Special Message

To the Senate of the United States:

I nominate Lieutenant-Colonel Thayer, of the Corps of Engineers, for the brevet of colonel in the Army, agreeably to the recommendation of the Secretary of War.

M. VAN BUREN.

WAR DEPARTMENT, June 28, 1838 .

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR: In submitting the name of Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel S. Thayer, of the Corps of Engineers, for the brevet of colonel for ten years' faithful service in one grade it may be proper to state the circumstances of his case.

When the law of 1812 regulating brevets was repealed by the act of June 30, 1834, all the officers of the Army who were known to be entitled to the ordinary brevet promotion for ten years' faithful service in one grade received on that day, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, the brevet promotion to which they were respectively entitled. The regulation which governed the subject under the law had reference only to service with regularly organized bodies of troops, and valid claims arising under it were generally known and easily understood at the Adjutant-General's Office. If incidental cases occurred for which the written regulations could not provide the rule, although equally valid, such, nevertheless, may not in every instance have been known at the War Department until specially represented by the party interested. The case of Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Thayer happened to be one of those incidental claims, and as soon as it was submitted for consideration its validity was clearly seen and acknowledged. Had it been submitted to the Department when the list was made out in June, 1834, it may not be doubted that this highly meritorious and deserving officer would at the time have received the brevet of colonel for "having served faithfully as brevet lieutenant-colonel and performed the appropriate duties of that grade for ten years," which, it may be seen, was due more than a year before the passage of the act repealing the law.

In presenting now this deferred case for your favorable consideration justice requires that I should advert to the valuable services rendered to the Army and the country by Lieutenant-Colonel Thayer as Superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point. In 1817 he found that institution defective in all its branches, and without order; in 1833 he left it established upon a basis alike honorable to himself and useful to the nation. These meritorious services constitute another claim which entitles this officer to the notice of the Government, and as they come fairly within one of the conditions of the law which yet open the way to brevet promotion, the incentive it provides is fully realized by the services that have been rendered.

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,

J. R. POINSETT.