USA > New York > New York City > The Union defence committee of the city of New York. Minutes, reports, and correspondence; with an historical introduction > Part 11
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I hope you will aid us in carrying into effect the laws against these, its violators. All I can do in the furtherance of the block- ade, ordered to be established along the coast of the rebellious States, you may rely shall be done.
Trusting to the co-operation and approbation of all loyal citi- zens, I remain, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
S. H. STRINGHAM, Senior Flag Officer, Blockade Squadron.
The following list comprises the captures made by the Quaker City while engaged under charter:
May 14-Ship North Carolina.
" 25-Bark Pioneer, from Liverpool.
" 25 -- Bark Winifred, from Rio, with coffee.
" 30-Schooner Lynchburg, from Rio. June 4-Bark General Green, from Cuba.
" 26-Bark Sallie Mager, from Rio.
July 1-Schooner Sallie Means, from Trinidad.
" 10-Brig Amy Warwick, from Rio.
While these pages are undergoing revision, advices are received that the Amy Warwick has been condemned by the Admiralty Prize Court in Boston, Mass., and both vessel and cargo sold, the net proceeds being about one hundred and thirty thousand dollars.
The Quaker City was subsequently purchased by the Govern- ment, taken into the service, and is now a national vessel of war.
The Committee are not aware that the log of any one national vessel of the blockading squadron can show a record of more
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efficient services rendered than that of the Quaker City. It is to be regretted that the Committee are not permitted to embrace in their report any official acknowledgment of the gallantry and persevering devotion to duty shown by the officers of the Quaker City, or to communicate information which would be interesting to the city government. The cost of the outfit and armament placed on board that vessel, under the superintendence of officers of the navy, has not yet been reimbursed by the proper department of the Gov- ernment.
The amount necessary for such reimbursement will be but an inconsiderable proportion of the prize money to be awarded from the captures made by the vessel thus supplied by the Committee. The Executive Committee have not advanced any claim to a share in these prize moneys. This question is left to the decision of the Union Defence Committee.
It will be remembered that on the 19th of April the Sixth Mas- sachusetts Regiment, in its passage through the streets of Baltimore, was attacked by armed rebels, and several lives taken. The New York Seventh was joined by a regiment from Massachusetts near the railroad junction, and the two marched together to the capital, and thereby gave assurance of its safety, on the 26th of that month.
Immediately after the attack in Baltimore, the railroad track was taken up, and the bridges over the neighboring waters de- stroyed. On the 23d of April arrangements were perfected for ob- taining materials and laborers to relay the iron rails on the road connecting Baltimore with the Susquehanna.
The steamer Kill-von-Kull was chartered, and supplied with provisions and other means, to aid in this essential duty. On the 9th of May, railroad communication was re-opened north of Balti- more, and shortly after, by the active agency of volunteer soldiers, the line was rendered effective to the seat of government.
The Committee having been informed on the 25th of April that a deficiency of provisions and ammunition had been reported from Fort Monroe, and that urgent necessity existed for a supply of both, immediate measures were adopted to charter the ocean steamer Kedar, for the purpose of supplying that fortress and the neigh- boring army stations. The Kedar was loaded, armed, and left for Hampton Roads on the 27th, carrying, in addition to the greatly needed supplies, the Fifth Regiment of New York Volunteer Mili- tia, commanded by Colonel Schwarzwelder. In forty-eight hours the fortress was supplied with provisions and ammunition, and
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reinforced with troops, and its capture by an unscrupulous and en- terprising enemy prevented.
These brief allusions to what was regarded as an important part of their duties will not be deemed out of place in an official re- port of the transactions in which the Committee have been engaged.
The topic now to be discussed embraces the more extended operations which have passed under the guidance of the Union Defence Committee, and to which they have given the larger portion of time and attention called for in the discharge of their official duties.
