Act of 5th July, 1832, was passed, its execution was entrusted to the Treasury Dept., and, in 1835, transferred to this Office.  It appeared that the Secretary of the Treasury in 18th September 1832, (see enclosed copy of his letter to Auditor of Virginia) decided that the 3rd section of the Act did extend to those Officers in the designated Corps, who directly, or by their legal Representatives, received five years full pay from the State of Virginia under special laws, and which had been refunded to that State in the first section of the Act.  But at the same time he decided in this particular case (see his letter No. 3) that the 3rd section did not provide
Page 161

for those who had received commutation with interest in 1792 from Virginia under judgements in their own, or parallel cases.  By my report No 2, you will see that when this case was renewed in April last, it was submitted to the Heead [sp] of the Department for instructing.  My report, No 1 had previously stated in this particular case that I had not been able to discern any reason why half-pay should not be allowed to those who received Commutation and interest in 1792, under judgements of the Courts of Virginia as well as to those who at a later period received from that State Commutation without interest by special Acts passed in their respective cases, [illegible] Congress intended to exclude every case in which the claim had been prosecuted to judgement.  
The Secretary of War referred the case to the Attorney Gen'l and I am now officially informed 
that any final disposition of the case has been made by the Department.  You will thus perceive that since my report of the 6th April last (No 2) that the merits of the claim are not Cognizable
Page 162

by this Office, and the accompanying Copies, marked 1. 2. 3. & 4, embrace the Official action upon this claim from the time it was presented to the period of its submission to the head of the 
Department.  
In reply to the enquiry whether there are precedents, for allowing this claim; I have the [illegible] to state more directly what may be inferred from the foregoing part of this report, that there is no case in which Commutation with interest, was received  of Virginia under a Judgement in 1792 that half-pay, deducting Commutation and interest, received, has been allowed by either the Treasure or War Department under this Act.  Altho' both have allowed half-pay, deducting Commutation, in all Cases where the Commutation was received uner a special Act. 
The quotation of the report of the auditor of Virginia, found on 2 and 3 pages of the petition Corresponding with the Copy on file in this office.  The other quotations ([illegible] from [illegible] Do[illegible] No 191 22nd Congress & from the decisions of the Attorney
Page 163

Generals have been compared, and will be fooud to be Correctly made by reference to the originals in possession of the Senate.  

I have the honor to be 
Sir, Very respectfully, 
[illegible]
J. L. Edwards

Hon Henry Johnson
Senate United States

Dec 28 '[illegible]
ComPensions
to
Hon J. D. Bright
Page 164

Catalpa Va.
July 17, 47
J. S. Barbour.
About Gibbs case.
B. 203. be July 19/47
Pension Office
Com.
Page 165

Sir 

Catalpa, July 17th 1847 

Since the opinion of Mr. Clifford was delivered for in the case of Gibbs representation, I have recd several written complaint of its injustice, and early this morning, I am visited by two other of the [illegible], who invoke my further aid in their behalf. my effort to put aside this day by refering the parties to the Legislature of Virginia or to the next Congress do not give satisfaction. A second appeal to the House of Representatives, will probably [illegible] at the former, in reiterating "that the existing law already supplies ample power to the executive purchaser for having the claim" and in this particular, such a refusal is already well [illegible] by the opinion of the State of Virginia, in her judicial and legislative departments in addition to the opinion of the first Auditor of this State, -  the fiscal Justicion of the Commonwealth should the claimant address their petition to the Senate a like result is not improbable. And the case is in all probability to come back to you with the expression of the opinion, by a committee of the Senate that any further legislation is wholly unwary the act [this section is underlined] of July 5th, 1832 is a sample in its provisions for relief; as the rights of the party the obligation of the State of Virginia & the imperfection of language (to give power & enjoin day;) could make them, nor will it escape attention, (in this pursuit of justice, that a member of the present administration June Maden --- with the best opportunities of knowing the right of this question, had wrote it favorably for consideration of his colleagues of 1 --- the [Consinch] as being "due to the Honor of the State of Virginia (whose houses in implicated in any injustice by her), and that in
Page 166

his opinion, "the question in as clearly for the claimant as that 2 & 2 make 4." A colleague too of yours in the executive branch distinguished not only by his legislation agency in making the law in question -  but for more so, by the his unquestioned possession of a large those of the respect & affection of the State of Virginia Which is [illegible] by the Judicial State he held under the act of the Govt. of the U. States, & the later appointment of Alt [illegible] in your present administration. I am sure Sir you will agree with me, that every government will (if wise to itself) not only desire to do what is in itself right; but that which will also give satisfaction- And when the habeas eagerness of self interest, to pursue its object is upheld by such authority, as that I have enumerated above, will it not be proper to allay dissatisfaction, by opening to their demands, the fullest range of enquiry & the fairest decision the result of what such enquiry? If the opinion of the Att [Attorney] General is to stand on the law of the case,[stand on the law of the case is underlined], then the toil of a reply to it would be worse than a labor of supererogation If I can be passed however that my reply will be the argument weighed & considered with the organization of Mr. Clifford for as much as the argument on his part & on mine may be fairly worth, (according with the inference the reasoning of each, right to have in the deliveration); then I will probe & send you a reply. If his absence is  is [illegible], then my duty is at an end, at least for the present. With all respect I am in sincerity yours
 J. S. Barbour -

William L. Marcy E Seton
Page 167

"P.S. You will see from the [ILLEGIBLE]  that this letter was to have been [ILLEGIBLE]. But my usual amanuensis who is one of my Children) a prayed with a bevy of visitors just arrived. So you must take it as it is. J.S.B."

"I do not think (+ I suggest in with perfect [ILLEGIBLE] that the true question the [ILLEGIBLE] was propounded to the Attorney General. I am sure that you did not intend to  [ILLEGIBLE] the past decisions of the Secretary of the Treasury or the Attorney General in the act of the 5th July 1832. Mr. Clifford takes your question as embracing the whole [ is the word 'eye'?] of time + law ab urbe condita [this is underlined, this is latin, it means "from the founding of the city,"], and in his opinion [ILLEGIBLE] McLane + Taney + Butler - if no more. But this much I can show - If McLane's opinion (homoperem with that of the auditor + [ILLEGIBLE], "that a payment of Commutation in lieu of the [ILLEGIBLE] before the repeat to the back + with the commutation had even been vetted in [ILLEGIBLE] was no bar to the [illegible] of the Claimant under the 3rd [ILLEGIBLE] of the act of July 5th 1832 had been sent to Clifford as an [ILLEGIBLE] by the executive department (in the lower decree) - and the simple + [ILLEGIBLE] question has Mr. Clifford is there any [ILLEGIBLE] or commutation paid by the Court or the law in Virginia, he must have answered that there was no such difference + if you paid me your [ILLEGIBLE] pay the other. But his argument is "ab oro usque ad Mala" and if it is law, then there is nothing in the past adjudication of the department which is so. I can readily hand this to you if  you give me leave + invite in under akin auspice."
Page 168

Than those of the Mantisate Govt, who in the 6th Virginia making it Judicial *eneumism, " partisarpus auditpus dolor" [latin translation: for shares and hears their pain]. I.L.B.
Page 169

Sir.

Wash. April 3rd 1847.

