Question. Are you interested in any ice contracts with the government now? Answer. I have no contracts for ice with the government now.

Question. Are you interested in any contracts that other people have? Answer. Mr. Hull asked me to furnish him some ice to be sent to Annapolis. He wanted to make a bid; and I agreed to furnish him ice at so much per ton. Question. When you were delivering ice in Washington, did you deliver it at any other places, or to any other parties than the hospitals?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. To whom?

Answer. To several parties; I sent some to Mr. Smith; some to Dr. Abbott's place; some to the officers in the War Department; and, I believe, I sent some to parties connected with Riggs & Co., bankers; only a few tons altogether. Question. What ice was it you sent to Riggs & Co. ?

Answer. I made a request that I might be allowed to have 25 tons of ice, which should be deducted from the bill of lading, that I might have it to use as I wished, and the request was granted by the department, and I sent it around to those parties.

Question. What was this ice sent for-as a matter of business, or as a present?

Answer. I never charged them anything for the ice; there was no understanding about its being a present or anything of the kind. I do not know whether I sent any to the Surgeon General or not. I know the parties in the medical department all insisted that they should pay for the ice. I think I asked to have the control of 25 tons; I am not positive about the amount.

Question. That is, you were to take 25 tons, and have it deducted from your bill?

Answer. Yes, sir; and for which the government never paid me.

Question. You have no knowledge of the amount of ice actually delivered at any of the points to which you shipped it?

Answer. No, sir; because I never heard of any of it being weighed after delivery. It was a matter they could do just as they chose about. I should not have objected to having the ice weighed at all. I know what I sent.

Question. Do you know what would be a fair percentage for wastage? Answer. There is a great deal of difference about that. I have sent ice down to Matanzas, and when it got there and was unloaded, even the sap of the ice was not melted off. Then again, I have sent ice which wasted very much. It depends a great deal upon the temperature of the water, the heat of the sun, and the time of the year; in summer time it wastes the most, of course. wasted more last summer than I ever knew it before.

It

Question. How much per cent. do you think it wasted last year in shipping it to Washington?

Answer. I do not know what it wasted. We protected it pretty well by putting lumber and hay on as a deck load. I should think it came very well; it looked pretty well when it was opened. I got some of the persons here to inspect some vessels, for I wanted them to be satisfied that the ice they were getting was good. I suppose it was all good. I agreed to furnish them first quality ice, and I did send them last year the best ice in the United States. I do not believe there was ever any better ice cut than I sent.

Question. If I have understood you correctly, you have stated that the government can supply itself with ice more economically by purchasing it from the dealers in the neighborhood, if they got it at reasonable rates, than by shipping it and storing it for themselves?

Answer. For this reason, yes, sir; that the parties the government have to take care of the ice know so little about it that the wastage amounts to a great deal more than the difference in price; and my opinion now is, that if the gov

ernment had taken their ice from Mr. Godey, at $13 a ton, they would have got it a little cheaper than it turned out as they got it from me. But, as a general thing, I think, if they had gone out into the market and bought it, instead of from Mr. Godey or me, it would have cost them more, for ice went up very high last season. I sold it at my ice-house for the same price that I delivered it here. I think, at the same time, the government can do better to have their ice supplied from the dealers, in the large places where there are dealers. Where there are no regular dealers, I think the government should buy their own ice at so much a ton on board the vessel, load it for themselves, and attend to it for themselves. I offered to supply the government this year at so much a ton, put on board vessels, paying a government weigher five cents per ton for weighing it; I would do that for $1 75 per ton, and I would then have made more money than by any other contract.

Question. At what place did you propose to load it in that way?
Answer. At Richmond, Maine.

SIR: Above you have the class, name, and destination of the vessels, with the registered tonnage of those had on charter-party. Those not having registered tonnage marked were taken on rates, or so much per ton, for amount actually put on board, voyage to Washington being too short to take vessels by the month, and there being no return freights from Washington. The ship May Flower

was sent out to a market, but the government wanted it, in fact took it, although ice was bringing fifty dollars per ton in New Orleans at that time. The ship registers about 1,000 tons, but I only took the hold for ten thousand dollars out to New Orleans; but the owner, James Hagar, swore upon a suit that she carried 1,500 tons, and was under-registered, as is the case with most vessels. The ice for New Orleans was loaded mostly in New York by the Knickerbocker Ice Company; the Scotland and Lisbon in Boston by D. Draper & Sons. The balance was loaded on the Kennebec river in Maine, and from ice I bought by the house-full, and also put up myself, I paying for what I bought by the bill of lading; the ice put in being weighed or measured by a regularly appointed weigher. The government sent no one to inspect the loading that I know of; but I took the medical director, Dr. R. O. Abbott, to see some cargoes examined and opened, with which he was satisfied. The ice was of the very first quality. I do not think it the best plan for the government to buy ice delivered in icehouses, but in large places to buy ice delivered at the hospitals at so much per hundred weight; and for all other points I should advise to buy the ice put on board the vessel where they can get it the best and cheapest, furnish their own vessels, or have them taken up for them; let the ice be inspected and weighed by a weigher sworn before the United States district court, and the save all that the contractors make.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. B. F. WADE.

government will

J. C. TIFFANY

ROSECRANS'S CAMPAIGNS.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, February 6, 1865. On motion of Mr. GARFIELD.

