Part 159

The resolution recommended by the report was negatived, 54 to 31: and a resolution offered by Mr. GOLD, recommending a provision by law for these claims, after some objections from Mr. ALSTON, was agreed to, 39 to 36.

WEDNESDAY, January 8.

Battle of Tippecanoe.

Mr. MCKEE, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the Message of the President, transmitting two letters from Governor Harrison, reporting the particulars and issue of the expedition under his command against the hostile Indians on the Wabash River, and the memorials of the Legislature of the Indiana Territory, and the officers and soldiers who served in the said expedition, presented the twenty-fourth ultimo, made a report thereon; which was read and committed to a Committee of the Whole to-morrow. The report is as follows:

The committee to whom was referred the Message of the President of the United States, transmitting two letters from Governor Harrison, of the Indiana Territory, reporting the particulars and the issue of the expedition under his command against the hostile Indians on the Wabash, and to whom was also referred the memorial of the General Assembly of the Indiana Territory, and the memorial of the officers and soldiers of the militia of Knox county, in the Indiana Territory, who served in the late campaign under the command of Governor Harrison, report:

That they have had the several matters to them referred under their consideration, and have given to them that attention which their importance seems to merit.

It appears to the committee, that the troops under the command of Governor Harrison may very properly be termed raw troops: very few of the officers, and almost none of the men, had ever been in actual service; and a considerable portion of them had been only a few weeks withdrawn from the pursuits of civil life. The attack made on this quickly-assembled army by the hostile Indians on the Wabash, when viewed, either as it relates to the nature of the enemy, the time, or the violence with which the attack was made, cannot but be considered of such a character as would have severely tested the collected firmness of the most able and experienced troops. This attack, violent and unexpected as it seems to have been, was repelled by the troops under the command of Governor Harrison, with a gallantry and good conduct worthy of future imitation. The whole transaction, in the opinion of the committee, presents to the American people a new proof that the dauntless spirit of our ancestors, by whom the war of the Revolution was so ably and successfully maintained, has not been diminished by more than thirty years of almost uninterrupted peace, but that it has been handed down, unimpaired, to their posterity.

In estimating the claims of the army on the Government of the United States, it is worthy of remark, that the nature of the country, as well as of the enemy to be encountered, subjected the army to many extreme hardships, and equal dangers, where every thing was hazarded, and but little could be gained, except the regard of their country.

The volunteers and militia (to whose claims the memorials referred to the committee particularly relate) were in actual service but a short time, for which alone they are entitled to pay by law; the compensation, therefore, to which they are entitled, is not at all commensurate to the services rendered, and the dangers incurred. Besides, many of the officers and men who fell, or were wounded, in the battle of the 7th November, 1811, were purchasers of the public lands, for which they were indebted to the United States; which debt falls due in a short time, and the penalty of forfeiture will be incurred if the debt is not paid. It would be unjust to inflict a penalty so severe on the disconsolate widows and orphans of those officers and soldiers of the volunteers and militia, who, in common with their brother officers and soldiers of the regular troops, fell in their country's cause, in a manner so distinguished, that nothing was wanting but a great occasion, interesting to the feelings of the American people, to have crowned their names with unfading laurels.

As an evidence, therefore, of the regard due to the bravery and ability displayed by the troops under the command of Governor Harrison, in the battle of the 7th November, 1811, as well as to relieve the representatives of those who were killed in the action, from the pecuniary losses incurred in consequence thereof, the committee respectfully submit the following resolutions:

1. Resolved, That one month's pay ought to be allowed, in addition to the common allowance, to the officers, (according to the rank which they held,) the non-commissioned officers and privates of the regulars, volunteers, and militia, and to the legal representatives of those who were killed or have since died of their wounds, composing the army under the command of Gov. Harrison, in the late campaign on the Wabash.

2. Resolved, That five years' half-pay ought to be allowed to the legal representatives of the officers, (according to the rank which they held,) the non-commissioned officers, and privates, of the volunteers and militia who were killed in the battle of the 7th November, 1811, or who have since died of their wounds.

