SPECIAL ORDERS, HDQRS. DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE, Corinth, Miss., July 17, 1862. No. 137. I. Brigadier-General McKean having been assigned to the command of paroled prisoners at Benton Barracks, Mo., is hereby relieved from duty at this place. He will proceed at once to Saint Louis and take command, in accordance with Special Field Orders, No. 161, from Headquarters Department of the Mississippi. * III. John D. Chadwick and Francis E. Whitfield, of the county of Tishomingo and State of Mississippi, having been guilty of holding treasonable and forbidden communication with the enemy, it is ordered that they each be confined as prisoners in the penitentiary at Alton, Madison County, Ill., where prisoners guilty of such offenses are kept. Col. Clark B. Lagow will proceed with them at once to said prison and deliver them into the custody of the officer in command of the same. The assistant quartermaster U. S. Army at this place will furnish the necessary transportation for said prisoners. By order of Maj. Gen. U. S. Grant: Col. WILLIAM HOFFMAN, Commissary-General of Prisoners, Detroit, Mich. SIR: Your report of the 10th instant upon the location and condition of Camp Douglas has been received with the letter inclosed from Doctor Bellows on the same subject. Whilst the expensive, not to say extravagant, arrangements for sewerage, water supply, &c., which were referred to this department, could not be authorized, for reasons sufficiently set forth, the department will approve the reasonable repair of the sheds to make them waterproof. If the prisoners have as good quarters as our own soldiers in the field can be supplied with it seems that all that humanity requires and much more than our own men, prisoners South, get, is supplied. For these repairs the prisoners themselves should do the work. For police and sanitary labors certainly the prisoners themselves should be required to do the labor. If not willing to keep themselves and their camp clean and wholesome and supplied with water I presume it is in the power of the guard to compel obedience to regulations. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, M. C. MEIGS, Quartermaster-General. General R. E. LEE, HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Commanding Army of Northern Virginia. GENERAL: I have the honor respectfully to request that you will be so good as to furnish me with information respecting the present condition of Maj. Richard H. Woolworth, Third Regiment Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, who was wounded in the battle of June 30, and subsequently taken prisoner at the temporary hospital established on the New Market road. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, [GEO. B. MCCLELLAN,] HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, General D. H. HILL. July 18, 1862. GENERAL: Your note of yesterday* duly reached me. I feared that you might have been waiting some time at Carter's (Shirley's) and that you might deem me guilty of neglect and discourtesy in failing to inform you of the cause of the non-appearance of General Dix. I beg, general, that you will think no more of the matter and let it pass from your mind as it has from mine. Mistakes of the kind will happen in spite of us. Yours, very truly, [GEO. B. MCCLELLAN,] HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Brigadier General STONEMAN, Commanding Cavalry. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, [MEMORANDUM.] [S. WILLIAMS,] Assistant Adjutant-General. HAXALL'S LANDING, July 18, 1862. A difference having arisen between the undersigned in regard to a general exchange of prisoners of war it is agreed that the exchange of prisoners shall go on, man for man and officer for officer, as heretofore, until the authorities at Washington can be consulted. JOHN A. DIX, Major-General. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, July 18, 1862. Col. WILLIAM HOFFMAN, Commissary-General of Prisoners, Detroit. COLONEL: I have yours of the 14th instant. As there is now a probability that an arrangement for a general exchange of prisoners *Not found. will be soon made it will be necessary to defer any measures for increasing our prison accommodations for the present. Should these arrangements fail provision must of course be made to meet the necessities of the case. Very respectfully, yours, C. P. BUCKINGHAM, Brigadier-General and Assistant Adjutant-General. OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS, Col. D. G. ROSE, Commanding Camp Morton, Indianapolis, Ind. COLONEL: In speaking with you yesterday I neglected to mention that Captain Ekin is the quartermaster who will under your direction make the purchases with the prisoners' fund. He understands my views perfectly and I am sure will suggest no purchases except those which are right and proper. The commissary at the camp who is also quartermaster there is treasurer of the fund and will only have to pay the bills which are presented. He makes no purchases himself. The bills will be made in Captain Ekin's name and will be approved by you and these will be the vouchers for the treasurer. Without such vouchers he will be held accountable for any payments he may make. Let him understand this distinctly. If he has already made purchases without having such a voucher let him obtain one immediately. I want to impress on you that he is to make no expenditures himself. He is young in service and experience and must be trusted with no such responsibility. On examining the account of the funds I found the disbursements under the authority of the council of administration certainly made for improper things and in many cases without any vouchers. The payment for postage stamps was