| This Contract made this eighteenth day of
December, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty
two, between the Alabama Arms Manufacturing Company of the first part,
and the Confederate States of America thro Colonel Josiah Gorgas, Chief
or Ordnance of the second part acting, Witnesseth, |
| That in consideration of the conditions
hereinafter named, the party of the first part undertakes and agrees to
erect or cause to be erected along the line of the Tennessee & Alabama
Central Railroad in Jefferson and Shelby counties in the state of
Alabama, furnaces, rolling mills and foundries for making pig, railroad,
bar and bolt iron, iron plates for vessels, round shot and shell and
also to mine coal: and to deliver at the nearest depot on the cars of
the railroad above named, or until said Railroad is ready for business,
at the nearest depot on the cars of the Alabama & Tennessee River
Railroad free of cost to the Government. |
| Six thousand tons of Pig iron per annum,
with the privilege of increasing it to ten thousand tons. |
| Four thousand tons per annum of iron
rails, bar and other iron, according to patterns furnished and to pass
inspection as good iron. |
| One thousand tons per annum of shot and
shell in such proportions and of such descriptions as called for, and
according to pattern. |
| Twenty thousand tons of good merchantable
coal per annum. |
| The deliveries of coal shall commence
within six months and the deliveries of iron eight months after the date
of this contract and to be made in equal quarterly installments, the
delivery in no one month however to fall below one fifteenth part of the
whole amount of each kind specified to be delivered in one year as
aforesaid. |
| The Iron of all kinds thus to be delivered
is to be subject to the inspection of an officer of the Nitre & Mining
Bureau or an authorized agent thereof and to be by him weighed and
classified as to the quality and grade according to which payments are
to be made. |
| And it is understood that in all
preparations for work and deliveries of iron that pig metal shall have
precedence; that until the amount specified to be delivered quarterly
and monthly shall first be provided for, that no pig iron be worked up
under other clauses of this contract; except upon the express order of
the inspecting officer and only for castings and machinery connected
with the works upon the approval of said officer who shall also be
authorized under orders from the Chief of Ordnance to permit the
postponement of work on the rolling mills should the public interest
warrant. It is also agreed that the grades 1, 2, and 3, hereafter named
shall refer to those recognized in the Ordnance inspection of the
Confederate States; and that each pig delivered shall be stamped with
the initials or stamp mark of the party of the first part. |
| In consideration whereof the party of the
second part agrees to pay to the party of the first part, its agents or
assigns after inspection, proof and approval of said iron the following
prices to wit. |
| For No 1 Cold blast Charcoal pig iron,
seventy five dollars ($75) per ton. |
| For No 2 Cold blast Charcoal pig iron,
sixty seven and a half dollars ($67.50) per ton. |
| For No 3 Cold blast Charcoal pig iron,
sixty two and a half dollars ($62.50) per ton. |
| For hot blast pig iron, sixty dollars
($60) per ton. |
| For Railroad iron, one hundred and fifty
dollars per ton. |
| For bar, bolt and rod iron, ordinary sizes
ten cents (10c) per pound. |
| For iron plates punched and straightened
for covering vessels, ten cents (10c) per pound. |
| For shot or projectiles not lighter than
24 pound shot, eight cents (8c) per pound. |
| For shot and projectiles lighter than 24
pounder, ten cents (10c) per pound. |
| For Coal during the continuance of the
war, Ten dollars per ton, but after notice given by he party of the
second part of a declaration of peace or the raising of the blockade
four dollar per ton, and the word ton where ever used in this instrument
is understood to mean twenty two hundred and forty pounds. |
| It is hereby expressly agreed by the
parties to this instrument to secure the fulfillment of this contract
that a reservation of ten per cent shall be deducted from all payments
made under the said contract during its continuance, which ten per cent
reservation shall be paid to the party of the first part upon final
settlement on the completion of the contract. |
| And it is further agreed that after the
establishment of peace relations with the United States Government, or
upon the raising of the existing blockade that a reduction of forty (40)
per centum shall be made from the prices of this contract as above
specified except as to coal, upon notice of sixty days being given by
the party of the second part to the party of the first part. |
| To enable the party of the first part to
erect furnaces, rolling mills, foundries and make the necessary
preparations for carrying out this contract, the party of the second
part hereby agrees to advance to the party of the first part the sum of
Eight hundred and seventy thousand dollars, in four equal installments
as follows: two hundred thousand dollars upon the signing and
ratification of this contract, two hundred thousand dollars additional
upon the certificate of an inspecting officer of the Government
(specially appointed) that the first installment has been judiciously
expended for machinery, labor, materials or fixtures essential to the
production and manufacture of the coal and iron herein contracted for,
and to enable said inspecting officer to give said certificate full
information shall be given and access to the accounts and books of the
party of the first part. In like manner, the remaining installments of
two hundred thousand and two hundred and seventy thousand dollars shall
only be advanced upon the certificate of the same inspecting officer
that each antecedent installment has been judiciously and properly
applied for the objects of this contract. |
| It is further stipulated, upon the report
of the same inspecting officer that the additional sum of one hundred
and thirty thousand dollars is necessary to complete the works and
machinery essential to the fulfillment of this contract, that at the
discretion of the party of the second part, this further sum may be
advanced, making the entire sum thus advanced one million dollars. |
| Full and satisfactory security in bonds
for twice the amount of the respective sums that may be advanced shall
be furnished by the party of the first part. |
| It is also provided that the sums so
advanced shall be refunded by deductions (independent and exclusive of
the ten per cent reservation) on delivery of iron, shot, shell and coal,
in such proportions that the whole sum advanced shall be reimbursed on
or before the thirty first day of December, eighteen hundred and sixty
eight, the date of the expiration of this contract, with interest on the
amount advanced at the rate of eight per centum per annum. |
| All payments on this contract for the
delivery of iron, shot, shell and coal will be made when the same are
received and accepted by the Government, one third in bonds of the
Confederate States if desired by the party of the second part, and the
residue in Treasury notes. |
| Witness our hands and seals this
eighteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord, one thousand and
eight hundred and sixty two. |
| Witnesses |
| William B. Gilmer Prest |
| Ala Arms M. Co. |
| Jno D Phetan |
| Sec. Ala Arm. M Co |
| J. Gorgas |
| Col. Chf of Ord. |
| The above contract is approved to be valid
when duly executed with a proper and sufficient Bond as reqd. |
| James A. Seddon |
| Secy of War |
| |
| The State of Alabama |
| City & County of Montgomery |
| Personally appeared before me A. J. Walker
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of said State Wm. B. Gilmer as
President and John D. Phelan as Secretary of the "Alabama Arms
Manufacturing Company" who are personally known to me who acknowledged
that they singed and executed the foregoing contract as President and
Secretary a aforesaid having full authority in that behalf for the
purposes therein specified on the 30th day of December A. D. 1862 and as
of the day and date of said Contract in legal effect. |
| Witness my hand at the City of Montgomery
this 31st day of December A. D. 1862. |
| A. J. Walker Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the
State of Alabama |