I inclose herewith a copy of one of the several letters which I addressed him on the subject. There is more due the Government than is claimed in this letter. It would only be right that this sum should be returned to our department. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, General M. C. MEIGS, STEWART VAN VLIET, Quartermaster-General, Brevet Major-General, U. S. A. Statement showing the quantity of cotton received during the year by Brevet Major-General Stewart Van Vliet, quartermaster United States Army, at New York City, the disposition made of it, &c. SIR: I hand you herewith the account of charges, amounting to $50,077.34, which is due this department on four shipments of cotton and sugar turned over to you, and will thank you to send me your draft for the amount at your earliest convenience. Correspondence between General Meigs and General Van Vliet. (From House Ex. Doc. No. 97, Thirty-ninth Congress, second session, pages 61–63.) QUARTERMASTER'S OFFICE, GENERAL: I have the honor to state that the steam transport Matanzas arrived last evening from New Orleans, and has on board 400 bales of cotton and 50 hogsheads of sugar, invoiced to me by Captain Shipley, assistant quartermaster, for sale. I am having it stored at the Atlantic Dock, and would recommend that it be sold without delay, in order to avoid the expense of storage and the risk of loss by fire. I am informed from New Orleans that there will be a considerable amount of cotton shipped to me, and I would be glad to have some general instructions in the case. 'I can have it sold at the highest price at auction with but little expense, and with a certainty that everything will be done by those who sell it for the best interests of the service. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, General M. C. MEIGS, Quartermaster-General, Washington, D. C. STEWART VAN VLIET, Major and Quartermaster. QUARTERMASTEr's Office, New York, June 29, 1863. GENERAL: I have the honor to transmit herewith a letter from Captain Mahler, acting quartermaster for Colonel Holabird, in regard to a load of cotton just received here by steamer Matanzas. This cotton is marked "U. S.," but there are no charges against it in New Orleans, as has been the case with other lots received from that city, nor is it stated that it is captured property. There must have been some charges against it in New Orleans which Colonel Holabird (not knowing that it had been turned over to the agent of the Treasury Department) intended to deduct, after the proceeds of the sale had been placed to his credit with the assistant treasurer. For the foregoing reasons, I have thought it proper to ask if this cotton should be turned over to Mr. Barney, collector, as the other has been. If it is, I should think that a certain sum should be withheld to cover any expenses that may have accrued, until Colonel Holabird can be heard from. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, General M. C. MEIGS, Quartermaster-General, Washington, D. C. STEWART VAN VLIET, Quartermaster. QUARTERMASTER'S OFFICE, New York, July 24, 1863. GENERAL: I have the honor to call your attention to my letter of the 29th of June, in regard to cotton received here from New Orleans, per steamer Matanzas. Another load has arrived under similar circumstances. Mr. Barney? I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, General M. C. MEIGS, Quartermaster-General, Washington, D. C. Shall it be turned over to STEWART VAN VLIET, QUARTEMASTER-GENERAL'S OFFICE, MAJOR: All cotton received from New Orleans should be disposed of as heretofore directed, under the law of 12th March, 1863, and General Orders No. 88, of 31st March, 1863, or April 3. Where the charges are not known the collector should be informed that the list of charges has not yet been received, but that he will be furnished with it as soon as received. Advise Colonel Holabird of this instruction, that he may send forward his list of charges against all such shipments at the earliest date. I am, respectfully, your obedient, Maj. S. VAN VLIET, Quartermaster, New York. M. C. MEIGS, Quartermaster-General. Report of Capt. W. W. McKim, assistant quartermaster U. S. A. (From House Ex. Doc., No. 97, Thirty-ninth Congress, second session, pages 68-60.) ASSISTANT QUARTERMASTER'S OFFICE, Boston, Mass., June 27, 1863. GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 22d instant, in reference to certain property shipped to me by Col. S. B. Holabird, chief quartermaster Department of the Gulf. Previous to the receipt of your letter I had $161,535.69, being the proceeds from auction sale of the property received by the steamer McClellan. On Tuesday last I sold at auction two hundred bales of cotton received from New Orleans by steamer City of Baltimore. My course in this business, and I presume also the action of Colonel Holabird, was based upon the supposition that the proceeds could be appropriated as he desired. No agent of the Treasury Department could have made a more judicious or economical sale, or have realized more for the property than I have done, and I am confident that my action will receive the approval or any competent agent