Office of

John C. Dermody,

Attorney at Law,

Chauncey Building.

P. O. Box 275.

Washington, D.C., Oct 30 1893

 

Dear Sir:

            An Act of Congress renewing certain other acts for the relief of ex-officers of Volunteers was approved February 9, 1893, and as you are one of the class affected by the act I take it that a few words in explanation of its object and provisions will not prove uninteresting to you. The records probably show that while you were in the service you were not recognized and paid as a commissioned officer from the date from which it was intended you should be recognized and paid when your commission was issued to you, but that you were recognized and paid as an officer only from the date that you were mustered into service under your commission, because at that time you were not regarded as an officer until after you had been mustered as such. Under the act referred to you may have your muster into service amended to take effect from the date from which you were to take rank under your commission, and you will then be entitled to the pay of your grade from that date up to the date that you were originally mustered in; in a word then you may now obtain recognition and the pay of a commissioned officer for the period intervening between the date of rank of your commission and the date that you were mustered thereunder.

 

            In case you were promoted you may obtain additional recognition and pay in each grade in which you served, and if you were not mustered at all in any grade to which you were commissioned you may now be recognized and paid as of that grade.

 

            In addition to pay proper other allowances which an officer may obtain by reason of amendment of muster are servant's pay and allowances, allowances for subsistence, clothing, &c. To show how these items count up, in an allowance recently obtained by me for the widow of C. H. Thomas, Lt., 51^st Ill. Vols., the servant's pay and allowances alone amounted to $64.

 

            Other allowances due many ex-officers are travel pay, or one day's pay and allowances for every twenty miles of travel from place of discharge to place of residence; final pay, which is pay from the date an officer's discharge order was issued up to the date that he received it, and three months' extra pay proper to those officers who were mustered in prior to March 3, 1865, and discharged subsequent to April 9, 1865. Many ex-officers who have been denied this extra pay on account of having been mustered in after March 3, 1865, and who were commissioned prior to that date, may now establish their title to it by obtaining amendment of muster.

 

            This was done in a claim that I prosecuted for Lt. Chas. Kline, 115^th N. Y. Vols. (Chief of Police, Amsterdam, N. Y.), and in an allowance of $471 that I obtained for him $135 was for three months' extra pay proper.

                                                                                                               

            There have been amendments to existing laws in recent years and in many claims heretofore unsatisfactorily settled additional allowances could now be obtained. To illustrate: Sometime ago Lt. John H. Enoch, 54^th Ohio Vols., received $46 in settlement of his claim for arrears of pay, &c. Shortly thereafter he placed his claim in my hands, and, an amendatory act having been passed in the meantime, I obtained for him $381 in addition to what he had already received, and in another recent settlement I obtained for the claimant, under the same circumstances, $531 in addition to a former allowance of $146.

 

            Hundreds of thousands of dollars are due on account of these claims and Congress has made successive appropriations for their payment. You cannot determine whether or not anything is due you, as that information can be ascertained only from an examination of your pay accounts on file in this city. The effort required to find out whether or not anything is due you is so slight that you should not refrain from making it when there is a possibility that a considerable sum is due you. If you will state in the enclosed blank every rank held by you, and the organizations in which you served, sign it and return it to me, I will look into the merits of your claim. If you are entitled thereto, I will obtain an amendment of muster for you within ten days and send you an application for the pay that may be due you.

 

            If I do not succeed in obtaining an amendment of muster for you I will charge you nothing for my services. In the event of my success, my charge for obtaining amendment of muster will be the usual one, $5, and, for prosecuting your pay claim the Department will deduct for me a commission not exceeding 10% of the amount allowed you and send you a check for the balance.

 

            The time for filing claims for amendment of muster is limited, and you should give the matter your immediate attention. Officers who were in hospital or prisoners of war at the dates of their commissions, and also the widows of deceased officers, come within the terms of the Act.

 

            Enclose return postage with your application.

 

Very truly,

John C. Dermody,

Per M

 

            N.B. Under date of March 4, 1893, Lt. Isaac C. Richardson, (10^th N. H. Vols.), Nashua, N. H., wrote me as follows: "I received yesterday a statement of my account by which I see that I am entitled to $144.28 and am much pleased with the result of your persistent efforts. If I should know of any one needing assistance in any similar case I will cheerfully recommend him to you."

 

            Among many others for whom I have obtained settlements are: Bvt. Maj. Gen'l Frederick Salomon, Salt Lake City, Utah; Lt. August F. Schmidt, 4^th Mass. Cav., Hoboken, N. J.; Capt. Milton H. Doty, 8^th Wis., Brodhead, Wis.; Lt. Wm. F. Bright, 124^th Ind., Brazil, Ind., and Mrs. Masura Edwards, widow of Jos. Edwards, Lt. 48^th Pa., Orwigsburgh, Pa.

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