Thomas B. Files' Claim


Submitted by Robin Sterling


Southern Claims Commission File

for

Thomas B. Files (7537) Allowed

Items Claimed

Amount Claimed

Amount Allowed

Amount Disallowed

1 mule

$150

$120

$30

Totals

$150

$120

$30

 

Remarks: Claimant enlisted in the 1st Alabama Cavalry on the 23rd day of March 1863 and served for one year. His loyalty is satisfactorily established by the evidence. On the 15th of August he furnished a mule to the quartermaster of the Regiment which was used in the service of the army and for which the said quartermaster promised to pay him, but he never received any pay. We allow the sum of one hundred and twenty dollars.

To the Commissioners of Claims (under Act of 3rd March, 1871) Washington, D.C.: The petition of Thomas B. Files, respectfully represents:

That your petitioner is a resident of the County of Winston in the State of Alabama; that his post office address is Houston, Winston County in said State; and that at the time his claim and each item thereof as set forth accrued he was a soldier in the Union army; that he is the original owner of said claim; that he has never sold, assigned or transferred the same or any part thereof to any person; that no mortgage, bill of sale or other lien of like nature has at any time rested upon it, or any part thereof, nor has it been attached or taken in execution; that the same has not been paid by the United States or any of their officers or agents, nor have the United States any legal offset against the same or any part thereof; that he is the sole owner of the said claim, no other person being interested therein; that said claim does not contain any charge for property which was destroyed or stolen by the troops or other persons; that the rates or prices charged are reasonable and just, and do not exceed the market rate or price of like stores or property at the time and place stated; all of which your petitioner states of his own knowledge.

Your petitioner further states that he is now and was at the time the several items of his said claim accrued, as stated therein, a citizen of the United States; that he remained a loyal adherent to the cause and Government of the United States, during the war of 1861 &c; and was so loyal before and at the time of the taking or furnishing of the property for which this claim is made.

And your petitioner further represents, and of his own knowledge states, that on the 20th day of May, A.D. 1863, at Glendale, Mississippi in the State of Mississippi the following property or stores were furnished by your petitioner for the use of the army of the United States, and for which payment is claimed, viz: one mule, which said property or stores being of the kind, quantity, quality and value above stated was furnished to Lieutenant Smith belonging to the 1st Regiment of Alabama Cavalry Volunteers, Department of the United States Army, in the service of the United States, whose rank was Lieutenant of the 1st Regiment of Alabama Cavalry Volunteers acting as Lieutenant, who, as your petitioner has been informed and believes was stationed at Glendale under the command of Col. George S. Spencer, who at that time had command of the United States forces in the District in which said property was furnished.

And your petitioner further represents that he has been informed and believes that the said stores or property was taken from your petitioner as above stated and removed to Glendale, Mississippi for the use of Company A of the 1st Regiment of Alabama Cavalry Volunteers; that at the taking of said property, or stores, no vouchers, receipt or other writing was given therefor by the person taking the same as aforesaid or received at any time by your petitioner.

Your petitioner further states that the claim, within and above mentioned has never been presented to any officer or to Congress nor to any agent nor to any department of the government and no action has been had in regard to the same.

Your petitioner hereby constitutes and appoints Lewis & Fullerton Attorneys-at-Law, of Washington, D.C., his true and lawful attorneys with full power of substitution and association, to prosecute this his claim, and to receive a draft payable to the order of your petitioner for such amount as may be allowed, and to do all acts necessary and proper in the premises.

Your petitioner therefore prays that his said claim may be examined and considered under the provisions of the Act of Congress approved 3rd March 1871, dated this 30th day of June 1871. [signed] T.B. Files; Witnesses: [signed] Jacob Feltman and Isham Feltman

State of Alabama, County of Walker, To wit: T.B. Files, being duly sworn deposes and says, that he is the petitioner named in the foregoing petition, and who signed the same; that the matters therein stated are true, of the deponent’s own knowledge except as to those matters which are stated on information and belief, and as to those matters he believes them to be true; and deponent further says that he did not voluntarily serve in the Confederate army or navy, either as an officer, soldier, or sailor, or in any other capacity, at any time during the late rebellion; that he never voluntarily furnished any stores, supplies, or other material aid to said Confederate army or navy, or to the Confederate government, or to any officer, department or adherent of the same in support thereof, and that he never voluntarily accepted or exercised the functions of any office whatsoever under, or yielded voluntary support to, the said Confederate government. [signed] T.B. Files.

