residence and cultivation of a like character with that required in
ordinary homestead entries before the issuance of a final certificate.
(See section 6, act of March 2, 1889, 25 U.S. Statutes at Large, p.
854.)

6. Any officer, soldier, seaman, or marine who served for not less than
ninety days in the Army or Navy of the United States during the War of
the Rebellion and who was honorably discharged and has remained loyal to
the Government, or, in case of his death, his widow, or, in case of her
death or remarriage, his minor orphan children, by a guardian duly
appointed and officially accredited at the Department of the Interior,
may, either in person or by agent, file a declaratory statement for a
tract of land and have six months thereafter within which to make actual
entry and commence residence and improvements upon the land. (See
sections 2304, 2307, and 2309, U.S. Revised Statutes.)

7. Every person entitled under the preceding paragraph to enter a
homestead who, or whose deceased husband or father, in case of the widow
or minor children, may have prior to June 22, 1874, entered under the
homestead laws a quantity of land less than 160 acres may, if otherwise
qualified, enter so much land as when added to the quantity previously
entered shall not exceed 160 acres; but the party must make affidavit
that the entry is made for actual settlement and cultivation, and the
proof of such settlement and cultivation prescribed by existing
homestead laws and regulations thereunder will be required to be
produced before the issue of final certificate. (See section 2306, U.S.
Revised Statutes, and section 18 of the act of May 2, 1890, 26 U.S.
Statutes at Large, p. 90.)

8. Parties may initiate claims under the homestead law either by