Since leaving your office I have put
my hand in a copy of the report of the pension office, I made in the Virginia Claim,  16th July, 1832. [illegible] 191. H.R. and I find that my memory was accurate to the word in the reference I made you - or hope of that when ] have 3 of that what it is said, "there was an expert saving to the executive claiming the half hog to have their cases readjudicated , "without prejudice on further proof. "Further proof was found in an authentic record" of [illegible symbol] and his further proof induces the Courts of Virginia to make  in 1830 an apparent decision. 

You will also find that the [star symbol] [illegible] of his [illegible] makes the same statement in [illegible] to the former decision being "without prejudice as further proof" - and also when to further proof & the charge of decision [illegible] of. Prior to that time there is  some officers [illegible] whosever they gave for & thankful for that. Since
that "further proof" & new decisions on that further proof they came to demand their rights.
---
Regardless of what was done before this, know their power to maintain those rights + 
correct their settlement by judicial remedy.

With all Respect Sir, 
J.S. Barbour

Colonel J.L. Edwards.

[Star symbol on side of page] See pages 8 -10 of Case 191. doc: Executive [ILLEGIBLE]
Page 170

Be good enough to refer to the report
Lloc. 191. July 16th 1832. Vol: 1st Report
per matter that Honorable J.S. Barbour [illegible] at page 300 you [illegible, see?] the report refers to without prejudice an further proof at pages 8 & 10 of same General Gilmer
makes in his memorial the same reference at each page,

J.S.B
Page 171

(Copy) 
                         War Department,
                        Washington,  March 3rd, 1848

I have fully examined the claim made by the Representative of Churchill Gibbs, an officer of the Revolution, for half pay, referred to me by a Resolution from each House of Congress, and am clearly satisfied that it ought not to be allowed. The payments of the judgment which Gibbs obtained against the state of Virginia, was a satisfaction of his claim for half pay. The (illegible) of the law of Congress of the 5th July 1832, taken by the Attorney General in the opinion given by him in this case, appear to me to be sound. They are in accordance with those of the Auditor of Virginia presented to the Secretary of the Treasury (who was charged with execution of the Act of Congress 1832) soon after that law was passed. In his letter to the Secretary of the 20th August 1832, he expresses a decided opinion against that class of claims of which the Gibbs claim is one. In that letter he says "I cannot after the best reflection perceive any just ground, either in law of equity, whom which the officers who recovered judgments for Commutation and interest can now be entitled to half pay for life, minus the amount of such judgment. It seems to me that they are not only concluded upon the principles of law and equity as judicially administered, but also from these principles in their more enlarged
Page 172

and extensive meaning as the basis of political justice."

Gibbs had obtained a judgment for "commutation and interest" and that judgment was paid by the State of Virginia. The amount thus paid, being $2468.00 was refunded to her by the United States pursuant to the provision of the first section of
the act of Congress of 1832.

There are voluminous documents connected with the claims under that act of Congress. In deference to the opinion expressed in the reports of the Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives in this case, I have felt it to be my duty to give a careful examination of them. I have also examined the - in the Virginia County on the subject of half pay claims, and those decided - cases decided, by the Treasury and War Departments under the act of 1832, and in my view of them no case like this, or involving the same principle, has been allowed. The result has left no doubt in my mind that this claim is without any foundation, and I have rejected it.

It may not be improper to state that the equity of the claim was much urged on the hearing before me, and due weight was allowed to that topic. This consideration, were it ever
so strong, could not be allowed to control the clear meaning of the law, but the Government has not been illiberal to the claimant. It refunded to Virginia the amount of the judgement, viz: Commutation $1600, and interest thereon from
Page 173

April 22nd 1783 to May 7, 1792 $868. in all
$2,468.00.

The amount of pension money received by Gibbs from the United States was about $6,477.33.

The additional sum now claimed
is about $7,629.77

(Signed)
W. S. Marcy
Sec. of War.
Page 174

Copy
War Department
Washington, March 2. 1848
I have fully examined the claim made by 
the representatives of Churchill Gibbs, an officer of the revolution, for half pay referred to me by a resolution from each House of Congress, and am clearly
satisfied, that it ought not to be allowed. The payment of the judgment which Gibbs obtained against the State of Virginia, was a satisfaction of his claim for half pay. The views of the law of Congress of 5 of July 1832, taken by the Attorney General, in the opinion given by him in this case, appear to me to be sound. They are in accordance with those of the Auditor of Virginia, presented to the Secretary of the Treasury (who was charged with the execution of the act of Congress of 1832) soon after that law was passed. In his letter to the Secretary of the 20th of August 1832, he expresses a decided opinion against that class of claims of which the Gibbs claim is one. In that letter he says "I cannot, after the best reflection perceive any just ground either in law or equity upon which the officers who recovered judgments for
Page 175

commutation and interest, can now be entitled to half pay for life, minus the amount of such judgments. It seems to me, that they are not only concluded upon the principles of law and equity as judicially administered, but also upon those principles in their more enlarged and conclusive meaning as the basis of political justice."
Gibbs had obtained a judgment for commutation and interest," and that judgment was paid by the State of Virginia. The amount this paid being $2,468, was refunded to her by the United States pursuant to the provision of the first section of the act of Congress of 1832. There are voluminous documents connected with the claims under that act of Congress. In deference to the opinions expressed in the reports of the committees of the Senate and House of Representatives in this case, I have felt it to be my duty to give them a careful examination. I have also examined the cases decided in the Virginia Courts, with subject of the half pay claims, and those decided by the Treasury and War Departments, under the act of 1832; and in my view of them, no case like this, or involving the same principle, have been
Page 176

allowed. The result has left no doubt on my
mind that this claim is without any foundation,
and I have rejected it.
signed
W.L. Marcy
Secretary of War

It may not be improper to state, that the equity of the claim was much urged on the hearing before me, and due weight was allowed to that topic. This consideration, were it ever so strong, could not be allowed to control the clear meaning of the law; but the Government has not been illiberal to the claimant.

It refunded to Virginia the amount of the judgment viz: Commutation $1,600, and interest thereon, from April 27th 1783 to May 7th 1792. $868. in all $2,468.

The amount of pension money received by Gibbs from the United States, was about $6,477.33 while the additional sum now claimed is about $7,629.77.
Page 177

Washin. Jany 21/48
J. S. Barbour.
In reply to Secy letter of 17 to about claim of Gibbs Repz.
B42, rec Jany 21/48
Pension office
Page 178

Recd Jan 24, '48
Hon: J. S. Barbour
The hon
W. L. Marcy
War Dept
Page 179

Sir.
Saturday morning
Since my letter of yesterdays date, I have examined the opinions of Judge Jarney, Hon Greenridge, & Hon McLane and I find that those opinions relate to a different clon of cla[illegible] thatn that of Gibbs and o far [illegible] being a[illegible] against Gibbs [illegible] they do when fairly understand [illegible] the claim of this individual.  I will - address I can make copies - [illegible] to you.

