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Show REPORT OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS. 155 $ 5,240,729 60, being- vouchers for Indian goods, annuities, services, & c., amounting to :;, lln, 7f> i> : M, and cash accounts of superintendents and agents amounting to $ 1,829,170 2G. Of these there were rejected as follows : 10 for exorbitant prices, amounting to $ 82, 786 29 2 for being- purchased without consulting the board, amounting to 2, 2,< 2 82 7 Erie and Pacific Dispatch, amounting to 15,917 09 21 Northwest Transportation Company, amounting to 52, 170 80 Total rejected 153,166 20 These two last were rejected, first, in the case of the Erie and Pacific Dispatch, because the accounts had been incurred contrary to the award of the board of Indian commissioners, in the presence of the Indian commissioner, which award was made to the lowest bidder after receiving written proposals from three of the principal competing companies, and afterward given to the Erie Railroad without consulting the board of Indian commissioners, or allowing competition from the other companies ; and, second, in that of the Northwest Transportation Company, because said contract was let contrary to the recommendation of the board of Indian commissioners, that the United States Army Quartermaster's contract should be used wherever available, and for other places contracts should be made after sufficient adver-tisement. Your committee often find it very difficult to locate the agency for which goods are pur-chased, on the place where the purchase is made, owing to a want of completeness in the form of voucher used in payment, and they would respectfully suggest that the rule of the Department which requires that the " object and necessity, date and place of purchase, shall be stated in every case," should be more rigidly enforced. During the absence of Commissioner Bishop in Europe, and Commissioner Colyer in Arizona, Commissioners Tobey and Lang were appointed and acted on the executive com-mittee. Very respectfully, & c., GEORGE. H. STUART, Chairman. NATHAN BISHOP. VINCENT COLYER. APPENDIX A e. REPORT OF COMMISSIONER JOHN D. LANG. Removal of the Cherokees from North Carolina and East Tennessee to the Indian Territory* VASSABBOROUGH, Ticdfthmonth 6th, 1871. EsTFFMED FRIEND : Permit me to report that during thy absence in Oregon I was requested to take special charge of the removal of a band of Eastern Cherokees, then in readiness and awaiting transportation at London, Tennessee, to join, by invitation, their brethren, the Western Cherokees ; an efficient assistant wajs assigned me in the person of D. C. Cox, clerk in the Department of the Interior. This band, about one hundred and thirty in number, came in from the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, having been dispossessed of all their lauds and property fraudulently, which will appear more fully hereafter by their plea and written statement addressed to our board. We left Washington about the * J8th of Niuthmonth, ( September,) and found this company located in a valley-near London Railroad Station in a destitute and suffering condition. We held a council with them all men, women, and children ; we read to them a kind letter from the President, which cheered and encouraged them ; we gave them such advice as appeared necessary. The day of departure was agreed on, and they accordingly got ready, and we set off on the day specified. Provisions for their subsistence on the journey were furnished by the War Department, as had been the case for their support of several months previous. Secretary Delano furnished funds, and we expended about $ 1,000 economically for clothing, shoes, &. C., for men, women, and children. He also furnished " rations for subsistence," enough to . support them for a short time after their arrival at their new homes. We con-tinued our journey, in good passenger cars, day and night, until we arrived at Chouteau Station, about the center of the Cherokee nation. Here they camped on a very fertile prairie, adjoining a fine belt of timber abounding with small game, deer, wild turkeys, & c., and near the Neosho River, which contains fish in abundance, all of which was pleasing to the Indians. A much larger number were left behind in Tennessee and North Carolina, not being prepared to remove; but a ' delegation of fifteen came from them on foot, some sixty and others one hundred and fifty miles, to inform us of their intention to follow their brethren as soon as they could get ready. An arrangement was made with the railroad |
