1st Session. No. 7. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. DECEMBER 22, 1851. Mr. JONES Submitted the following REPORT: [To accompany bill S.【82.] The Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the petition of Elizabeth Arnold, beg leave to report: That the petitioner is the only child of the late Jonathan Pitcher, of Pawtuxet, in the State of Rhode Island, who was appointed by the Congress of the Revolution a lieutenant in the navy, on the 22d day of December, 1775, and who rendered highly important services to the country during the revolutionary war. The petitioner is now eighty-three years old, and in view of the facts before the committee, they have deemed it proper to report a bill for her relief. Hamilton, Print. 1st Session. No. 8. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. DECEMBER 23, 1851. ́ MR. DAWSON made the following REPORT: [To accompany bill S. No. 83.1 The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the petition of Mrs. Margaret Hetzel, widow and administratrix of A. R. Hetzel, late assistant quartermaster in the army of the United States, report: That it appears that her husband died on the 20th day of July, 1847, at Louisville, in the State of Kentucky, in attempting to reach home after a most laborious service in the city of Vera Cruz, during the siege by the troops of the United States, leaving the memorialist, his widow, and three children. That the deceased had served in the quartermaster's department more than twelve years previous to his death, and had disbursed large sums of money for the Government; that his accounts have all been settled at the treasury. That in the account rendered by the deceased, for a part of the third quarter of the year 1838, the following item, charged by him to the United States, was disallowed at the treasury, viz: "Per centage on disbursements, on account of the appropriation for preventing and suppressing Indian hostilities, from the 4th day of July, 1836, to the 30th September, 1838, $519,549.78, at 21 per cent. $12,988 74." It will be noticed that that duty was entirely disconnected with his regular quartermaster's account, which was covered by his official bond; but during this very period his official disbursements on account of the army amounted to several hundred thousand dollars, which was duly closed at the Treasury Department. Upon the account presented by the deceased, in which the foregoing item is found, is the following memorandum under his own hand, in explanation of the charge. "The amount charged as per centage is not retained, but the undersigned cannot but consider it as a just and equitable claim against the Government in consequence of the unusual and extraordinary responsibilities he assumed while on duty as principal quartermaster in the Cherokee nation. The funds placed in his hands, amounting to nearly $700,000, owing to the system of accountability he established, were disbursed in such Hamilton, print. a manner that government lost nothing by the defalcation of agents, whom it became necessary to employ from time to time to assist in furnishing supplies, procuring transportation, &c., at the various posts in the Cherokee nation. His duties were arduous in the extreme, as the several commanding officers, under whose orders he was acting, can testify; and as the money expended, on which he claimed a per centum, was out of an appropriation distinct from the regular army appropriation, he considers it, to say the least, equitable, and that it ought to be allowed." To show the faithfulness and strict honor and honesty which marked the character of this officer, and the rectitude of his transactions, the committee have extracted from the same account the following items: "Premium on Tennessee funds, three hundred and thirty-seven dollars." This item is explained thus: "Drafts on the quartermaster-general commanded a premium in Tennessee currency varying from five to ten per centum. The funds thus obtained were paid out, as far as practicable, as they were received-the premium received on the drafts being paid to claimants. In liquidating small accounts the premium was not calculated, which explains the above entry." By the act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1839, it seems that claims of this character, after the passage of said act, were to be disallowed, and it was, no doubt, intended to cut off all claims not founded in justice; but your committee are of the opinion that that act should not to applied in opposition to a claim in itself reasonable and just, and which is not embraced within its provisions, but was existing and pending for adjustment before the passage of that law; therefore they recommend that the claim of Mrs. Margaret Hetzel, widow and administratrix of A. R. Hetzel, late assistant quartermaster in the army of the United States, be allowed, and that the certificates of Major-General Winfield Scott and Major-General John G. Wool, marked A and B, showing the justice of this claim, be annexed and considered a part of this report, and be printed with it. A. This is to certify: From 1836 until the actual removal of the Cherokees west in 1838, Captain A. R. Hetzel was the principal quartermaster of the army on duty in that Indian country, embracing parts of North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. To effect the removal of the Indians, a large volunteer force was assembled and made to overspread the whole Cherokee nation, by being divided into many detachments, at separate posts. The agents of the quartermaster's department at these several posts were employed in the disbursement of funds, placed by the Government in the hands of Captain Hetzel. He was obliged to appoint these agents from the want of Government agents, and to instruct them in their duties, as well as become responsible for their acts to an enormous amount, and thus assumed unusual and extraordinary responsibilities. Having myself been employed as the commander of the troops in the Cherokee country at the time that the removal of the Indians was effected, viz: from early in May to the middle of November, in 1838, I take |