The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-03-05
The Captured and Abandoned Property In
the South. - rs-s


the South. 49,
A Washington dispatch, says: It appears from
letter OF the Secretary Of the Treasury submitted
to the House Of Representatives to-day by the
President, in answer to resolunon W!tn regara 70
captured and abandoned property III the rebel
States that the gross procseds Of the sales Of cot
ton amounted to nearly s29, 500 000 and the gross
proceeds Of the sale of miscellaneous property to
81 1885, SCI the amount Of rents of abandoned pro
perty is nearly half million other receipts $2,S06-
0OO making the total receipts $34 ,053, 600.
The total disbursements were $3.50, ,7S7, making
a ,et profit to the United States Of nearly $25-
100000. The receipts in coin were Sc, $50 900 and
the remainder in currency. In most OF the agen..
ces the property collected was principally shipped
sale, and the disbursements were mostly paid from
other sources, so that the receipts and disburse-
ments stated in the table are no indication OF the
real results of the transactions Of an agency The
number of bales Of cotton collected as abandoned
was 1,180, and the number Of bales released to
owners 1907.
The number of bales Of cotton sold was 9273; the
number Of bales collected as captured Isl, ,845 the
from other sources, 4542. It further appears from
the documents that the number Of bales stolen
from agents is 144 and tho number burned while
in the hands Of agents, 1857. The number Of bales
received by Simeon Draper, per his reports, was
$780, the number shipped to him, per agents re-
ber sold by Simeon Draper was $3.50; the number
released by him, 27S2; the number Of bales on
hand, 431, making total Of 95, $40.
From the report Of cotton purchased by agents
Number Of bales Of cotton purchased S. 83S resod
48, 33s; lost in repacking 1; shipped to Simeon
Draper 1888 shipped to cotton agent at St. Louis
ITO.
A report from the Quartermaster-G General shows
that in pursuance Of instructions, Colonel Ransom
took charge of the captured cotton at Savannah
and Charleston, and turned over to the treasury
agents up to March 81, 1865, upwards Of $4,000
bales and it appears from the statement that there
bat little cotton remaining IN the hands OF the
officers Of the quartermaster's department at the
close OF the war; and but very little received after
wards.
Twelve hundred and seven bales were derived
from cotton collected from the batteries, bridges,
around the works of Port Hudson by negro troops
and contrabands. Much of it was in bad condition,
having been buried in the earth, used for beds,
and some of it was stained with the blood of our
soldiers mutilated in the siege of Port Hudson.
One hundred thousand dollars of the proceeds Of
partment, not herein specially mentioned. The
proceeds Of this cotton may be said to have covered
al the expenses Of the schools for the poor and
colored people in Louisiana up to 1885, and possi-
bly, through that year.
There was lot Of four hundred and four bales
of cotton from the Brazos, captured by the enter
prise Of the troops on the Rio Grande, and several
hundred miles from the fields where it was grown,
which cotton was sold by the direction Of the
commander OF the Department Of the Gulf to assist
in paying for the steamers and vessels lost in the
expedition to Brazos Santiago and the Rio Grande.
There was much more captured there and sold.
Colonel Holabird, who had the matter in charge,
says most of the cotton and other products gath
cred was off the Atchafalay River, in 1868, and
was so gathered and delivered at points Of trans
portation by the negro slaves Of the country who,
their masters, who had fled the enemy and
brought it from all manner of hiding places, in
swamps and forests, as well as from the p1anta.
tions Of their masters. They seemed to be i'm
the government some service, and earning their
transportation to freedom. It was owing to their
efforts that it could bo thus moved in the midst of
rapid operations without any real attention being
aiyen to the subject,