[To accompany joint resolution H. R. No. 465.]

The Committee on Claims, having had under consideration joint resolution H. R. 465, for relief of W. Buck, late surgeon Sixth Maine Volunteers, report:

This resolution passed the House January 20, 1871, accompanied by a written favorable report from Military Committee. The bill is for the value of a horse and equipment abandoned to loss at City Point, Virginia, July 12, 1864, by order of Buck's commanding officer. If the latter allegation was clear, Buck would have a good claim. The horse was left behind. The Government had ample accommodation for the preservation of all property left behind. Officers' horses in the same regiment were abandoned under same orders and were recovered. Buck saw his horse on shore from the transport. He was aware that horses were to be left behind. Neither he nor his servant seems to have exercised any particular interest to have his horse cared for. Other officers seem to have cared for theirs. The Third Auditor and the Adjutant General of the Army have passed on all the evidence, and have disallowed the claim.

The committee are forced by the circumstances of the case to disagree with the House, and recommend an indefinite postponement of joint resolution 465.

Report of Mr. ASPER, from the Committee on Military Affairs, on the claim of William Buck, late surgeon Sixth Maine Infantry Volunteers, for loss of horse and equipments: The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the claim of William Buck, late surgeon Sixth Maine Volunteer Infantry, for loss of horse and equipments while in the service of the United States, having had the same under consideration, report:

That it appears from the papers in the case, on file in the Third Auditor's Office of the Treasury, that William Buck was mustered into service as surgeon Sixth Maine Infantry Volunteers, and had a horse for which he paid $140; saddle, for which he paid $15; bridle, halter, and saddle blanket, the value being stated; that in July, 1864, the army corps to which the Sixth Maine Volunteer Infantry belonged was ordered to Washington City to assist in the defense of the capital; that on the 12th day of July, 1864, when the regiment was embarking at City Point for Washington, it was found that the vessel in which the regiment was embarking was too small to carry the private horses of the field and staff officers of the regiment, and that Gen. Russel, commanding the division, ordered Capt. Lincoln, commanding the regiment, to abandon the horses belonging to the field and staff officers of his regiment, and leave them behind; that all the horses were left behind in obedience to the said orders, one of which was claimant's; that but a few minutes only elapsed between the time of giving the order and the sailing of the vessel, and that the claimant's horse was seen standing on the bank with the other horses as the vessel sailed; that afterward the quartermaster went for the horses, and recovered all but the horse and equipments of claimant; and that he (the claimant) employed the quartermaster to make search for his horse, and he could not be found after thorough search.

The claimant makes the necessary statement that he has not received pay on certified vouchers, nor was he again mounted by the Government, and he also proves value, and makes all the testimony to bring his claim within the rules of the Department. Proof of the circumstances, the necessity of leaving the horses and the orders given, was made by Dr. Buck, presenting the testimony of the officers present who saw and heard the same. Indeed, every requirement of the Third Auditor was inet by the claimant. The case was referred by the Third Auditor to the Adjutant General's Office, on the 6th day of January, 1869, " for examination and report," and on the 25th February, 1869, the Adjutant General returns the papers to the Third Auditor, with report as follows:

"If the horse, for the loss of which compensation is claimed, was left behind by proper authority, it should have been left with other public property, in charge of an officer of the Quartermaster's Department, as is customary on such occasions.

"The animal was virtually abandoned. Government stables at City Point, Virginia, in the summer of 1864, afforded every facility for the care of public and private horses. No effort appears to have been subsequently made by claimant to obtain the animal, and it is therefore recommended that the claim be rejected.

"THOMAS M. VINCENT,
"Assistant Adjutant General.”

The statement of the Adjutant General was made in the face of the evidence which had been sent him.

The Third Auditor reported the statement of the Assistant Adjutant General to the claimant, who supplied further evidence, and the case was again referred to the Adjutant General's Office, and on the 23d of November, 1869, the papers were returned with the following indorsement:

"The additional evidence submitted is not deemed sufficient to change the adverse decision heretofore rendered.

"It appears that on the embarkation of the Sixth Army Corps at City Point, Virginia, in July, 1864, much public and private property was left behind for which some provision was certainly made.

"However, this office cannot recommend the allowance of any claim for indemnity for the loss of property under such circumstances.

"THOMAS M. VINCENT,
"Assistant Adjutant General.”

The clause of the act of Congress of March 3, 1849, under which this claim for loss of horse and equipage is made, is as follows:

"Because the United States failed to supply transportation for the horse, and the owner was compelled, by order of his commanding officer, to embark and leave him." The act provides payment for loss of horse and equipments while in the military service of the United States, "without any fault or negligence on his part," for any field, or staff, or mounted officer; and also defines what shall be considered loss in several clauses, one of which is given above.

