Case: BATTELLE & EVANS' CASE. Battelle et al. v. The United States
Abbreviation: Battelle v. United States
Decision Date: 1872-12
Docket Number: 
Citation: 8 Ct. Cl. 295
Volume: 8
Reporter: United States Court of Claims Reports
Court: United States Court of Claims
Jurisdiction: United States
Parties: BATTELLE & EVANS’ CASE. Battelle et al. v. The United States.
Judges: 
Pages: 295–315

Head Matter:
BATTELLE & EVANS’ CASE. Battelle et al. v. The United States.
On the Proofs.
In February, 186?, ennlraotors agree in writing to furnish beef-cattle at 7 J cents per pound to the extent of “one hundred head, more or less,” for “ Lander’s division and such troops as may he attached thereto.” Subsequently the commissary who made the contract is detached from Zander’s division at Cumberland and removed to a post on the western side of Che moimtamis. In May, 1862, General Frémont orders him to procure cattle immediately for a military exigency, being for the use of his army marching in pursuit of Stonewall Jackson. Zander’s division is not attached to Frémont’s army. The commissary, however, telegraphs to his former contractors to forward 800 head and send them on immediately at any cost. The contractors do so. The cattle accompany the army on its march. They remain in the immediate charge of the contractor’s drovers, who slaughter them from time to time as required by the troops. After the cattle reach the army some are lost and some are captured by the enemy. On the settlement with the contractors the commissary refuses to pay more than the old contract pnce of 7-} cents, and refuses to pay anything for the cattle lost or captured, but agrees that the residue of the claim shall be reserved for adjustment by the Board of Unsettled Claims. Mo such adjustment is made, and the contractors bring their action.
I. Where a written contract is for heef for a division of the army to the extent of 100 head of cattle, more or less, at a specified price pier pound, it will not he hold to relate to cattle subsequently furnished to a distinct part of the army to meet a military exigency amid circumstances of peculiar difficulty and danger.
II. Where the commanding general orders a commissary to procure cattle for the use of the army during a military exigency immediately, and the commissary telcgrai>hs to contractors to forward them immediately and at any cost, and the contractors do so, the order is obeyed and the contract is executed when the cattle roach and pass under the control and into the possession of the army, and the delivery is complete. If cattle are subsequently captured or lost before vouchers are given, while they remain in charge of the contractor’s drovers, who act as butchers for the troops, the loss will fall on the Government.
III. Where contractors are to have the hides and tallow of cattle which they furnish to the army while on the march, the hides and tallow are the property of, and at the risk of, the contractors. The fact that the commanding general gave them an order for the transportation of the hides .and tallow is not sufficient evidence of a promise on the part of the G-ov-.ernment to transport or pay for them if lost.
The Reporters’ statement of tbe case:
Tbe court found tbe following facts :
Early in May, 1862, General Frémont, commanding- tbe Mountain Department, moved with tbe forces under bis immediate command from New Greek, in tbe northern part of Western Virginia, southerly, to re-enforce tbe Union forces threatened by tbe confederate army under General “ Stonewall” Jackson.
At Petersburg!!, where a commissary’s depot bad been established by Captain Mackenzie, assistant commissary, General Frémont directed him to procure immediately beef-cattle to accompany bis march, as be bad not sufficient transportation to carry supplies for bis troops.
And on tbe 8tb day of May, 1862, Captain Mackenzie at Petersburgb sent to tbe petitioners at New Creek tbe following* telegram:
“Petersburg®, May 8,1862.
" To Battelle :
“No cattle yet received on my order, except thirty-seven bead from Mr. Shook, brought from Moorfield. Forward (300} three hundred bead to this post immediately ; no time to lose;, answer what you can do and when.
“J. M. MACKENZIE,
“ Commissary of Subsistence.”
And on tbe 8th day of May, 1862, the above telegram was received at New Creek, by the agent of tbe petitioners employed by them to forward cattle to tbe Army.
On tbe 8th day of May, 1862, tbe following order was issued by General Frémont to Captain Mackenzie :
“ Headquarters Army in the Field,
“ Petersburgb, May 8, 1862.
“ Captain : Tbe general commanding directs that you procure five hundred bead beef-cattle on tbe most reasonable and proper terms; but procure them, no time to be lost.