Sworn to and subscribed before me this 30th day of June 1871. [signed] John Brown, Judge of Probate

I expect to prove my loyalty by the following witnesses and others:

John Shaw, residing in Walker County, Alabama

Thomas Lowrimore, residing in Walker County, Alabama

And also expect to prove the other facts alleged in the forgoing petition by

John Shaw, residing in Walker County, Alabama

Jasper Whitley, residing in Fayette County, Alabama

My Post Office address is Houston, Alabama

My counsel is Lewis & Fullerton, Esq., whose Post Office address is No. 1426 New York Avenue, Washington, D.C. [signed] T.B. Files

Before the Commissioners of Claims: In the matter of the Claim of Thomas B. Files of Clear Creek, in the County of Winston and State of Alabama.

Comes now the Claimant before John Brown, Esq., Special Commissioner for the State of Alabama, and represents that he has heretofore filed with the above-named Commissioner a Petition for the allowance of a claim for property taken for the use of the army of the United States, which claim, as stated below, does not exceed the sum of three thousand dollars.

That the said claim, stated by items, and excluding therefrom all such items as refer to the damage, destruction and loss, and not the use, of property; to unauthorized or unnecessary depredations of troops and other persons upon the property, or to rent or compensation for the occupation of buildings, grounds, or other real estate, is as follows:

One mule ($150)

That, as stated in the Petition referred to, the property in question was furnished by petitioner of Clear Creek, in the State of Alabama, for the use of a portion of the army of the United States, known as the 1st Alabama Cavalry Volunteers and commanded by Col. George E. Spencer, and that the persons who took or received the property, or who authorized or directed it to be taken or furnished, were the following: Quartermaster Gray at Glendale, Mississippi.

That the property was removed to Glendale, Mississippi and used for or by the 1st Alabama Cavalry volunteers; all this on or about the 15th day of August in the year 1863, as appears by the petition presented to the Commissioners.

That the Claimant is unable to produce the witnesses hereafter to be named before the Commissioners at the city of Washington for and because of the following reasons, to wit: the claim is too small and claimant too poor to defray the expense of his witnesses to Washington, D.C.

That, by the following named persons, the claimant expects to prove that, from the beginning hostilities against the United States to the end thereof, his sympathies were constantly with the cause of the United States; that he never, of his own free will and accord, did anything, or offered, or sought, or attempted to do anything, by word or deed, to injure said cause or retard its success, and that he was at all times ready and willing, when called upon, or if called upon, to aid and assist the cause of the Union, or its supports, so far as his means and power and the circumstances of the case permitted:

Honorable Discharge

That, by the following named persons, the Claimant expects to prove the taking or furnishing of the property for the use of the army of the United States:

John Shaw, of Walker County, Alabama

Jasper Whitley, of Fayette County, Alabama

The Claimant now prays that the testimony of the witnesses just designated be taken and recorded, at or near the place named, before such person or persons, and in such manner as the Commissioners by direct, at the reasonable cost of the said Claimant; and that the persons so directed to take and record such testimony be required to give due notice of the time and place of the taking thereof to the Claimant, or to his counsel.

[signed] Thomas B. Files; Lewis & Fullerton, Attorneys.

Thomas B. Files, Claimant, vs. United States, Defendant.

In pursuance of the Commission issued by the Commissioners of Claims at Washington City, D.C., to the undersigned, on the 23rd day of November, A.D. 1871, I John Brown, have balled and caused to come before me at Kansas, in the County of Walker, and State of Alabama, on the 31st day of January, A.D., 1872, Thomas B. Files, John Shaw, and Jasper Whitley, witnesses in behalf of the claimant in the cause now pending before said Commissioners in the City of Washington, in which Thomas B. Files, of Winston County, is claimant and the United States is defendant.

The said Thomas B. Files, being first duly sworn, says, in answer to the Interrogatories propounded to him,

1 – My name is Thomas B. files; my age is 35 years; my residence Winston County, Alabama; my occupation a farmer.

