| Office of Chief Commissary for Mississippi |
| Meridian Nov 5, 1863 |
| |
| Mr M B Pritchard |
| Genl Supt of |
| Ala & Miss R R R |
| Meridian |
| |
| Dear Sir, |
| Your letter of yesterday has
just been handed to me. You say that you are |
| "Not aware that it makes any
difference to the government where the road bought the Sugar, how many
times it had been bought or sold, or at what price, or of whom the
company bought it." |
| The facts in the case justify
the very opposite conclusion -- the speculator has certainly been aided
to the prejudice of the Government. During my interview with you in this
office I asked you when you purchased this Sugar. You replied about ten
days since, of Mr Guider, at Demopolis or Selma, that you had never seen
the samples of it, that you had never been presented with a bill of
purchase, that you had never paid for it. I now desire to know whether
you consider this Sugar the property of the Co. & whether in case of
payment by the Government under the Impressment act, the money is to go
to your Company only? Or am I to consider Mr Grider the owner, unless
you can procure the release of the Sugar, or is he in any manner
interested in the result of its seizure? I have never yet been able to
obtain this information. Your letter now before me acknowledges the
receipt of a communication from Capt Schaaff. "Offering certain prices
for a lot of 26 Hhds Sugar" -- which you presume refer to the Sugar I
seized -- and you state that "The Company has no Sugar for sale and will
not agree to these or any other prices." The communication referred to
could not be regarded as an ordinary offer to purchase, it was
evidently, and beyond misconstruction, a notice pursuant to the
requirements of the law governing impressments. This notice is the
second that has been served upon your company -- it was done by my order
for the purpose of revealing the true owner of the property -- having
failed in my object I now ask the foregoing questions, and shall feel
obliged by your early reply to them. |
| Very Respectfully Yours |
| W. H. Dameron |
| Maj & Chf Com of Miss |
|