“ALBEET TEACY,
“ Colonel'and Adjutant-General.”
This order was sent by Captain Mackenzie, on tbe 8th day of May, from Petersburgb to tbe petitioners at New Creek,. and received there the same day by their agent. ■ And on the 9th day of May, Captain Mackenzie sent to the petitioners the following telegram:
“ Messrs. Battelle & Evans,
Beef Contractors, Neio Creelc:
“Why cannot I hear from you? We want (500) five hundred head cattle here as soon as you can get them; not a moment to be lost. Send forward to this post one hundred, more or less, at a time. I have bought fifty head here, which will only last through to-morrow. Send on immediately at any cost.
“ In haste, yours, &c.,
“ J. M. MACKENZIE,
“ Commissary of Subsistence, United States Army.
“ Peteesbtjkg-h, May 9,1862.”
And the troops of General Frémont at Petersburgh, and on their march from Petersburgh to near McDowell, and thence to Franklin, where General Frémont made his headquarters for ten days, were supplied under said orders and telegrams with beef-cattle by the petitioners', whose employés drove the cattle from New Creek to General Frémont’s army, where the cattle passed into the control and possession of the army. And the employés of the petitioners remained with the army and accompanied it on its march to drive the cattle and slaughter them as beef was needed for the army; and according to orders given for the purpose.
While the army of General Frémont was at Franklin two hundred head of cattle delivered to the army, as above stated by the petitioners, were pastured in a field at night, with the river on one side and fenced on the other side. And the nest morning nine of the cattle were missing, and were lost.
On the 23d day of May, 1862, Captain Mackenzie, at Peters-burgh, received the following telegram from Franklin :
“ Captain Mackenzie:
“Forward two hundred head of beef-cattle per day' until further ordered.
“ By order of Major-General Frémont:
“ ALBEBT TBACY,
“ Colonel and Assistant Adjutant-General.”
And Captain Mackenzie sent to tbe petitioners at New Greek the following telegram:
“ To Eyans & Battblle :
“ Forward cattle as fast as possible. Two hundred per day until further orders.
“J. M. MACKENZIE,
“ Captain and Commissary of Subsistence.”
And the above telegram was received by the petitioners on the 24th day of May, 1862.
On the 25th day of May, 1862, General Frémont with the forces under his command left Franklin to go to the relief of General Banks in the Shenandoah Valley, and, passing through Petersburg!! and Moorfield, crossed the mountains at Hunting Bidge, and, passing-through Wardensville, reached the point of division of the roads to Winchester and Strasburgh on the 2d of June.
And on this march the army of General Frémont was supplied with beef by the petitioners, whose employós drove the cattle from New Creek to the said army on its march, when the cattle passed into the control and possession of the army. And the employés of the petitioners accompanied the army on its march to drive and herd the cattle,, and slaughter them as beef was needed for the troops, and according to orders given for the purpose.
The petitioners were informed that a military guard would accompany the cattle; and a guard of cavalry, detailed for the purpose, did accompany the cattle on the march.
The cattle were driven from New Creek to Franklin under unfavorable circumstances, as there was great difficulty in getting men to drive the cattle through the country, which was infested with guerrillas; and food for the cattle was difficult to be procured; and the march of General Frémont from Franklin to near Strasburgh was a forced march, over bad and broken roads, and, in part, through a hostile and mountainous country. The army moved rapidly, and the cattle were overdriven, and lost weight. The fences of fields on the way had been destroyed, and it was difficult to secure the cattle at night; guerrillas followed the army on either flank, and the guard of cavalry was often insufficient for the protection of the cattle, and some were lost.
Between Moorñeld and Wardensville, when the army encamped at night, eighty head of cattle were pastured in a fenced field, and under a guard within the pickets and inside the camp.
Fifty-seven of these cattle were surreptitiously taken by the troops, and slaughtered and used by them; and for these fifty-seven head of cattle no vouchers could be obtained by the petitioners.
Near Wardensville the butchers of the petitioners were waked at night and ordered to slaughter forty head of cattle for the morning, and these cattle were slaughtered. Early the next morning the army broke up its camp aud resumed its march in such haste that a part of the beef was left on the ground, and not taken or used by the troops. And for- these forty head of cattle the petitioners could obtain no vouchers.
