Page:Sketches by Mark Twain.djvu/158

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156
sketches by mark twain.

immortal cornfields of their ancestor. They straightway got an Act passed transferring the Fisher matter from the dull Auditor to the ingenious Floyd. What did Floyd do? He said, "it was proved that the Indians destroyed everything they could before the troops entered in pursuit." He considered, therefore, that what they destroyed must have consisted of "the houses with all their contents, and the liquor" (the most trifling part of the destruction, and set down at only $3,200 all told), and that the Government troops then drove them off and calmly proceeded to destroy—

Two hundred and twenty acres of corn in the field, thirty-five acres of wheat, and nine hundred and eighty-six head of live stock! [What a singularly intelligent army we had in those days, according to Mr. Floyd—though not according to the Congress of 1832.]

So Mr. Floyd decided that the Government was not responsible for that $3,200 worth of rubbish which the Indians destroyed, but was responsible for the property destroyed by the troops—which property consisted of (I quote from the printed United States Senate document)—

Corn at Bassett's Creek
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
3,000
Cattle
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
5,000
Stock hogs
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
1,050
Drove hogs
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
1,204
Wheat
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
350
Hides
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
4,000
Corn on the Alabama River
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
3,500

Total
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
18,104

That sum, in his report, Mr. Floyd calls the "full value of the property destroyed by the troops." He allows that