The first call of the President for volunteers restricted the number to seventy-five thousand men. Of this force the quota of the State of New York was fixed at seventeen regiments of seven hundred and eighty men each. Between the outbreak of the insur- rection and the 7th of May, eleven regiments had proceeded to Washington. Of these eight had been materially aided by the Com- mittee. These regiments were enlisted for short terms of service, and all were mustered out at the expiration of three months.
Before this period the rebellion had begun to assume more fearful proportions, and under the Act of Congress of July, the President had been authorized to accept the services of five hundred thousand volunteers.
At the end of July, the quota of the State of New York had reached the large number of forty-six regiments, to twenty-six of which the Committee had extended aid from the means placed at their disposal.
Finally, with the temporary growth of the power contending for the destruction of the Union, arose the necessity for greater efforts on the part of the citizens of loyal States for its protection. New York, at the close of the year 1861, had increased her quota, including the three months' volunteers, to the aggregate of ninety- nine regiments of infantry, ten of cavalry, two of artillery, one of engineers ; one battalion of cavalry, two of artillery, one rocket battalion, and nine batteries of artillery, making a total of one hundred and twenty-five separate organizations, embracing one hundred and twenty thousand three hundred and sixteen volunteer soldiers.
Of this large, well-equipped and efficient army, bearing, in con- nection with the National flag, the banner of the State of New York, the Union Defence Committee have assisted in a greater or less degree to place in the field sixty-six regiments.
Early in the movements of the war, the Committee were brought
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into active co-operation with the authorities of the State, and they cannot, without a disregard of duty, refrain from expressing their sense of the ability and fidelity with which the loyal feelings of the people of New York have been combined and rendered effective for the maintenance of the Constitution and the Union.
The labors of the Committee have for some months been inter- mitted, in the belief that the rebellion was fast approaching its inevitable termination. Passing from the more active duty of sustaining the Government in an extreme emergency, the Committee find themselves in the discharge of another obligation equally bind- ing upon them, and scarcely less arduous in the performance, that of presenting and urging the claim of the city of New York for reimbursement of the large sums advanced for the outfit and equip- ment of volunteers.
The corporation of the City of New York, on the 25th of April, 1861, enacted an ordinance creating a fund of one million dollars to be placed under the control of the Union Defence Committee, to be applied to two objects-namely, the outfit and equipment of volunteers, and for the aid or support of the families of soldiers in the field. This ordinance contained a clause pledging the reim- bursement for advances from the fund, to the redemption of the bonds issued to create it.
The means thus derived have been applied strictly to the objects indicated in the ordinance, and on the 25th of October last were exhausted.
To the last-named purpose, the sum of two hundred and thirty thousand three hundred and fifty dollars was appropriated and paid. The Committee have not believed that any claim could justly be urged for the reimbursement of this expenditure by the General Government ; but there are reasonable grounds for the opinion that an obligation rests upon the State to make good, at least in part, this advance from the city treasury. A large portion of the State quota was recruited in the city of New York. Enlistments were greatly stimulated by the knowledge that a fund had been provided to supply the wants of families which had lost temporarily their natural protectors. No other municipality, it is believed, unless it be the city of Brooklyn, has, to any considerable extent, shown a like munificent spirit in giving effect to the prevalent zeal in behalf of the movements to sustain the Government.
It may well be considered, therefore, whether the legislative authority of the State should not take a reasonable share of this heavy burden from the treasury of the city
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Upon the other branch of the subject, the advances made to regiments from the city fund, no possible doubt can rest. The claim of the city to reimbursement for all advances coming within the army regulations, for the "collecting, organizing, and drilling volunteers," is undeniably just and legal, and the immediate repay- ment should be urged with diligence and energy.
The Union Defence Committee, under the advice, and acting in concert with, the authorities of the city, have submitted to the War Department a demand for reimbursement, and have placed before the Secretary of that Department the grounds upon which the claim is urged. No satisfactory reply has yet been received, nor any sufficient reason assigned for the delay which has occurred in responding to the demand.