The beef-cattle delivered to the army of General Frémont were ordered by him on an emergency, requiring their immediate delivery, and precluding the delay of advertisements. And they were delivered by the petitioners on the orders and telegrams above set forth and the contract thereby made, with the understanding between them and Captain Mackenzie that they should receive a just compensation for extra trouble and expense in procuring an increased number on short notice, as well as increased risks in driving to points not contemplated in the written contract.
The hides and tallow of the cattle slaughtered for the army of General Frémont belonged to the petitioners, and were worth on an average about $13 a head. They were but in small part secured by the petitioners, because they could not obtain transportation for them, although they requested it. On one occasion, at Franklin, General Frémont, at the request of the X>etitioners, gave to his commissary a written order for the transportation to New Greek of the hides and tallow of the cattle killed at Franklin, but the order was not executed. On one occasion General Frémont ordered some of the hides and tallow to be burned, but -what quantity was not shown.
In the early part of 1862, before Captain Mackenzie went to Petersburg!), in Virginia, to establish there a commissary depot, as above stated, he was acting as brigade commissary for General Kelley’s headquarters at Cumberland, in the State of Maryland j and there, on the 1st day of February, 1862, he, on the part of the United States, made with the petitioners the contract, by which the petitioners contracted as follows : “ To deliver and supply General Lander’s division of the army now camped at Camp Kelley, and other troops that may hereafter be attached to said division, with fresh beef,” &c. But the troops specified in that written contract formed no part of the forces above mentioned as under the immediate command of General Frémont. “Lander’s division” and the troops “afterward attached to it” belonged to General Banks’s command. ’
On the retreat of General Banks from Harrisonburgh he was closely pursued by the confederate forces through Winchester on the 24th of May, and Martinsburgh on the 25th of May, to the Potomac, which he crossed on the 26th of May. There were at Winchester nineteen head of cattle supplied, under said written contract, to the forces of the United States, by the petitioners, and which were for the use of the hospital at Winchester. And from the suddenness and hurried manner of General Banks’s retreat, and the closeness of the pursuit by the enemy, it was not possible to save these cattle, which, with their keepers, were captured by the confederates.
On the 25tb of May, 1862, sixty-five head of cattle, sent by the petitioners from New Creek, under said written contract, for the supply of the Union troops, were received by their agent by railroad near Martinsburgh, and by him pastured in a field near there. On the retreat of General Banks and the advance of the confederates, it was not possible to remove these cattle, as no men could be procured for the service. And these sixty-five head of cattle were captured by the confederates, and on their retreat they drove forty-eight head of these cattle near to Winchester and left them there, and they were afterward taken possession of by General Cooper, commanding the advance of General Siegel’s division.
Vouchers for 362,711 pounds of beef were given to the petitioners for the beef of the cattle slaughtered by them for the army of General Frémont. And on these vouchers the petitioners were paid by Captain Mackenzie 7J cents per pound of beef, the price specified in said written contract, and the residue of the petitioners’ claim was left by agreement between them and Captain Mackenzie’to be thereafter adjusted by the board of unsettled claims. No such adjustment has been made. And the United States, on demand made, refused to make any further payment on said petitioners’ claim than the payment made as specified on said vouchers.
The beef of the cattle delivered, as above stated, averaged in weight 700 pounds per head on the foot.
We find that a just compensation for the trouble and expense and risks in procuring and furnishing cattle to the army of General Frémont on its march from Petersburg!), as herein above stated, was 10J cents per pound..
Mr. R. M. Corwine for the claimant.
Mr. Assistant Attorney-General McMichael for the defendants.

Opinion:
Loring, J.,
delivered the opinion of tie court:
By the contract made between Captain Mackenzie, on the part of the United States, and the petitioners, on February 1, 1862, at Cumberland, the petitioners were to supply Lander's division, then at Camp Kelly, near Cumberland, and any other troops that might be attached thereto, " with fresh beef, in quarters, in such quantities as might from time to time be required, not oftener than five times a week, for 6J cents per pound."
And Battelle and Evans were to accompany the expedition then contemplated with one hundred head of beef-cattle, more or less, as might be required, and with ox-teams, wagons, horses, •&c.j and if any beef-cattle were lost by the way, notwithstanding due care and diligence on the part of Battelle and Evans, the United States were to pay such portion of the loss as might be agreed upon. And 1 cent per pound additional to the 6-]-cents specified was to be allowed for the difficulties of the forward movement while those difficulties continued.
