ANNIE E. DIXON.

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APRIL 15, 1890.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed.

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Mr. LANE, from the Committee on Invalid Pensions, submitted the following

REPORT:

[To accompany S. 1365.]

            The Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (S. 1365) granting a pension to Annie E. Dixon, submit the following report:

            This committee adopt the report of the Senate made on this bill as their report in considering this case, which report is in the following language:

            The Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the petition of Mrs. Annie E. Dixon, widow of Henry T. Dixon, late major and assistant paymaster in the volunteer service of the United States, respectfully report: 

            That Major Dixon, with some other paymasters, was, on the 31st day of July, 1965, under a general order of the War Department, honorably mustered out of the said service, the order stating that their services were no longer needed; and on the 12th of August following, his accounts have been settled to the entire satisfaction of the Paymaster-General, he was paid the balance due him.

            On the 8th of November, in the same year, Major Dixon, accompanied by an influential friend whose testimony is before the committee, called on the President for the purpose of obtaining a position in the regular Army. The major referred to his four years’ faithful service in the volunteer army, the fact of his having cast the only vote given to President Lincoln in Fauquier County, Va., the prejudice against him arising from this act, the consequent virtual exile from his home and family, and the destruction of his property to the amount of $15,000, and presented papers which confirmed his statements. The President indorsed on these papers a cordial recommendation, addressed to the Secretary of War, which was presented to that officer on the same day. The Secretary, who was well acquainted with the applicant, assured him that he should have the appointment he desired in a few weeks. Two days afterwards Major Dixon was murdered at the city of Alexandria by a rebel surgeon, his loyalty having made him obnoxious to the disloyal.

            Major Dixon having been mustered out of the volunteer service not for any fault, but simply because the then state of things enabled the Department to dispense with several officers of his class, and having almost immediately sought and been promised an appointment in  the regular Army, the committee are unwilling to treat his case as that of one who was out of the military service, or to deny a pension to his widow, and feel that the circumstances of his death and the causes of his assassination address themselves to the liberality if not strictly to the justice of the country, and therefore submit the accompanying bill for the consideration of the Senate.