Resolved, That the Committee on the Conduct of the War be directed to make a full investigation and report upon the military campaigns of Major General W. S. Rosecrans, from the beginning of his service in Western Virginia to the conclusion of his recent campaign in Missouri.

Attest:

EDWARD MCPHERSON, Clerk.

WASHINGTON, April 22, 1865.

Major General W. S. ROSECRANS sworn and examined.

By the chairman :

Question. What is your present rank and position in the army, and what positions have you held in the army since the commencement of the rebellion?

Answer. My first military service in this war was as volunteer engineer and acting aide-de-camp to General McClellan, during which I laid out camp Dennison and visited Philadelphia to examine Justus's arm factory, and Washington to urge that prompt provision be made for paying and clothing our Ohio troops, many of the officers and men, from leaving home so promptly, being in great destitution.

On my return from Washington I found awaiting me a commission as chief engineer of the State of Ohio, under a special law then recently passed authorizing such an officer, with the rank, pay and emoluments of a United States colonel of engineers.

I accepted, but explained to Governor Dennison that this office would keep me from active service at a time when my military training and information would be of great service to our noble young men who were flying to arms and would be subjected to numberless hardships and hazards arising solely from ignorance and inexperience in the military service.

A few days after he sent me a commission as colonel of the 23d Ohio volunteer infantry, which I accepted, and repairing to Columbus, reported for duty as commandant of the encampment of three years' volunteers, which I named Camp Chase, and commanded until I was surprised by the receipt of an appointment, dated May 16, 1861, as brigadier general in the regular army; and almost immediately thereafter of an order from General McClellan to report to him at Cincinnati for further orders.

On my arrival in Cincinnati I found I was to accompany him into Western Virginia, into which, after the defeat and dispersion of the rebels under Porterfield, at Philippi, General Robert S. Garnett had entered for the purpose of teaching the loyal Union men proper deference to the will of their liege masters,. the slaveholders, east of the Blue Ridge.

I served in this grade long after colonels had been promoted to major generals for camp service; and finally, the day after the battle of Iuka received an appointment of major general of volunteers, to rank from the 16th day of September, 1862, the date of which was subsequently changed to March 21, 1862, probably to avoid the inconvenience in placing me in command of Buell's army, in which were major generals of senior rank.

In this grade I have since served.

Question. You have read the resolution of the House of Representatives, directing inquiry in relation to your campaigns. Will you give the committee a statement embracing all that you may deem essential to a full understanding of the subject-matter contained in the resolution?

Answer. In reply to this interrogatory, I shall endeavor to narrate, from memory, the principal events of my campaigns, referring as far as possible to my official reports and correspondence with the general-in-chief and War Department for details, and omitting what is purely personal, or belongs to private memoirs, so that my narrative, with those official documents, will give the narrative of those military movements with which I have been directly connected. For clearness and convenience I will refer to my letter of April 5 to your chairman, for the names of persons whose testimony would be likely to be valuable in ascertaining the truth, and will quote or indicate what papers ought to be before the committee for consideration and made a part of my testimony. I now proceed to my campaigns.

Of the campaign in Western Virginia in 1861, I have to state that as soon as Garnett entered West Virginia he moved, with his main column, to Laurel Hill, on the Beverly and Webster road, 17 miles north of Beverly; while General Pegram, with a considerable column-seizing the pass over Rich mountain, on the Beverly and Ripley turnpike-covered Garnett's communications, with his base at Staunton.

General McClellan, having ordered General Morris with all his available force to confront Garnett, moved from Camp Dennison to Parkersburg 22d June, 1861, where he assembled three small brigades and two batteries. I was ordered to accompany him, and at Parkersburg placed in command of a provisional brigade, consisting of the 8th and 10th Indiana and the 17th and 19th Ohio volunteer infantry, three months' service. Moving McCook's and Schleick's brigades to Grafton, he left me in command at Parkersburg, whence, under his orders, I moved to Clarksburg on the 28th, and immediately advanced to Duncan's farm, 15 miles distant on the road to Buckhannon, where I encamped and reported for orders.

General McClellan having determined that General Morris should watch the motions of Garnett, while he, with the remainder of his available force, should move by the way of Buckhannon and Rich mountain to Beverly, permitted me to occupy Buckhannon, which I did by a night march; and on my arrival found, contrary to our information and belief, that the citizens were mainly loyal, and that the place had never been in the hands of the enemy for more than a few hours.

As soon as General McClellan's troops had concentrated at this point and his supplies came up, he moved, reaching Roaring creek, at the foot of the western slope of Rich mountain, about 3 o'clock p. m. of the second day, where the command went into camp in a drenching rain. Reconnoitring the enemy, he was found posted in a strong natural position on the turnpike near the foot of the mountain-his right covered by an almost impenetrable laurel thicket-his left resting high up on the spur of the mountain, and his front defended by a log breast-work, in front of which was an abatis of fallen timber. As the second in rank, the command of the camp devolved on me, and my first duty was to know the locality. I soon learned that a young man named Hart, whose ther kept a tavern in the gap at the top of Rich mountain, was loyal, and had