NOTE. It is not practicable, in this office, to state the amounts expended for the first four objects named above. For To ascertain the cost of those objects, it would be necessary to make a critical examination of the accounts of the various QUARTERMASTER GENERAL'S OFFICE, January 5th, 1831. A. WAR DEPARTMENT, SIR: An appropriation of ten thousand dollars was made during the last session of Congress for repairing and keeping in repair a road from Columbia, in Tennessee, to Madisonville, in Louisiana, and another road from Georgia to fort Stoddart. Half of this sum will be expended upon the first road. I have received no information of the length of this road, the nature of the county through which it passes, or of its present state. If there are many bridges to be erected, the appropriation will be inadequate to the object. In that event, the employment of a part of the troops may become necessary. All the information which you possess upon the subject will be acceptable to the Department. If more is necessary to be obtained, to enable you to furnish what is necessary to the due execution of the law in question, as little time should be lost in collecting it as possible. The necessary instructions will be given as soon as the information required shall be transmitted. By order of the President, Major General Brown directs that Colonel Atkinson employ the soldiers of the 6th regiment, at Plattsburgh, in improving the road from thence to the Chateaugay Four Corners, until the 1st of November next-commencing with such parts of the road as the Colonel may think advisable. He will direct the Quartermaster of the regiment to provide the necessary implements for the work. True copy: By order, C. K. GARDINER, Adjutant General. R. JONES, Adjutant General. B. 2. SPECIAL ORDER. ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, W. D. Brownville, October 3, 1818. Colonel Brady will forthwith detach a competent number of the troops under his command at the post of Sackett's Harbor, for fatigue duty on the following public work, viz: On the road which is to commence, agreeably to a survey made during the last spring, at the Madison barracks, and lead from thence to the village of Brownville; from the latter place to a spot called Evans' mill, in the town of Le Ray, where it will be made to unite either with the Ogdensburgh turnpike or the Hammond road, as the Government may hereafter direct. The troops will commence their labor on the east side of Mill creek, and will lay open and make perfect a road, according to the foregoing route, in the same excellent manner with that made by the sixth regiment from Plattsburgh toward Chateaugay. Tools will be furnished by requisition on the Quartermaster, who is hereby directed to supply the same. As a portion of this road necessarily passes over lands belonging to the Major General, he directs that no public labor be given to such parts, it being his determination to cause that part of the road which lays on his own property to be made at his own private expense. By order of Major General Brown, True copy: ROBERT M. HARRISON, Aid de Camp. R. JONES, Adjutant General. C. 1. QUARTERMASTER GENERAL'S OFFICE, January 27, 1823. SIR: You will take measures to ascertain the best route for a road from Pensacola to the Barrancas, and will submit to this office a detailed report in relation thereto, stating the nature of the country, the number and description of bridges necessary to be erected, with an estimate of the expense. I am, Sir, &c. SIR: I have received your letters dated the 25th March and 2d April. The road to the Barrancas will be made on the best route. I have required that the sum of one thousand dollars, in addition to five thousand required for you on the 4th of March, be transmitted to you on account of the Quartermaster's Department. It is the intention of the Government to ask, at the next session of Congress, for an appropriation for the purpose of opening a road from Pensacola to St. Augustine; and in order that the best information may be obtained of the nature of the country, and of the most eligible route, it is desirable that a survey be made during the present season. I wish you to consult the com manding officer, and ascertain whether an officer competent to make the survey can be detailed either from the artillery or the infantry stationed near Pensacola, and report to me as soon as practicable. SIR: On the 1st instant, I received your letter dated the 7th ultimo. The Secretary of War, to whom your letter was submitted, approves entirely of your views in relation to the road from Pensacola to Fort Mitchell, and directs that you commence your operations, should the season not be so far advanced as to endanger the health of the troops, so soon as your other duties will allow of your absence from Pensacola. The route by Sherlock's ferry, for the reasons which you have stated, is considered preferable to that by Beeler's ferry. You will make such a road as to admit with facility the movement of carriages, carts, wagons, &c., and cause substantial wooden bridges to be erected over all the principal streams on the route, which shall not require ferries. The commanding officer at Pensacola will be instructed to furnish a subaltern's command for this service, which will be under your orders. It is desirable that the work be performed as early, and at as little expense, as possible. I am, Sir, &c. Capt. D. E. BURCH, THOMAS S. JESUP, Quartermuster General. Assist. Quartermaster, Pensacola. E. QUARTERMASTER GENERAL'S OFFICE, SIR: The law, of which an extract was transmitted you with my letter of yesterday's date, provides for the survey and construction of the road leading from Fort Towson towards Natchitoches only "to the northern boundary line of the State of Louisiana;" but, to make it fulfil its objects in a military view, the War Department has determined to continue it to Natchitoches, and you will make your survey accordingly. I am, Sir, &c. Lieut. FRANCIS LEE, THOMAS S. JESUP, Quartermaster General. Assist. Quartermaster, Natchitoches, Louisiana. F. Extract of a letter from the Honorable William H Crawford, Secretary of War, to Major General A. Macomb, dated 29th May, 1816. "The expediency of connecting by good roads the posts under your immediate command wth the inhabited parts of Ohio, from whence, in time of war, when the enemy commands the lakes, the subsistence of the troops by which they may be occupied must be drawn, has been sufficiently demonstrated by the events of the late war. The situation of the country through which these roads must pass affords but few facilities for the execution of public works of this nature. Under these circumstances, the President has deemed it expedient to employ the troops under your immediate command in the construction of a military road from Detroit to Fort Meigs, at the foot of the rapids of the Miami of the Lakes. As soon as this letter is received, you are authorized to detail such portion of the troops for the execution of this trust as shall, in your judgment, be necessary for its prompt and effectual accomplishment." No. 2. STATEMENT of the amount paid to the troops of the United States under the act of Congress of the 2d of March, 1819, for surveys, opening roads, and other constant labor, such as building barracks, quarters, and storehouses, from the 1st of January, 1820, to the 30th of September, 1830. NOTE. The above statement exhibits the total amount paid in each year for all the objects named. It is not practicable to state the amount paid for each object, as the analysis made of the accounts in this office does not go so much into detail. The statement cannot be made to go further back than 1820, as that was the year in which extra pay to soldiers was first estimated for distinctly, and analysed separately. QUARTERMASTER GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, January 6th, 1830. 2 TH. S. JESUP, Quartermaster Genera |