The contract thus related to " Zander's division and such troops as might he attached thereto," and though this did not specify the number of men, it indicated generally the body of troops of a division commander, for the supply of which the contractors were to make their preparations.
The contract referred to a contemplated movement of the forces it specified, without indicating what that movement was to be. It was undoubtedly known to the contracting parties at the time, and is shown by the subsequent movements. When Lander's division first moved does not precisely appear, but the bistory of tbe war in Virginia shows he had moved southerly down the valley from Cumberland to Moorfield, and captured that place, before the 11th of February, 1802.
Subsequently General Lander, on account of ill-health, resigned his command, and was succeeded in it by General Shields, and under him the division formed a part of the Fifth Army Corps, under General Banks, on the eastern side of the mountain, and on the 22d of March it fought and won the battle of Winchester, having been left there by General Banks, who, with the rest of his command, had marched southerly to Sfcras-burgh and Harrisonburgh. On the 15th of May General Shields's division was detached from the corps of General Banks and ordered to join the forces of General McDowell at Fred-ericksburgh, on the Iiappahannock Biver, and marched from the valley of the Shenandoah easterly for that purpose.
About May 1,1862, Captain Mackenzie, who had made the contract of February 1,1862, with the petitioners for Lander's division, was ordered from Cumberland to Petersburgh, on the western side of the mountains in the valley of Virginia, and there formed a commissary's depot, and on the 5th of May General Frémont, who had been appointed to the command of the mountain department, marched from New Creek southerly, to the relief of the positions of the Union forces threatened by General " Stonewall" Jackson, and reached Pittsburgh about the-7th of May, and there he ordered Captain Mackenzie to procure beef-cattle to accompany the march of the army as stated, and under these orders eight hundred head of cattle were ordered of the petitioners on the 8th of May. General Frémont continued his march southerly, toward Franklin, where General Schenck was stationed. At this time General Milroy, commanding at McDowell, was attacked there by General " Stonewall" Jackson, and driven back on General Schenck; there a stand was made, and General Frémont coming up with his army, the enemy withdrew, and General Frémont, with the forces now under his command, made his headquarters at Franklin, where he remained ten days.
The object of General "Stonewall" Jackson in attacking General Milroy was to prevent his junction with General Banks on the easterly side of the mountains at Harrisonburgh, and this, being effected by the defeat of General Milroy, General " Stonewall" Jackson rapidly crossed the mountains and fell on Gen eral Banks, and on the 24th and 25th of May drove him through Strasburgh, northerly, and through Winchester and Martins-burg'h to the Potomac and over it, General Banks crossing the river on the 20th of May.
On the 23d May General Frémont was ordered to march from Franklin to General Banks's aid, and on the 25th of May he started with all the forces under his command. The roads to Petersburgh and Moorheld were broken up by wagon-trains and heavy and rough, and at Hunting Bulge he turned and crossed the mountains, and, by a forced and difficult march in bad and rainy weather, in eight days from the time he started he reached the division of the roads leading to Winchester and Strasburgh. In the mean time General Shields, on his march to Frederieksburgh, had learned the defeat of General Banks, and retraced his steps back to Front Boyal to aid General Banks and cut off General " Stonewall" Jackson's retreat. For the same purpose General Sigel marched with his division from Harper's Ferry westerly toward Winchester, which his advance, under General Cooper, reached May 25. But between all these forces, marching from the east and west, General Stonewall Jackson passed safely with his army and retreated, southerly, through Winchester and Strasburgh. After this General Banks with his command returned from the Potomac, and his forces being combined with those of General Shields's and General Sigel's and General Frémont's, pursued General Stonewall Jackson, and he, to stop their pursuit, turned and fought them at Gross Keys, June 8. After this check the Union Army fell back to Mount Jackson and rested there.
