11__1) - __:\ T_,
j f )_. GDO )- JOURNAL
BY JAMES CLARK :3
VOL. _ T
T 3
NO
RECEIPTS & EXPENDITURES
OF HUNTINGDON COUNTY,
From the lOsh day of January, .4. D. 1846, up to, and including, the
Bth day of January, .11. D. 1847.
Receipts.
Years. Collectors
1836 D. N. Carothers,
1837 John Stonebraker,
1839 Abraham Henry,
1840 George Kelly,
Thos. W. Robeson,
John Hampson,
1841 James Leonard,
1842 Joseph Oburn,
Samuel Pheasant,
1843 James Hutchison,
John Conrad,
James Lynn,
John Kratzer,
David Parsons,
1841 Thomas Wilson,
James Harper,
John B. Riddle,
Anderson Harvey,
Jas. M. Kinkead,
John Hnyett,
Samuel M'Kinstry,
John M'Math,
Adam Keith,
Wm. Chilcote,
A. B. Sangaree,
1845 John M'Cartney,
Jas. A. M'Cahan,
John R. Hunter, Barree,
Asa Price, Cromwell,
Robert Speer, Cass ,
Robert Peterson,
Geo. W. Mattern, Franklin,
John Brumbaugh, Hopewell,
George Wike, Huston,
Joseph Dysart, Hollidaysburg,
John Oaks, Jackson,
William Reed, Morris,
Collins Hamer, Porter,
William Shaver, Shirley,
Benedict Stevens, Springfield,
Conrad Fleck, Tyrone,
Wm. S. Lyons, Tell,
John Myerly, Tod,
Geo. W. Hazzard, Union,
Benjamin Bowers, Woodberry,
Wm. Myton, West,
Andrew Freaker, Walker,
1846 Charles Cowden, Barree,
James Deever, Cromwell,
Jacob Crotsley, Cass,
Michael Barndollar, Clay,
John H. Blair, Dublin,
John Zantmyre, Franklin,
Samuel R. Boggs, Henderson,
John Russell, Hopewell,
Robert M'Burney, Jackson,
William Hileman, Morris,
Jacob Kough, Porter,
George Bowman, Shirley,
George Taylor, Springfield,
Jacob Hegie, Tell,
Henry Houpt, Tod,
James Hampson, Union,
Wm. Hutchison, Warriorsmark,
Samuel Ewing, West,
John Osburn, Walker,
William Reed, proceeds of sale of an estray,
Commissioners' sale of old Journals,
County Tax on Unseated Lands,
Road "
School "
Redemption money of unseated lands paid in since last
settlement,
John Armitage, Sheriff, fines and jury fees,
Collectors of 1845, interest on balances of State tax due
and unpaid on the second day of January last,
Balance in the Treasury at last settlement, received of
Geo. Taylor, former treasurer,
Expenditures,
Attorney General and others, on criminal prosecu
tions, $ 575 89
Grand and traverse jurors, crier, &c., 3,126 37
Constables making returns, advertising Spring elec
tions, &c.,
Assessors,
Judges, inspectors, and clerks of elections,
Road and bridge viewers,
Inquisitions on dead bodies,
Sundry persons, premiums on wolves, wild cats and
foxes,
COMMISSIONERS—
William Bell,
Alexander Knox, jr.
Mordecai Chilcote (1846 and part of 1845),
John F. Miller, 46 « 14
AUDITORS—
Jacob S. Mattern,
Seth R. M'Cune,
W. S. Africa, Clerk to Commissioners and Auditors,
COUNTY PRINTING—John Penn Jones,
Theo. H. Cremer,
William Lewis,
James Clark,
Townships.
Cromwell,
Franklin,
Barree,
Dublin,
Frankstown,
Union,
Barren,
Barree,
Union,
Allegheny,
Franklin,
Springfield,
Snyder,
Tell,
Barree,
Dublin,
Frankstown,
Franklin,
Morris,
Porter,
Shirley,
Tell,
Tod,
Union,
Walker,
Allegheny,
Blair,
256 35
220 00
30 29
346 07
$13,038 76
354 48
465 16
590 06
176 00
38 92
478 75
52 50
28 75
138 00
173 50
22 50
22 50
300 00
74 00
27 87
30 00
127 25
HUNTINGDON, PA., FEBRUARY 3, 1847.
