New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-10-20
Captured Property.
Special Correspondence OF the G.
Advertiser.

the public knows but little. Over q
little green baize door in the third
story is printed in gilt letters 'captur.
ed property" There is something
suggestive of piracy ins this, and be.
meath it is a. warning not to enter. !
pushed the door open the other day.
There was nothing worse within than
three or four desks and as many mild
hammered clerks. This is the bureaus
OF captured and abandoned proper
tv." When the government appro'
PIRATES other peopie'sproperty hereis
where it goes.
sWhere's the plunder?" asked Of
pied big desk in the middle OF the
room.
''Well, there isn't very much these
times" he replied. "Only astray gun
or an anchor or two fished up out OF
New York harbor. Folks don't aban-
don property much nowadays, and
he looked about him with the air OF
one who feels his occupation gone.
"But have seen the day. he added,
when abandoned property meant
something. What doyou say to pick.
ing up a whole plantation? We'vedone
it, and had two or three at q time
worked on shares. Sometimes we've
got mule or two, or few hundred
bales of cotton. That was in '63 and
'64, or thereabouts. When the south.
ern people fed before the advance o!
the Union army this bureau was form
ed to take charge OF the valuable prop
erty they left behind. Of course they
left their plantations, and sometimes
there was much valuable iewelry and
plate, besides large stores Of grain, TO-
bacco and cotton. Wegot the stores,
but unfortunately, very little OF the
jewelry.
"There is doubtless an impression
in the South that there are many val
uables in the treasury taken from
southern homes. This is a mistake
What we got was cotton, grain and
tobacco. OF these products we got
and sold about twenty-six million dol
lars worth. We made rich harvest
in Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and
South Carolina. The people fed be-
fore the army, leaving everything
We came on behind and picked up
what they left. Sometimes when they
did not abandon their property we
confscated it; that is, all that might
give aid or comfort to the enemy
But we got only the heavy things.
All that could be easily carried of
was gone before we could get it. Our
object was to save all personal prop.
erty and valuables, and they would
have been restored to their owners in
time; but the pllfhderers generally put
their hands in first, and it was I'M
possible to keep up with them. Thers
was an organized search among the
troops for captured property, but
there was seldom any found. The
plunderers always managed to hide
all they got, and it was only when it
fell under the eye of some superior
officer that anything valuable was
found.
In South Carolina the wealthy PEG.
pie had placed their jewelry and plate
in bank. In one of the banks there
were several large boxes the bank Of
ficers were trying to get to place OF
safety, when they were discovered by
the soldiers, and all the valuables
captured. But out of it all the gov
eminent officials got no more than
All the rest was spirited away by the
captors, and the owners probably
think the government has it. This
was the only occasion upon which the
government ever got any jewelry or
plate, and the value Of all we now
have in the vaults OF the treasury l
should estimate to be about $4,000.
This is all we can account for of all
the valuables the southern peope lost.
We were supposed to take charge OF
all the personal property picked up
of the battle field. venture to say
we never found adollar's worth. Peo-
pie in the South think that our vaults
are rich with treasures. They are
mistaken.
cit has been declared that Gen. But
ler's famous captured silverware was
IN the treasury vaults. Gen. Butler
said himself that he turned it over to
the proper authorities and accounted
for it specifically in his report to the
war department. Not one spoon OF
it is in the treasury Nor does thegov--
eminent know anything of it. No,
reference to it in any way whatever is
made in Gen. Buffers accounts at the
war department! Further explanation.
Is necessary from some quarter.
Gin the box we have,' continued
the abandoned property man, "there,
Is very little silverware. It is mostly
jewelry. all old-fashioned. Old-styie.
watches, rich cameo sets, odd old
rings with peculiar settings, evidently
family relics; miniatures set in gold.
and gems, diamond rings and all sorts
OF odd and peculiar trinkets Theval--
ue ofmost of them lies probably in their
associations. Some of them have,
probably been in families for genera,
tlons. The owners of quite number,
have asserted their claims and got their
property. but what we have now will
probably never be claimed. Any one
who will come and describe his prop
erty can get it. That's the reason we
keep it so close, where no one can see it.
We have to keep quiet and not give
| any information that might assist
any one to establish claim either to