In this case the proof brings the case clearly within the law, and it is ample and complete, and the decision of the Adjutant General is unwarranted by either law or reason. Although there may have been Government stables at City Point, and the parties having charge of the same failed to take care of all the horses, and Surgeon Buck's was lost thereby, still it was not the fault of that officer. Guesses of an assistant adjutant general ought not to be allowed to settle the rights of parties, especially when the same are completely disproved by the facts and circumstances in the case. Your committee believe that Surgeon William Buck should be paid by the Government for the loss of horse and equipments left behind by order of his commanding officer for want of transportation, and they recommend the passage of the accompanying joint resolution.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

The Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia, to whom were referred the memorial and papers of Miss Carroll, of Maryland, claiming to have furnished the Government with the information which caused the change in the military expedition which was preparing in 1861 to descend the Mississippi River from that river to the Tennessee River, submit the following report:

Miss Carroll placed in the hands of Hon. Thomas A. Scott, Assistant Secretary of War, on the 30th of November, 1861, the following paper: The civil and military authorities seem to be laboring under a great mistake in regard to the true key of the war in the Southwest. It is not the Mississippi, but the Tennessee River. It is well known that the eastern part, or farming interests of Tennessee and Kentucky, are generally loyal, while the middle and western parts, or what are called the planting districts, are in sympathy with the traitors, but, except in the extreme western parts, the Union sentiment still lives. Now all the military preparations made in the West indicate that the Mississippi River is the point to which the authorities are directing their attention. On that river many battles must be fought and heavy risks incurred, before any impression can be made on the enemy, all of which could be avoided by using the Tennessee River. This river is navigable for medium-class boats to the foot of the Muscle Shoals in Alabama, and is open to navigation all the year, while the distance is but two hundred and fifty miles by the river from Paducah, on the Ohio. The Tennessee offers many advantages over the Mississippi. We should avoid the almost impregnable batteries of the enemy, which cannot be taken without great danger and great risk of life to our forces, from the fact that our boats, if crippled, would fall a prey to the enemy by being swept by the current to him, and away from the relief of our friends. But even should we succeed, still we will only have begun the war, for we shall then have to fight to the country from whence the enemy derives his supplies.

Now, an advance up the Tennessee River would avoid this danger; for, if our boats were crippled, they would drop back with the current and escape capture.

But a still greater advantage would be its tendency to cut the enemy's lines in two, by reaching the Memphis and Charleston railroad, threatening Memphis, which lies one hundred miles due west, and no defensible point between; also Nashville, only ninety miles

movement in this direction would do more to relieve our friends in Kentucky, and inspire the loyal hearts in East Tennessee, than the possession of the whole of the Mississippi River. If well executed, it would cause the evacuation of all those formidable fortifications on which the rebels ground their hopes of success; and, in the event of our fleet attacking Mobile, the presence of our troops in the northern part of Alabama would be material aid to the fleet.

ble them soon to crush the last traitor in that region, and the separation of the two Again, the aid our forces would receive from the loyal men in Tennessee would enaextremes would do more than one hundred battles for the Union cause.

The Tennessee River is crossed by the Memphis and Louisville railroad and the Memphis and Nashville railroad. At Hamburg the river makes the big bend on the

east, touching the northeast corner of Mississippi, entering the northwest corner of Alabama, forming an arc to the south, entering the State of Tennessee at the northeast corner of Alabama, and if it does not touch the northwest corner of Georgia, comes very near it. It is but eight miles from Hamburg to the Memphis and Charleston railroad, which goes through Tuscumbia, only two miles from the river, which it crosses at Decatur, thirty miles above, intersecting with the Nashville and Chattanooga road at Stephenson. The Tennessee River has never less than three feet to Hamburg on the "shoalest" bar, and, during the fall, winter, and spring months, there is always water for the largest boats that are used on the Mississippi River. It follows from the above facts that in making the Mississippi the key to the war in the West, or rather in overlooking the Tennessee River, the subject is not understood by the superiors in command.

That this plan as suggested, was adopted, we submit the following letter from Hon. Thomas A. Scott, then Assistant Secretary of War: Hon. JACOB M. HOWARD, United States Senate :

On or about the 30th of November, 1861, Miss Carroll, as stated in her memorial, called on me as Assistant Secretary of War, and suggested the propriety of abandoning the expedition which was then preparing to descend the Mississippi River, and to adopt instead the Tennessee River, and handed to me the plan of campaign, as appended to her memorial, which plan I submitted to the Secretary of War, and its general ideas were adopted. On my return from the Southwest, in 1862, I informed Miss Carroll, as she states in her memorial, that through the adoption of this plan the country had been saved millions, and that it entitled her to the kind consideration of Congress, THOS. A. SCOTT.

PHILADELPHIA, June 24, 1870.

The affidavit of Hon. Lemuel D. Evans, of Marshall, Texas, at present chief justice of that State, shows that he was intrusted by our Government with a confidential mission to the Mexican border on the Lower Rio Grande, and in the autumn of 1861 proceeded to St. Louis, the then headquarters of the Army of the Southwest, and as the success of his mission depended on the movements of the Army in that military department, it became his business to obtain accurate information, and with that object in view he remained in St. Louis until some time in November. This deponent states that Miss Carroll was in St. Louis in October and November, seeking information, as she claimed and as he believes, in aid of the Union; that he held many conversations with her on the military and political situation; that there was boarding in the same hotel with Miss Carroll a Mrs. Scott, a lady who seemed well informed as to what was going on, and whose husband was then a pilot on the steamer Memphis, one of the transports in the expedition designed to descend the Mississippi.

