As an army commander General Scott had frequent occasion to use money for which vouchers or even ordinary receipts could not be taken and the nature of the service could not be specified; he styled them "secret disbursements." In a letter to the War Department of February 6, 1848, he stated that he "had made no report of such disbursements since leaving Jalapa, (1) because of the uncertainty of our communications with Vera Cruz, and (2) the necessity of certain explanations which, on account of others, ought not to be reduced to writing," and added, "I have never tempted the honor or patriotism of any man, but have held it as lawful in morals as in war to purchase valuable information or services voluntarily tendered me." He charged himself with the money he received in Washington for "secret disbursements," the one hundred and fifty thousand dollars levied upon the City of Mexico for the immediate benefit of the army, and of the captured tobacco taken from the Mexican Government, with other small sums, all of which were accounted for. He then charged himself with sixty-three thousand seven hundred and forty-five dollars and fifty-seven cents expended in the purchase of blankets and shoes distributed gratuitously to enlisted men, for ten thousand dollars extra supplies for the hospitals, ten dollars each to every crippled man discharged or furloughed, some sixty thousand dollars for secret services, including the native spy company of Dominguez, whose pay commenced in July, and which he did not wish to bring into account with the Treasury. There remained a balance of one hundred thousand dollars, a draft for which he inclosed, saying: "I hope you will allow the draft to go to the credit of the army asylum, and make the subject known in the way you may deem best to the military committees of Congress. The sum is, in small part, the price of American blood so gallantly shed in this vicinity; and considering that the army receives no prize money, I repeat the hope that its proposed destination may be approved and carried into effect.... The remainder of the money in my hands, as well as that expended, I shall be ready to account for at the proper time and in the proper manner, merely offering this imperfect report to explain, in the meantime, the character of the one hundred thousand dollars draft."