, 1859-09-23
Letter Of Capt. R. ingalls,, U, S. A., TO tht
Third Auditor.
FoRr VANCOUVER, W. 7. |
August 5th, 1859. !

August 9th, 1853
Hon. R. 4. ATKINSON, Third Auditor
SIR:--I have the honor TO acknowledge
the receipt of your letter of the 30th Of
June, enclosing copy of the letter you
addressed to me on the 10th of last March,
asking "to have certain papers, documents,
&C., connected with the claims Of citizens
Of Oregon and Washington Territories, for
expenses incurred in the late Indian hostil-
tiles" and which papers you presume are
in the hands of the Commission, put up
and sent to your address," --.....
deem it due to state that your letter of
the 10Th of March was duly received, but
Us Capt. Smith and Mr.. Glover were both
absent from this coast, j thought it advis,
able to wait until I could confer with one
or both of them, although knew they
had no retained papers touching the action
of the Commission on the war claims
was Of the opinion that by waiting a rea-
sonabIe time might be able to reply to
your letter more satisfactorily than by an
swering at once. l trust you will excuse
the delay. b. ..........e -...
The Commission retained no papers or
proofs which are of an official character,
or on which action was taken. | hold here
only journal of the sessions Of the Com
mission 1nIbriof which contains copies of
letters and reports, minutes of adjournments
and meetings. There is nothing of the
character you require in my possession
The sworn Statements referred to IN the re.
port of the Commission, going TO justify
the use and expenditure Of public property
in Washington Territory, were forwarded
with the other papers Of the Commission; !;
yon have the originals now in your office.
As to the prizes current established by the
Commission, for the principal points in both
Territories, where supplies were mainly
purchased, ] have to say that they were
arranged and arrived at as stated in the
report upon "the statements and testimony
of the most competent witnesses" The
statements referred to consisted of written
communications from the most reliable mer-
chants and business men of standing, living
at the various localities in the two Territo-
ries, and of as disinteFested character as
possible, but being of an informal nature,
and forming no Legitimate part of the nee
essary record, were not preserved. The
testimony taken by the Commission, on the
rates to be allowed for property, services,
Nc, was oral, and from witnesses brought
before the Commission in person. But it
is,to be observed that the Commission act
ed perhaps principally upon the intimate
knowledge possessed by its different mem
bers, obtained by long residence on the
Northwest coast, and by much actual ex-
perience in the conduct Of public business
for series of years within the field Of op-
erations of the late Indian war in Oregon
and Washington was myself a specta-
tor of the volunteer operations during the
Indian hostilities referred to, and had
charge of purchasing and transporting
many, not most, of the supplies for the
regular forces engaged in the same war;
considered that my position enabled me
to decide SO far as was concerned, and so
far as my influence could be felt, what
rates should be allowed for property and
service, without particular reference to 9TH
er parties, and / would very respectfully
put on record here that, aside from the
question of the necessity for calling out
volunteers on that occasion, question with
which the Commission had nothing to do,
uelLueC W6T6 Iue duOuub OF supplies pur-
chased excessive, nor the rates allowed by
the Commission exorbitant, in my opinion
The necessity that existed for the calling
out of those volunteers seems to have been
conceded by very high authority. AS
stated in the report, "in this department Of
its duty, the Commission paid what was
deemed to be due regard to the condition
of the country, and the circumstances un,
der which these liabilities were incurred
beg you will mark this, for in all our de.
liberations and decisions We constantly
looked at the facts, and took into consider
alton the actual condition Of the country
al the timc 1t is not unlikely that there
are many instances in which the Commits
sion allowed prices in the purchase of prop
erty that exceeded the current cash rates
In all such instances, however, after ascer
tanning that the property was necessary fol
the maintenance of the volunteer forces en
gagged in the war, the question determined
by the Commission was, did the proper anC
legal authority Of the Territory negotiate
these purchases with good faith7 economy
and at the lowest practicable rates, at thu