mediate relief from active service of the Army only, and that he did not intend nor expect it to in anywise affect his status on the retired list. That having once been found disqualified for active service, and placed on the retired list as aforesaid under the law, no involuntary service could be exacted of him, and that the service authorized by law for him as such retired officer could not be exacted if he had reasonable ground for thinking himself unable to perform it, by reason of the causes for which he had been originally retired, as in this case he did believe and know. Petitioner says: That when rest and a change of atmosphere had (after months of acute suffering, many times his life being despaired of) measurably restored his health, he applied at Washington for his retired pay, which he supposed to be there awaiting his order, and found to his very great surprise that his name had been stricken from the retired list of the U. S. Army, under an alleged voluntary surrender on the part of petitioner of all his rights and privileges as an officer of the U. S. Army on the retired list; that his resignation from active duty in the special service which he, at the urgent request of General Thomas, voluntarily assumed, and which he had faithfully performed to the best of his ability, and which he only considered leaving when so prostrated by disease that he could not perform the duties thereof, had been construed by the War Department as applying to his retired status as well, and his name had been dropped from the retired list. Petitioner files as part hereof his memorial filed in Congress, with all the exhibits printed with the same, and prays the court to find all the facts material to this case, and to report said facts, and the law arising upon the same and relating thereto, to the Congress of the United States of America, in order that such legislation may be had as will restore petitioner to his said place on the retired list of the Army, and set aside his alleged resignation, and he will ever pray. W. J. MOBERLEY, P. B. THOMPSON, Attorneys for Petitioner. Parmenas T. Turnley, being duly sworn, deposes and says, that he has read the foregoing petition and knows the contents thereof; that the statements therein made from his own personal knowledge are true, and that the facts therein stated upon information and belief, believes to be true. PARMENAS T. TURNLEY. Subscribed and sworn to before me at Chicago, Ill., by the above-named Parmenas T. Turnley, this 13th day of March, 1886. [SEAL.] PHILIP A. HOYNE, U. S. Commissioner for Northern District Illinois, and Commissioner U. S. Court of Claims. [Court of Claims. Congressional Case, No. 300. Parmenus T. Turnley v. the United States.] FINDINGS OF FACT. This case having been heard before the Court of Claims, the court, upon the evidence, finds the facts to be as follows: I. The claimant entered the military service of the United States as a cadet July 1, 1842, and continued in said service on the active list of the Army until he was retired as hereinafter stated. April 29, 1862, he applied for six months' leave of absence on account of ill health. June 20, 1862, having received no reply to this application, he tendered his resignation from United States Army on account of ill health. Subsequently leave was granted as follows: WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, September 25th, 1862. 6. Leave of absence is hereby granted to Capt. P. T. Turnley, assistant quartermaster, U. S. Army, with permission to go beyond the seas, pending the settlement of his accounts and final action upon his resignation. By order of the Secretary of War. E. D. TOWNSEND. Assistant Adjutant-General. It does not appear that any action was taken upon his said resignation; but on July 22, 1863, he was ordered before a retiring board and thereafter was placed upon the retired list, as appears by the following order: WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, September 17th, 1863. Captain P. T. Turnley, assistant quartermaster, U. S. Army, having been found by a board of examination to be physically incompetent to discharge the duties of his office, and the President having approved the finding thereof, he will be placed on the retired list of officers of the class of which the disability results from long and faithful service or from some injury incident thereto. By order of the Secretary of War. E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General. II. February 6, 1865, the claimant made the following report to the Department: General M. C. MEIGS, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, Feb. 6th, 1865. Quartermaster-General U. S., Washington, D. C.: GENERAL: Inclosed herewith is a copy of Special Orders, No. 417 dated War Department, Sept. 17th, 1863, placing me on the retired list of officers "of the class of which the disability results from long and faithful service or from some injury incidental thereto." My complaint was what doctors called "gastritis," causing extreme debility, and was superinduced by fourteen years of constant service on the extreme frontiers, where I had intense mental care and exercise, being at the same time deprived of the proper variety of physical exercise and nourishing food. By two years' proper application of these remedies, I have the honor to report my health and strength entirely restored, and that I am now fully competent and ready to resume my active duties if the public service requires it. Your reply is awaited at this place. I am, general, respectfully, P. T. TURNLEY, A. Q. M., U. S. A. In reply to this report the claimant received the following order: WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, March 22d, 1865. Captain P. T. Turnley, assistant quartermaster, U. S. Army, will proceed immediately to Denver City, Colorado Territory, and relieve Captain C. L. Gorton, assistant quartermaster of volunteers, in his duties at that post. By order of the Secretary of