John Chiles clothing contract with CSA

[vbetts]

On Footnote.com I have just run across a detailed contract, dated November 1863, between John Chiles of St. Louis, operating out of London, and William H. Haynes, Clothing Bureau in Texas for a HUGE shipment of uniform pieces. For example, "thirty thousand army jackets suitable for enlisted men in the service of the Confederate States Army, to be made of a good article of heavy grey cloth or grey sattinett, double breasted, one pocket in the left lappel or facing, one row of brass buttons and seven button-holes to each lappel, and to be lined through the body and sleeves with the twilled flannel or heavy twilled cotton cloth, and to be in sizes from 32 to 40 Tailor measure..." with other pieces similarly described. The shipment is to come in through Brownsville. Does anyone know if this shipment actually arrived?

Vicki Betts

[LWebster]

Re: John Chiles clothing contract with CSA

Vicki - Never come here anymore but happened to see your note. I must tell you that your newspaper transcriptions have been a huge blessing to me.

I do not have my notes in front of me, but I recollect that John Chiles' contract eventually came to very little. If I am correct, London-based Colin McRae took a gander at it and nearly had an aneursim over the terms of the agreement and it was cancelled before it got off the ground. The prices to be paid were terrible.

Email me at clweb@prodigy.net for more particulars if you are interested.

Best Regards,
L. Webster

[LWebster]

Re: John Chiles clothing contract with CSA

OK Vicki, I'm home now....The terms of "Major" John Chiles' contract with Haynes were so outrageous that when he approached Commissioner Slidell for an extension of time in which to fill the contract, Slidell reviewed the contract and immediately gave a copy of the same to Colin McRae. McRae, who was in the midst of the audit of S. Isaac, Campbell & Co.'s contracts, was likewise appalled. Using past S. Isaac, Campbell invoices as a basis for comparison, McRae noted that Chiles would be charging two (and sometimes three times) as much per article. Combined with the fact that the prices were calculated on the basis of Confederate cotton prices (stateside, not London prices), McRae calculated that Chiles would make about $4M+ on goods worth only about $900K. As a result, the Government refused to extend the term of the contract, and no goods were delivered under it. This whole episode is set forth in the Official Records. Having said that, in a June 1864 memorandum, Haynes noted that he had reports that Chiles was in fact in the process of bringing up a shipment of goods from Mexico. Based on the cancellation of the contract, Chiles must have decided to bring in a speculation cargo. Whether or not anything was actually acquired by Shreveport from Chiles is unclear. Chiles was just one in a series of commerical lamphreys, and fortunately he was unsuccessful in ripping off the TMD. Chiles was a former resident of St. Louis, MO.

LWebster