The city must be reimbursed for its advances. Public faith and public policy alike forbid that the reliance of the muni- cipal authorities upon the sense of justice of the national Govern- ment should be disappointed. The delay which has already taken place in reference to this question has compelled the Comptroller to ask from the Legislature authority to postpone the redemption of the bonds which fell due on the 1st of May. Before granting this authority, a committee of the House of Assembly made certain in- quiries in regard to the expenditures from the fund. A communi- cation in reply was addressed to the Hon. Mr. Porter, of the Assembly. The response was regarded so favorably that all objections were withdrawn, and the request of the Comptroller promptly complied with.
It will be gratifying to the Union Defence Committee to learn that the bonds for the extended time were promptly taken by capitalists and bankers, and that the original loan was thus season - ably provided for.
It may not be out of place to take another view of the question of returning to the city treasury the means so liberally provided, to meet a pressing public emergency.
There are three sources to which the city of New York might look for the means to reimburse a fund created for so patriotic a purpose.
First. The United States, by the terms of the law of Congress, have provided a fund to reimburse the cost of raising a volunteer force. The language used by the War Department, in reference to the application of this fund to the purpose named, is singularly definite-it is to be applied to meet the expenses of " collecting, organizing, and drilling volunteers." For several months past, funds derived from this source have been constantly made available
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to meet similar expenses in other cases. It is to be hoped that like justice will be extended to the city of New York.
Second. The State of New York recognizes on the roll of volunteer corps, placed in the public service, many regiments which have received their outfit, in whole or in part, from the fund created by the city. It is by no means clear that a just claim may not be founded for reimbursement of the cost of these regiments, from the sum provided by the Legislature for similar objects.
Third. The officers and soldiers of volunteer regiments are al- lowed by the regulations of the War Department to draw a certain sum monthly, in addition to their pay, to defray the cost of a por- tion of their outfit. In many instances assignments of this claim upon the Government were executed to the Committee, and are an- nexed to vouchers in the Comptroller's office. To set up this claim, while it would not be unjust to the parties, or in conflict with law, might be deemed invidious, and the enforcement of the rule un- equal in its operation.
It would seem, therefore, as the claim on the United States is unquestionably founded in justice, that irrespective of any other probable or positive source of relief, it ought to be urged persist- ently to a satisfactory conclusion.
In bringing their active labors to a close, it will probably be deemed appropriate for the Union Defence Committee to make some allusion to the changes which have occurred in their organization. The Executive Committee venture, therefore, to refer to these changes. Two resignations and one death have made vacancies in the original number of members. Mr. Royal Phelps resigned his place on the 22d of May, and Judge Greene C. Bronson on the 17th of June last.
Mr. Theodore Dehon was one of the earliest and most efficient members of the Committee, and its first treasurer. The persever- ing devotion with which Mr. Dehon discharged the arduous duties devolved upon him, very soon made serious inroads upon his health, and weakened a constitution not strong enough to withstand the effects of such constant labor. At the close of the month of April he was compelled to relinquish his office of treasurer, and shortly after his membership on the Committee. In the hope of recovering his impaired health, in company with his family, he visited Europe, where he lingered for a brief space, and died in London on the 24th of June. His courtesy of manner, gentleness of deportment and remarkable aptitude for business, had secured the respect of his associates on the Committee, and won their affectionate regard for
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his excellent personal qualities. While recording their sense of the loss sustained in the death of an associate and friend, the Commit- tee cannot but find a grateful satisfaction in the expression of their sympathy with the affliction which had fallen so suddenly upon his bereaved and sorrowing family.
The vacancy in the office of treasurer was supplied by the election of Mr. A. A. Low. Upon the appointment of General John A. Dix, the first chairman of the Committee, to the office of Major-General of the State troops, his resignation was accepted, and Mr. Hamilton Fish was elected to succeed him. General Dix consented to retain his membership on the Committee. Having subsequently received a commission as Major-General from the President of the United States, General Dix was intrusted with the important command of the Department of Maryland, and has not taken part in the proceedings of the Committee since June last.