BRIDGES-
Robert Stitt, in full, for bridge built over
the Little Juniata river, at Union Fur-
nace,
James Burk and James Entreken, for
building bridge across the Raystown
branch of the Juniata river, in Hope
well township, in full,
Robert Madden, on account of bridge across
the Little Juniata river, near the mouth
of Spruce creek,
James Burk, on account of bridge at Al
exandria,
James Burk and Daniel Keech, on account
of bridge across the southern branch of
the Juniata river, in Franklin township,
Wm. Taylor, on account of bridge across
the Raystown branch of the Juniata
river, in Hopewell township,
MISCELLANEOUS-
James Saxton, for
_9 tons of coal deliver-
ed at the Court House,
John Ker, for firewood delivered to Jail
and Court House,
Jane Keim, for washing for prisoners,
Mary Gibson, sweeping and scrubbing
Court House,
George Jackson, for boarding the jury in
the case of the Commonwealth vs. Jas.
Bailey, at August T.,
George Jackson, for boarding the Wil
liamsburg company of volunteers, call
ed here by the Sheriff at the execution
of M'Cafferty,
William Drennin, for planting trees in
front of the Court House,
Isaac Lyninger and Lewis Snyder, for
making a paper case for the office of the
Register and Recorder, and painting,
Isaac Lyninger, for painting fence in front
of the Court House,
Isaac Lyninger, for a coffin for the burial
of James M'Cafferty,
Isaac Woolverton, for putting a pump in
the well, and repairing the gallows in
the jail yard,
David Blair, counsel to Commissioners, 1845,
Same, part of 1846,
A. K. Cornyn, do do part of 1846,
Francis B. Wallace, P. M., postage,
Sundry persons, refunded taxes and costs
of unseated lands sold at Treasurer's
sale,
John Shaver, late Sherif', balance of bill,
Alex. Knox, jr., for Purdon's Digest,
Sundry persons, for stationery, candles
and blanks for assessments and dupli-
cates,
Sundry persons, cutting wood, shovelling
snow, and repairs to Jail and Court
House,
Sundry persons for election boxes,
Sundry supervisors, road tax on unseated
lands,
Sundry school treasurers, school tax on
unseated lands,
Sundry persons, redemption money of un
seated lands,
James Steel, Prothonotary and Clerk of
Sessions, fees, and for furnishing sta
tionery for the Court,
James Steel, for three dockets,
Amount overpaid by collectors on county
tax, applied by Treasurer to the pay
ment of the state tax, on the final set
tlement of their duplicates,
John Read, for recording Treasurer's bond
and appointment,
Joseph Law, Treasurer, costs of suits
against delinquent retailers, paid by
him,
John Armitage, Sheriff, summoning ju
rors, boarding prisoners, &c.,
Interest on balance of state tax, due from
the county, for the year 1845, paid to
State Treasurer, as per his receipt,
Treasurer's commission on $24,852 24, at
1y per cent,
Balance in the Treasury,
In testimony of the correctness of the above ac
count, we have hereunto set our hands this Bth day
of January, A. D. 1847.
J. F. MILLER,
DANIEL TEAGUE,
ROBERT CUMMINS,
attest —W. S. AFRICA, Clerk.
We, the undersigned, Auditors of Huntingdon
county, do hereby certify, that we have examined the
drafts of the Commissioners of said county, and the
receipts for the same, for the past year, and find a
balance in the Treasury of eight hundred and fifty
two dollars and fifty cents.
Given under our hands this Bth day of January, A.
D. 1847.
L. G. KESSLER,
WM. HUTCHISON,
• GEO. WILSON,
iluditora.
Huntingdon, January 8, 1847—feb3.4w
ID- Senator CAMERON is a practical printer, and
being unable to attend the supper of the Columbia
Typographical Society, of Washington, on the 2d inst.
sent the following excellent sentiment :
"THE POOR Bales COLLEGE—THE PRINTING OFFICE :
—lndustry, intelligence, integrity and perseverance
will ensure distinction and honors to its greatness."