[illegible]
J. S. Barbour

[illegible]
W.L. Marcy
Page 180

Ho Reps. Jany 22.49
Dear Sir
I will thank you to send me the papers on file in the case of Churchill
Gibbs - my object is to get the papers to present them to the House on petition


Jason R
J.L. Edwards Esq
W.L. Griggins
Page 181

Dear Sir
Gadszi, Feb 17th 1848
I am sorry to hear that you have a
return of your late attack and I have but it will be of short continuance.
Whenever it may be apeach
to you & your health will justify it, I will lay before you in writing or otherwise a satisfactory reply carrying in it a [illegible] reward of the [illegible] suggested by you. And in this I find myself supported
very fully by a calm & decided judgment and
this identical question, by the House of Representatives in May 1838.
I am in great health, and with
good wishes for your quick return to health
Yours very Respectfully
J. S. Barbour
Page 182

4
Secretary of the Treasury
Admitting claims of officers to whom commutation without interest was paid by the State.
Page 183

(Copy)
Treasury Dept.
September 18th, 1832.
Sir,
I have to thank you for several communications containing information furnished by my requests, to aid me in the execution of the Act of the 5th July last.
In the views presented in that of the 20th [illegible] relative to state officers who have received Commutation from the State I generally concur.
Though, from an examination of the documents and papers from which the law was passed it may be doubted whether any idea was entertained by Congress that a further claim would be preferred by those Officers to whom Commutation without interest had been granted by the Legislature of Virginia, Yet I think they are embraced by the 3rd Section liberally construed.  The general intention of the Act appears to me to have been to assume the payment by the United States as well of all the Revolutionary claims, referred to in the law, which the State of Virginia had discharged
Page 184

or had been ajudged to pay as those
which on principles of liberal equity and justice that state might still be called upon to discharge. According to the principles of the half pay cases decided in the Supreme Court of Appeals of that State, the just claims
of these officers have not been fully satisfied, and though it may be questined whether they could do so successfully, maintained before the Judiciary, it is not perceived, since the recent decisions of her County that the state could resist their just application to be placed upon a footing with others, if an appeal should be made to the Legislature. Moreover, in the fulfilments of engagements entered into with those who aided in the patriotic struggle for Independence, the inquiry should be rather whether the claim is just, than whether it can be legally enforced; and having satisfied
Page 185

myself or these pints, I have construed the law
I have therefore directed the claims of accordingly, those Officers to whom commutation without interest had been granted by the Legislature to be paid, deducting the commutation previously received.
I am, Sir,
Very Resply [illegible]
(Signed) Louis McLane

J.E. Heath, Esq
Auditor of Virginia,
Richmond
Page 186

Shelby (Warrenton P.O.) Va. 17th Feb. 1844
Sir:
Do me the favour to file the enclosed letter of Capt Slaughter with the petition of Major 
 Churchill Gibbs for increase of Pension on account of his staff services in the Revolution
and as I believe it will be useless to look
for any positive proof I submit. 
the case upon Major Gibbs' statement
upon his oath, taken with the History
of the time he states he rendered the staff
service & Captain Slaughter certificate
of his veracity for your decision
I am very respectfully
your obedient Servt
Wm Helm
Com
J. L. Edwards Esqr.
Pensions
Page 187

Single      10
[illegible] Wm Helm
Warrenton
Fauquier Co
Va
Page 188

1776
service
Va - Gibbs Churchill 
Number S46002
B. L. Wt. 1.694-200
Va. Half Pay

N.A. Acc No. 874
See 050073 Half Pay
Churchill Gibbs

Stamp at bottom right
"This envelope includes FINAL PAYMENT VOUCHER
[bottom line illegible]
Page 189

Sir
War Office Jany 7th 1848
Unable to see you I opened the
leave of writing this note.
the whole of the agency I have
had in the case of the Gibb has been troublesome and vexating. I am no "claims agent", & circumstances
belonging to this case have drawn me into it.
The remark made by you yesterday, that
he was a deserter, gave me pain, & I am sure
it [crossed out] would not have been so had you
known the facts or known the man. The enclosed
letter from Mr Goff of  the Ho of Reno (illegible), who knew
the old gentleman in his life, will testify to his
worth. At this moment he has two grandsons

(one a Captain, in the Alabama Volunteer
now in Mexico,  
.
the revolutionary Gibbs
(the claimant before you) was in command
of a group at Richmond in April or May
1781. When Philips & Arnold[crossed out] invaded Virginia & seized the town of Petersburg
without leave Lieut Gibbs left the
post at Richmond went to Petersburg with Steuben and Lafayette and was in the battle
at that place in May 81. In the retreat up
the River "they fought inch by inch" of the retreat
up the bridge 12 miles above Petersburg, until
Page 190

the retreat was secured by crossing the Bridge
which was instantly taken up by our forces to
prevent the pursuit of the British - a few
of the men & officers in that affair (which was
bloody) were captured by the enemy & Gibbs among them.
This absent without leave was reported at

him by the officers and on trial had the
Court unanimously decided in Gibbs favor
The records in your
pension office & the account in history of that
affair written under to persons eye & approved by him find this acct of the battle &
the matter of Gibbs is shown by the records in
to [E ow illegible] office.
It is easy to perceive from this how
far prejudice & injustice have operated to the
[illegible] of this old gentleman -  the records of
your department [illegible] show the [illegible] were trouble taken to examine him

In great haste
in Esty &
J. S. Barron
the 16th
J. L. Marcy
Page 191

Washington July 7th 1848

Dear Sir

I, this morning, received your note and previous thereto having also seen you and held a conversation in regard to the late Churchill Gibbs of Madison County Virginia. I take my great pleasure, in bearing my testimony to the formable [illegible] which he made upon me during a short acquaintance I had with him - I felt indeed honored by his personal friendship for I regarded him, from his general reputation in his County and neighborhood, as a cherished relic of Revolutionary memory and as worthy of honorable mention among my friends any where and as eminently deserving of all the Bounty which his Government could bestow on one so meritorious as I regarded Mr Gibbs

I am very [illegible] your [illegible] W.L. Goggin
Hon J.S. Barbour
Page 192

                           Washington June 4th 1849
Sir
               I understood the Att. General, Mr. Clifforn, to say to me a few morning (illegible), that his opinion in the case of Gibbs a Lieutenant of (illegible) regiment asking for half pay in lieu of commutation, did (illegible) exclude from payments, the claim of somewhat-like kind and the (illegible) of the legal representatives of Capt Abner Crump and he added that this opinion of his, was bottomed on the representative of the department for the execution of the Act of Congress of July 5th 1832, which made the auditors list of officers  (that accomoanied the report of the committee in 1832) the (illegible) and index for payment under the above act of Congress, of the officers named from it & on which was the name of Capt Abner Crump. 
I was satisfied that I distinctly understood the attorney General to the  office - which for (illegible) (illegible), I called whome (illegible) this morning when he repeated that by the representatives of the department for paying the Viginia Claims (& he paid reputation ^ (illegible)) you would be  (illegible) in paying the claim of Captain Crump.
Page 193

representative for his half pay- and that it was with his purpose in any opinion given by him to overrule those departmental regulations. I was further authorized by Mr. Clifford to (illegible) to you this communication , & that if you (illegible) on him (illegible) that he (illegible) (illegible) (illegible) what be (illegible) (illegible) & which I have (illegible) (illegible).

