With heavy forebodings he made out a bill against the United States for losses which was later presented to Congress. Summarized, it read $493,553.61. . . .
Worst of all, when the bills of lading, which constituted the basis for payment for services rendered, were presented to the Secretary of War, John B. Floyd, he said that the Department had already overdrawn its appropriation and could not pay them. The amount due on these was $323,201.64. To further complicate matters, the two-year contract for 1858-59 under the name of Russell, Majors and Waddell involved transporting fully three times the amount of supplies taken out in 1857. This was because two regiments of reinforcements, numbering 3,018 officers and men were being ordered to Utah. . . .
Russell’s Bill for Losses in 1857 remains unpaid to this day.