UNITED STATES CLAIMS. DESTRUCTION OF THE CALEB CUSHING. Mr. Boutwell to Mr. Fish. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C., September 26, 1871. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 24th August last, asking that the Department of State be furnished with a certified estimate of the value of the Caleb Cushing, a vessel of the revenue-cutter service destroyed in the summer of 1863 by a tender of the insurgent steamer Florida, for presentation to the tribunal which is to sit at Geneva, and in reply I forward herewith the certificate most easily obtainable, that of Mr. William Handy, in charge of matters pertaining to the revenue-cutter service at the time of the loss of the Cushing, who is well acquainted with the character of the vessel, her original cost of construction and equipment. Should this certificate not suffice for the purpose desired, other evidence will be furnished from parties at Portland or elsewhere. I am informed that the State Department is in possession of sufficient evidence as to the destruction of the Cushing, but should more be desired, the report of the collector of the customs at Portland, made a short time after the capture, is of record in this Department, and copies can be forwarded. I am, very respectfully, Hon. HAMITON FISH, Secretary of State. GEO. S. BOUTWELL, Secretary. I, William Handy, of the city of Washington, now acting chief of the Revenue Marine Division in the office of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, hereby certify that I was in charge of matters pertaining to the revenue-cutter service of the United States in the summer of 1863, at the time of the destruction of the revenue cutter Caleb Cushing by the officers and crew of the schooner Archer, a tender of the insurgent steamer Florida, and that from knowledge acquired in the supervision of revenue cutters, as above mentioned, and from the records of this Department, I estimate the value of the Cushing, at the time of her destruction, hull, rigging, outfit, and armament complete, at not less than $25,000, and am satisfied that the vessel could not have been replaced at that time for less than that sum, which amount was a total loss to the Government of the United States. WILLIAM HANDY, Acting Chief of Revenue Marine Division, Treasury Department.. SEPTEMBER 26, 1871. EXPENSES INCURRED BY THE UNITED STATES IN FIT TING OUT VESSELS TO CRUISE FOR THE ALABAMA, FLORIDA, AND OTHER INSURGENT CRUISERS. NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, October 10, 1871. state SIR: In compliance with your request to be furnished with ment of the expense incurred by this Department, during the late rebellion, in fitting and sending out vessels of war to cruise for the Alabama, Florida, Tallahassee, Rappahannock, and other Anglo-rebel privateers, and to protect our commerce from their depredations, I have the honor to submit herewith the following detailed statements, viz: 1. Expenses incurred under the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting. 2. Expenses incurred under the Bureau of Navigation. 3. Expenses incurred under the Bureau of Ordnance. 4. Expenses incurred under the Bureau of Construction and Repair. 5. Expenses incurred under the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. 6. Expenses incurred under the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing. 7. Expenses incurred under the Bureau of Steam Engineering. 8. Expenses incurred, as shown by the books of the Fourth Auditor's Office, not embraced in the items of the several Bureaus. I also submit a tabular statement embracing, in summary form, the total expenditures incurred by each vessel of the United States Navy cruising for the privateers, a synopsis of the orders under which they were cruising, and the duration of the cruise of each. The statement embraces also the cost of two merchant vessels, with their cargoes, which were captured by the Florida and her tender, the Coquette, while conveying coal, under charter with this Department, to our stations. Very respectfully, &c., GEO. M. ROBESON, Secretary of State. Hon. HAMILTON FISH, |