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Pollard Jany 21, 1863
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| 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.) |
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| To |
| Col. Sam Tate |
| Military Superintendent |
| Demopolis |
| Ala. |
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| 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 |