(illegible) very Respectfully (illegible) 
 J. L Barbour

(illegible) J. L Edwards
           (illegible) of Pensions
Page 194

Sir
Gadsby's Hotel Feby 5th 1848
If any other view is taken by you of the claim
of Gibbs, than that which is disclosed by the argument and other documents now before you & of which we have already conversed, then I shall be thankful if you will apprise me of it, that I may examine & read it. The more this question is examined & the clearer it be serve
Reged, (if a full investigation be made,) the clearer is the right of the claimant.
There was another ground that might those favouring, on its first face be taken to its prejudice than any occupied by the
opinion of the Attorney Genl. But when the ground is fully explored, it is part of a conclusive reply to any objection, followed on it and acting this was drawn into the conventional debate, with Mr Clifford & myself it has not been introduced into any of the written discussion, because it was declined by the att Genl. I am very familiar with the subject, in all its phases, and desire to be frankly informed of any difficulty not yet declared to me, and which may appear to you, to forbid the payment
of the demand. I am ready for every mention, and the one to which my mind how points has been condemned by the Senate in 1833 & by the several departments even since.
With much respect yrs.
J. S. Barbour
And copy to Mr Marcy
Page 195

Envelope addressed to:

The Dear:
W. L. Marcy
Sect of War
President

March 3. '68
Mr. Barbour
Requests return of certain basics.

Returned Mr. Barbour

Ret. 88.     29 @ 2 sep
                121 25 C, 2 Sess

Bill H.R. 16   22 C.  2 Sess
                    
Bill H.R. 798  25 C.  2 Sess

Return 904    28 C.  2 Sess
Page 196

Dear Sir
[?] Friday hearing,
I filed with the papers sent you
two or three printed copies of reports made
by Committee on the Half pay cases of  Vo. 
These may be aspel to me, + cannot
be mutual to the office as copies of claim [?]
the public doe[?] [illegible] in & in the leveary of
the War Dept. (I do not mean the late reports of
of claim you have copies p[?] the House of Reps. + the Senate,
Will you instruct the Chief Clerk to deliver such copies [?] I filed  with you +  one or two others which I filed, + of whis you have duplicate in the map of the papers?
The printed reports are those made in 1835.+8
by Mr. Marshall of 1838 by Mr. underwood also
a manner that ^ every which I enclosed you, of the [illegible] the cc'[?] what Ho. of R. a copy of which you had previously recd I will be particularly favored, if I can find decision you verbally an named to me, in the office of the Comm of Pension in the morning.
In press [?]haste[?]
Page 197

I am very respectfully (illegible)

J S Barbour


Here:
W. L. Marcy
Page 198

Officers
Receiving
[illegible]
Between 1791
&
1796
Page 199

(3-1776) 
SERVICE NUMBER
Va. Gibbs Churchill SH6002
B.L.Wt. 1.694-200
Va. Half Pay

CONTENTS
N.A. Ace. No. 874
See 050073 Half Pay
Churchill Gibbs
Page 200

David Mann unknown
Churchill Gibbs to petitioner now before you
Lodowick Brodie [illegible] unknown
foreigner
Pratt Hughes Lieut Gibson 
Died at an early day when the Law of 
Isaac Holmes
died at an early day
when the Law of former [illegible] prevailed
& his elder brother Johnathan his lands (1st May 1787)
Isaac Holmes
Lieut State line
Died in halloway County before
1791. Brooking his
brother in law administered
Arman Vogleson
Cobt Cavalry
a foreigner [illegible]
left the county at the
close of the war.
Nathaniel Fox - a Captain in the
continental line, never in the State line
& of course never entitled to half pay.
In the Records in the war office a hero this Fox he 
drew L? pension here & went across Va. 
He also drew his pension across the United States under the act of Congress of 1818. The records will prove
Page 201

All these facts
I Henry herewith do convey that I am familiar with the claims of the officer of the Virginia State Nine having devoted many years of my life to this institution.

I believe the forgoing rev'd to be a accurate and I believe that the claims of Gibbs Dabney & Crump are the only outstanding claims for half pay (so for on I am informed and believe,) of any around.

Given under my hand this 3rd April in the year of Christ 1847.
1847 Henry Northrup
Page 202

Copy
Pension Office, April 3rd, 1847
Sir
I herewith return the report of the committee on Revolutionary claims of the House of Representatives of the 3rd ult. in the case of the Churchill Gibbs; and agreeably to your instructions, make a report, which follows.

The report of the committee on this claim of Churchill Gibbs, after stating that he is not entitled to the commutation which he claims as a continental officer, declares "that whatever claim he may have is to the remainder of his half pay promised by Virginia, and at this time no necessity is discovered for further legislation for his relief." This, I presume, on the ground that Congress did not recognize him as a continental officer, that he now asks for a further allowance as an officer of the Virginia State troops, under the Act of the 5th of July, 1832.

Gibbs belonged to the first Virginia State regiment, and continued therein as a Lieutenant to the end of the revolutionary war.  The regiment of
Page 203

of Col. Gibson, to which he belonged, was after the battle of Germantown, sent to the North by the State of Virginia, to supply the place of the 9th Virginia continental regiment, which was captured or destroyed in that action. Mr. Secretary Eaton, some years since, decided that that regiment should be considered as a regiment on the continental establishment in all applications for pension under the Act of March 18, 1818 but the decision has not been concurred in by the committee of claims, in this or any other similar case, is not whether Gibson's was  a continental or a State regiment. In settling claims of the officers of that regiment, under the Act of July 5, 1832, we have always considered it a State regiment.
It appears that Gibbs received from the State of [illegible][illegible] the sum of 840.8 of a currency (or 2.841.33) being the amount of the judgement which he obtained in one of her courts against the Commonwealth for pay for life. When he applied at the Treasury Department in May 1833, his claim for half-pay under the 3.Section of the Act of July 5. 1832 was not allowed because
Page 204

because he has received commutation, with interest,
as I have already stated. The question now presents
itself again, is the receipt of commutation, under a
judgement, any bar to half-pay under the 3d section of
the Act of July 5, 1832? To put you in full possession
of all the facts in relation to the subject of the
half-pay promise by the State of Virginia, I transmit
herewith a small book containing, among other
other [crossed out] papers, the report of the committee to whom
the subject was referred in 1832, and upon which
report Congress acted in passing the the law of 1832.
The Treasury and War Department, in settling
claims under the Act, have decided that commutation
of five years full pay, under special acts
passed by the State of Virginia, is no bar to half-pay,
provided the commutation be deducted from the half-pay.
The subject has been carefully examined by me, and
I cannot discover any reason why half-pay should
not be allowed in one case, as well as in the other,
unless Congress intended to exclude every case in
which the claim has been prosecuted to judgement.
The facts in the case, I think, fully sustain the
arguments of JW. Barbour.
Page 205

I should have condensed the facts and arguments
in this case, and brought the whole subject before
you in this report, had I not believed that I might
in so doing have done injustice to the party who claims.
I enclose herewith the letters of the Hon.
J S Barbour.
I have the honor to be
Very respectfully
your ob/Servt
(Signee) J. L. Edwards
Comms of Pensions

Pension Office
8 Jany 1848
A true copy from the original
on file in this office
J L Edwards
Com. of Pensions
Page 206