CORRECT PRINCIPLES-SUPPORTED BY TRUTH,
THE JOURNAL,
LETTER FROM GEN. TAYLOR.
We lay before our readers the follow
ing letter, which tells its own story too
well to need any comment. It is but
just, however, to its heroic writer, whose
courolse and judgment are equalled only
by his honesty and modesty, to state that
it was written to a near friend and rel
ative, now resident in this city, endear
ed to him by many years of personal in
timacy, to whom he unbosoms all his
purposes, opinions and feelings, without
the least reserve. This friend would
not have taken the liberty of making
public a communication of this nature,
did not the recent manifestations of the
envious malignity of the Administration
and its servants and friends towards the
man who alone has saved them and the
country from the consequences of their
rashness, ignorance and incapacity,
make it necessary and just that the ob
ject of their base detraction should, at
this critical moment, be heard in his own
defence, by the whole people, in his own
simple and honest language.
We have more of this sort to commu
nicate, and shall soon be able to show
that, in his defence against his own se
cret personal enemies and selfish detrac
tors, as well as against the armed ene
mies of his country, the old hero of the
Rio Grande is ever "Rouun AND READY."
—.N. Y. Express.
HD. QRS. ARMY OF OCCUPATION,
Monterey, Mex. Nov. 9, 1846.
My dear * * * * *
Your very kind and acceptable letter
of the 31st of August, * *** * *
reached me only a short time since, for
which I beg leave to tender to you my
sincere thanks. [A few confidential re
marks on certain public transactions are
here omitted.]
After considerable apparent delay on
the part of the Qr. Master's Department,
in getting steamboats into the Rio Grande
adapted to its navigation, I succeeded,
towards the latter part of August, in
throwing forward to Camargo, (a town
situated on the San Juan river, three
miles from its junction with the Rio
Grande, on the west side, nearly 500
miles from Brazos Island by water and
1200 by land, and 140 from this place,)
a considerable depot of provisions, ord
nance, ammunition and forage, and then
having brought together an important
portion of my command, I determined
on moving on this place. Accordingly,
after collecting 1700 pack mules, with
their attendants and conductors, in the
enemy's country, (the principal means
of transportation for our provisions, bag
gage, &c.,) I left, on the sth of Septem
ber, to join my advance, which had pre
ceded me a few days to Serralvo, a small
village 75 miles on the route, which I
did on the 9th, and, after waiting there
a few days for some of the corps to get
up, moved on and reached here on the
19th, with 6250 men,-2700 regulars,
the balance volunteers. For what took
place afterwards, I must refer you to
my several reports,—particularly to my
detailed one of the 9th ult. Ido not
believe the authorities at Washington
are at all satisfied with my conduct in
regard to the terms of the capitulation
entered into with the Mexican comman
der, which you no doubt have seen, as
they have been made public through the
official organ, and copied into various
other newspapers. I have this moment
received an answer (to my depatch an
nouncing the surrender of Monterey,
and the circumstances attending the
same,) from the Secretary of War, sta
ting that " it was regretted by the Pres
ident that it was not deemed advisable
to insist on the terms I had proposed in
my first communication to the Mexican
commander, in regard to giving up the
city,"—adding that " the circumstances
which dictated, nd doubt justified the
change." Although the terms of capit
ulation may be considered too liberal on
our part by the President and his advi
sers, as well as by many others at a dis
tance, particularly by those who do not
understand the position which we occu
pied, (otherwise they might come to a
different conclusion in regard to the mat
ter,) yet on due reflection, 1 see nothing
to induce me to regret the course I
pursued.
