1st Session. No. 193. IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. SEPTEMBER 10, 1850. Mr. ATCHISON made the following REPORT: The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the memorial of the Central Bank of Georgia, as assignee of Henry W. Jernigan, H. W. Jernigan & Co., of Jernigan, Gachet, & Co., and Hill, Jernigan, & Co., claiming indemnity for spoliations of the Creek Indians, at Roanoke, on the 15th of May, 1836, report: That from the reports of commissioners of the United States appointed to investigate the losses of the citizens of Georgia, and Alabama from the depredations of the Creek Indians, made in the year 1837, (and now on file in the office of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,) it appears that Henry W. Jernigan & Co. sustained losses by the depredations of the Creek Indians, on the 15th of May, 1836, at their ware and storehouses, at Roanoke, in the county of Stewart, State of Georgia, as charged and proved by them, amounting to the sum of $18,940, and by the award of the commissioners to the sum of $14,165; that Jernigan, Gachet, & Co., at the same time and place, and from the same causes, lost, as by them charged and proved, and by the award of the commissioners, the sum of $1,500; that Hill, Jernigan, & Co., at the same time and place, and from like causes, lost, as charged by them and proved, and by the commissioners awarded, the sum of $500; that Henry W. Jernigan, at the same time and place, and from like causes, lost, as by him charged and proved, and by the commissioners awarded, the sum of $102: making the amount of losses, as by the foregoing firms and persons, on the whole, the sum of $21,042. It further appears, from the statements of Major John H. Howard, the commanding officer of a battalion of mounted volunteers then on service for the protection of the frontiers of Georgia from the hostilities and incursions of the Indians, that Captain James U. Horne, commanding a company of volunteers, was by him ordered to occupy Roanoke with his command; that Captain Horne, in obedience thereto, repaired to that_place, and took possession of the warehouse and storehouse of H. W. Jernigan & Co. and used them as a depository for the arms, ammunition, and provisions of his company, and quartered his men around the same; that he continued in possession until he was attacked by a body of Creek Indians, routed by them, and driven from the same, and the ware and storehouses, with their contents-the goods, wares, and merchandise of the before-mentioned persons-were burnt and destroyed. This statement is corroborated by Captain Horne, and also by Marmaduke Gresham, the quartermaster for Captain Horne's company, who says that, as quartermaster, he "asked, demanded, and received the keys to, and possession of, the large warehouse and grocery store of Messrs. H. W. Jernigan & Co., and continued to occupy said house as a quartermaster's department until the morning of the 15th May, 1836, when the building and contents were consumed by fire, the act of the hostile Creek Indians. These statements are fully corroborated and confirmed by the Hon. Robert Toombs, one of the representatives in Congress from the State of Georgia. It is made further to appear to this committee that the legislature of Georgia, for the purpose of affording temporary relief to these persons, through Henry W. Jernigan, (who was a member of each of these mer cantile firms, and was authorized to control the respective claims against the government of the United States for indemnity,) authorized the Central Bank of Georgia, a banking institution belonging exclusively to the State, to advance, by way of discount, the amount of their claims as by them charged, upon Jernigan's giving his note for the same, endorsed. (with depositing and assigning the claims as collateral security,) which was then done. And subsequently-in the year 1845-the legislature directed the delivery to Jernigan of the note thus given, (amounting to the sum of $21,242,) and to take in payment and discharge of the same the assignment to the bank of these several claims, which was done by the written assignment of Jernigan on the 16th December, 1845, and subse quently assented to and acquiesced in by all of the members of the re spective firms. The foregoing contains a statement of the material fas of this case, as will more fully appear from the documentary evidence submitted by the memorialist. Whereupon the committee are of the opinion that the ware and storehouses of these claimants having been taken possession of and occupied by troops in the service of the United States for their purposes and use, and whilst thus held and occupied be ing taken and destroyed by the enemy, the owners of the private property so destroyed have a just claim for remuneration against the United States for the amount of their losses; and therefore the committee recommend that the Central Bank of Georgia, as the assignee of the above claimants, be allowed and paid the sum of $21,042, and that the same be inserted in the Indian appropriation bill. k: 1st Session. No. 194. be 263 IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. SEPTEMBER 12, 1850. Mr. BRIGHT made the following REPORT: [To accompany bill S. No. 333.] The Committee on Ronds and Canals, to whom were referred the memoril of Thomas Allen and others, a committee of a meting of delegates for several States held in St. Louis the 16th of October last, praying fr the location and construction of a national railroad and electric telegraph from the Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean; also, the memorial of Winsloo, Lanier, and Company, and four hundred and twentythree citizens of the United States, in favor of granting to P. P. F. Degrand and others a charter for a like object; also, various and numerous resolutions, memorials, and petitions, from State legislatures, the Chamber of Commerce of New York, large public meetings in sev eral different cities of the Union, and different commercial firms and private citizens, in favor of the plan of Mr. Asa Whitney, of New York, for the construction of such a road,-report: That, after duly sifting, weighing, and comparing the reasons for the different routes and the different plans, your committee have come to the conclusion that the plan submitted by Mr. Asa Whitney, of New York; is the one which ought to be adopted; and have accordingly prepared a bill, hereunto annexed, as a project of law recommended for the accomplishment of this design. Your committee have been aided in the examination of this subject by the very favorable and full reports of different committees of both houses of each Congress for the last five years, and of the legislatures of some eighteen States, decidedly and expressly recommending the adoption of this plan over all others; and the unanimity with which said resolutions were adopted in both branches of the different legislatures is, as your committee believe, without a parallel. Public meetings throughout the country, in our populous cities, have been equally decided and unanimous in expressing the same favor for this plan; and even since the two cohventions held last fall-the one at St. Louis and the other at Memphispublic meetings, numerously and most respectably attended, have been held at Cincinnati, at Louisville, at Indianapolis, at Dayton, at Columbus, and at Zanesville-at all of which resolutions were almost unanimously adopted in favor of this plan, and declaring it the only one capable of being carried out; and your committee believe, from the frequent expres |