Searching for legal contracts

[Drygoods]

I'm stumped with trying to find two different documents through the LOC site. First of all, I'd like to know if there were any parole documents given to secessionists. Second, I'd like to find a completion of contract, or any labor contract for those who were nonmilitary, such as; teamster, laundress, ferry or shipping service, or private goods/merchandise supply company. Can anyone offer some advice? I've been researching these topics for the past two months and have not gotten very far, but then I'm handicapped with a 13 year old computer, and the going is s-l-o-w. If I had a better grasp of the legal language, I might have done better, but if anyone has some tips, I sure would appreciate them.

[ephraim_zook]

Re: Searching for legal contracts

Ms Peebles,

A google search for "parole documents civil war" will bring up some hits. There's a nice photo of one on the VMI website. Also look here for several:

http://www.mqamericana.com/The_Appomattox_Parole.html

You'll probably find a few more on antique or ephemera dealers' sites. I haven't found any contracts, but keep digging. There's a good possibility that Michael Shaffner (Pvt Schnapps) has something of interest.

regards
Ron Myzie

[UnicornForge]

Re: Searching for legal contracts

For most of the services listed, it is my belief that the services were most often arranged by verbal agreement, especially because of the issue of illiteracy. As for goods, again that would not be by contract but most likely verbal agreement accompanied by exchange of money for goods upon delivery.

After all, if you have someone mow your lawn, or do your laundry today, it is verbal agreement on price and not contract. Same is when you buy stuff at the store, or order stuff for your business.

,,,,,,Second, I'd like to find a completion of contract, or any labor contract for those who were nonmilitary, such as; teamster, laundress, ferry or shipping service, or private goods/merchandise supply company. .........

[Hank Trent]

Re: Searching for legal contracts

For most of the services listed, it is my belief that the services were most often arranged by verbal agreement, especially because of the issue of illiteracy.

With the illiteracy rate generally under 10% from the US census, I don't think that would be much of an issue, especially since the military would be writing the contract for the provider to sign, so even an illiterate provider could sign with an X and there would still be a written contract.

As for goods, again that would not be by contract but most likely verbal agreement accompanied by exchange of money for goods upon delivery.

After all, if you have someone mow your lawn, or do your laundry today, it is verbal agreement on price and not contract. Same is when you buy stuff at the store, or order stuff for your business.

While comparison to modern practices can be helpful when no other information is available, in this case I'd say just the opposite conclusion could be reached. Very few contracts to supply goods and services to the military today are by verbal contract. Not to mention purchase orders when businesses order things.

As far as period practices, though, the army regulations are a good place to look.

http://books.google.com/books?id=yQ1CAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA241&output=html

For example, that leads to a page with instructions for purchasing supplies from civilian contractors. To see the forms mentioned, skip ahead to page 276 for Form 15, and the other forms follow.

An example of a form from the manual, and an actual form as it was used, are here:

Contract for a civilian physician's services, as shown in the manual

Actual written contract for a civilian physician's services.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Hank Trent]

Re: Searching for legal contracts

A couple more original documents of interest. Look at INV-5085 and INV-5147 here. One concerns advertising billed to the army, and the other cornmeal.

Various foodstuffs sold to the army.

Cider and eggs supplied to a CS hospital.

I found these through a quick google image search for Civil War and invoices and receipts. However, I don't know enough about the complex system of army accounting to recognize which of these would be kept by the military only, and which would be in the hands of the civilian supplier at the completion of the contract.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[PogueMahone]

Re: Searching for legal contracts

Considering that the army "practice" was to receipt items taken from personal property for military use, I'd say that the more legal practice of contracting supplies would also be documented.

A contract doesn't have to be complicated. A contract only has to contain language sufficient to communicate the offer, the consideration and the acceptance. The parties must be competent, freely consenting and the arrangement contracted must be legal.

[PenPusher]

Re: Searching for legal contracts

Please see attached document given by Federal soldiers to General Bee requesting paraole.

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Searching for legal contracts

For most of the services listed, it is my belief that the services were most often arranged by verbal agreement, especially because of the issue of illiteracy. As for goods, again that would not be by contract but most likely verbal agreement accompanied by exchange of money for goods upon delivery.

After all, if you have someone mow your lawn, or do your laundry today, it is verbal agreement on price and not contract. Same is when you buy stuff at the store, or order stuff for your business.

There's probably more reason to believe that such contracts were not verbal, and a good place to start would be Article XLI of the Regulations, which addresses public property, money, and accounts and then contracts and purchases. The basic regulations are the same for both the US and CS services.

The big difference between you or me hiring a lawn service and the Government doing such lies in Article 1, Section 9 of the US (and CS) constitution: "No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time."

Paragraphs 989 through 1062 provide more details, but basically any officer authorized to buy goods or services, whether a quartermaster, commissary, or other, had to post bond and submit detailed returns backed by accounts, vouchers, rolls, &c. Contracts had to be completed in quadruplicate and advertised. Workers hired directly were paid on rolls that they signed or, if they had to make their mark, were witnessed by someone else's signature. If the worker was discharged before being paid, they were to receive a signed certificate of what they were owed. And they would want that certificate, because it would be the only backup for any later claim against the government and, if you believe the end of war reports in the Official Records (Series III, Volume 5 is the place to look), processing such claims made up a good deal of the clerical work of the departments.

There is no reason to believe that these elaborate processes were not followed in practice, because we have the documentation. A good book on a US army quartermaster is Lynette Taylor's "The Supply for Tomorrow Must Not Fail." Contemporary works include the book "Red Tape and Pigeon Hole Generals" and T. W. Higginson's article "Regular and Volunteer Officers" in the Atlantic Monthly.

Nor was this system strange to people in civil life. Hank is very well acquainted with "The Clerk's Assistant", originally published in 1805, which went through several printings before the war and was just one of many works laying out legal forms for all kinds of business and personal interactions. I'm happy to say it's now available on Google Books and if you want to see the sort of contracts people entered into, including agreements to build a house, to sell wheat, to hire labor or be hired out, &c.

Basic literacy exceeded 90% at the time of the civil war and technological advances over the previous half century had made the means of writing (machine made paper, glass ink bottles, steel pens) accessible to nearly everyone. In that context, it's understandable that there was very little in the army that happened without paperwork.