better terms than any other person. But should you not choose to take me in as a partner, or let me have any part of the contract, I will let you have the above named supplies and assist you all in my power. I hope to have an answer as early as possible, my Hands being out of employ. I am sir your obt. Servt., Sir.- JAMES ROBERTSON. 335. General Post Office A draft made by Mr. George Haller in your favor for 1175 D. stated to be the balance of your contract given for opening and improving the Natchez road has been presented & I was under the necessity of refusing payment, because it appears by the accompanying letter that Mr. Haller had neither examined himself nor employed any disinterested person to certify that you had fulfilled your contract. This ought to have been done and a certificate forwarded to that effect. I have also received a letter from a gentleman of the first responsibility in that territory from which the following observations are extracted viz., "I am informed from so many various and respectable authorities as not to admit the possibility of a doubt, as to the facts, that the work done and doing on that part of the road included in the contract adjoining this territory is by no means such as the government intended and as the sum allowed will warrant— in fact that the road is equally impassable as before on the same day it is cleared and more dangerous, because the causeways and bridges form impediments in the roads and fords which endanger both the safety of man and horse to cross." I am told that that part of the work next to the State of Tennessee is faithfully executed. I have therefore requested Mr. Thomas Wright (he was designated in the postmaster general's advertisement for that purpose) to proceed through the route and report whether your work is done conformable to contract. If Mr. Wright cannot attend I have requested Mr. Haller to employ some other independent and judicious person for that purpose. If they are of opinion you have fully performed your engagement the draft will be paid but if otherwise nothing more can be paid until you have compleated what they state to be deficient. I am Sir your most obedient ABRAHAM BRADLEY, JR. Gen'l James Robertson. EDITORIAL NOTES. One of the most satisfactory efforts to perpetuate local tradition and put into durable form the recollections of the old inhabitants of a community, has resulted in a History of Hickman County by W. J. D. and David L. Spence, published by the Gospel Advocate Co., Nashville. So many county histories are mere money-making schemes, and are so filled with biographies and pictures of people who have paid liberally to get before the public, that the announcement of a county history is usually received without interest. This book, however, is free from that criticism, and has so far been a labor of love that the authors will probably suffer a pecuniary loss by its publication. The text is so arranged that the account of each civil district is completed in one chapter, while other chapters treat of facts in the general history of the county. The authors have given lists as full as can be made of the legislators and other county officials, officers and soldiers of Hickman since its organization. The prominent lawyers, preachers, physicians, and teachers are also mentioned. Many interesting stories are given of romantic or stirring incidents in the history of the Tennessee pioneer, with descriptions of his home, his dress, food, his amusements, and his mode of life. Wherever it was possible, the verbal statements made to the authors by old residents have been compared with the records of the county, and in this way much doubtful matter has been eliminated. The Messrs. Spence have made a valuable contribution to the history of Tennessee. The Tennessee Historical Society has been fortunate the past. winter in several ways; it has added a number of new names to its roll of members; it has received many donations to its already valuable collection of books and manuscripts; and several interesting and important papers on historical subjects. have been read before the Society by gentlemen of ability and of reputation for close historical investigation. One of the papers submitted was by Hon. Wm. H. Henderson, of Knoxville, on the "Life and Character of Alexander McGillivray," the celebrated and talented Creek chief; another was by Gen. G. P. Thruston, which was the abstract of an article on the history of Nashville he has been asked to prepare for an encyclopoedia; another was on the "Great Seal of Tennessee," by Dr. R. L. C. White, and indicated the careful research on the subject of the design, the adoption and the first use of the seal for which this gentleman is distinguished. At the March meeting Hon. John Allison read a paper on the "Bridge Burners of East Tennessee of 1861,” based on a chapter in Judge Temple's recently published book "East Tennessee and the Civil War." The paper gave some curious bits of information relating to a plan by Union men of East Tennessee, backed by authority and financial aid from Washington, to impede the movements of the Confederates by the destruction in one night of all the railroad bridges between Chattanooga and Bristol, and for which a number of men were imprisoned or executed. At the April meeting Dr. E. E. Hoss will address the Society on the subject of the "Last Days of the State of Franklin," and Col. Henderson has in preparation a paper entitled "The Curious Story of Fort Loudoun." |