Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1896-08-04

EMS& AgSSz
ll5ss -
@@1@=
ONE OF THE MANY.
fcer remarked: '"There goes man who
spent more money during the last three
years Of the civil war than any other
man connected with the government.
he disbursed fabulous sums, and yet
made no mistakes" This remark was
peated to Gen. Van Vliet, with the in
quiry: "How much money did you dis
burse, aN told?"
"That would be hard to say" re-
sponded the veteran. II never thought
that it would be neither interesting or
necessary to foot up grand total. It
was more than $10Oo00,OcO, and proba-
bly, $500, 100000. It certainly was big
pile of money, come to think Of it."
"How was it expended?"
"Well, you sec 1 had been chief quar-
termaster of the Army Of the Potomac,
andGen. ingalls, succeededm There was
considerable money disbursed by me
in that office; but when went to New
York city and was given entire charge
of all transportation on the Atlantic
coast east of the Allegheny mountains,
I had big job, and it took more money
than had ever dreamed Of handling to
properly carry on the business of my
department. not only had to look
after ocean transportation, but all rail-
way transportation of troops, ordnance
material, quartermasters' stores and
clothing, and oil the supplies for the
commissaries. 1 was obliged to make
provision for every change of base and
every expedition of the armies of the
east; and they were always on the
move"
"Did you have authority over the lines
of transportation?
Certainly. I virtually controlled
every railroad line east of the Al
leghenies, and controlled all of the
shipping on the Atlantic coast, ex-
cepting the regular transatlantic
steamer lines. TWAS in my power and
discretion to take possession of every
ocean-going craft, no matter how large
or how small. All had to do was to
take possession in the name of the gov
eminent, and the ship owners could but
submit. OF course, when their business
was injured, it was the duty of the gov
eminent to indemnify them"
"Did you use many vessels?"
'Did I? Well should say so. had
regular trip steamers. I had lines of
ocean-going vessels making regular
trips to the bloclsading squadrons, to
nll the fleets, and all of the naval and
military stations along the coast. These
vessels We're organized and made regular
trips to the various stations, as far as
New Orleans, and each one had specific
duty to perform. had 200 or 300 YES
sells thus regularly engaged on the
ocean; butin addition to those boats had
| hundreds and hundreds of steamers of
| allsorts on the rivers, sounds, bays and in
land waterways. These were transports,
dispatch boats, freight and supply
boats some of them among the fastest
craft atloat, and others under sail and
under tow"
GLOW many ships were under your
command?"
BLESS me if know exactly; but there
were more than 10000 of them; more
than We're commanded by all the adj
mirals in the world in times of war OF
in times of peace. The sailing vessels
were Of every description. No old sailor
could name any class of boat but what
it could be found i'll one of my fleets.
somewhere, and doing some specific
business for the government. The sail
ing vessels and steamboats, named in
the dictionary We're all represented in
my colossal navy; and it took considera-
BILE energy and push to keep track of all
of them, and to keep them all in line OF
active duty. But l was a generation
younger then than I am now, and it
never tired or worried me to keep things
moving"
The old man lighted fresh cigar
one of the kind the naval officers bring
into this country without paying duty
on them, and he continued: 1.-THE tug
boats were as thick as flies on dead
army mule. There were tugs In the
rivers, tugs in the bays, tugs on the
sound and tugs far out at sea. To d
large extent those tugs constituted the
tug of war; for some of them tugged
large war ships into position
''How did you arrange for big expe.
ditions?"
II sometimes knew the facts con
corning proposed expeditions before
the commanding officers knew thai
they We're to be ordered hither and yon
was always privately notified by the
war department concerning a proposed
expedition, how many troops were tt
participate, how many days provisions
must be carried, how many field pieces
how many horses, and everything il
detail concerning the proposed move
ment. With these facts before me
would secure the vessels necessary
concentrate them, take possession O.
railroad lines aud have everything il
readiness. Then, when the genera
commanding an army received orders
to move, he would find everything nee
essary already arranged for his trans