On the 22d of February last the Union Defence Commit- tee invited the citizens of New York, Brooklyn and vicinity to assemble in mass meeting, to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Washington, and to congratulate the country on the then recent triumphs of the national arms. The response to; the call came from many thousands of loyal citizens. A report of the pro- ceedings on that occasion is in preparation, and will be laid before the Committee as soon as completed.
In connection therewith, and in conclusion of their report, the Executive Committee offer their cordial congratulations upon the indications daily becoming more apparent, that the insurrection will certainly be quelled, and the authority of the Government acknowledged in every State within the borders of the Union.
Respectfully submitted by order of the
Executive Committee,
S. DRAPER, Chairman.
PROSPER M. WETMORE, Secretary.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE UPON CLAIMS FOR REIMBURSEMENT BY THE GENERAL GOV- ERNMENT.
UNION DEFENCE COMMITTEE, CITY OF NEW YORK.
At or about the close of the year 1861 the Honorable Hamilton Fish, chairman of this Committee, while in the city of Washing- ton, on his return from the fulfillment of a public duty confided to
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him by the Government at Fortress Monroe, submitted to the Navy Department for settlement a claim on behalf of this Committee.
Payment of this demand was resisted by. the then Chief of the , Bureau of Ordnance, Lieutenant Wise, of the navy, upon the alleged ground of overcharges in many of the items of the account ren- dered.
On the return of the chairman to his duty in this city, he sub- mitted the statement and criticism of Lieutenant Wise to the Secre- tary of the Executive Committee for such explanation as seemed to be called for in the premises.
The following is the reply submitted by the Secretary to the chair- man of the Committee, for transmission to the Navy Department :
UNION DEFENCE COMMITTEE, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, NEW YORK, January 24, 1862.
HON. HAMILTON FISH, Chairman :
DEAR SIR :
I regret that the pressure of daily business has prevented me from responding more promptly to your inquiry in regard to the arms and munitions of war placed on board the Quaker City, steamer, by the Union Defence Committee, and the correctness of the charges made for them. Perhaps you will allow me to recall the circumstances under which the vessel in question was chartered by the Committee and placed in the public service.
On the 15th of April last the President of the United States issued a call for volunteers. The 6th Massachusetts Regiment passed through this city on the 18th, and the 7th New York Militia Regiment followed on the 19th of that month. The Massachusetts regiment was attacked, with loss of life, on its passage through Baltimore on the 19th, but finally reached the capital seven days later, in company with the New York 7th. The railroad track was broken up and bridges destroyed north of Baltimore on the 19th of April, and the injury was not wholly repaired until the 9th of May ensuing. Mail service was necessarily suspended, and telegraph communication interrupted for a number of days, during which time the army dispatches to and from General Scott and others addressed to the State Department, were borne by the private dispatch messengers of this Committee.
The Union Defence Committee was created by a mass meeting of the citizens of New York on the 20th of April. The duty con- fided to the Committee was indicated in the following brief sen- tence :
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"To represent the citizens in the collection of funds and the transaction of such other business in aid of the movement of the Government as the public interests may require."
The National Capital being cut off from the usual means of communication with the seaboard, the Committee were of opinion that the "public interest required " the adoption of active measures for its relief. In concert with the Commanding General of the Army at this post and the commanding officer at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the sea steamer Quaker City was chartered on the 25th of April for thirty days, and placed under the command of Captain Shufeldt, a shipmaster thoroughly acquainted with the Southern sea-coast.
After due consultation with the Government officers mentioned, it was determined to place an armament with the requisite ammuni- tion on board the steamer, which might be used as well for service on shore as on shipboard. The actual condition of the public defences on the coast of Virginia and in the Chesapeake, and the extent and nature of the opposition to be met with on the proposed expedition, were wholly unknown to the Committee, and little information could be obtained from the Government officers on this station.
Under these circumstances it was determined to arm the Quaker City, put supplies of provisions and ammunition on board, and get her to sea with all practicable dispatch. She was chartered on the 25th of April, and left this port on the 29th of April, 1861. Every article of her armament was selected with all the economy consistent with urgent dispatch, by an experienced, capable and discreet citi- zen of New York, familiar with the business, whose character is beyond and above reproach, who had no interest in the profits of the transaction, and received no remuneration for his services.
