Government Investigates Blockade Smuggling To Confederate Army
3 pp, 8 ¾ x 9 ¾, ALS, Washington City, May 31, 1875, L. Peyton, special agent of the Department of Justice for Southern States, reports to Edward Pierrepont, the U. Attorney General regarding his investigation into goods that passed through blockades to reach the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
It also mentions fraudulent claims for recompense for cotton that was destroyed during the war. Peyton writes, Since my last monthly report to your predecessor, to which, and to others in this connection, I have the honor to invite your attention. My efforts have been continued to discover additional evidence in the case of Alexander Collier, now pending in the US Court of Claims, and in furtherance of that object, I have visited Balt Phil New York Harrisburg, VA.I also for the same purpose opened correspondence with Gen'l Hoke of North Carolina, and herewith hand you the result. The fact that Alexander Collier was engaged in furnishing supplies to the Confederate Army, is pertinent, yet the active and untiring efforts of his attorneys and friends to prevent the Government from obtaining proof of such facts together with the reluctance of those who I have approached in this regard to converse on the subject, and their positive refusal to voluntarily testify in the premises, has caused much difficulty and consumed much time pursuing the information already obtained. I have come in possession of information that lends to the belief that there are several other cotton claims now pending in the court of claims that are fraudulent, and that proof to that effect can be obtained in the South, the names of some of the parties claiming have been mentioned in a former report. All of which is submitted to you with all respect by yr obt Servt L. Peyton, special agent of the Department of Justice for southern states.
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