SIR: Under date of October 9, 1855, Captain A.W. Reynolds, assistant
quartermaster, was dismissed from the public service in virtue of the
third section of the act approved January 31, 1823.
Shortly afterwards suit was brought in the United States district court
for the eastern district of Pennsylvania for the purpose of recovering
the amounts alleged to be due the United States from Captain Reynolds,
and which were stated at $126,307.20. At the suggestion of the United
States district attorney, and with the consent of the Secretary of the
Treasury, the matter was referred for a full and careful reexamination
to three gentlemen, of whom one is understood to have been an
experienced clerk of the Treasury Department of the United States.
The verdict of the referees, fully concurred in by the United States
district attorney, subsequently confirmed by a jury, and according to
which judgment was rendered by the court, is that the United States are,
on the contrary, indebted to Captain Reynolds in the sum of $130.63.
In addition to this high judicial award in Captain Reynolds's favor,
numerous petitions have been received--from the district attorney, from
the referees who examined the case, from his brother officers of the
Army--all testifying to their assured belief in his perfect integrity,
no less than in his high character as a gentleman and a soldier, and
earnestly requesting of the President of the United States that he would
be pleased to reinstate him in the position which he formerly held in
the Quartermaster's Department of the Army.
Among the last description of petitions are many of the highest
officers, in rank as well as reputation, who served with Captain
Reynolds in New Mexico, the theater of his difficulties, and they
respectfully urge their conviction that were the President "cognizant,"
as many of them declare themselves to be, of the circumstances "under
which Captain Reynolds was made responsible for public property over
which he had no control," that he could feel no hesitation about
restoring him to the service.
In view of all which facts I have the honor to submit his case for your
consideration, and respectfully recommend that he be nominated for
restoration to his original rank and place in the Army.