The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-08-28
Soldiers Budget.
J. V. MOrrow's Case.

Inc lOllOWlng decision OF lne Assistant
Secretary of the Interior in the case of
John V, Morrow shows how important
record evidence is in the adjudication
of pension claims:
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, }
Washington, July 30, 1889.
The Commissioner Of PensionS:-
Herewith are returned the papers
which accompanied your report of
April 5, 1889, upon the appeal of T. j.
Deavitt, attorney for John V. Morrow
of Montpelier, VT. late private COM
pany |, First New York Volunteer En-
gineers, from the action of your office
rejecting his claim for increase of pen
sion. On the 18th of June, 1866, claim.
ant filed his original declaration for
pension in which he alleged the gun
shot wound of right side, for which he
is now pensioner at Sc month, but
made no claim for any other disability.
February IL, 1881, he filed an appica-
ton for increase on account of saber
cut of left knee, new disability alleged
to have been received at the second
battle of Bull Run, Va, in August, 1862
February "a, 1886, he filed another APP
pllcation for increase, alleging that the
gunshot wound for which he is pen
stoned has resulted in hernia. After
special investigation to determine the
merits of said claims for increase and
the value of the testimony filed in sup
port thereof, these claims have been
rejected by your office on the ground,
substantially, that there is no sufficient
tA gtnh oh -. a
either of said alleged new disabilities.
1t is shown by the records of the war
department that the regiment and COM
pany to which claimant belonged was
not in action at battle of Bull Run in
August, 1862, but was stationed at
Hilton Head, S. c., at and for some
time previous to date of said battle:
but it is also shown that claimant had
been detailed on some special duty a
month or two prior to June 30, 1862,
though the nature of the detail is not
disclosed by the record, nor the place
10 which sent, except as the report of
the Acknowledgement, L. S. A., shows
that he returned to his company July
IL, 1862, from James or Morris Island.
The claimant says he was on detached
service with DIR. Snow (now deceased)
surgeon of the regiment, while at Port
Royal, S. c., from May 20, 1862, but
left that place to take the corpse of
comrade to his home in New York,
and that after doing so he returned and
stopped over for few weeks at the
S Jldiers' Home in New York city, and
then joined the medical department of
the Army of the Potomac in July, 1862,
at Fairfax Court House, Virginia,
which he says was then moving to the
Bull Run ground; and he alleges that
it was while engaged in executing
some order from DIR. Snow in regard to
the duties of his Office that he was
overtaken by squad of rebel cavalry
men and received his alleged saber cut
in left knee; but it is clear that if he
was off on detached duty with DIR.
Snow and received his wound of knee
in the service at all, it could not have
been at the time and place stated, be-
cause the record shows that on the 18th
of July, 1862, he returned from an
adjacent island to his regiment, which
was then at Hilton Head, S. c., and no
subsequent detail is claimed or shown.
The testimony he has furnished in sup
port of his claim is equally unsatis-
factory.
One of the comrades on whom the
claimant has relied to establish his
claim testifes before the special ex-
aminer that he heard the boys say
while the army was on retreat from the
second Bull Run battle, that the claim
ant had got bad cut across the leg"
and that he saw them carrying him
along, but that he saw no wound, nor
did he hear claimant say how it hap
pened. In an affidavit previously filed,
this witness had sworn that he saw the
claimant in the rear at Centreville, Va.
about shutdown on the Both of August,
1862, with a saber wound of left knee,
and that Comrade Stickney had tied
up the wound with his handkerchief
and was helping him along. More
over, the military history of this soldier
shows that he belonged to Company
b, Second Vermont Volunteers, whose
regiment was not in action at the
second Bull Run, but was stationed at
Harrison's Landing, Va.
The comrade above referred to, and
also relied on by the claimant, says in
his deposition before the special exam
lLSl thdl III lliC lSlISdI nun l)ull IbuH
in August, 1862, he met with the claim
ant and saw that he was wounded by a
saber cut in the knee, which was bloody
and tied up with something; that he
helped him across the creek with
another comrade whose name was John
Wheeler, but whose evidence has not
been furnished In an affidavit filed
prior to the special examination, this
witness had testified that he assisted
4" some wounded soldier" across the
creek near Bull Run in August, 1862,
who had been wounded in left knee,
and afterwards concluded that this
claimant was the man. The report of
the acknowledgement shows that this
man belonged to Company G, First
Vermont Cavalry and that his regiment
was stationed at Centerville, Va, dur
ing the month of August, 1862.
A glance at such testimony as the
foregoing shows it to be wholly unreli-
able to prove the origin in service and
line of duty of the alleged saber cut of
knee. This evidence can not be ac-
cepted to rebut the presumption arising