The proposition on the part of Gen
eral Ampudia, which had much to do in
determining my course in the matter,
was based on the ground that our gov
eminent had proposed to his to settle
the existing difficulties by negotiation,
(which I knew was the case, without
knowing the result,) which was then
under consideration by the proper au-
162 37
2 25
76
78
50
$13,038 76
Commissioners,
thorities, and which he (Gen. Ampudia,)
had no doubt would result favorably, as
the whole of his people were in favor of
peace. If so, I considered the further
effusion of blood not only unnecessary,
but improper. Their force was also con
siderably larger than ours ; told from
the size and position of the place, we
could not completely invest it ; so that
the greater portion of their troops, if
not the whole, had they been disposed
to do so, could, any night, have aban
doned the city, at once entered the
mountain passes, and effected their re
treat—do what we could ! Had we been
put to the alternative of taking the place
by storm, (which there is no doubt we
should have succeeded in doing,) we
should, in all probability, have lost fifty
or one hundred men in killed, besides
the wounded,—which I wished to avoid,
as there appeared to be a prospect of
peace, even if a distant one. I also wish
ed to avoid the destruction of women
and children, which must have been very
great, had the storming process been re
sorted to. Besides, they had a very
large and strong fortification, a short
distance from the city, which, if carried
with the bayonet, must have been taken
with great sacrifice of life ; and, with
our limited train of heavy or battering
artillery, it would have required twenty '
or twenty-five days to take it by regular
approaches.
That they should have surrendered a
place nearly as strong as Quebec, well
fortified under the direction of skillful
engineers,—their works garrisoned with
forty-two pieces of artillery, abundantly
supplied with ammunition, garrisoned
by 7000 regulars and 2000 irregular
troops, in addition to some thousand cit
izens capable of (and no doubt actually)
bearing arms, and aiding in its defence,
—to an opposing force of half their
number, scantily supplied with provis
ion, and with a light train of artillery—
is among the unaccountable occurrences
of the times.
I am decidedly opposed to carrying
the war beyond Saltillo in this direction,
which place has been entirely abandon
ed by the Mexican forces, all of whom
have been concentrated at San Louis
Potosi; and I shall lose no time in ta
king possession of the former, as soon
as the cessation of hostilities referred to
expires,—which I have notified the Mex
ican authorities will be the case on the
13th inst., by direction of the President
of the United States.
If we are (in the language of Mr.
Polk and Gen. Scott) under the neces
sity of "conquering a peace," and that
by taking the capital of the country—
we must go to Vera Cruz, take that place
—and then march on to the city of Mex
ico. To do so in any other direction, I
consider out of the question. But, ad
mitting that we conquer a peace by do
ing so—say, at the end of next twelve
I months—will the amount of blood and
treasure, which must be expended in do
ing so, be compensated by the same l
I think not,—especially, if the country
we subdue is to be given up ; and I
imagine there are but few who think of
annexing Mexico to the United States.
I do not intend to carry on my oper
ations (as previously stated) beyond Sal
tillo,—deeming it next to impracticable
to do so. it then becomes a question as
what is best to be done. It seems to
me, the most judicious course to be pur
sued on our part, would be to take pos
session at once, of the line we would
accept by negotiation, extending from
the Gulf to the Pacific, and occupy the
same, or keep what we already have pos
session of ; and that, with Tampico,
(which I hope to take in the course of
the next month, or as soon as I can get
the means of transportation,) will give
us all on this side of the Sierra Madre,
and as soon as I occupy Saltillo, will in
clude six or seven States or Provinces,
thus holding Tampico, Victoria, Mon
terey, Saltillo, 141onclova, Chihuahua,
(which I presume Gen. Wool has pos
session of by this time) Santa Fe and
the Californias, and say to Mexico,
" Drive us from the country !"—throw
ing on her the responsibility and ex
pense of carrying on offensive war—at
the same time closely blockading all her
ports on the Pacific and the Gulf. A
course of this kind, if persevered in for
a short time, would soon bring her to
her proper senses, and compel her to
sue for peace—provided, there is a
government in the country sufficiently
stable for us to treat with, which I fear
will hardly be the case for many years
to come. Without large reinforcements
of volunteers from the United States—
say ten or fifteen thousand, (those pre
viously sent out having been greatly re
duced by sickness and other casualties)
I do not believe it would be advisable to
march beyond Saltillo, which is more
than 200 miles beyond depots on the
Rio Grande—a very long line on which
to keep up supplies (over a land route
in a country like this) for a large force,
[EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR•
WHOLE NO, 576.
and certain to be attended with an ex
pense which it will be frightful to con
template, when closely looked into.