3. Resolved, That provision ought to be made by law to place on the pension list the officers, (according to the rank which they held,) the non-commissioned officers, and soldiers, of the volunteers and militia who served in the late campaign on the Wabash, under the command of Governor Harrison, and who have been wounded or disabled in the said campaign.

4. Resolved, That provision ought to be made by law to pay for the horses and other property of individuals lost in, or in consequence of, the said battle.

5. Resolved, That the further time of ---- years ought to be allowed to the officers and soldiers who were wounded, and to the legal representatives of those who were killed, in the said battle, to complete the payments due or which may fall due to the United States on any purchases of the public lands made by them before the said battle.

THURSDAY, January 9.

Ursuline Nuns at New Orleans.

The petition which the Speaker laid before the House yesterday, from the Ursuline nuns at New Orleans, was enclosed to him and recommended by Governor Claiborne. It prayed for an exchange of the military hospital for some lots which they hold in that city better calculated for a hospital. After the petition was read,

Mr. DAWSON observed that he had received a letter from Governor Claiborne relative to that petition, and in confirmation of the facts therein stated. This community of nuns is a most respectable and useful member of society, the whole of their temporal cares being directed to the education of female youth. They are that community which some years ago presented a most elegant address to the then President of the United States, and received from him an equally elegant answer.

I am well assured that the lots which they wish to exchange are more valuable, and better suited for the erection of a hospital than those on which the hospital now stands. I therefore move that the petition and accompanying papers be referred to a select committee, who will no doubt converse with the Secretary of War on the subject.

This was agreed to, and Mr. DAWSON, Mr. LOWNDES, and Mr. MACON, were appointed the committee.

FRIDAY, January 17.

Quartermaster's Department.

The bill from the Senate "for the establishment of a Quartermaster's Department" came up on its third reading.

Mr. ALSTON said, if the House would pay attention to the duty of the Purveyor of Public Supplies, and examine the powers given to the Quartermaster General in this bill, it would appear evident that there was no necessity for both offices, and it certainly was not the wish of the House to erect two great departments to perform the same duties. He could perceive no way in which one officer was to be a check upon the other. He liked the bill as it came from the Senate better than as amended, as he saw no necessity for retaining the office of Purveyor.

Mr. TALLMADGE observed, that the great object of this bill, and the only one which made it necessary, was to provide for a Quartermaster General's Department, instead of military agents, as employed at present. There never was such an officer in the staff department in the Revolutionary war. The late Secretary of War, as well as the present, were in favor of this change. The military agents, without much responsibility, had nearly controlled the whole War Department. An attempt was made two years ago to effect this change, but it then failed. The office of Purveyor of Public Supplies was instituted long before that of Military Agent. The duties of the Quartermaster General and Purveyor are very different. The former is a highly respectable and confidential officer; he is next in consequence to the Commander-in-chief, with whom he has frequent communication. Every movement of the Army is first communicated to him. He ought to be a military character. It is his duty to receive and deliver out the necessary supplies for the Army, and to attend to its movements. The duties of the Purveyor is to purchase, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, arms, clothing, hospital stores, and every other article necessary for the Army. So that there is not the least similarity between the two officers; one being the purchasing, the other the distributing officer. If the office of Purveyor were to be done away, the Quartermaster General would have to employ a deputy or agent to make these purchases, which would be putting too much in the power of a subordinate officer, and would do away that check which will exist if the Purveyor be continued, as the purchaser and distributor of the supplies would be in the same person. The Purveyor is also the purchaser of goods for the Indian department.

Mr. WILLIAMS rose to prevent any person from falling into the mistake which the gentleman from North Carolina appeared to have done, by making remarks applicable to the printed bill (a part of which had been struck out and other parts amended) instead of the bill read from the Chair. He deemed it unnecessary to add any thing in reply to what had been so well said by the gentleman from Connecticut.

Mr. ALSTON said he had attended to the bill as read, and not to the printed bill; and insisted that, from the provisions of the bill, the Secretary of War might direct the Purveyor and Quartermaster to purchase the same articles. If the bill was what the gentleman from Connecticut had stated it to be, he should not have objected to it; but it was not.