War. E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General. In compliance with this order the claimant proceeded to Denver, whence he reported as follows: To Maj. Gen. M. C. MEIGS, Qr. Mr. General, U. S., Washington City, D. C.: DENVER CITY, May 25, 1865. I am here per Special Order No. 139, dated War Department, March 22, 1865, and letter from your office dated March 24th. I find Capt. Westbrook, A. Q. M., from Utah, here by order of Gen'l Connor, to relieve Capt. Gorton, A. Q. M., and Gen'l Connor designs Capt. Turnley, A. Q. M., for Julesburg, or Indian campaign. This is not according to my orders, nor what I expected, nor what I desired. Your further instructions are asked for in answer by telegraph. P. T. TURNLEY, A. Q. M. I stated in a communication of 22d that I was here waiting the return of Capt. Gorton, A. Q.M., to receive his property, &c. He has not yet arrived, tho' Capt. Westbrook, A. Q. M., from Utah, is here, and is going on to relieve Capt. Gorton. I shall await your further instructions, or those of the chief qr. mrs. of the department and division. It was sixteen years' service, nearly the whole of it field duty on the plains, that destroyed my health, and not one week's leave of absence was extended to me in that whole time; finally, when in 1862 I sought medical advice in Europe, and was absent one year for that purpose, I was retired from active service; then having recovered my health and reported for duty, tho' retired and overslaughed and deprived of promotion, yet I willingly proceeded to duty as ordered, to Denver City Depot. On my arrival here, however, to find myself booked for a slavish, hot, and disagreeable Indian campaign, with low rank and nothing higher to be hoped for, is not to my mind just or to be expected for a retired officer. I will await, therefore, with all confidence in your never-failing judgment in this as in other cases of official duty. I am, general, very respectfully, your obt. servt., P. T. TURNLEY. U. S. A. III. The following correspondence relative to the claimant's rank and duties took place at their respective dates: To His Excellency ANDREW JOHNSON, CHIEF QUARTERMASTER'S OFFICE, President of the United States: DISTRICT OF THE PLAINS, Denver City, C. T., July 24th, 1865. SIR: I have the honor respectfully to represent that I left my home in Dandridge, Jefferson County, East Tennessee, in June, 1842, and traveled on foot to the National Military Academy, at West Point, New York; that I graduated there and received my diploma in 1846; joined my regiment immediately and marched with it throughout the Mexican war. At the close of that war I went on duty on the Rio Grande; thence (in 1850) up that river to New Mexico and Arizona; thence (in 1854) on to the Upper Missouri in the Sioux Indian country; thence (in 1857) to Oregon; thence (in 157) to Utah, where I remained till 1861, the beginning of our national troubles. I was thus in Utah nearly three years, during which time I did not see my own wife and children, who remain all the while at their home in Chicago, and to visit them and recover my prostrate condition in health and strength, I received my first leave of absence since first entering the Academy, thus making nineteen years' constant service. Tho' extremely feeble, I crossed the mountains in midwinter, and reached my home in Chicago and accompanied Mr. Lincoln to Washington City; where, in April, my leave of absence was revoked, and I ordered to duty-first with Gen'l Butler, then with Fremont in Missouri, then with Grant, on the Mississippi, Ohio, and Cumberland Rivers, until September, 1862, when I was fast sinking with the excessive labors I was performing. I again received a leave (see paper No. 1). Availing myself of this respite, I sought quiet and ease and proper food (my wife alone with me), but in less than ten months a board retired me from active service (see papers 2 and 3). Then, in February last, I was again ordered to duty (see papers 4, 5, and 6), which I am now performing; and, in connection with said duties, etc., I most respectively represent that the ten months' leave was not a fifth part of what almost every Army officer has had within nineteen years; that my debility and prostration was not constitutional, but was solely the result of my constant mental efforts and physical labors on extreme distant frontiers with the rudest diet; that my recovery and return to duty is evidence of this; that by the action of retiring board I was placed below all those in my corps whom I ranked for years; that I am now under and junior to officers in my corps who graduated ten years after I did, and whose services are counted by months, instead of the years that I have served. I therefore most respectfully represent that I desire to be placed on the roster of my corps where I would have been had no retirement been made; or, if this can not be done, then I have the honor to request that your excellency will consider this communication a teuder of my resignation, and that your excellency will accept the same unconditionally and immediately. I have the honor to be, respectfully, PARMENUS TAYLOR TURNLEY, Captain, Assistant Q'rmaster U. S. Army, 19 Years' Service. EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Respectfully referred to the honorable Secretary of War, with the request that the application of Capt. Turnley to be placed upon the roster of his corps be granted, if not inconsistent with the interests of the service. ANDREW JOHNSON, Respectfully referred to the Quartermaster-General U. S. Army for remark. S. B. CHAFLIN, QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Brig. Gen'l L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General U. S. A.: GENERAL: I have the honor to return here with communication of Capt. P. T. Turnley, of July 24th, 1865, relative to his position on the roster of the regular Army, referred by the Adjt. General to this office for remark on the 17th inst. Captain Turnley served in the early part of the war until he reported