This sketch of the movement of the different forces shows that during the time of General Frémont's march from New Greek to near McDowell and thence back to Franklin, from the 5th to the 25th May, and on his forced march from Franklin across the mountains to near Strasburgh, General Lander's division, to which the written contract referred, formed no part of General Fremont's army, and that all the time these different forces were on different sides of the mountains.. And it shows also that the movement referred to in the contract of February 1 was not the forced march of General Frémont to aid General Banks in his retreat of 24th and 25th May. And, therefore, it shows that the supplies for which this suit is brought were furnished to troops and in localities, quantities, and circumstances to which, the written contract of February 1 did not relate, and under another and distinct contract made at a different time and place, and for a different purpose, and in a different manner, and under a different authority; for it was made under the orders of General Frémont, and by the telegrams above shown, and with'no other reference to the written contract than an express agreement for a different price, and in an emergency which the written contract did not contemplate and could not meet. That contract specified the number of cattle to accompany the march of Lander's division, then contemplated at one hundred head, " more or less. This by legal construction could not be extended beyond one hundred and some part of another hundred, while eight hundred head of cattle were ordered for the army of General Frémont in one day, and on his forced march from Franklin the order was for two hundred head every day till further ordered.
The orders of General Frémont were for beef-cattle to accompany his army on its march, and when the cattle were driven to the army and accompanied its march the order was obeyed and the contract was executed; the cattle then passed into the control and possession of the army, and the delivery was complete. The cattle used, and for which vouchers were issued, were partly paid for as hereafter stated. But for those that were lost or captured no vouchers were issued, and they were not paid for at all, and, therefore, their whole price is recoverable here.
As to the cattle captured and abandoned by the rebels near Winchester, and of which General Cooper's forces took possession, they were the property of the petitioners that came to the use of the army. And they were sent by the petitioners from New Creek, for the use of the army, under the written contract of February 1, and are thus within the scope and operation of that contract.
And the evidence showed that the cattle had to be driven on foot from New Creek; that the roads were bad, and great difficulties were encountered, especially in the mountains, where it was difficult to keep the cattle up with the army in its rapid and hurried movements, or to obtain food for them, or protect them from the guerrillas, who infested the march and made it perilous. And in such circumstances the cattle lost weight, and many were lost altogether. These dangers were not, so far as the evidence showed, encountered in supplying the cattle on the eastern side of the mountains under the written contract of February 1. And, therefore, we allowed 3 cents per pound additional to the contract price for the cattle supplied to General Frémont's army, and the contract price of V¿ cents for those shown to have been delivered on the eastern side of the mountains at Martinsburgh and Winchester.
The evidence showed that the contract made by the orders of General Frémont was made in an emergency which precluded advertising, and which, in his deposition, he thus describes: " The troops were entirely without provisions, so much so in the camp at Franklin, that there was an attempt at mutiny in some regiments for want of provisions, and under these circumstances supplies were furnished for my command wherever they could be procured, and in the most expeditious way."
And, moreover, his army was in the field, moving rapidly from point to point, and a contract with cattle-dealers whose resources could supply the pressing necessities of his army then and there, and made in such manner as would meet the emergency, was the absolute requirement of the circumstances, and, therefore, the usual mode of purchasing and the only mode practicable in such circumstances.
The facts are found that it was agreed between the contracting parties that the contractors should receive an extra compensation beyond that stated in the written contract of Feb* ruary 1, for their extra trouble, expense, and risks in supplying cattle to General Frémont's army on its marches, and that under this agreement the supplies were furnished. And it is also found that in the settlement made with Captain Mackenzie it was arranged between the parties that the price specified in the written contract should be paid to the petitioners then, and the extra allowance to be made left to the board of unsettled accounts. Afterward the United States refused to pay more than they had paid, and this gave the right of action here.
The different estimates of the weight of the cattle delivered were 600, 700, and 800 pounds; and we have taken 700 pounds as their average weight.
Nothing is allowed for the hides and tallow; the evidence indicated that these were to belong to the petitioners, and that they lost most of them, because they had no means of transporting them to a market or place of safety. But no provision was made as to them or as to their transportation in the written contract, or afterward, between the parties. As the property of the petitioners they would be at their risk. And we think the fact that on one occasion General. Frémont, on the application of the petitioners, gave an order for the transportation of some hides and tallow from Franklin to New Creek, is not sufficient evidence of a promise on the part of the United States to transport or pay for the hides and tallow of the cattle slaughtered. It was shown in evidence that on one occasion General Frémont ordered some hides and tallow to be burned, but it was not shown how many or why.