"4. That said lands and all property of the United States thereon for the purposes aforesaid are hereby exempted from all taxes imposed by this State or by the county of Prince William so long as the said lands are held and used under the authority of the United States. "5. This act shall be in force from its passage." STATEMENT OF ALBERT N. SEIP, OF WASHINGTON, D. C. The CHAIRMAN. Where do you reside? Mr. SEIP. In Washington. The CHAIRMAN. What are you doing now? Mr. SEIP. I am not doing anything. The CHAIRMAN. You are not now in the Army? Mr. SEIP. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. When did you leave the Army? Mr. SEIP. I left it at the close of the war, in 1865. The CHAIRMAN. Have you any recollection of these matters-the erection of the monument? Do you know who paid for it? Mr. SEIP. Soldiers from the brigade were detailed to work for several weeks putting up the monument. It was by a sort of general consent. Sometimes in the department things were paid for by the War Department. For instance, the Parrott shells were obtained from the Quartermaster's Department. The CHAIRMAN. Do you know Mrs. Dogan? Mr. SEIP. I do not. The CHAIRMAN. Do you know what she wants for the property? Mr. SEIP. I know nothing about it. The CHAIRMAN. Is there anything else you wish to say? Mr. SEIP. I would be very glad to see the monuments preserved by the Government, if possible. Following is statement filed by Mr. Seip: STATEMENT OF ALBERT N. SEIP, RESIDING AT 1204 T STREET NW., WASHINGTON, D. C. In the spring of 1865 I was a signal officer in the Department of Washington, attached to the staff of Gen. William Gamble, commanding the First Separate Brigade, headquarters at Fairfax Court House, Va. The battle fields of the first and second Bull Run lay only a few miles to the west of our headquarters, and we frequently had duties in that neighborhood and frequently escorted parties from Washington visiting those famous fields, which at that time abounded in skulls and other human bones. About the time the war closed the opinion was frequently expressed among our officers and soldiers that some permanent memorials should be erected at Bull Run, our first battle field, and it was finally decided to erect two monuments on the field in memory of those comrades who had perished there. There was a large detail of men at work on those monuments for several weeks. The work was under the general direction of Capt. H. C. Lawrence, the brigade quartermaster, who furnished the necessary tools, lime, cement, etc., and the necessary teams. Lieut. McCallum, of the Sixteenth Massachusetts Battery, was detailed to have the charge of the building of the monuments. I understood his trade had been that of a stonemason. I kept a diary at the time, and I make the following quotation therefrom regarding the dedication of the monuments: "On the 10th instant (June, 1865) the Third Infantry Band, from Gen. Meade's headquarters, arrived at Fairfax to take part in the dedication ceremonies of the monuments erected at Bull Run by the troops of our command. On Sunday, June 11, several hundred people arrived from Washington, and, a procession being formed, we moved forward toward the battle field. The monument in commemoration of the battle of 1861 was erected near Mrs. Henry's house, within a short distance of the spot where Pickett's and Griflin's batteries were captured, and upon the field where the principal contest occurred on the afternoon of the day of the fight, after Beauregard had been compelled to fall back from his original position. The monument was constructed out of red stones, trimmed with stone hammers, and was in height about 20 feet. A hundred-pound Parrott shell surmounts the shaft while cannon balls picked from the field are embedded at the base. Upon a white shield is the inscription: 'In memory of the patriots who fell at Bull Run July 21, 1861.' "The brigade was drawn up in line and advanced, with arms reversed, to the monument, preceded by Rev. Dr. McMurdy, who conducted the impressive funeral services in a very solemn manner. The surplice worn by him was used in Washington's church, and the stole was the same worn at the funeral services of President Lincoln. At the conclusion of the religious services Capt. Scott's battery fired a salute, and then followed the singing of a hymn written for the occasion by Rev. John Pierpont. Gens. Wilcox, Heintzelman, and Farnsworth made addresses appropriate to the day and the event, speaking upon the same place on which they had so gallantly fought. "After lunch the Groveton Monument, erected near the railroad cut where so many of our men were killed, was dedicated with similar ceremonies. The shaft is about 15 feet high, surmounted by a pyramid of shot and shell gathered from the field. The inscription it bears is: In memory of the patriots who fell at Groveton August 28, 29, and 30, 1862.' All our dead were reverently buried by the brigade. Soldier comrades thus honored the patriots who gave their lives for the preservation of the Government. The affection which originated these memorial tablets will long survive the troops who reared them." A few days after the dedication Gen. Gamble and his staff were absent in Washington, leaving me to run the command alone. A rumor had been brought to camp and had been conveyed to Gen. Augur, the commander of the Department of Washington, to the effect that some injury had been