The Treasury Department has not passed upon a single claim for cotton captured at Savannah, nor has it paid out a dollar on such claims, except upon judgments of the Court of Claims, under the act of March 12th, 1863. The following is a statement of the proceeds of said cotton and the claims therefor:And now it will be interesting, in view of the severe though unjust strictures in which General Sherman indulges upon Mr. Stanton, to see what kind of orders Sherman gave looking to the preservation of the marks upon this cotton, when it was passing from his possession into the hands of the Treasury Department. He had previously preserved the marks, but on transferring it, directed the receipt to be taken in gross. This is the order:‘If all pending claims are allowed there will remain two thousand eight hundred bales which are unclaimed, and a balance of $520,661 62 in the Treasury.’
No. bales sold at New York 39,358 No. bales allowed by Court of Claims 31,657 ——— 7,701 No. bales claimed in cases pending in Court of Claims 4,901 ——— 2,800 Net proceeds paid into Treasury $7,259,499 78 Amount allowed by the Court of Claims 5,873,159 90 —————— $1,386,339 88 Proceeds claimed in pending cases, 865,678 26 —————— $520,661 62
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the marks collected by the officers detailed for the duty by Mr. Stanton's order, and had printed the whole of it, and furnished copies to the War Department, and the completed history of the matter was at Sherman's elbow in the very building where he wrote.
The statement of the Memoirs that the Treasury Department has allowed claims for more than the total amount of cotton captured, and that claims have been proved up amounting to three times the whole capture, is without the least foundation.
The following is a statement prepared at the Treasury Department in regard to this Savannah cotton:
Cincinnati: Wilstach, Baldwin & Co. 1875.
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