that his health had failed him. He tendered his resignation and was granted leave of ab sence. In the ordinary routine he appeared before a retiring board and was retired, remaining out of active service from July, 1862, to March 22, 1865-that is, during the greater part of the active movements and operations of the great war just successfully concluded. Officers of the Q'rm'r's Dept. who have taken active part in the war have been pro moted to higher rank in the line of the Army, and the vacancies made by their promotion have been filled by regular promotion, according to the rules of the service. Having been restored to health, Captain Turnley asked to be placed on duty instead of remaining on the retired list and rendering no service to the Government. In this he showed a proper sense of his duty as a soldier and a citizen, and he has been placed on duty in an important position at Denver City, in which I have been obliged to request the interference of the War Dept. to retain him, as the commanding general of the district or dept. in which he served was by him reported to desire to take him to another post, where, in the opinion of this Dep't, he would be less useful. His promotion should be governed by the rules of the service, and doubtless the Adjutant-General has followed these rules in placing his name on the roster. I do not think it would be just to reduce any of those who, having had health and opportunity to continue in active service through the war, have fairly won the promotion which they have received. Whether Captain Turnley will be entitled by seniority to promotion on occurrence of the next vacancy or not depends upon the laws and regulations regulating promotion in the regular Army. His services are now important, and he should not be allowed to resign. Very respectfully, your ob't servant, M. C. MEIGS, Qr. Mr. General, Brevet M. G. ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Capt. P. T. TURNLEY, U. S. Army, Denver City, C. T.: SIR: In reply to your communication of the 24th July, '65, requesting that your name may be placed on the roster of your corps as if you had not been retired, I am directed by the Secretary of War to inform you that your request has not been favorably considered. Your resignation, tendered in the same communication, can not be accepted at present. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, S. F. CHALFIN, IV. Before the claimant received the reply to his letter of July 24, 1865, addressed to the President, as set out in Finding III, he tendered his resignation in the Army. The resignation, recommendations, and acceptance are as follows: General L. THOMAS, CHIEF QUARTERMASTER'S OFFICE, Adjt. Gen'l U. S. Army, Washington City, D. C.: I have the honor to tender hereby, and by these presents, my resignation from the Army of the United States, to take effect "immediate and unconditional." Respectfully, P. T. TURNLEY, Captain, and Asst. Qr. Master, U. S. Army, Graduate of 1856. B'vt. Major-General E. UPTON, Comd'g District of Colorado: DENVER, C. T., Oct'r. 1st, 1865. GENERAL: Having tendered my resignation from the U. S. Army "unconditional and immediate," I have the honor to apply for a leave of absence until my accounts can be closed and settled by the U. S. Treasury Department. P. T. TURNLEY, A. Q. M., U. S. A. HD. QRS., DIS. COL., Oct. 1st, 1865. Captain Turnley informs me that he intended to resign when in Utah in 1860, but the war soon after breaking out, he was induced to delay till such time as he could retire without prejudice to the service. For important private reasons which Capt. Turnley has made known to me, I respectfully recommend that his resignation be accepted, and that leave of absence be granted him till his accounts are settled. E. UPTON, Bt. Maj. Gen., Com'd'g. HEADQUARTERS U. S. FORCES, KANSAS AND TERRITORIES, Denver, Oct. 2d. For reasons stated to me, in person, by Capt. Turnley, I approve his resignation, to take effect on settlement of his accounts, and recommend that a leave of absence be given him to enable him to make such settlement. G. M. DODGE, M. G. HEADQUARTERS DEPT. OF THE Mo., Respectfully forwarded to the Adj't-General of the Army. JNO. POPE, Major-Gen'l, Com'd'g. Respectfully referred to the Quartermaster-General, in connection with other pa pers in this case inclosed. S. F. CHAFLIN, Asst. Adjt. General. CHIEF QUARTERMASTER'S OFFICE, Major-General JOHN POPE, Denver, C. T., October 24th, 1865. Comd'g Dep't of the Missouri, Saint Louis, Mo.: GENERAL: I have the honor to forward to you herewith my resignation from the Army of the United States, to take effect "immediate and unconditional" with the favorable endorsements of Br'v't Major-General Upton, comd'g this district, and of Major-Gen'l Dodge, comd'g forces in Kansas and Territories, and I have to ask your favorable endorsement, and then the same be forwarded to the Adj't Gen'l of the U. S. Army. I have, also, to apply for a leave of absence, until my accounts may be settled, and my resignation accepted; and I have my family with me, and the winter being near at hand, I beg you will let me know your action as soon as possible, by telegraph, as children and women can not well travel if delayed late in winter. I am, general, very truly, your obd't serv't, P. T. TURNLEY, Respectfully returned to the Adjutant-General U. S. Army. Captain Turnley has written to me in regard to the condition of his father's estate in East Tennessee, where his father was lately threatened with death; an aged man, and I presume that he is now so desirous of leaving the service that it would be better to let him go. His knowledge of affairs on the plains was useful to the Department and his integrity inspired its confidence. I recommend that his resignation be accepted, to date from the 31st of December next, and that he have a leave of absence until that time to enable him to settle his accounts. M. C. MEIGS, But. Major-General, Quartermaster-General U. S. A. Nov. 17, '65. H. Mis. 1-17 |