done to the monuments. While in charge of headquarters an order came from Gen. Augur to inquire into this matter. I sent an officer and six men to make inquiry, and on their return communicated to Gen. Augur that the report was incorrect. At the time of the dedication of the first monument a photographer was present and took a picture of the monument, a copy of which I still preserve. The man who stands on the base of the monument is Lieut. McCallum, the architect and builder. Of the 17 figures standing on the ground in front of the fence which surrounded the monument I recognize the following: The first, beginning at the left, is Lieut. H. A. Pearson, of the Eighth Illinois Cavalry; the third is the undersigned, Lieut. A. N. Seip, signal officer; the fourth, I think, is Gen. William Wells, formerly of the First Vermont Cavalry; the fifth is Gen. Benham, United States Army; the sixth is Q. M. Gen. M. C. Meigs; the seventh is Chaplain McMurdy; the eighth, Gen. Farnsworth; the tenth is Gen. Heintzelman; the eleventh is Gen. Wilcox; the twelfth is Gen. William Gamble; the fourteenth is Capt. C. I. Wickersham, chief of staff and assistant adjutant general; the fifteenth is Lieut. Charles F. Moore, aid-de-camp; the sixteenth is Lieut. G. R. McGuire, provost marshal; and the seventeenth is Dr. A. Hand, surgeon of the Eighth Illinois Cavalry. I entertain no doubt but the United States Government was responsible for the erection of the said monuments. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 88: ALBERT N. SEIP. On this 1st day of April, 1902, personally appeared before me the above-named Albert N. Seip, who, being duly sworn according to law, deposes and says that the above statement is true according to his best knowledge and belief. [SEAL.] EDWIN D. TRACY, Notary Public. EXHIBIT F. STATE OF VIRGINIA, County of Prince William, ss: On this 11th day of October, 1902, personally appeared before the undersigned, a notary public in and for said county, Samuel Brown, of Dime, Armstrong County, Pa., and Josiah George, of West Lebanon, Indiana County, Pa., each of whom being duly sworn, depose and say as follows: During the war of 1861-1865 we were both soldiers in Company M, Fifth Pennsylvaina Heavy Artillery. During the month of May, 1865, we were encamped near Fairfax Courthouse, Va. Col. Gallup was the commander of the regiment, and John E. Allwood was our captain. During that month an order was made for a detail of men from our company and from other companies of our battalion. We were ordered to report to Fairfax Courthouse. We recall the names of Sergt. Stivison and Phillip George among about a dozen of our own company. We took United States Government wagons, four 4-horse wagons, and cement, at least a dozen barrels, and took shovels, picks, and poleaxes, and we were taken across Bull Run and set to work building monuments on the first and second Bull Run battle fields. The chief officer in charge was Lieut. McCallum, of the Sixteenth Massachusetts Battery, who was the only commissioned officer. The principal mason was Phillip George, of our company, and with him was another mason, whose name we do not recall; but he was from our regiment, but another company. The stone for the Groveton Monument was hauled from a railroad culvert, a short distance from where the monument was built. The Groveton Monument was built first. The business of the affiant, Josiah George, was to trim the stone and put in lime and cement and to do whatever was to be done. He had worked some at that business, but was not a regular mason; but his brother, Phillip George, now residing at Leachburg, Armstrong County, Pa., was a regular mason. The affiant, Samuel Brown, was set to work making a hole in a large stone-the corner stone-as a receptacle for a box. It is our recollection that a tin box was sent out for the purpose. The box must have been 10 or 12 inches square. A history of the battle, written out by a lawyer of Massachusetts, who came there at the officers' request, was placed in the box along with other papers and various relics picked up on the field, and each one put in some paper money at the time or some other relics. Said Brown cemented it up himself. One of the workmen did the lettering. We did not know his name. We do not recall that a corner stone with box was put in the other monument. All the work on the monuments was done by the soldiers under Lieut. McCallum's direction. We think that the wagons were sent back for more cement. The large shells on the Henry House Monument were brought from Washington. There were large numbers of shot and shell picked up and put around the Groveton Monument, but they were all gone yesterday when we first visited it, October 10, 1902. At the time the Groveton Monument was built, the affiant, Samuel Brown, set out a cedar on each corner of the monument, which four cedars are still there, a limb having been broken off from one of them. At that time no cedars and very few other trees were growing on the hill where the Groveton Monument now stands. We are not certain where the stone for the Henry House Monument was gotten from, but think it might have come from another place besides the one named above. We worked on the monuments and not hauling the stone. At the time the monuments were built, we do not remember seeing or hearing of Mr. Henry. We remember meeting Mr. Leachman and Mr. Cross among civilians that came there. After