The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1862-12-04
NUMBER lO.s


the second volume Of the Reports of Com
mittees of the House for the ses ion of.
1S60--l. This report and The testimony :
before the committee establish:
/. That the Southern States received
in 1860 less instead Of more than the quo
ia Of arms to which they were entitled by
law and that three Of them-North Car
olina, Mississippi and Kentucky-received
40 arms whatever, and this simply because
they did not ask for them. Well may 2
Mr. Stanton have said in the House ':that
there are a good deal Of rumors and spec
ulations and 'misapprehension as to the :
true state OF facts In regard to this matter" >
z. Secretary Floyd, under suspicious cir
cumstaaces, 6h the 22d December, 1860,
and but few days before he left the De-
partmeHt. had without the knowledge Of
the President, ordered one hundred ana
thirteen 1l3) columbiads and eleven 11l
thirty two pUuadeIs to be transported from
Pitt>burg TO Ship Island and Galveston,
in Mississippi and Texas. This fact was
brought 10 the knowledge of the President
by communication flom Pittsburg; and
Secretary Holt Immediately thereafter
countermanded the order of his predeces-
SOi, anu bliC were ucNCI sent. he
promptitude with which we acted elicted
vote of thanks, dated on the 4th of jan
Uary, 1861, from the Select and Common
Councils OF that city -"to the President, the
Attorney General, and the acting Secreta-
ry of War;" Mr, Holt)
After this statement how shall we ac-~
count for the explicit declaration of Gen
eral Scott that acciGen ally hearing early
in March that under this posthumous
order Chat Of Mr.. Floyd of the 22d De-
cember) the shipment of these guns had
commenced, [ communicated the fact te
Secretary Holt, (acting for Secretary
Cameron) just in time to defeat the rob- :,
berry! And this is the same Secretary
Holt who had countcrmauded the "post-
humtIs order" in the previous December.
And, strange to say, these guns, but for the
alleged interposition Of Gen Scott, were
about to be sent so late as March from the
Loyal States into those over which j Jeffcr-
son Davis had then for some time pre-
sided
Had Gen. Scott reflected for moment
he could not have fallen into this blunder
1t is quite manifest he was without a
printed document and my (his) own off,
cial papers.
5. The Government had on hand in the
year 1859 about 100000 old muske5s,
which were condemned as unsuitable for
public service, under the act Of ed Of March
1925. They were Of such a character
that, although offered both at public and
private sale for 81 so each, purchasers
could not be obtained at that rate, except
for a comparatively small number On
the Both of November, 1859, Secretary
Floyd ordered about one-ffth of TIE whole
number G05,O00) to be sent from the
Springfield arnory, vhere they had accu-
mulated, to five Southern arsenals, "in
proportion to their respective means of
proper storage"
This order was. carried into effect by
the Ordnance Bureau in the usual course
Of administration and without reference
to the President. 1t is but justice TO say
that from the testimony before the com
mittee there is no reason to suspect that
Secretary Floyd Issued this order from any
sinister motive. It's date was months be-
fore Mr.. Lincaln's nomination for tho
Presidency, and nearly year before his
election, aud whilst the Secretary was still
an avowed opponent OF secession. Indeed
the testimony Of Colonel Craig and Capt.
Maynadier, of the Ordnance, before the
committee is wholly inconsistcnt with any
evil intention on bis part.
Aud yet these condemned muskets,'
with few thousand ancient rifles of
calibre then no longer used, are transfor-
med by Gen. Scott into "il5.000 erfa
n,,sh:etS and rites, lcih ali Acir Implements
and amnsl,nition" This is the first time
| have heard-certainly there was nothing
of the kind before the committee-that
ammunition was sent with these con-
demned and inferior arms to their places Of
storage, just as though they had been in
tended not for sale 5ut for immediate uss
in the field. The truth Is, that it Is inn
possible TO steal arms and transport them
from one depository TO another without.
the knowled ge and active participation, of
the officers Of the Ordnance Bureau, both
in Washington ana at these repositories.
1t may be observed that Col Craig, the,
head Of the Bureaa al this period, was as
correct az officer and as loyal and honest
man as exists in the country.
Yours, very respectfully,
JANIS BUCHANAN
WHEtTLAYp, near Lancaster, Nov. II.