the Treasury Department may appoint. I am ready to turn over the proceeds to the agent of the Treasury Department whenever required to do so. I respectfully ask that I may be authorized to return so much of the proceeds as will suffice to reimburse Colonel Holabird for the expenses at New Orleans, and to place such sum to his credit, it being a proper charge against the property, before the net proceeds can be determined. Should not the freight on such property, from the point of shipment to the place of delivery (when delivered from Government transports), be retained and placed to the credit of the Quartermaster's Department, before paying the proceeds to the Treasury Department? I have the honor to be, general, your obedient servant, Brig. Gen. M. C. MEIGS, Q. M. G. U. S. A., Washington, D. C. WM. W. MCKIM, Captain and Assistant Quartermaster. ASSISTANT QUARTERMASTER'S OFFICE, Boston, Mass., June 14, 1866. GENERAL: Referring to your letter of the 9th instant, I have the honor to inclose a condensed statement of all cotton received by me or by any officer at this depot, as shown by the records of the quartermaster's office; also its disposition, number and description of packages, amount in pounds, and net proceeds of the sales of same. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Maj. Gen. M. C. MEIGS, Q. M. G. U. S. A., Washington, D. C. JOHN W. McKIM, Brevet Major and Assistant Quartermaster. Statement of cotton received by the Quartermaster's Department at Boston, Mass., from the commencement to the end of the rebellion. Fortieth Congress, second session. Senate Ex. Doc. No. 41. Letter of the Secretary of the Treasury, communicating, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 6th instant, information in relation to the disposition made of the proceeds of captured and abandoned property received by Colonel Holabird, assistant quarter master. MARCH 16, 1868.-Read, referred to the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia, and ordered to be printed. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, March 13, 1868. SIR: In reply to a resolution adopted by the Senate of the United States on the 6th of March instant, requesting the Secretary of the Treasury to inform the Senate whether the examination of the account of Colonel Holabird, assistant quartermaster, has been completed by the Third Auditor; and if so, that he state the amount found to be due the fund arising from the proceeds of captured and abandoned property; whether the amount thus found due has been credited to that fund and charged to the Quartermaster's Department; and if the balance thus found due has not been credited to said fund, whether the same has not been thus credited and included in the total net sum realized from the sale of captured and abandoned property in the Treasury of the United States, I have the honor to transmit the annexed report made to me, at my request, by the Third Auditor of the Treasury, containing all the information in my power to give upon the matter concerning which inquiry is made. Respectfully, The President of the Senate of the United States. H. MCCULLOCH, Secretary of the Treasury. THIRD AUDITOR'S OFFICE, TREASURY DEPARTMENT, March 11, 1868. Respectfully returned to the Secretary of the Treasury, with the information that an audit of Colonel Holabird's accounts, involving the subject-matter contained in the Senate resolution of March 6, 1868, of which the within is a copy, was accomplished in this office on the 25th of January last past; that the amount found to be due from the Quartermaster's Department to the fund denominated "captured and abandoned property" was $502,392.48; that said settlement was, on the same day, viz, the 25th January, 1868, reported to the Second Comptroller of the Treasury for examination and certification of the balance arising thereon, as required by law, and was, on the 4th of February following, returned by him to this office fully confirmed. (See Settlement No. 6373, current series.) That, on the day following, to wit, the 5th of February, 1868, the balance, so found, was formally certified to the Secretary of War, with the request that he would cause a requisition to issue upon the Secretary of the Treasury, in conformity with said settlement, whereby the appropriation for the "Quartermaster's Department" would be charged, and the fund "captured and abandoned property" credited, and the objects of the settlement thus fully accomplished; and finally, that up to the present time such requisition of the Secretary of War has not issued, so far as this office is aware, and no information has been received from the War Department in relation thereto. Return of Treasury Department. JOHN WILSON, Auditor. In pursuance of the act of Congress of 22d of February, 1849, relating to the certification of records, under seal, by the Secretary of the Treasury, and of the acts of February 24, 1855, section 13, empowering the United States Court of Claims to call upon any of the Departments for any information it may deem necessary," and whereas the last provision of the above-named section, to wit, that the head of no department shall answer