From Saltillo to San Luis Potosi, the
next place of importance on the road to
the city of Mexico, is 300 miles-140
badly watered, where no supplies of any
kind could be procured for men or horses.
I have informed the War Department
that 20,000 efficient men would be ne
cessary to insure success if we move on
that place—a city containing a popula
tion of 60,000, where the enemy could
bring together and rustain, besides the
citizens, an army of 50,000—a force
which I apprehend will hardly be col
lected by us with the train necessary to
feed it as well as to transport various
other supplies, particularly ordnance
and munitions of war.
In regard to the armistice, which
would have expired by limitation in a
few days, we lost nothing by it as we
could not move even now, had the one
my continued to occupy Saltillo ; for,
strange to say, the first wagon which
has reached me since the declaration of
war was on the 2d inst., the same day
on which I received from Washington
an acknowledgment of my despatch an
nouncing the taking of Monterey; and
then I received only 125, so that I have
been, since May last, completely crip
pled, and am still so, for want of trans
portation. After raking and scraping
the country for miles around Camargo,
collecting every pack-mule and other
means of transportation, I could bring
here only 80,000 rations (fifteen days'
supply), with a moderate supply of ord.
nance, ammunition, &c., to do which all
the corps had to leave behind a portion
of their camp equipage, necessary for
their comfort, and, in some instances,
among the volunteers, their personal
baggage. I moved in such a way, and
with such limited means, that, had I not
succeeded, I should no doubt have been
severely reprimanded, if nothing worse.
I did so to sustain the administration.
* * * • •
Of the two regiments of mounted men
from Tennessee and Kentucky, who left
their respective States tojoin me in
June, the latter has just reached Camar
go ; the former had not got to Matamo
ras at the latest dates from there. Ad
mitting that they will be as long in re
turning as in getting here (to say no
thing of the time necessary to recruit
their horses), and were to be discharged
in time to reach their homes, they could
serve in Mexico but a very short time.
The foregoing remarks are not made
with the view of finding fault with any
one, but to point out the difficulties with
which I have had to contend.
Monterey, the capitol of New Leon,
is situated on the San Juan river, where
it comes out of the mountains—the city
(which contains a population of about
12,000) being in part surrounded by
them, at the head of a large and beauti
ful valley. The houses are of stone,
in the Moorish style, with flat roofs,
which, with their strongly inclosed
yards and gardens, in high stone walls,
all looped for musketry, make them
each a fortress within itself. It is the
most important place in Northern Mex
ico (or on the east side of the Sierra
Madre), commanding the only pass or
road for carriages from this side, be
tween it and the Gulf of Mexico, to the
table lands of the Sierra, by or through
which the city of Mexico can be reach
ed.
I much fear I shall have exhausted
your patience before you get half through
this long and uninteresting letter. If
so, you can only commit it to the flames
and think no more about it, as I write
in great haste, besides being interrupted
every five minutes; so that you must
make great allowances for blots, inter
lineations and blunders, as well as want
of connection in many parts of the
same.
Be so good as to present me most
kindly to your excellent lady, and•ac
cept my sincere wishes for your contin
ued health, prosperity and fame.
I remain truly and - sincerely,
Your friend,
Z. TAYLOR.
A WORD.—Say not a word you had
better leave unsaid. A word is a little
thing, we know, but it has stirred up a
word of strife. Suppressing a word has
saved many a character—many a life.—
A word unuttered, and Hamilton would
long have lived, a pride to his country.
Who can tell the good or bad effects
produced by a trifling wordl Be care
ful what you say. Think before you
speak, and you will never be mortified
with yourself, or cause a thrill of pain
to flash through the heart of a friend.
ri- The following 'sign' appears some•
where in the suburbs of Philadelphia :
Hear Pize and Kaik and bare I sell,
And °pistil's Stood and In The shell;
And Frigh'd ins taw for Them that Chews.
And with dyepach blacks butes and Wawa.