5 Ct. Cl. 452 | Ct. Cl. | 1869
delivered the opinion of the court:
The petitioner was a captain and assistant quartermaster in the United States volunteers, and he prays the judgment of the court that he should be allowed a credit of five thousand dollars in settling his accounts for that sum, lost by him, without fault or neglect on his part, while in the line of his duty.
The facts proved are, that in the month of November, 1864, the petitioner was acting as chief quartermaster of the Twentieth Corps, then apart of General Sherman’s army at Atlanta; that the army was moving from that city on its march to the sea, and the petitioner, in the performance of his duty, required, money to pay off men and make purchases for and on the march: he had under his command at the time a great many hundred wagons and mules, and everything relating to supplies and transportation was under his immediate supervision. His only means of procuring money was by cashing a draft of $5,000 on the depository at Louisville, drawn by General L. Eaton. He applied for the money to General Bullock, chief commissary of the Twentieth Army Corps, who, as such, usually had considerable money on hand, and was in the habit of supplying the quartermasters of the corps with money on drafts. General Bullock informed him he had turned over all the money he had to Captain Blair, post commissary, and proposed to the claim-.
The evidence in the case establishes a high character for the claimant, both as to integrity and habitual care in the performance of official duty; and, we think, on the facts, his action in this matter was without fault or neglect on his part. He car-
A decree, that be be credited with tbe $5,000 lost, is ordered to be made.