by John Marshall Harlan

“ The contract, upon the finding of facts, must be regarded as one made between Walker and O'Grady, in palpable violation of the laws of the United States forbidding commercial intercourse between persons respectively residing in places occupied by the national forces, within districts the inhabitants whereof were declared to be in insurrection. It is, therefore, according to the settled doctrines of this court, a contract from which could arise, in favor of Walker, no right to the cotton, as against the United States, which could be enforced in the courts of the Union. ”

“ On the twelfth day of April, 1865, the city of Mobile, which had been continuously invested from 1862, was captured by the Union forces. On that day, at Mobile, Walker, who was a resident and citizen of Memphis, Tennessee, purchased from O'Grady the 3,405 bales of cotton referred to, (and which was still in the hands of the planters under their arrangement with Scott,) taken from him a bill of sale, which was attached to a list specifying the number of bales, weight, and the names of the counties where the cotton was originally purchased from planters. ”

“ The eighth section of the same act makes it lawful for the secretary of the treasury, with the approval of the president, to authorize agents to purchase, for the United States, any products of states declared in insurrection, at such places as shall be designated by him. ”