it appears entirely unreasonable and the purchase of tobacco seemed to be unnecessarily large. Please observe the articles to the purchase of which it is to be confined under my regulations and adhere to them as closely as possible. Payments for the pursuit of escaped prisoners are of doubtful propriety and must only be resorted to [incomplete sentence]. A liberal quantity of vegetables should be supplied. Lieutenant Palmer presented his accounts in a very satisfactory condition, furnishing vouchers for all disbursements. The amount remaining on hand he is ready to turn over to his successor. I wish the monthly account of this fund with a list of all the articles purchased during the month sent to me on the 1st of August. The commissary must keep the account up day by day so that at the end of the month there will be no delay in furnishing it. Examine the list of employés at the camp who are paid extra pay from this fund and see that no more are employed than are necessary and limit the highest extra pay to 40 cents a day. Let these accounts be made out in due form, specifying the time and the duty and make the payments regularly at the end of the month. These accounts, like all others, will be made in the name of Captain Ekin approved by you. I learn by the accounts presented that a citizen is employed as paymaster at $50 per month. I do not approve of this. The non-commis. sioned [officer] selected to receive and examine letters must be the paymaster for prisoners and as is provided in the regulations you will allow him extra pay for his services. Discharge the citizen immedi ately. Hurry the completion of your rolls and the return for June as much as possible. The War Department [wishes] them immediately. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. HOFFMAN, Colonel Third Infantry, Commissary-General of Prisoners. OFFICE OF PROVOST MARSHAL-GENERAL, Wheeling, Va., July 18, 1862. Col. WILLIAM HOFFMAN, Commissary-General of Prisoners. SIR: I am informed that some prisoners have been released from Johnson's Island that were sent from this department of which no report has been made to these headquarters. It is very desirable that I should have notice of the release of prisoners so that my record of them may be complete. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOS. DARR, JR., Major and Provost-Marshal-General. SPRINGFIELD, ILL., July 18, 1862. Col. WILLIAM HOFFMAN, Commissary-General of Prisoners, Detroit, Mich. COLONEL: I have completed my inspection of Camp Butler and have affairs regulated there as well as circumstances will permit. I respectfully request instructions to return to Detroit. I have been quite unwell for the past two days but have made my daily visits to camp. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. W. FREEDLEY, Washington, July 19, 1862. WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Col. J. DIMICK, First U. S. Artillery, Comdg. Fort Warren, Boston, Mass. SIR: The Secretary of War authorizes you to permit Marshal Kane,* of Baltimore, to visit Boston during two weeks as often as may be deemed necessary by the surgeon of the post to obtain such medical treatment as his case requires, on giving his parole to communicate with no person except his medical adviser and upon the subject alone of his medical treatment. I am, &c., L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General. ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Col. WILLIAM HOFFMAN, U. S. Army, Detroit: L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General. *See Vol. I, this Series, p. 619, for correspondence relating to imprisonment of Marshal Kane. 16 R R-SERIES II, VOL IV ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Col. WILLIAM HOFFMAN, U. S. Army, Detroit, Mich. : Adjutant-General. BERKELEY, VA., July 19, 1862. Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. SIR: About 350 of our wounded taken prisoners in the recent battles having been released on parole have arrived from Richmond. Among them are a number of officers. They will go down the river to-day. I shall this morning send to City Point for another party of our wounded. G. B. MCCLELLAN, Major-General, Commanding. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI, N. B. BAKER, Clinton, Iowa: Paroled prisoners are obliged to do the proper order of their own corps. Saint Louis, July 19, 1862. guard, police and fatigue duty for FORT MONROE, VA., July 19, 1862. Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War: I have just arrived from Harrison's Landing and leave in half an hour for Washington in the Ariel. It is important that I should see you to-night in regard to prisoners of war and return here immediately. Will you have a carriage sent to the landing, Sixth avenue [street], for me? I will come directly to the War Office, and I hope be with you at 9 o'clock this evening. JOHN A. DIX, OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS, Detroit, Mich., July 19, 1862. Hon. DAVID TOD, Governor of Ohio. DEAR SIR: I inclose a copy of the telegram† received from the War Department in relation to paroled prisoners at Columbus, from which you will perceive that paroles are to be granted only under the circumstances provided for in the two orders which I inclosed to you this morning. I told Colonel Mulligan I would expect him to carry out the regulations [as] to visitors very rigidly and I request you will grant permits only to persons sent by Governor Johnson for political purposes. Of several requests for interviews which he sent to Sandusky there was but one at all of this character and the interview should not have *In relation to this matter, see also quotation from Halleck in Ketchum to Thomas, July 28, post. + Not found. |