Pension Office
April 3, 1847

Sir,
I herewith return the report of the Committee
on Revolutionary claims of the House of
Representatives of the 3d alto. in the case of
Churchill Gibbs; and agreeably to your instruction,
make a report, which follows:
The report of the Committee on this claim
of Churchill Gibbs, after stating that he is not
entitled to the commutation which he claims
as a Continental Officer, declares "that whatever
claim he may have is to the remainder
of his half-pay promised by Virginia; and
at this time no necessity is discovered for further
legislation for his relief." It is, I presume,
on the ground that Congress did not
recognize him as a Continental Officer, that
he now asks for a further allowance as an
officer of the Virginia State troops, under the 
Act of the 5th of July, 1832.
Gibbs belonged to the first Virginia State
Page 207

regiment, and continued therein as a Lieutenant
to the end of the revolutionary war.
The regiment of  Col. Gibbs, to which he belonged,
was, after the battle of Germantown, sent to the North by the state of Virginia, to supply
the place of the 9th Virginia Continental
regiment, which was captured or destroyed
in that action. W. Secretary Eaton, some
years since, decided that the regiment should
be considered a regiment on the Continental
establishment in all applications for pensio,
under the Act of March 18, 1818, but
the decision has not been concurred in by the
committee of claims, in this or any other
similar case, to my knowledge. The question, however, in this case, is not whether Gibbs
was a continental or a state regiment. In
settling claims of the officers of that reigment,
under the Act of July 5, 1832, we have
always considered it a State regiment.
It appears that Gibbs received from the 
State of Virginia the sum of £840: 8, Virginia
currency, (or $2801:33,) being the amount of a judge-
Page 208

ment which he obtained in one of his courts
against the Commonwealth for commutation,
or five years full pay, in lieu of half-pay for
life. When he applied at the Treasury Department
in May 1833, his claim for half-pay under
the 3d section of the Act of July 5, 1832, was
not allowed because he had received commutation,
with intent, as I have already stated.
The question now presents itself again, is the
receipt of commutation, under a judgement,
any bar to half-pay under the 3d section of
the Act of July 5, 1832? To put you in full
possession of all the facts in relation to the subject of the half-pay promised by the State
of Virginia, I transmit herewith a small book
containing, among other papers, the report of
the Committee to whom the subject was referred
in 1832, and upon which report Congress
acted in passing the law of 1832. The Treasury
and War Departments, in settling claims
under the Act, have decided that commutation
or five year full pay, under Special Act
passed by the State of Virginia, is no bar to
Page 209

half-pay, provided the commutation be deducted from thehalf-pay. The subject has been carefully examined by me, and I cannot discover any reason why half-pay should not be allowed in one case, as well as the other, unless Congress intended to exclude every case in which the claim had been prosecuted to judgement. The facts in the case, I think, fully sustain the arguments of Mr. Barbour.
I should have condensed the facts and arguments in this case, and brought the whole subject before you in this report, had I not believed that I might in so doing have done injustice to the party who claims.
I enclose herewith the letter of the Hon J. S. Barbour
I have the honor to be, Very Respectfully, your obt. Servt. J. L. Edwards
£ 480 of the sum paid Gibbs was for commutation, and £360:8 was for interest. J.L.E.
Hon. W. L. Marcy Secretary of War.
Page 210

No 2
Page 211

25th CONGRESS,
2d Session.
[ Rep. No. 121. ]
Ho. OF REPS.
WILLIAM VAWTER -- HEIRS OF
To accompany bill H.R.No. 139.]

DECEMBER 22, 1837.
Adopted by the committee, and ordered to be reprinted.

JANUARY 26, 1837.
Mr. UNDERWOOD, from the Committee on Revolutionary Claims, made
the following
REPORT:
The Committee on Revolutionary Claims, to which was referred the
case of William Vawter's heirs, report:
This case has heretofore received the consideration of the Committee
on Revolutionary Claims, and a report at length made thereupon on the
26th January, 1835, by Mr. Marshall. Your committee adopt the views
contained in the said report, and, in conformity thereto, report a bill.
JANUARY 26, 1835.
The Committee on Revolutionary Claims to which was referred the
case of William Vawter's heirs, report:
That, on the 25th of May, 1832, an act was approved allowing five
years' full pay to the heirs of William Vawter, for their father's services
in the revolutionary war, with interest thereon, according to the funding
act of August, 1790; which five years' full pay is declared to be commutation
of his half pay for life. On the 5th of July, 1832, the act entitled
"An act for liquidating and paying certain claims of the State of
Virginia," became a law. This act provides, among other things, that the
Secretary of the Treasury shall pay to the officers of certain regiments
of the Virginia line, named in the act, "those claims for half pay
which have not been paid or prosecuted to judgment against the State of
Virginia, and for which said State would be bound on the principles of
the half-pay cases already decided by the court of appeals of said State."
Among the regiments named in the act, and to which the provision just
cited relates, is that commanded by Colonel George Gibson; and the
main principle of the half-pay cases decided by the court of appeals of
Virginia was that the officers of the Virginia State line who served to
the close of the revolutionary war, or who, becoming supernumerary by
the reduction of any of the State line regiments, &c., did not refuse to reenter
the service if required so to do, were entitled to half pay for life, under
the Virginia act of May, 1779. The provision of the act of 5th July,
Thomas Allen, print.
Page 212

2 [ Rep. No. 121. ]
1832, above recited, is an assumption by the United States of the liability
of Virginia, thus defined, to pay to the officers of the regiments
named in the act their half pay for life
William Carter was a lieutenant in the regiment commanded by
Colonel George Gibson, and was one of the officers of that regiment
who had brought himself within the principle by which, according to
the decision of the court of appeals of Virginia, he was entitled to
half pay for life. (See Reports of the House, 1st session 22d Congress,
doc. 191, page 58.) The claim of William Vawter to half pay for life,
having never been paid or prosecuted to judgment against the State of
Virginia, is clearly one of those which the Secretary of the Treasury is
directed to pay by the act of July 5, 1832. Accordingly, after the
passage of that act, his heirs, alleging that the five years' full pay, with
interest, allowed to them in the name of commutation by the special act
in their favor of the 25th of May, 1832, was not equal to the half pay
for the life of their father, payable under the act of the 5th July, applied
at the Treasury for payment of the difference under the provisions
of the latter act. This application was refused, upon the ground that the
Committee on Revolutionary Claims had, in December, 1831, reported
that William Vawter was embraced in the resolution of Congress
of 21st October, 1780, promising half pay for life to certain officers, and
was, therefore, entitled to commutation; and that a bill, allowing commutation, &c., to his heirs, had passed, &c.
TREASURY DEPARTMENT,
December 10, 1832.
SIR: In answer to your letter, I have the honor to inform you that the
State of Virginia passed an act in 1779, giving half pay to their military
officers, both State and continental, who should become supernumerary,
or serve until the close of the war, unless they should refuse to rejoin the
army, if supernumerary, and required so to do, or "Congress do not
make some tantamount provision for them." On the 21st October, 1780,
Congress passed a resolve allowing half pay for life to the officers of the
continental line who should serve to the end of the war, or become supernumerary. It appears by the report of the 23d December, 1831, of the
Committee on Revolutionary Claims of the House of Representatives,
that William Vawter was a lieutenant of Colonel George Gibson's regiment
of the Virginia line on continental establishment, and so continued
until the resolves of the 3d and 21st October, 1780, made him a supernumerary, and that, as such, he was entitled to the provisions of the resolve
of Congress of the 21st October, 1780. The committee, therefore, I
reported a bill for his relief, which passed, giving him commutation, with
interest. This placed him on a footing with other Virginia Continental
officers, who, if Congress had not made provision for them by the resolve
of the 21st October, 1780, would have been entitled to half pay for life
from Virginia. Under these circumstances, it is not conceived that Mr.
Vawter has any claim on the United States.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
LOUIS McLANE,
Secretary of the Treasury.
The Hon. R. M. JOHNSON, H. of Reps.
Page 213