With this preliminary statement I will proceed as briefly as I can to notice the objections made by the Ordnance Bureau at Wash- ington to the items of the bill submitted to the Navy Department for payment.
I. The bill which has been questioned is for articles principally delivered on board the Quaker City at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on the 27th and 29th days of April, and comprises, among others, the following items, viz. : two brass rifled cannon, nominally six pounders, throwing thirteen-pound projectiles, with caisson ; har- ness for eight horses, and implements complete, charged at $1,700 each. Total cost $3,400.
. In regard to this item it is stated that the guns were only worth $1,150 each, making a difference and a consequent overcharge in the
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bill of $1,100; and that the "James shot and shell," charged at $3 each for 500, were only worth $1.50 each, making a difference of $750, and also that cartridges charged at forty cents were only worth twenty-five cents.
The answer to these statements is that the guns were not ship guns, which usually weigh 600 pounds, nor mounted as such, but that they were field cannon, of superior construction, weighing 900 pounds, intended for army service ; they were boxed for safe trans- portation in heavy three-inch plank, iron-bound, comprising thirty different packages, and in the moving required six heavy drays. They were taken from Broadway, delivered at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and the expense of the drayage on the packages was sixteen dollars, a distance going and coming of over four miles.
These guns could be used on shipboard, if the exigencies of the service required, but were provided more especially for land service, and were accordingly furnished with harness and caissons. The projectiles were patent articles, difficult to obtain at any price, un- less previously ordered, and had been prepared to accompany these particular guns. The guns would have been useless without the shot and shell, and the whole were taken together, with the car- tridges belonging to them, each containing twenty ounces of powder (in flannel bags), to complete an armament hastily prepared at a crisis in public affairs when prices were of little consequence in com- parison with energetic action and efficient service. But it affords me pleasure to inform you, after a careful examination into all the facts of this case, that even under these circumstances no unreason- able charges were made, and that the same articles could not at this time be purchased at any greater deviation in cost than what usually results from variations of supply and demand.
I have seen a written order issued in August last by an officer of the Ordnance Department, U. S. A., for two guns of exactly the same construction, but with smooth bores, supplied with harness, caissons, and implements, for which the price proposed was $1,500 each, which, with cost of rifling at $100 each, would place these guns at $1,600. If I mistake not, the difference in the market value of arms between April and August was at least as great as is here . shown.
In view of all the facts here cited, it is my deliberate judgment that the failure or refusal of the agent of the Committee to purchase this armament at the prices paid, and with the object in view, would have been an inexcusable neglect of duty on his part deserving severe censure.
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So much of the main question involved in the further examina- tion of the particular items of this bill, namely, the urgency of the case in its bearing upon values has been disposed of in the remarks under the first head, that I shall only notice a few of the minor items.
II. 1-" Holster pistols," at $4.50, were a heavy serviceable article, and are charged at the regular price in the market.
2-" Boarding pikes," at $3.50, are said in the comments on the bill to be worth only $1 each. These were not boarding pikes in the naval sense applied to that arm, but heavy stecl-headed axes mounted as pikes, and were reasonable in price.
3-" Buck and ball cartridges," charged at $17 per M, are stated to be worth only $12.80.
This latter sum is well known to be the exact cost of manufac- turing this article by the Government. It might, perhaps, be a use- ful inquiry to ascertain if or not the Government had ammunition of this kind on hand and ready for delivery at the city of New York on the 29th of April last, and if yes, then whether the Quaker City should have been detained until an order could be received from the proper department at Washington (without the aid of mail or telegraphic communication), or whether the extra sum of $42 (on the whole quantity) should be paid to complete the armament. It also results from the criticism on this and other items that dealers in munitions of war are expected to sell their commodities at all times at the exact cost of their manufacture. I fear this rule will not hold good in regard even to purchases regularly made by the Navy Department.
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