CHAPTER XVI.

QUARTERMASTER'S DEPARTMENT-COMMISSARY DEPARTMENT— SETTLEMENT OF THE TERRITORY.

The quartermaster's department of the army.-The efficiency of its officers, and their importance in the discharge of duties in the field.-The concurrence given by General Jesup in carrying out retrenchment in Florida.-Officers on duty there.-The manner in which duty was discharged.-Report of retrenchment made by Lieutenant-Colonel T. F. Hunt, deputy quartermaster-general of the army of Florida. The subsistence department.-The importance and good effect of the log-hut in defeating the Indians, and deterring them from aggressions.-Exertions made to induce settlers to occupy the interior of the country. The efforts for a time successful.-The act of congress of February 1st, 1-36, for the relief of distressed inhabitants.-Instructions from the president of the United States under its provisions.-Major D. S. Wilcox, 5th infantry, intrusted with the duty of settlements and issuing of rations. His instructions from the commander of the army.-Death of Major Wilcox.-Lieutenant Patrick, 20 infantry, ordered to assume the duty.-His instructions in reference to the discontinuance of government supplies.-The total failure of establishing permanent set'lements.-The conduct of those who professed to occupy the country and draw rations.-Lieutenant Patrick's final report of settlements, the number of persons, ages, &c.-Steps taken to cause citizens drawing rations to reoccupy their plantations.-Success.-Abuse of the act of congress in issuing supplies.

THE efficiency and experience of the officers belonging to the quartermaster's department of the army, on duty in Florida, aided materially in perfecting the system of retrenchment begun and carried out in the midst of active operations. Closing the war cut off the drain upon the national treasury, furrowing deep from year to year, at the rate of twelve hundred thousand dollars per annum. Large amounts of money and public property were intrusted to the officers of this department, and scattered throughout the territory, in depot and in the field, for which they were responsible, being charged with both its safe custody and its judicious application to the wants of the service. Their varied and complicated duties require unceasing activity and attention, and an intimate acquaintance with all branches of business, civil and military. The rigid accountability enjoined by the government in the execution of vouchers and returns, imposes a laborious task, requiring care and method, more resembling the order and regularity of a bureau, than a place where duties are to be performed with brevity and dispatch. It is necessary that an officer, in the discharge of these functions, should combine an intimate knowledge of the practical duties of the soldier, in and out of the field. Without it, commands are embarrassed at every turn, as their mobility and efficiency materially depend upon the promptness and judgment exercised by the assistant-quartermaster in the execution of his orders. The transportation of supplies of all kinds is dependent upon his ex perience and ability.

A commander unable to superintend the details of service, relies upon the staff-officer for a faithful co-operation and aid, and those of the quartermaster's department being more numerous

and complicated than any other, involving pecuniary responsibility, renders it imperative that the officers of this corps should possess the highest qualities both of the soldier and the citizen. He has at stake the honor of his country in the efficiency of the soldier, as well as being a trusty sentinel over the coffers of the

nation.

Major-General T. S. Jesup, quartermaster-general of the United States army, eminently qualified by his experience in and out of the field, gave a cordial support to the measures put in execution to perfect retrenchment in Florida.

Twenty-five officers of his corps, from the rank of colonel down, have performed a tour of duty in the territory, participating in the toils of the service, and guarding, at the same time, the public interest with zealous care, and in a manner honoring to themselves and to their profession.

Colonel T. Cross, assistant quartermaster-general, when on duty there in 1839, saw the evil of large expenditures of money, and by vigorous measures endeavored to arrest plans then in contemplation to augment demands upon the government, which would not have added to the efficiency of troops, or have contributed to terminate the contest. Lieutenant-Colonel H. Whiting, deputy quartermaster-general, in relieving Colonel Cross, met the current sweeping throughout the country with vigor, firmness, and justice, bearing his full share of the odium heaped upon the colonel commanding the army of Florida, for taking measures calculated to deprive many of lucrative employ

ment.

From the 1st of June, 1841, retrenchment was commenced, and carried vigorously and steadily onward from month to month, in the midst of active operations, without embarrassing or retarding the vigilance of troops. On the 12th of March, 1842, Lieutenant-Colonel T. F. Hunt, deputy quartermaster-general, relieved Lieutenant-Colonel Whiting, his tour having expired, and continued the reduction, which, from the manifest conclusion of hostilities, was increased from day to day.

The regiments on service in Florida were fast approaching their regular establishments, requiring no more than when in garrison in other parts of the country. Expenses heretofore required were cut off, confining the labor of mechanics and clerks to the regular soldier, duties which had before been executed by hired citizens. The ability and precision of Lieutenant-Colonel Hunt, united to a scrupulous and unwearied zeal in the performance of his duties, gave to the means in force rapid execution and effect, breaking up, by kind and judicious steps, the combination by which the livelihood of deserving men and their families were involved. On the 23d of June, 1842, he submitted his re