[ Rep. No. 121. ] 3
It is evident that the belief that Vawter was embraced by the resolution
of 21st October, 1780, led to the allowance of commutation to his
heirs, and to their exclusion from the provision of the act of 5th July,
1832. The basis of the report, and of the allowance of commutation, is
the fact that the 9th Virginia continental regiment having been captured
at Germantown, Gibson's regiment, acknowledged to have been originally
a State regiment, commanded by State officers, was, by an act of the
Virginia Legislature, substituted in the place of the captured regiment
until the latter should be exchanged; and that it did, in fact, serve for
some period, not exactly known, with the continental army, out of the
State of Virginia. The report goes on to state, that Vawter had served
with this regiment until, by the arrangement of the army, at the close of
the year 1780, he was deranged; and, from these facts, concludes that
he was embraced in the resolution of 21st October, 1780. The facts
here stated certainly present very strong ground for the conclusion to
which the committee came, and for the allowance of commutation.
They were of the most persuasive force, when the alternative seemed to
be, that if awter's case did not come within the resolution of 21st October
, 1780, his services were to go unremunerated. But the evidence already
referred to contained in doc. 191, 1st sess. 22d Cong.) was not
only not before the Committee on Revolutionary Claims when the facts
of this case were first investigated, and the report made thereon, but its
existence was scarcely known, even in Virginia. The discovery of that
evidence forced upon Virginia the full acknowledgment of her liability,
under the act of May, 1779, to pay to the officers of her State regiments
the half pay for life promised in that act. This evidence proves that,
notwithstanding the facts stated with respect to Gibson's regiment, it was,
at the close of the war, regarded as a State regiment, whose officers were
entitled to the provision of the act of May, 1779, and were not embraced
by the resolve of October, 1780. The subsequent application of Virginia
to the United States (in 1831) to assume the performance of her
promise of half pay for life to the officers of this and other regiments,
and the express assumption of the United States, by the act of 5th July,
1832, to pay the half pay for life to the officers of this regiment, as due
to them under the act of May, 1779, show conclusively the opinion of
both Governments as to the character of the regiment, and determine
finally the rights of its officers. If they were entitled to the half pay for
life from Virginia, they were not entitled to half pay for life, or commutation
, under the resolves of Congress; and if embraced by the resolve
of Congress of October, 1780, they were thereby deprived of all claim
to half pay for life from Virginia. In affirming their right to the half pay
from Virginia, the public acts referred to decide, finally, that they were
not embraced by the resolve of 21st October, 1780.
The case of Vawter cannot be distinguished from that of the other
officers of his regiment, either as regards the application of the resolve
of Congress, or the effect of the decision implied in the act of July 5,
1832. If, because he was an officer of a regiment which had been substituted
in the place of a continental regiment, he is to be considered as
one to whom the resolve of October, 1780, offers half pay for life, for the same
reason that offer must be considered as extending to all the officers
of the same regiment. If the fact that he was reduced or deranged at
Page 214

4┃ Rep. No. 121. ┃
the end of the year 1780 demonstrates that he was embraced by the resolution
, or of itself brings him within it, the fact that the others were retained
had the same effect as to them; for the resolution provides as well
for the officers who should be retained, as for those who should be reduced. The act of 5th July, 1832, asserting the right of the officers of
Gibson's regiment to half pay for life from Virginia, denies their right to
the half pay under the resolve of Congress, and to the five years' full
pay, into which it was commuted. It makes no discrimination between
the officers of that regiment, who had brought themselves within the
decision of the court of appeals, but deems all such entitled to half pay
from Virginia, and provides for the payment of all arrearages to them.
It is unquestionable that, but for the allowance of commutation by the
act of 25th May, 1832, Vawter's heirs would have received the full
amount of their father's half pay for life, under the act of 5th July.
What, then, is, and ought to be, the effect of the former act? Does it
preclude Vawter's heirs from the benefit of the latter
The act of 25th May was passed upon the supposition, and impliedly
asserts the fact, that the officers of Gibson's regiment were embraced in
the resolve of 21st October, 1780. The act of 25th May, so far as it
relates to that regiment, rests upon and impliedly asserts, the fact that
its officers were not embraced in that resolution. If the fact assumed in
the first act be true, then neither Vawter nor the other officers of Gibson's regiment were entitled to the half pay for life from Virginia, which
the last act directs to be paid. If the fact assumed in the last act be
true, then Vawter was not entitled to the commutation allowed to his
heirs by the first; and he and all other officers of Gibson's regiment,
whose services brought them within the principle of the cases decided
by the court of appeals of Virginia, were entitled to half pay for life
from that State, and were properly provided for by the act of 5th July.
Comparing these two acts, in every point of view; considering the
source of the application for each; the nature of the evidence on which
each was based; the amount of money involved in each; and the degree
of consideration given to each, by both Houses of Congress, the committee
are of opinion that, as to all matters of fact and principle involved
in each, the act of 5th July must be allowed superior weight and authority. They are, moreover, of the opinion that the evidence in support
of the right of the officers of Gibson's regiment, as settled by the
act of 5th July, is, itself, entitled to great weight. It follows that, when
the act of 25th May passed, allowing commutation to Vawter's heirs,
they had no claim whatever against the United States, either for commutation
or for half pay, but had a claim against the State of Virginia
for half pay during the life of their father; which claim against the
State of Virginia was afterwards assumed by the United States, by the
act of 5th July.
There is no ground to suppose that, in applying for commutation, or in
allowing it, either party intended to deceive the other; on the contrary,
the facts, as then believed, justified both the application and the allowance. The question, then, is, whether the payment by the United States
to Vawter's heirs of a sum supposed to be due from the former to the
latter, when, in fact, nothing was due between them, shall be held to be
a full satisfaction of a greater sum actually due from Virginia to Vaw-
Page 215