the monuments were finished we built fences around them. We were both present at the dedication, during the fore part of June. We went home the last day of June. At the dedication our regiment was there. We could not get near enough to hear anything of the ceremony. There were great crowds of civilians from Washington and elsewhere. I have photographs of our regiment and other photographs taken at the time. We both think and know that the Government was solely responsible for the erection of the monuments and we both think the Government ought to take care of them. The time taken to build the monuments was about 17 days, and the number of soldiers detailed was somewhere from 60 to 100. And further deponents say not. SAMUEL BRown. GEO. C. ROUND, Subscribed and sworn to this 11th of October, 1902, before the undersigned. [SEAL.] Notary Public, Prince William County, Va. EXHIBIT G. CHICAGO, May 12, 1903. Mr. H. A. PEARSONS, Evanston, Ill. DEAR PEARSONS: In compliance with your request that I give you my recollections of the building and dedication of the two Bull Run monuments, I submit the following: In the spring of 1865 I was captain of Company E, Thirteenth Regiment New York Volunteer Cavalry, but detached from my regiment and serving as acting assistant inspector general on the staff of Bvt. Brig. Gen. William Gamble, commanding First Separate Brigade of the Twenty-second Army Corps, Department of Washington, with headquarters at Fairfax Court House, Va., and some time during that spring Gen. Gamble, having reported to Washington the fact that many of the skeletons of the men who fell in the two battles of Bull Run were lying on the ground over which those battles were fought, got permission to gather up and bury these bones and to erect two monuments, one on the site of each of the said battles. Details of men were made from the brigade to do this work, the building of the monuments being placed in charge of Lieut. McCallum, of the Sixteenth Massachusetts Battery, which was a part of the brigade. The other organizations composing the brigade were, as I remember it, the Eighth Illinois Cavalry, Thirteenth and Sixteenth New York Cavalry, and the Fifth Pennsylvania Artillery. All the work of collecting and burying the bones of the dead and of building the two monuments was done by the men of the brigade. The stone for the monuments was picked up in the immediate vicinity; the Government furnished, I believe, the cement and several 100-pound Parrott shells, which were used as caps for the shafts and corner turrets. After the work was completed the monuments were dedicated with very interesting ceremonies and an imposing parade, Sunday morning, June 11, 1865, which was attended by a number of prominent men, both military and civic, among them Maj. Gens. Heintzelman, Meigs, Benham, and Wilcox; Judge Olin, of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia; Congressman Farnsworth, of Illinois; and Rev. Dr. McMurdy, of Washington, who, assisted by Chaplain Spencer, of the Eighth Illinois Cavalry, conducted the religious ceremonies. Col. Gallup, of the Fifth Pennsylvania Artillery, commanded the parade; Judge Olin and others made addresses; the Sixteenth Massachusetts Light Battery, Capt. Scott, commanding, fired the salute, the battery being stationed on the same ground that Rickett's battery occupied at the first Battle of Bull Run. A dedicatory poem, by Rev. Mr. Pierpont, was read. Gen. Gamble acted as host. Many ladies and gentlemen from Washington and other places were present. The principal ceremonies were held at the monument erected near the Henry House to commemorate the first Battle of Bull Run; but they were repeated, at least in part, at the other, the Groveton or second Bull Run Monument. It was near this Groveton Monument that most of the bones collected from the second Bull Run battle field were buried and, if my memory serves me correctly, and I think it does, there were 1,500 skeletons, or parts of skeletons, representing that many individuals, buried in one grave, in what we know as the "Railroad cut." You will find a picture of the Groveton Monument in Lossing's Book of the Rebellion. The figure on the right of the picture is your humble servant. I visited these two battle fields and saw the monuments of a number of times during the summer of 1865, but have not been there since. Yours, truly, Subscribed and sworn to before me this 13th day of May, 1903. [SEAL.] F. C. BROWN. JAMES R. SMART, Notary Public. O REPORT ON LAND WITHDRAWALS FROM SETTLEMENT, LOCATION, SALE, OR ENTRY UNDER PROVISIONS OF THE ACT OF CONGRESS APPROVED JUNE 25, 1910 (36 STAT., 847). DECEMBER 17, 1913.-Referred to the Committee on the Public Lands and ordered to be printed. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. SIR: In compliance with the provisions of the act of Congress approved June 25, 1910 (36 Stats., 847), I submit herewith a report on land withdrawals from settlement, location, sale, or entry under the provisions of said act. Very respectfully, FRANKLIN K. LANE. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. GENERAL LAND OFFICE, Washington, December 15, 1913. SIR: Pursuant to section 3 of the act of Congress entitled "An act to authorize the President of the United States to make withdrawals of public lands in certain cases," approved June 25, 1910 (36 Stat., 847), I have the honor to report the following withdrawals, made since |