A few days after the battle of Belmont this gentleman, Mr. Scott, came to the hotel, when Miss Carroll sought and obtained an interview through his wife, and becoming impressed with the value of his special knowledge, she requested deponent to join in the interview and to interrogate Mr. Scott, which he did at great length, in regard to the Mississippi, the Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers; and in reply he stated that it was his opinion, in which all the pilots connected with the expedition concurred, that it would be next to impossible to open the Missis sippi with the gunboats. He mentioned one pilot who had been familiar with these waters for forty years. He stated that it was entirely practicable for the gunboats to ascend, at favorable stages of water, the Cumberland to Nashville, and, at all stages, the Tennessee to the foot of the muscle shoals. Miss Carroll requested Mr. Scott to write down for her the principal facts she had elicited, and also requested him to communicate to her his observations during his connection with the expedition, to do which he at first declined, on the ground of defective education, as he alleged, but finally he consented. On Miss Carroll's return from the West, she prepared and submitted to deponent for his opinion

the plan of the Tennessee River expedition as set forth in her memorial. Being a native and resident of that section, and intimately acquainted with its geography and particularly with the Tennessee River, deponent was convinced of the military importance of her paper, and advised her to lose no time in laying the same before the War Department, which she did on or about the 30th of November, 1861.

On the 5th of January, 1862, Miss Carroll addressed the following letter to Hon. T. A. Scott:

Some weeks since, on my return from the West, I gave you my views of the Tennessee River, as being the true strategical key to overcome the rebels in the Southwest. That river is never obstructed by ice at any period of the coldest winter, while every year the Mississippi and Cumberland Rivers sometimes are. Then the gunboats are not well fitted to retreat against the current of the western waters, and as their principal guns are placed forward, they cannot be so efficient against an enemy below them. They must fight with their two stern guns, or else lose all advantage of motion by anchoring by the stern, which will prevent the enemy feeling their range. The gunboats anchored, would be at the mercy of the enemy. The Tennessee River, beginning at Paducah, fifty miles above Cairo, after leaving the Ohio, runs south-southeast, across rather than through Kentucky and Tennessee, until it reaches the Mississippi line, directly west of Florence and Tuscumbia, which are fifty miles east, and Memphis, one hundred and twenty-five miles west, with the Charleston and Memphis Railroad eight miles from the river. There is no difficulty in reaching this point throughout the year; as I have said before to you, the water is at all times deeper at this point than the Ohio. Again, it is but ninety miles from Nashville, northeast from this. You can see by the map in what condition Buckner would be placed, if we could make a strong advance up the Tennessee River; he would be compelled to retreat from Kentucky, or if he did not, our forces could take Nashville in his rear, and compel him to lay down his arms.

Hon. B. F. Wade, ex-United States Senator and chairman of the "Committee on the Conduct of the War," states that

He had always understood that it was the information Miss Carroll gave that caused the change in the expedition that was to be sent down the Mississippi River, from that river to the Tennessee; that a copy of Miss Carroll's paper was shown him immediately after the success of the campaign, by the late Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, of Ohio; that he knows how highly the information and services of this lady were appreciated by President Lincoln and Secretary Stanton, and has heard them both say that she ought to be liberally rewarded; that Hon. Thos. A. Scott, then Assistant Secretary of War, will, no doubt, corroborate what he states, as well as many others. That he is glad to hear her claim is before Congress, and as her services were most beneficial to the Government, it is just, and he hopes will be liberally rewarded.

In preferring her claim, Miss Carroll says:

My claim to having originated this movement, receives strong confirmation in the fact that no military man has ever controverted it. It is not to be doubted that no educated gentleman could have been ignorant of the fact that the Tennessee was a navigable river, and run from the very center of the rebellion north, through the States of Tennessee and Kentucky, but the significance of this knowledge had not awakened the attention of any one, and my special claim to merit is that I was the first to point out to the Government how this knowledge could be made available. In preferring my claim to this, I cannot, by any possibility, detract from our brave and heroic commanders, to whom the country owes so much, and, so far from opposing me, I believe that, as a class, they would be gratified to see me or any one properly rewarded according to the part performed in this mighty drama.

From the high social position of this lady and established ability as a writer and thinker, she was prepared at the inception of the rebellion to exercise a strong influence in behalf of liberty and Union. That it was felt and respected in Maryland during the darkest hours in that State's history, there can be no question. Her publications throughout the struggle were eloquently and ably written and widely circulated, and did much to arouse and invigorate the sentiment of loyalty in Maryland and other border States. It is not too much to say that they were among the very ablest publications of the time, and exerted a powerful influence upon the hearts of the people.

Some of these publications were prepared under the auspices of the