[ Rep. No. 121. ] 5
ter's heirs, and of which the payment was afterwards assumed by the United States? In the opinion of the committee, this question can only be answered in the negative.
It is a known fact, that in cases in which Virginia, shrinking from the full discharge of her promise, had authorized partial payments, (for instance, five years' full pay,) with the express declaration that they were to be taken as a full discharge of the half pay for life, and the payments were made and received under this declaration, they have yet been considered at the Treasury of the United States as (what they in relality were) mere partial payments; and the residue of the half pay for life has been paid, under the provisions of the act of 5th July. But if a partial payment by Virginia, the real debtor, made and received under an express declaration on her part that it is to be taken as full satisfaction of the whole demand, cannot, in that elevated sense of moral right which characterizes this Government, be considered as extinguishing the residue of a just debt; upon what principle can the United States, after having assumed to pay to the officers of Gibson's regiment the entire amount of the half pay for life promised by Virginia, and remaining unpaid, claim that previous payment to one of those officers (to whom they then owed nothing) of a sum less than that which, by the assumption, is now found to be due to him, shall be considered as a full satisfaction of thes greater sum justly due? The committee do not find authority for this position in any principle compatible either with justice or the character of the Govenment, and think it would be better comport with both the consider the payment made under a mistaken liability, and in a mistaken name of commutation, as so much paid towards the real claim of half pay for life, rather than to rest upon the full discharge of the mistaken claim as a full satisfaction of a greater one which is real. Upon the whole, the committee do not find, in the passage of the act for the benefit of Vawter's heirs, and the payment under it, a reasonable ground for excluding them from the benefit of the act of 5th July, 1832, which has been, or may be, received by all the other officers of Gibson's regiment. They therefore report a bill authorizing the payment to their heirs of William Vawter of so much of the half pay for the life of their father as remains unpaid, after crediting the sum already paid under the said act of 25th May, 1832.
Page 216

No 35750 Churchill Gibbs Va Act June 7th 32
Ticket to a Ball given La fayette
3984
Page 217

Warrenton, Virginia 10th October 1843
Sir: I here with enclose the application of Major churchill Gibbs for an increase of Pension, The enclosed letter of invitation by the Mayor [illegible] of Richmond City & the Tickett by Judge Marshall & otheres to the Ball all in hon or Genl Lafayett are relied upon to show the Major Gibbs was recognized by his acquaintances of Revolutionary Memory and his brother officers as a Major, which title he says was confered on him from holding the appointment of Aid De camp. Churchill Gibbs recovered his claim against Va for five years full pay on the ground of being a prisoner of war on [illegible] to the end of the war, & claims the full pension due his staff appointment as he held it at the time he was taken prisoner.
I will endeavor to procure further proof in his case if I can, & in thiat event will enclose it to be used in this application
I am sir very respectfully, your obedient servant Wm Helm
Commissioner of Pensions }
Page 218

See papers at back of this corespondence, also Miss Wilson's note at bottom of the summary form of history MHP
nothing proven - not for searchers -
Page 219

personal [illegible]
Mrs Hester A. Dowd _ Feb. 11. 1921 _
702.10" N.E_ Washington D.C_
wants record of Churchill Gibbs Va Rev.War S46002
Page 220

2 (M F 53)
5. If the soldier had been previously married, the fact and date of death or divorce of each former wife should be proved in case of death, by a verified copy of the public record, or, if no such record exists, by the sworn statement of witnesses; in case of divorce, by a certified copy of the defcree of a court. If there_ prior marriage of
soldier, the fact should be shown by the sworn statement of witnesses who knew him from the time he became of marriageable age,
6. The sworn statement of witnesses having knowledge of the facts, showing whether claimant and soldier were ever divorced, and whether they lived together as husband and wife up to the date of the soldier's death.
7. If the claimant has not remarried since the sol [illegible]
Page 221

(3__469.)
(stamp) US OFFICE OF JAN 2 1889 CHIEF CLERK 
Bureau of Pensions.
Application No.
Certificate No.
NAME OF SOLDIER, Churchill Gibbs
Co. , Revy War Va Line Reg't
INFORMATION DESIRED.
Dear General, this lady _ Mrs. E.T Morehad who accompanied my messenger, desires some information in relation to Revolutionary matters.
I [illegible] her to you that she may receive such information as you deam proper to impart
M.F. Gallagher A.C. Co.
(12099-25 M.) 6-061
Page 222

Lt Line amt of half pay deducting com paid by [illegible] 7.951 53 [illegible] 29 1849
Page 223

(stamp) PENSION OFFICE US NOV 20 1880 CHIEF CLERK
NOV 22 1880
Col Hobbs
Please furnish me with all the data in the case of Churchill Gibbs late of Madison Co Va. Officer in the Revolutionary War upon which to [illegible] a bill
Lt Gibbs received some $12.000 arrears of pay but at time his death there were several years arrears due him
[illegible] oblig yours truly R F Randall [illegible] attys 1103 FHM
over
Page 224

Capt. Webster. you know what data to give JH
PENSION OFFICE NOV 22 1880 US CHIEF CLERK.

March 28 1849
Half Pay allowed to date of death May 30 1846
Report to House of Rep #138
30th Cong 2o8c Feb 28 1849
Page 225

Capt. Webster. you know what data to give JH
PENSION OFFICE NOV 22 1880 US CHIEF CLERK.

March 28 1849
Half Pay allowed to date of death May 30 1846
Report to House of Rep #138
30th Cong 2o8c Feb 28 1849
Page 226

(circular stamp) PENSION OFFICE U.S. JUN 26 1889
Page 227

TOMPKINS Avondale Pharmacy, Corner Main and Rockdale Aves.
Station 1, Cincinnati, June 24 1889
To the Commissioner of Pensions Washington D.C. 
Dear Sir
We have heard in an inderect way, that the heirs of Churchill Gibbs (a revolutionary soldier) are entitled to some pension money due said Churchill Gibbs Will you please inform me if such is the fact.
Respy R. E. Tompkins
Page 228

Old war Div.
J. N. P. Ex'r.
No.
Co. Reg't
Department of the Interior. PENSION OFFICE.
-:o:-
Return this letter with your reply. Washington, D.C. September 24th, 1889
Madam, In answer to your communication of the 18th inst. which it is presumed, like other recent enquires, refers to the right of your grandfater, Churchill Gibbs, a Revolutionary Officer from Virginia,", to the Half Pay promised by certain acts of the Legislature of that state the payment of which was assumed by the United States, you are advised that his claim for the said Half Pay, amounting to $7,981.53 was paid in full March 29, 1849_ There is not now any claim or moneys due on account of his services in the war of the Revolution_
Mrs Juliet A Bell Wheeling, West Va.
Page 229

O.W. and A. LC.M.
Department of the Interior PENSION OFFICE
Washington, D.C. April 6", 1882.
Sir
In response to your inquiry relative to arrears of pay alleged to be due to the heirs of Churchill Gibbs. an officer of the Revolutionary War, you are in formed that Churchill Gibbs received in his lifetime a full pension as a Lieutenant in the Virginia Continental line.
He never held a higher rank in the army than Lieutenant, consequently was pensioned for all he was entitled to. It made no difference in respect to the amount per annum whether he was pensioned under act of May 151828 or June 7 1832, and there can be nothing due the heirs of the pensioner, unless he failed to draw the pension which had been allowed him to his death. Attention is called to paragraph No. 3. of the enclosed circular.
Very respectfully , Commissioner
W. A. Grant Esq. Front Royal, Va.
Page 230

Wheeling Sept 2 1/89
(stamp) [illegible] War & Navy Sep 11 1889 DIVISION USPB

Dear Sir
We have been the Grandchildren of Capt Churchill (who was a vetran in the Revolutionary War) that there was a large amount of Pension in the Treasury at Washington due his heirs for services, as a veteran.
I shall employ an Attorney to see best the matter for me. Respectfully  J A Bell
Page 231

U. LAW S. SEP 6 1889 RECEIVED
PENSION OFFICE U SEP 4 1889

Please answer as early as possible.
Please give me the amount of any vaulated Pensions in the Treasure for us.

