NA, A&F 1/21/1863

Pollard Jany 21, 1863

 
Dear Sir,
   Yours of 3rd December with copy of Certificate with regard to Seizure of iron of Ala. & Fla. R. R. Co. (of Fla.) came to hand while I was absent in Tallahassee -- hence the delay in my reply.
   In your letter of July 12th 1862 you say in reference to this iron "I must in the name of the Government take possession of this lot of iron chairs & spikes &c."  The inference of course from this was that you seized this "private property" for public use.
   In your certificate however of Dec 3rd you say "the above list comprise a true and correct account of the iron, rails, chairs, forges, spikes & switches taken from the Ala. & Fla. R. R. Co. of Fla. then lying at Pollard Ala. by order of Genl Braxton Bragg -- Said Seizure was made for the benefit of the Ala. & Mississippi R. {Rivers} R. Rd Company and the NE & SW Ala. {North East & South West Alabama} Rail Road Co &c" without any intimation that it was for a public use. These companies so far as appears upon the face of your certificate being here private companies, for whose benefit. Surely there is no warrant either in the law, the Constitution or "Military Necessity" (which seems to be distinct from both) for seizing "private property." 
   I hope therefore you will see the propriety of altering and that your sense of justice will constrain you to alter your certificate in this respect, so that the fact may appear plain to the department or Congress -- whichever may be the tribunal to grant redress, that this property was property seizes and property applied. 
   In your certificate you refer to iron purchased of the Eufaula company for 70 Dollars per ton and of Cahaba Marion & Greensboro Co. at $80 per ton.
   To place the facts properly before the ??? it appears to me -- with all due deference -- you should have added -- these companies were in debt and pursued by their creditors. The money paid them must be at once applied to the cancellation of their obligations, as otherwise they would have been sold out by the sheriff.
   The case of the Ala. & Fla. R. R. Co. of Fla. was different --they had no pressing debt.
   The iron except for a short distance -- enough to break the connection with Pensacola -- was taken up in spite of the remonstrances of the Company against it -- the efficient protection of the country demanding that it should remain -- as it now demands through the commanding officers here the relaying of the iron to Gonzalis 15 miles from Pensacola.
   Seven miles of iron was left upon the Southern end of the road.
   At the time this iron was seized and before it was taken away the market price of Rail Road iron in Georgia was at the least one hundred & twenty dollars per ton. This fact I telegraphed to you from Atlanta and referred you to Col. Isaac Scott, Prest Macon & Western R. Road. I might also have referred you to Judge King Prest Geo Rail Road & Banking Co. Gov Joseph E. Brown and others of like unquestionable authority.
   This did not seem to me necessary. As agent of the Government, and from what I supposed must be your character from the position you had held, I could not imagine that you would knowingly, willingly be made the instrument of injustice. The price, you by implication sat upon this iron, you cannot but know, is not its market value in the currency of the country. Your certificate therefore must have been given without due reflection. I know therefore that in your own heart you will justify me in asking -- demanding -- that the wrong which may be done by such a certificate should be remedied as soon as practicable.
   Your attention has already been called by our Secretary G. W. Hutton to an omission in your account of forty three bars, delivered on the 8th day of September 1862. the receipt for that day calls for four hundred bars. You only acknowledge receiving three hundred and fifty seven bars. The receipt was given as by your or the Government agent and therefore I presume will not be questioned.
   Please therefore as an act of justice correct the omission in your statement of the above mentioned forty three bars.
   Please also state in another certificate the fact that this iron was seized for the use of the Government of the Confederate States and was used for the purpose of the Said Government.
   State also the value, according to the estimate placed upon like iron in contracts made by the Government with private companies for its manufacture. Information upon the subject you can without doubt obtain in Selma and Montgomery.
   It is surely enough for Pensacolans; that their city is in possession of the enemy and their sons have fallen in battle upon the fields -- not only of Florida but of Virginia Tennessee and Mississippi and wherever else duty called. I ask you to not be the instrument by which their destruction is to be completed in the "House of their friends."
Very Respt'y
O. M. Avery
Pres Ala. & Fla. R. R. Co. (of Fla.)
 
To
Col. Sam Tate
Military Superintendent
Demopolis
Ala.
 
Hon. Sec't'y of War
   Above please find copy of letter sent to Col. Sam'l Tate Military Superintendent of the Meridian & Selma Road.
   Our road was taken up (with the exception of a few miles -- simply to break the communication with Pensacola) without necessity, and greatly to the detriment of both public and private interests. 
   It was seized and carried off unnecessarily to a foreign road -- other iron having been repeatedly p?? out to the Government officers -- iron which was for sale. The certificate of Col. Tate -- unexplained would indicate the same reckless disregard of private and public interest which has characterized too many of the operations about the Floridas.
Very Respty
O. M. Avery
Prest

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