2 – In Fayette County, Alabama up to February 1863. At that time I went North and joined the Union army and remained North until the close of the war. I was on my own land; about 40 acres of open land, one hundred acres of woodland; cultivated 25 acres.

3 – I never did.

4 – I never did.

5 – Never was any such oath required of me.

6 – I never was.

7 – I never did.

8 – I never did.

9 – I never was.

10 – I never was.

11 – I never was.

12 – I never was.

13 – I was conscripted and taken off to conscript camps, or the Rebs started with me to the conscript camps; I went one day and at night when we camped I left and they never got me any more.

14 – I never did.

15 – I never was.

16 – I never was.

17 – I never did.

18 – I never was.

19 – I never was

20 – I was not.

21 – I was not.

22 – I did. I left in February 1863 [from] home in the night and made my way in the night to Glendale, Mississippi and there I joined the Union army and remained in side of the Union lines until April, ’65 and then I came back to Fayette County, Alabama about the last day of April ’65.

23 – I was not.

24 – I was. I was arrested in the Winter of ’64 at Laverne, Tennessee by General Forrest. I was kept under arrest two weeks; was taken to Corinth, Mississippi and there I made my escape and fell in with Col. Fulmer’s Cavalry and I went with them to Decatur, Alabama.

25 – There was. The Rebs taken one horse and ten or twelve head of cattle, 40 or 50 head of hogs and all of my household and kitchen furniture; 3 or 4 hundred bushels of corn and in fact everything I had and I never received any pay for it.

26 – I was threatened by D.H. Whatley, a Rebel captain. He said he would hang me at some crossroads if he could get me, but never got me.

27 – I was. I was molested and injured by the taking of my property.

28 – I never did anything but my service as a soldier.

29 – I served as a soldier in the U.S. army.

30 – I had no near relatives in the Confederate army.

31 – I never have.

32 – I never have.

33 – I never was.

34 – I never was.

35 – I never was.

36 – I never was.

37 – Nothing more than a sergeant.

38 – I never did.

39 – I am not; nor was not.

40 – I sympathized with the Union cause. My feelings and language was with the Union all the time. I exerted my influence and cast my vote on the side of the Union all the time and after the Ordinance of Secession was passed, I went with the Union and acted with the Union.

41 – I endorse every word in this question and I think my acts prove that I done all I could for the Union and its supporters.

[signed] Thomas B. Files; Attest: [signed] John Brown.

Testimony of Thomas B. Files, claimant, on facts: I furnished the mule. I was present and furnished one mule that is stated in my petition to the U.S. army and furnished said mule to Quartermaster Gray at Glendale, Mississippi. Quartermaster Gray was Quartermaster of the 1st Regiment of Alabama Cavalry Volunteers and was a soldier in the 1st Alabama Regiment of Volunteers and my family was in Alabama and my wife came to Glendale and rode my mule and the regiment was scarce of stock and Quartermaster Gray wanted my mule and said he would pay me a good price for the mule and I let him the mule and it was used by the regiment all the time that I was in the regiment. I never received any voucher or receipt for the mule. I never thought of any such thing. He said, Quartermaster Gray, would pay me for said mule and furnished the mule to Quartermaster Gray of the 1st Alabama Cavalry volunteers on or about the 15th day of August 1863 at Glendale, Mississippi. There was quite a lot of soldiers present when I furnished the mule. John Shaw, Jasper Whitley, Thomas Lowrimore and others were present at the time of the furnishing of said mule. The mule was in good work order about seven years old, very large, as large a mule as I ever seen at any time. It [was] worth I think at the time, one hundred and fifty dollars and I know that the mule was used for and by the 1st Alabama Cavalry Volunteers commanded by Col. George E. Spencer and I have never received any pay for said mule at all. [signed] Thomas B. Files, Attest: [signed] John Brown.