any call for information or papers, in his opinion, it would be injurions to the public interest, is in nowise violated by the transmission of the annexed information: Therefore, on this 22d day of August, in the year 1870, the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, in answer to the request of the abovenamed Court of Claims, dated August 22, 1870, submits the following as being the information now on file in his office touching the matters inquired of by said request, in the cause of Jules Lapene & August Ferre vs. The United States, to wit: That a balance found due from the Quartermaster's Department on account of the transactions of Capt. S. B. Holabird, in New Orleans, of $802,392.48, was transferred to the captured and abandoned property fund, as follows: June 15, 1868 $43,958 60 758,433 88 802,392 48 WM. A. RICHARDSON, Return of Treasury Department.-Filed October 5, 1870. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, TREASURY DEpartment. In pursuance of the act of Congress of 22d of February, 1849, relating to the certification of records, under seal, by the Secretary of the Treasury, and of the act of February 24, 1855, section 13, empowering the United States Court of Claims" to call upon any of the Departments for any information it may deem necessary," and whereas the last provision of the above-named section, to wit, that the head of no Department shall answer any call for information or papers if, in his opinion, it would be injurious to the public interest, is in nowise violated by the transmission of the annexed information: Therefore, on this 1st day of October, in the year 1870, the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, in answer to the rule of above-named Court of Claims, dated August 25, 1870, subunits the following as being the information now on file in this office touching the matters inquired of by said rule in the cause of Jules Lapene and August Ferre rs. The United States, to wit: That the shipments of cotton in 1863, by Col. S. B. Holabird, chief quartermaster at New Orleans, received and sold by Hiram Barney, United States cotton agent at New York, aggregated 2,644 bales, the net proceeds of which amounted to $622,148.81. [SEAL.] GEORGE S. BOUTWELL, Secretary of the Treasury. In the United States Court of Claims. December term, A. D. 1871. No. 3392. L. Queyrouze, administrator, vs. The United States. No. 3348. Desire Godet vs. The United States. No. 3347. Cornelius Donato vs. The United States. DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA, Deposition of Joseph H. Kingsley. City of New Orleans, 88: Be it known that on this 29th day of March, 1870, before me, D. Urban, a United States commissioner in and for said district, duly commissioned and qualified, and a commissioner of the United States Court of Claims, personally came and appeared Joseph H. Kingsley, of sound mind and lawful age, a witness for the claimants in the suit entitled Lapene & Ferre rs. The United States, pending in the United States Court of Claims, and numbered 3052 on the docket, who, being first duly sworn to testify the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, deposes and says: Present, A. Barq, of counsel for the claimants; Wm. Fessenden, of counsel for the United States. By the COMMISSIONER: Q. Please state your name, age, residence, and occupation; whether you are interested in the result of this suit, or related to the claimant.-A. My name is Joseph H. Kingsley; forty-five years old; I reside in the parish of Jefferson, and am the financial manager of the Merrill plantation. I am not related to the claimant or interested in the result of this suit. I have been in the military service of the United States during the late civil war. I entered the service on the 21st August, 1862, in the Forty-first Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, afterwards the Third Massachusetts Cavalry. When I first went into service I was a quartermaster sergeant, after quartermaster. My regiment was engaged in Louisiana during the late war from September 17, 1862, to July 16, 1864. We were at Baton Rouge, Opelousas, Port Hudson, and on the Red River Expedition in Louisiana. I was in Opelousas, in the parish of St. Laudry, with the regiment, from the first week in April to second week in May, 1863, about a month or five weeks; my colonel, Colonel Chickering, was made military governor at Opelousas; I had orders from him to take charge of all confiscated property within a circuit of 10 or 15 miles from Opelousas, that is, the confiscated property was brought in from this circuit to me at Opelousas. All cotton received by me I sent to Barre's Landing, and there delivered to Major Carpenter or his employé. Major Carpenter was an assistant quartermaster. I was myself to Barre's Landing once; saw cotton there; saw some on the boat and on the landing. I know Captain Frederick G. Pope; he was captain of Company D, Forty-first Massachusetts Regiment. I know that he and all the other officers of the regiment had orders to take cotton; I have not my books nor memoranda of my doings at Opelousas, having been captured at Mansfield. on the Red River. |