Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1899-06-06
$13,OOo,OO0 WITHOUT OWNERS
Proceeds of Cotton Sales During the
Civil War Now in the Treasury.

1.-The records of the treasury are full of
romances," said treasury official Take
that bureau called the Division of Aban-
doned Lands and Property, for example.
1t is in itself one great romance. Why,
there is about $13O00,000 in its keeping
belonging to people in the South alone.
You see, during and at the close of the
Civil war valuable property of all sorts
fell into the hands of army officers and
was turned into the treasury. Finally
the amount became so great that when
William T.. Chandler became assistant
secretary he created a division to have
charge of the entire matter. More than
S12,OOO,OOO charged to that division Is
the proceeds of cotton taken from plan
tations and towns all over the South and
sold.
Il know Of one case in which $4,000
900 worth of cotton was taken from
far South plantation, when the staple
was worth $500 a bale, and sold. The
people to whom it belonged were not
Rebels at all, but were always loyal
to the Union. They haven't an idea
where their cotton went to. Their names
were on the bales and it wouldn't be at
all difficult for them TO make their ease
il they only knew what | do. 1t is near
ly thirtyseven years since the money
was deposited there. L don't know
whether any of the owners are alive or
not, and if they are it is hardly probable
that they will ever get back what is
really their own. All the testimony
in the case is in the possession
of the government, and 1t never
lets go anything it gets its hands
on. The agent who took this cotton is
dead long ago, as is the man who sold
it, SO YOU see the owners could not
prove their case by either of them.
There are other instances similar to
this. In 1868 we received from a gov
han
which was the proceeds OF cotton taken
from a foreigner supposed to be block
ade runner IN one of the larger cities OF
the South. When Secretary McCulloch
heard of this he said:
"'rhiS money is only held III trust by
the governments Some day we shall be
obliged to account for 1t, for tae United
States has really no right to keep it.
But from that time until now no demand
has ever been made on us for 1t, ana
there it lies. | doubt If the owner ever
knew just where it did go.
when Gen. Sherman's army occupied
the towns of the South Atlantic seaboard
the Confederates destroyed all the cot
ton possible before they surrendered.
Cotton worth millions Of dollars was
burned to keep it from falling into our
hands. The real owners could not tell
what was thus burned and what was
saved. But we know and this was the
way: The books we often captured, for
| merchant, had so many bales marked IN
certain way. The bales not burned
could thus be easily identified from the
| marks and names on them. In all cases
the books captured containing the names
of the cOnsignOrS and owners were sent
to the treasury with the papers relating
to the capture. Where are these books
and papers? Well I don't know, but |
suppose they are somewhere in the treas
ury vaults.
1y11oI rx-bo bo oloip +s
might come forward and make a demand
on the treasury for the proceeds of their
cotton, the money it brought was never
turned into the general fund, but always
remained in an account by itself. 1t is
SO long since this money was deposited
and the testimony necessary to make a
case is in so many instances unattain-
able by the owners, that it is scarcely
probable that any great portion of this
enormous amount of money will ever
leave the treasury. The only very large
sum from this fund that was ever re-
turned to its owners was paid to GAIA
way 3. Lamar of Savannah, Ga, and
New York. EX-Attorney General Will
liams and Gen. B. T. Butler of Massa-
chusetts were his counsel. They got back
for him 100000 for cotton taken in
the manner | have described. Gen. But
Ter said to me when that case was pend
ing:
If [ were a few years younger and
wanted to make a vast fortune quickly
could do it more easily and certainly in
the prosecution Of these claims than in
any other way
1T was always a wonder to me that
after the action of the government in
the Lamar case more Southern people
did not attempt to recover their money
from the treasury. The principle of re-
payment was then established, the main
difficulty. of course, would be to prove
that their particular cotton was taken
sold and the money turned into the treas
ury."