Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1861-11-15
fFrors IRE MI. rhbus..l i

new and Of the precise pattern Of the best
STANDARD rife in use in tbe French army,
and were made at Leigh, in Belgium
After Gen. Frenohts return 10 the United
States, the Secretary Of War, Mr.. Cameron,
sent an order to Mr.. Adams and Mr.. Day
ton to purchase 10000 moro rifles Of tho
same kind as those purchased by Gen. Ere
mont. Still latter, Mr.. Schuyler, sent TO
Europe as a special agent to procure arms,
offered 10 buy rifles Of the same pattern to
the number Of 100000. And contract
was made by him for 10000 rifles abso-
lutely, and for 2e, 900 more il they couldbe
furnished. And the rife is the same in
every respect as the 1000 purchased by
Gen. Fremont, save that Gen. Frcmont's
were made in Belgium, and the others in
France.
Tho 500 reyolvers purchased by Gen.
Fremont were so highly approved, that Mr..
Schuyler sought to buy 10000 more Of the
same kind.
The riled cannon, eight in number, wero
l2-pounders, and were made to order, and
there is no better rifled cannon of its size
in the service.
These were all the arms purchased by
Gen. Fremont in Europe. He desired TO
purchase larger quantity at time when
arms could have been had at peace prices;
and il he had been furnished the means,
the very arms which Mr.. Schuyler is con-
tracing for now, 10 be here at some future
tune, would have been already 10 the hands
Of our soldiers.
Gen. Fremont paid for these new rifles
$l6 each. He could have had $4,000 or
100000 at the same price, and one lot Of
10000 French rifles was offered at &13 80,
which have since been sold by other parties to
the War department in Washington for $27.
Gen. Fremont thought at the very FIRST
that while the country would pour forth its
soldiers for the war, there would be an alb
: solute impossibiity to arm them, and he
sought TO send to the United States at once
!, 100 900 small arms and 100 ri1od cannon,
together with sabres and cavalry equip
ments for $4,000 men. But he was not
: allowed to do so, and the result is that Gov
= ernment is buying to-day the very rifles he
proposed 10 buy, and at higher prices, and
II is giving Sc and 81 for sabers which he
= could have had for So, and is procuring
II neither the rifles and sabers fast enough
For this reason, 10 some parts of the coun-
try whole regiments of cavalry and infantry
await arms and equipments. But this is
# not the worst of il. The very few arms
4 which Gen. Fremont did buy amounting on
. lly to $4,000 or $6o, 600, though approved
q by the Government, and made the samples
# for other purchases, which special agent
q is directed to make are pronounced utterly
!. worthless; and the impression is sought to
n be created that he purchased and sent over
4 all sorts Of good-for- nothing trash, in which
g all sorts of spectators made any amount Of
|. money. And this, too, in face of the fact
!, that the Administration expressed great
!, satisfaction with the few purchases Gen.
,s Frenontdid make, and wrote to Mr.. Adams
Ia and Mr.. Dayton that it was a matter of re-
8. gret that they had not furnished him with
NJ funds to have procured larger quantities,
st which the Government then authorized Mr..
adams and Mr.. Dayton themselves to pro-
cure, and which the Government are buying
e. now through the agency of Mr.. Schuyler
Ct Perhaps mistake has been made by Mr.
,r- Cameron and Adjutant General Thomas
In Certainly, the arms purchased in Europe
SO by Gen. Fremont were too few 10 number to
10 have excited SO much remark They prob
- ably refer to European arms that have been
d. purchased in ST. Louis by Gen. Fremont
d since he took command. If so, they should
70 not fail to take into consideration, that not
70 having been allowed to purchase arms in
1T Europe to any extent, on his arrival here,
10 he was directed, in connection with Mai.
s. Hagner of the Quartermaster's Department,
rs to procure arms in New York for the West
,e ern Department; that by dint of great Ia
:" Dor they secured arms for a corps d'armee Of
$4,000 men, and that these arms, after
i, Gen. Fremont left for st. Louis, were all
y sent 10 Washington, and that he never re-
D. ceived any portion of them; and that the
r. War Department, on being demonstrated
In with for this, sent to Gen. Fremont req
,a uisition on the St. Louis Arsenal for 5000
cir muskets, when there was, to their own
re knowledge, not one inside Of its walls; and
IL that finally, Gen. F. was obliged to pick up
nd such arms as he could find, or go without
en- If he had been compelled to purchase poor
ro' arms and pay large prices for them, the fault
ial is not with him, but with those who should
have furnished his department with arms
and not left to him the necessity of pur
gi- chasing at all. OF all the men in the couu
red Try, INC last 10 Oe OiatneO IN tnlS matter
nv arms, is Gen. Fremont who at the YER
on outset OF the war, comprehended the grea
The need of our country in this respect, an
be whose plan was to purchase large quaint
ate ties of first-class arms and equipments g
ere peace prices in Europe, and at the same tim
ur, set every gun shop in the North at worl
,ns If he had succeeded in bis endcAvor, th
nd country would have had no occasion to b
he buying all sorts of arms, hawked about b
hc spectators, of all sorts of qualities, and a
'B. all sorts Of prices. Nor would wo be see
ing at this day regiments Of cavalry with
out saddles or sabres, nor riHes coming 8
The slowly to soldiers ready to shoulder then
lad Least of all, would there have any oppol
'rd, tunity for blaming Gen. Fremont for hi
ma want Of discretion or good sense or honest
ept in the purchase Of arms. / am. Sir, &C.,
Of ONE WHO KNOWS.
ide NEW YoRK, Oct. 80, 1851.
ian The Dayton Empire tells the fOiiowir