Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-03-15


Congressman whose official lie expired ON
the 4th inst, are said to bs lingering in
Washington and boring the President and
Heads Of Departments for an Office.
THE FHEEDMANss BUREAU-U6EY
DEvELOPMENTS.
In February last, Gen. Howard, late
Commissioner of the Freedman's Bureau,
sent communication. to the Chairman Of
the Military Committee of the House, in
which he declared tia the apparent def
cheney IN his accounts of $3,754 was in re-
atty only $2,SS9, which was simply a
statement of differences" in part to be ex-
planned By Gen. Ballocb, the disbursing
officer. This Statements Of Gen. Howard
was published by order Of Congress, and
has called out a rejoinder from Adjutant-
General Vincent, in which he reitsrstes the
charges made in bis report, and asserts that
s1l5,0e0of the s'retsined bounty fund" is
still TO be satisfactorily accounted for;
in other words, that there are no vouchers
to show that this large sum has ever been
paid over to the rightful claimants. On
the last day of the session the Secretary of
War transmitted to the House of Repre-
sentatives for its Information, commune
cation from Gen. Thomas III. Vincent, in
reply 10 letter from Gen. o. o. Howard
in which the latter informed the chairman
Of the House Committee on Military At
fairs that the confusion and incompleteness
of the records. of the Freedmen's Bureau
was chiefly due to the carelessness with
which the War Department had transfer
red them. Gen. Vincent shows by extracts
from orders, both ofiihe War Department
and of Gen. Howard, that the latter fully
understood that be was responsible for the
records until actually delivered at the War
Department, and that there were furnished
and placed under his exclusive control ev-
erything necessary to enable him TO meet
his responsibility in making the transfer.
Gen. Vincent then says:
II HIONuLCu Wy us
appearance of records lost in transitu,
stolen, or destroyed the. commissioner,
who was and is responsible for such dissp-
pearance, should at on e have made report,
for the information of the Secretary of War,
inrega9d 20 such losses, stealings and .des-
tructions. So with the 'commissary work,
if its record has been burned up or other
wise destroyed
a..
to or established against any officer, agent
or clerk Of the Adjutant- Generals office,
. but must remain attached to the late bu-
reau, and as existing prior to the records
being placed IN the 1vGgons for trdrsportd-
ton to the AdjutGnt- Generals office
81 am constrained 10 say that the dis
bursting Office at, and for some time prinr TO
the transfer, the most Important of The late
bureau, was not well kept, and there were
records wanting at the time Gen. Balloch,
the disbuTsing officer, was discharged.
sAlthough the officer in charge of it dis
bursed vast sums of money annually, and
necessarily held extensive correspondence
with claimants, agents and others through
OFT the various States, he kept no record of
1etters received, until Jan. 1, 1871, and a
miscellaneous collection of letters, some
thousands, unrecorded and unbriefed, re-
ceived with the records of that office, caR
only be presumed as comprising al the cor
respondence covering period of nearly
four years, dating from the period when
money to colored soldiers was made payable
through the Freedman's Bureau. No cop
les of letters sent for the same period were
kept, except in pless copy-books, many let
ters in which have already become illegible.
Most of these letters are Of an important
character, and all relate more or less to dis.
bursements. The public interest demand
ed their most careful and permanent pres
ervation. For the same period there is no
record of Endorsements on letters sent out.
Gas the books Of 'letteTs received Het-
tiers sent aud Endorsements are in every
weil-regulated office of the War Depart
ment Of the first importance, their absence
or defective condition is cOndemning evil
dence, not only of an imperfect record, but
that the oifics SO conducting its business
was not well kept
'As indicating that the records Of the dis
bursting office were deficient, defective and
unreliable, may refer 10 certain retained
bounty fund. Under the act Of March 2,
1867. Statute il, p. 545) the Commissioner
of the FreedmsD's Bureau, or his successor
IN Office, was constituted the lawful custo-
dan of certain irregular fund, then in the
possession of the said bureau, and appoint
ed trustee of the same for the benefit of
certain cOlored soldiers
'Under General Order No. 50, of 1872,
from the War Department, that fund
should have been transferred, or account
ed for, TO the Adjntsnt Generals Office.
But instead of its being SO transferred or
acc luLted for, this office did not know of it
until on or about the 7th of January, 1873,
when the late commissioner was called up
on for information concerning it. That led
10 the production of 9 book from the dis
bursting officer pUrporting to show the
Dsmes Of the soldiers to whom the funds
belonged, and the amounts due and paid 10
each.
"rhe book indicatesthat SI1O,979 81 had
been paid, and in connection with 81 ,62S.-
SO, not expended, that the total amount of
the fund was S112, 663.26, although report
of the entire amount has not yet been
made. The report of the commissioner for
1865 states the amount received as S1l5,-
236.49. Il
$50 far as is now known, tie discussing
officer rendered no account for the dsburse-
ments of the said fund, and failed to take
UOucherS for the payments made from it."
Gen. Vincent shows that the laLe dis.
bursting officer OF the Freedman's Bureau
(Gen. Balloch) testified before the court
martial for the trial of Maj. B. P. Runkle,
who had charge of the Freedman's Bureau
in Kentucky, that Runkle brought him
vouchers unpaid, amounting to $3l, 67S.S5;
that he then allowed Runkle to sign as a
witness TO the payment, and received til m
as paid; and that these vouchers were sent
with Balloch's accounts to the Treasury as
paid, and entered in the "Bounty Regis
ter" then under his charge, as paid, when
they were not paid.
Touching Gen. Howad's accountability,
Gen. Vincent publishes the following let
ter from the Auditor of the Treasury:
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, SECOND |
AUDITORS OFFICE, Feb. l, 1873. Hon.
w. n. Belknap, Secretary Of War: Sir-I |
have the honor to state that the account of |
Gen. o. o. Howard has been settled in |
this Office and reported TO the Second |
Comptroller for his decision thereon. said |
settlement includes all disbursements made |
by the Freedman's Bureau on account of |