that vicinity by the Secretary of the Navy, and he further has informed me that he ordered there a company of volunteers as a further temporary security. He believes that with a small guard the danger is imminent of an attempt at rescue by unscrupulous parties on the Canada side, hired for the purpose by wealthy friends of prisoners confined at Johnson's Island. Of that matter and the necessity for his precautionary measures you will best be able to judge. With the highest respect, I am, colonel, your obedient servant, [Inclosure.] TOLEDO, July 1, 1862. General CHARLES W. HILL, Columbus. You DEAR SIR: The inclosed has just reached me this morning. You may judge as to the chance of its being correct in information. will note the closing sentence which says, "I am not deceived." Your friend, truly, [Sub inclosure.] RICHARD MOTT. WINDSOR, June 28, 1862. RICHARD MOTT. DEAR FRIEND: I have good reason for believing that an attempt will soon be made to release prisoners on Johnson's Island. I cannot ascertain facts sufficient, however, to warrant me in saying that certain Canadians, well-known and prominent men, are aiding Kentucky fugitives here and at Malden to carry out their plot. Our Government sbould at least be put on their guard. I am not deceived. Yours, truly, Brig. Gen. E. B. BROWN. ISAAC N. HATHAWAY. OZARK, July 10, 1862. GENERAL: The exchange which you offer cannot be accepted by me. 1. Thompson Pearce, Private J. L. Stevens and Private Lewis J. Davis being at present at Springfield held as prisoners cannot be allowed to take the oath, but must be held by U. S. forces as prisoners of war and exchanged as prisoners of war. 2. John Brettoni and R. G. Lauderdale are not at present prisoners of war from the fact that they are not members of the C. S. Army. If you will have the kindness to send the three prisoners who are members of my battalion to me I will have the ten men for whom I came to exchange released, provided that you will give me credit for the remaining seven. If above conditions cannot be granted our communication will close. General, I am, very respectfully, your humble and obedient servant, The PRESIDENT: BERKELEY, VA., July 11, 1862. To-day received letter from General R. E. Lee offering to return to me on parole our wounded. I have accepted the offer and will send transports as soon as he designates the place. * GEO. B. MCCLELLAN, Major-General. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Camp near Harrison's Landing, Va., July 11, 1862. Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. SIR: I have the honor to inclose to you a letter from General R. E. Lee under date of the 9th instant, received to-day, proposing to deliver to us our wounded prisoners in his hands; also a copy of my reply to the same. I commend to your attention the humane spirit evinced by General Lee, and I also beg leave to commend to your consideration a mutual release of all prisoners upon parole, exchanging as far as may be practicable. I am satisfied that any views which you may deem just and equal will be acceded to at once by the other party, and I deem it a duty to our soldiers who are suffering in captivity and whose condition tortures the heart of the nation to meet this subject in the best spirit of civilized warfare, and at once. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, GEO. B. MCCLELLAN, Major-General, Commanding. [Inclosure No. 1.] HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, Maj. Gen. G. B. MCCLELLAN, Commanding Army of the United States. July 9, 1862. GENERAL: Notwithstanding such care as we have been able to give the wounded of your army who have fallen into our hands, in addition to that of your own medical officers, I learn with regret that they are dying rapidly. In order to alleviate their sufferings and to facilitate their recovery as far as possible I am willing to release them on parole, provided you can receive them at a point to which we can transport them without adding to their distress. If it meets with your convenience I will endeavor to transport them to some point on the Pamunkey or James River whence you can take them in your transports. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, General R. E. LEE, [Inclosure No. 2.] HEADQUARTERS' ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Commanding Army of Northern Virginia. July 11, 1862. GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th in relation to my wounded men in your possession and to express my cordial thanks for the humanity which dictated it. I will be glad to receive the men in question at such point on the James River as may be most convenient to you. I can receive 1,500 to-day or say 2,500 to-morrow. Should it be proper or practicable I can send ambulances to any hospitals you may designate. For such as cannot be removed I would be glad to send ice or any other hospital stores and comforts that you may deem advisable or necessary. Again thanking you for the spirit which pervades your letter, and asking how I can best reciprocate it, I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Major-General, Commanding. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, July 11, 1862. General R. E. LEE, Commanding Army of Northern Virginia. GENERAL: If agreeable to you I would be glad to forward by the transports which go for the wounded the baggage, &c., of my wounded and unwounded officers in your hands. I will gladly receive and forward anything intended for your officers in possession of my Government. I have the honor to be, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, GEO. B. MCCLELLAN, Major-General, Commanding. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. SIR: I have the honor to forward herewith a letter* with two newspaper slips inclosed therein received to-day from General R. E. Lee, bearing date the 6th instant, and relating to two persons alleged to have been executed by authorities of the United States as enemies of ..the Government. I also send a copy of my reply. The General Orders, No. 71, from the War Department, AdjutantGeneral's Office, covers every case of prisoners taken in arms against the United States and forbids their execution except by order of the President. I suggest whether this should not be extended to all prisoners charged with hostility to the Government. Crimes against individuals, as murder, rape, arson, &c., may be safely left to subordinate authorities as far as they fall under military jurisdiction, and the exigencies of warfare require that they should be summarily and often capitally punished. The case is different in regard to political offenses. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, General R. E. LEE, GEO. B. MCCLELLAN, HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Commanding Army of Northern Virginia. July 11, 1862. GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt to-day of your communication of the 6th instant respecting the alleged execution of Mr. William B. Mumford at New Orleans and Col. John L. Owen in Missouri by authorities of the United States. I have forwarded your letter and the two newspaper slips included therein to the Secretary of War. I am wholly ignorant of the cases complained of in your letter. On the receipt of the communication from the Secretary of War in response to your complaint I will at once address. you on the subject. I am glad that nothing has occurred among the forces under my command which can in any point of view subject any prisoners taken from them to any retaliatory action under any circumstances. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Camp near Harrison's Landing, July 11, 1862. Brig. Gen. L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General U. S. Army: I request to be furnished at your earliest convenience with a list of the prisoners taken by this army now detained at the various posts at the North, stating the company and regiment of the prisoners and where taken. In the confusion naturally incident to a battle some prisoners have been sent to the rear and found their way North without any register of them by the provost-marshals here. A complete list is indispensable to me and it is important I should be furnished with it at once. It is presumed that Colonel Hoffman can furnish the lists. If not, then the various commanders of the forts of detention at the North can furnish them. The lists should embrace the names of all prisoners taken by the Army of the Potomac since its arrival on the Peninsula. COMMANDING Officer, G. B. MCCLELLAN, Major-General. ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Department of the Mississippi, Saint Louis, Mo. SIR: In answer to a telegram received at this office from Col. Lewis Merrill stating that there is no camp near Jefferson Barracks, and inquiring whether the camp of instruction at Benton Barracks is the camp referred to in General Orders, No. 72, I have the honor to reply that the commanding officer of the department may exercise his own discretion as to whether he will establish the camp for paroled prisoners at Jefferson Barracks or at Benton Barracks. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General. HEADQUARTERS MIDDLE DEPARTMENT, Maj. Gen. N. P. BANKS, Commanding Army Corps. SIR: In order that the major-general commanding this department may comply with an order from the War Department directing him to release on parole the same number of rebel prisoners belonging to Jackson's army that Jackson released of our men I have the honor to request that you will if it is in your power furnish me with a list of the U. S. soldiers who were released on parole by Jackson. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, [WM. D. WHIPPLE,] Assistant Adjutant-General. HEADQUARTERS MIDDLE DEPARTMENT, Brig. Gen. W. W. MORRIS, Commanding Fort McHenry. SIR: I have the honor to inform you in reply to your communication of the 10th instant that the commanding general deems it inexpedient to provide political prisoners with stationery at the expense of Government. He can see no reason why it should not be done at their own cost. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, [WM. D. WHIPPLE,] Assistant Adjutant-General. DETROIT, July 11, 1862. Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON: Have just returned from Sandusky. I have given but one parole to a chaplain very ill. The paroles at Columbus are without my knowledge or approbation. W. HOFFMAN, Commissary-General of Prisoners. OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS, Detroit, July 11, 1862. Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War, Washington, D. C. SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith petitions* with letters from the provost-marshal-general at Wheeling, Va., in favor of Sylvanus Harper, Jacob Phares, Solomon Hedrick, Copeland Thompson, James Bennett, Isaac Hinckle, Laban Teter, Joseph Lantz, John W. Dolly and George Bennett, prisoners of war, at Wheeling, Va. I have hertofore referred other petitions in favor of most of these men to the Department. Major Darr after looking carefully into these cases recommends that they be released on taking the oath of allegiance and giving bonds for good behavior, which recommendation is approved by Gov. ernor Peirpoint. From what appears in these papers and in statements made to me by Mr. Abram Hinckle, one of the petitioners, I respectfully recommend that these men be released on the terms suggested by Major Darr. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. HOFFMAN, Colonel Third Infantry, Commissary-General of Prisoners. HEADQUARTERS, Camp Douglas, Chicago, July 11, 1862. Col. W. HOFFMAN, Commissary-General of Prisoners, Detroit, Mich. COLONEL: I beg leave respectfully to request that you will send me the authority in writing to make the repairs and changes which were suggested and agreed upon when you were here, viz: The purchase of necessary horses and carts or drays for service in camp, also portable saw for sawing wood; necessary repairs of fences and barracks, and the building of a bake-house for the camp. I would respectfully inform you also that I regard it as of vital importance to the health of the camp and safety of the prisoners of war that the sewer spoken of should be constructed and the water taken into camp. The necessity *Not found. |