Address Mrs. J A. Bell No 1216 Byron St Wheeling W Va
James Tanner Pension Commisionaer Washington DC.
Page 232

J. G Gooch W Va
Revy Oct 24 1889
Churchill Gibbs

(circular stamp) US OCT 26 [illegible]
Page 233

(circular stamp) PENSION OFFICE U.S. OCT 26 [illegible]
(rectangular stamp) OCT [illegible]
Page 234

I. G. GOOCH.
A. G. M'CUE.
GOOCH & McCUE,
MANUFACTURERS AND DEALERS IN
Roller Process Flour, Lumber, Laths, Shingles, Flooring, Ceiling, Siding, &c.
ALSO CENERAL MERCHANDISE AT PRINCETON. MILLS AT PRINCETON AND BLUEFIELD
PRINCETON. W VA. Oct 24th 1889.
Commissioner of Pensions Washington D. C.
Dr Sir
I write for the purpose of acertaining of possible if there is any thing in your department showing that Churchill Gibbs of Madison County Va who was a soldier in the War of 1812 & probably in the Revolutionary War, was entittled to a Pension for his services. Now any information you can furnish me will be appreciated or if you can suggest some one who is reliable that I can get to fully investigate the matter will also be regarded as a special favor & if it be necessary I can furnish the particulars of Mr. Gibbs more fully Hoping to have a favorable reploy very soon
I remain yours most Resplly
J G Gooch
Page 235

(circular stamp lower center) PENSION OFFICE U.S. E APR 15 1920
Page 236

Rev Sec.
Fulton Mo Apr 12-1920
Adjt. Gen.
Pen. Dep. Washington 
Dear Sirs. Please give me all the information you have of these Rev. Soldiers.
John Harrison S. of W. 1835 Va Mil Pen 2.166.
Churchill Gibbs. S. of W. 1835 enc. 2.213 Va
yours truly G.W. Bartley
Page 237

Rev Ser Enc
Fayette, Missouri March 1, 1917.
The Commissioner of Pensions, Washington, D.C.,
Sir: Kindly send me a copy of the pension application for Revolutionary services of Churchill Gibbs, who was living in 1840 in Madison County, Va., at the age of 84 years _ where he died abt 1845. He was born in Va., (probably Madison county)? abt. 1753_6. The extent of his services in the Revolution is not known to me, but he was a lieutenant and at some later date a captain, but whether the latter title was acquired in the Revolution, I do not know.
Churchill Gibbs married Judith Richardson of Richmond, Va., and located on a farm near Madison C. H., Madison Co. Va. They had a family
Page 238

of six daughters and three sons. One of the daughters, Jane Barnet Gibbs, married Lewis G. Emmett they were my great grandparents. I shall appreciate any family data on file with his pension application.
Yours very truly, Mrs. W. W. Kingsbury. (c/o. P. O. Box, 342.)
Page 239

(circular stamp bottom center)
PENSION OFFICE U.S. MAR 5 1913
Page 240

Mar 1 - 1913
The Pension Dept Washington D. C.
Please send me a copy of the Service claim of Churchill Gibbs of Virginia who was born 1758 and was Capt of 1st Virginia State Regiment during the Revolutionary War
Mrs. Harry Wood
Bowling Green Mo
S H.M. Strother
Page 241

Joseph Van Cleef Freehold Monmouth Company
[illegible] states that he served
in the summer of 1776 
every other march under Capt
[William Hume?] who was afterwards [officially?]
[promoted?] Major in the Militia until
the year 1777 - His officers were Capts
John Schannel Samuel Carhart and
Joseph Stillwell - that he then entered
a company of Horse called the
Light Dragoons belonging to the
Monmouth Militia and served under
said Barnes Smock acting as
Captain in the place of Capt Jacob Cowenhoven  
(who had for a short time before taken prisoner by the Enemy) until the said Capt Jacob
Cowenhoven was exchanged and
returned to the command of his
company and that he then served under the
said Captain and Lieutenant until the liberty of my [his?] -
Page 242

[Crumley?] [illegible] served in said
company of Light Dragoons every
other march from the time he formed said Company until the close of the war -

Barnes J Smock and John S Bennett [illegible] - Smock has served Bennett [illegible] as a 
[private?] of [cavalry?] - 

Barnes J Smock [illegible] that [Mr./Van]? Cleef served under him that he [has/was] [illegible] under Capt Jacob Cowenhoven -

[Certification?] in this case was sent to J M Hartshorn Freehold [illegible]
Page 243

3984 3985
Front Royal Va Apl.4.1882
Capp Ripley
Sir I take the liberty of writing to you for a little information knowing you to be well posted on the subject. I wish to know the proper method to obtain arrears of pay due to Revolutionary Officers, The records in the Pension Office show that a certain Capt Churchill Gibbs served in the army of the Revolution and afterwards received a part of his pay, & also that there is a balance due him, knowing that such claims are being paid now, I wish to know the right course to pursue in obtaining the amount due for the benefit of his heirs. of whom my wife is one being his great grand daughter, any information or instructions you may give me in this matter will be thankfully received, my kindest regards to your lady. very respt W.A. Trout
Page 244

(stamp upper right) FIRST SEPT 21 1889 DEPUTY COMMISIONER BUREAU OF PENSIONS
(stamp upper right) PEN U OFFICE SEP 21 1889

Hiram. Smith. Acting Commissioner. Washington D C _

Address_ Mrs Juliet A Bell No 1216 Byron St Wheeling Rep Va
Page 245

Wheeling Sept 18th 1/89
Dear Sir
Yours of the 16 inst Received, _ and hasten to reply
My Grandfather the late Capt Churchill Gibbs was an Officer in the Revolution (A veteran) first_ a Lieutenant- then promoted to a Capt.
Capt Churchill Gibbs "My Grandfather" was a Pensioner to the close of his life, He lived & died in Madison Co Va. in forty four or five (44 or 45) am not _ sure which; We have reasons to believe there is accumulated Pension in the Treasury at Washington, to which his Grandchildren are entitled, his children being all dead.
If you will examine the records, you will find all you wish to know The Claimants are purposed to establish their Claim.
Yours very respectfully Juliet A Bell

Please answer at your earliest convenience
Sir you will confer a favor by giving me the exact amount as nearly as you can, am anxious about it as I am old & from circumstances & feel anxious about it.
Page 246

T. M. BALDWIN, Expert in U. S. General Land and Indian Office. 10 YEARS' SERVICE AND EXPERIENCE IN OFFICE.
E. P. BALDWIN, Attorney-at-Law and Expert in Treasure Department. LATE DEPUTY FIRST AUDITOR, U.S. TREASURE DEP'T.
OFFICE OF BALDWIN & BALDWIN, ATTORNEYS AND EXPERTS, NO. 621 SEVENTH STREET, NORTHWEST, Washington, D. C. , February 11th, 1890.
Hon.Commissioner of Pensions. Washington.D.C.
Sir:
Your attention is called to the enclosed letter from the Hon. Secretary of War.relative to the claim of the heirs of Churchill Gibbs.and we have to request that we be informed what your records show relative to the same. Please return the letter of the Secretary of War with your reply.and oblige 
Yours truly, Baldwin & Baldwin & R.W.Hunter
Attorneys for the Heirs of Gibbs.