port of retrenchments in the quartermaster's department, connected with the army of Florida. It embraced a period of twelve months, commencing on the first day of May, 1841, to the 30th. day of April, 1842. This exhibits a saving to the government, within that period, of $174,923. Add to this further reductions between the 1st of May and the 14th of August, 1842, when the announcement of peace was made, of $9000 per month, gives a total of $206,423, comprising fourteen months and a half, which, upon an average, made the reductions about $14,500 per month. No further estimates were made after the first day of May, to prosecute the war. The proceeds of property sold, together with the supplies at the several depots, was sufficient to defray the expenses of the army. The withdrawal of the 1st and 6th infantry, 3d artillery, and five companies of the 2d dragoons, between the 1st of August, 1841, and the 30th of March, 1842, created a saving of $90,665. This was effected by dispensing with the necessary means of transportation for supplies of all kinds, causing the discharge of stable-keepers, teamsters, harnessmakers, blacksmiths, &c., and the sale of horses, mules, wagons, &c., and the discontinuance in service of hired steamboats and sail-vessels. The proceeds from the sale of animals was $17,897, reducing the number to 820. The amount received for damaged public property was $3056 60. The discharge of clerks, mechanics, teamsters, &c., lessened expenditures under this head, $15,333. Two companies of Georgia militia, ordered out by the governor of Georgia, and by the authority of the general government mustered into service for three months, were at once discharged. This force would have cost $17,971, a moderate estimate for three months' service, independent of the claims, which accumulate and increase with wonderful rapidity in the lapse of time.

The subsistence department, under the efficient and economical administration of its affairs by Captain J. B. Grayson, commissary of subsistence, subsequently by Brevet Major R. B. Lee, of the same rank (both officers having been distinguished in the line of the army at the commencement of the war), was undergoing in its various details and expenditures, though more limited, a reformation and reduction.

The return of settlers to their homes in Florida, and the establishment of citizens from adjoining states, at exposed points throughout the country, it was believed would promote economy as well as render an essential aid in intimidating and subduing the enemy. Could this have been effectually accomplished, it would have advanced the interest of the territory and added to the numbers and respectability of its population. The Indian fears the log-cabin. It carries with it, most generally, a sturdy

heart, resolution, and industry, and defiance to the native and punishment to his intrusions, from its hardy inmates. Always in the advance of civilization, from the first settlement of Plymouth, west to the Rocky Mountains, the log-cabin, with its tenants armed with the rifle and the Bible, has ever been the bulwark of the frontier, one which the savage seldom dared to assail, and in the establishment of which he saw and felt his destiny. In Florida it was thought primitive settlements, if encouraged, might deter the Indians from aggressions, and induce them to sue for peace, and at the same time relieve the army from the duties of detached camps and distant posts. Colonel Worth, immediately on assuming command, began the work, aided by officers and citizens competent in all respects. The system commenced encouragingly, but the spiritless execution, after the lapse of a few months, discouraged all hopes of effecting any thing other than the consumption of government supplies.

Congress, on the 1st of February, 1836, passed the following

law:

"Be it resolved by the senate and house of representatives of the United States of America in congress assembled: That the president of the United States be authorized to cause rations to be delivered from the public stores to the unfortunate sufferers who are unable to provide for themselves, and who have been driven from their homes by Indian depredations in Florida, until they can be re-established in their possession, or so long as the president may consider it necessary."

Its provisions had been liberally complied with up to the present time, though not so generously as now authorized by the president of the United States, who, through the secretary of war, informed the colonel commanding, that the relief "contemplated under the act of February 1st, might properly embrace the case of those in a necessitous condition, who may penetrate for settlement such portions of Florida as have been infested and desolated by the enemy, and thus deprived of the supplies essential for the support of settlers during the necessary preparations for raising the means of subsistence at their selected homes."

Major D. S. Wilcox, 5th infantry, was ordered, on the 24th of June, 1841, to discharge the duties in reference to settlers, and to adopt at once strenuous efforts to induce settlements. He was directed to encourage those who had fled from their plantations, to return, giving them subsistence and protection. The same was offered to citizens from adjoining states. To those who accepted the terms, rations were issued on the day of starting for any designated point, and delivered thereafter monthly, at the

most convenient place, by the assistance of steamboats and wagons.

Arms and ammunition were issued to every male in the settlement, white and black. The troops erected block-houses within the village, as a place of rendezvous and defence if assailed by the Indians. The full army ration was allowed each white person, and half rations to each slave. This was promised until the next crop season, when it was expected, that by ordinary prudence and industry, enough would be raised for subsistence the ensuing year. Major Wilcox died at St. Augustine on the 5th of January, 1842. He was a loss to the service, possessing merit and untiring devotion to his duty. During the seven months he was in discharge of the duties intrusted to him, he had perfected a system of operations well calculated to give citizens a cordial support in seeking and maintaining a new home. Lieutenant Patrick, 2d infantry, succeeded to these duties, in the discharge of which he carried vigilance and good judgment.

He was enjoined to impress upon settlers, that rations would not be issued after the next crop season, probably the last of August or September. Every exertion was made to stimulate those who had accepted these proposals to cultivation, and the erection of buildings for comfort and convenience. The months of April and May passed with little or no preparations for planting, and without the necessary tenements for the protection of families or crops. Again they were reminded, that the months of August and September were rapidly approaching; still the same apathy was evinced, and the only reward for the liberality of the government and the labors of its agents, was slothfulness and the want of exertion. A few, however, cultivated with industry, determined to make a new home in a climate where the seasons afforded the choicest blessings, combined with a delightful temperature the year round, and with a soil spontaneously sustaining even the ignorant and idle.

On the 6th of June Lieutenant Patrick was directed, "with the least practicable delay, to cause rations to be issued to settlers, and others drawing rations as distressed inhabitants, to the 31st of August; and to give notice that this issue was the last to be made from the public stores, unless there should be further orders in reference to the subject from the government."

Exception was made to certain widows, and orphan children, and maimed persons, made so by the war. This period was near at hand, and the orders being imperative, many saw and began to feel the effects of idleness and procrastination. The supplies were accordingly issued, and those who had been enjoying the bounty of the government for years past, under the pretext of settling the country, took their portion, and immediately left for