Testimony of John Shaw on facts, first being duly sworn deposes and says my name is John Shaw, my residence is Walker County, Alabama. My occupation a farmer. I was present at Glendale, Mississippi on or about the 15th day of August 1863 and saw Thomas B. Files furnish to Quartermaster Gray of the 1st Alabama Cavalry Volunteers one mule for the use of the U.S. army. Said Files was a soldier in said regiment and the Rebs had drove his wife off and she succeeded in getting to camps with one mule and Quartermaster Gray said he needed the mule very much and told claimant he would pay him a good price for the mule and claimant let him, Quartermaster Gray, have the mule. There was all of Company A of the 1st Alabama Cavalry present at the time; Jasper Whitley, Thomas Lowrimore, Andrew Studdard, and many others. There was no voucher or receipt given; none asked for. The mule was actively needed in the regiment. The regiment was encamped at Glendale, Mississippi and remained there for several months and said mule was used by said regiment as long as I was with the regiment and I know the mule was furnished for the use of the army of the United States. The mule was in very good order; was a very large mule; one of the largest size about 7 or 8 years old and I think it was worth one hundred and seventy-five dollars at the time furnished and I am satisfied there has been nothing paid for said mule. My age is 36 years. [signed] John Shaw, Attest: [signed] John Brown.

Testimony of Jasper Whitley on facts, first being duly sworn deposes and says my name is Jasper Whitley. My age is 32 years. My residence, Fayette County, Alabama. My occupation is that of a farmer. I was present at Glendale, Mississippi on or about the 15th day of August 1863 and saw Thomas B. file furnish Quartermaster Gray of the First Alabama Cavalry Volunteers one mule for the use of the U.S. army. Said Files was a soldier in the 1st Alabama Cavalry Volunteers and the Rebs had driven his family from Alabama and his wife came in to our camps at Glendale, Mississippi and she fetched the mule with her and our regiment was very scarce of stock and Quartermaster Gray said to Files that he wanted his mule and that he should be well paid for it and Files turned the mule over to him. I taken the mule to the wagon yard myself and it was kept and used by the regiment as long as I stayed in the army. I know said mule was furnished for the actual use and benefit of the U.S. army. There was no voucher or receipt given for the mule; nothing was said about any voucher. The regiment was stationed at Glendale, Mississippi at the time of the furnishing of said mule and remained there for several months. The regiment was commanded by General George E. Spencer. He was Colonel of the regiment at that time. I don’t think that said Files has ever received any pay at all for the mule. The mule was a very large mule about 6 or 7 years old in good work order and worth at time furnished to the U.S. army two hundred dollars. I have never heard claimant say anything about the value of said mule. [signed x his mark] Jasper Whitley, Attest: [signed] John Brown.

State of Alabama, Walker County: I, John Brown, Commissioner to take testimony in cases pending before “The Commissioners of claims,” now pending before them against the United States, and as Judge of Probate in and for the County of Madison and State of Alabama, do certify, that Thomas B. files, of Winston County, Alabama, the claimant in this cause, and as a witness, and John Shaw and Jasper Whitley, as witnesses, came before me at Kansas, Alabama, on the 31st day of January, A.D. 1875, the said witnesses to testify in behalf of Thomas B. Files, the claimant in this cause; that before said witnesses were examined they were each severally sworn by me to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, relative to said claim; that the answers of each of said witnesses were taken down; that after the same were carefully read over to said witnesses, I caused each of them to subscribe his said deposition. And I further certify, that said depositions have not been out of my possession since they were so taken, nor have the same been in any way altered or changed.

Given under my and seal, this 31st day of January, A.D., 1875. [signed] John Brown, Special Commissioner

To all whom it may concern: Know ye, That Thomas B. Files, a Sergeant of Captain Frank O. Burdick’s Company A, 1st Regiment of Alabama Cavalry Volunteers who was enrolled on the 23rd day of March one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three to serve one year of during the war, is hereby discharged from the service of the United States, this 21st day of December 1863, at Camp Davis by reason of term of enlistment expiring. (No objection to his being re-enlisted is known to exist).

Said Thomas B. Files was born in Blount County in the State of Alabama, is 24 years of age, 5 feet 9 ½ inches high, dark complexion, black eyes, black hair, and by occupation, when enrolled a farmer.

Given at Camp Davis, Mississippi, this 21st day of December 1863. [signed] George E. Spencer, Col. 1st Alabama Cavalry.

Note: Thomas B. Files was born 12 Aug 1839 and died 1 Mar 1903. He was buried in the McDade Cemetery in Walker County, Alabama.


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