reply I am directed by the commissary-general of prisoners to inform you that you will please to ascertain if they cannot be placed in some position in the hospital as nurses or laundresses, as it is not proper that they should be allowed to remain longer at the camp as prisoners, though, if employed as above indicated, they would be kept within the prison limits. If this cannot be done you will if the prisoners are unable to provide for themselves ascertain if some arrangement cannot be made with the authorities of the [illegible] or some suitable institution to receive them, for which if consented to by the authorities they may be allowed a reasonable compensation. Should the prisoners not desire to remain they may be furnished with passes and transportation to the limits of our line. You will in this matter act as in your judgment will secure the most proper disposition of them should they desire to remain with the other prisoners, but if they remain within prison limits it can only be in the capacity already indicated, viz, either as nurses or laundresses. With much respect, I am, colonel, your obedient servant, Col. WILLIAM HOFFMAN, SPRINGFIELD, ILL., July 20, 1862. Commissary-General of Prisoners, Detroit, Mich. COLONEL: Upon closer examination of muster-rolls of prisoners already completed I find that they are very incorrect. Having no other guide we must rely upon the statements of the prisoners themselves. The roll now completed was made out from their statements upon their arrival, but it is my impression that many at that time gave assumed names and incorrect account of themselves. Since the formation of this roll many prisoners have escaped without the knowledge of the authorities and I find some have been reported to escape who have not done so. There are some names on the roll of whom I can procure no information whatever. I doubt whether they ever were prisoners at the post. The rolls now in formation are made out from the different squads, and each squad is called up for the verification of its roll. Every means shall be taken to insure its correctness. I would respectfully recommend that an inclosure be constructed around the prisoners' grave-yard; also that a record be kept of the deaths and of the position of each burial. There is ample material at the camp for the construction of this fence and the labor can be performed by the prisoners themselves, so there will be no expense accrued to the Government. There are now approaching 400 graves, and a due regard for the feelings of their friends would certainly warrant this expenditure. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, H. W. FREEDLEY, OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS, Maj. JOSEPH DARR, Jr., Detroit, Mich., July 20, 1862. Provost-Marshal-General, Wheeling, Va. MAJOR: You will doubtless recollect that while at Columbus, Ohio, you desired instructions in regard to the directions to be given by you for the greater security and health of the prisoners confined at the various prison camps within your department. I am directed by the commissary-general of prisoners to inform you that it is his desire that you concentrate so far as practicable all of the prisoners at Wheeling which are or may be in your department, thus avoiding the additional expense and trouble of such preparation at each camp. He further requests that you prepare for his examination a report as to what further arrangements are necessary to be made for the accommodation at that point of at least 300 prisoners. Report the number for which you at present have prison room and the facilities generally, [illegible] together with an estimate of the proposed expense of this. It is necessary that you immediately comply with these instructions, as Camp Chase has already its full complement. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. M. LAZELLE, Captain, Eighth Infantry, U. S. Army. OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS, Capt. H. W. FREEDLEY, Detroit, Mich., July 20, 1862. Third Infantry, U. S. Army, Springfield, Il. CAPTAIN: Your letter of July 11 [18] in which you state that your orders have been fulfilled, as far as circumstances will permit, and your [request for] instructions to return to this point has been received. In reply I am directed by the commissary-general to inform you that you will remain at Camp Butler until all instructions which you may have received are completely put in force and carried out minutely in daily practice under your immediate supervision by the commanding officer at that place, and that they be so fully understood by him that further instructions to him from this office regarding the regulation of matters appertaining to the prisoners as detailed to you will be unnecessary, as it is not sufficient in these cases simply to give orders but to see them carefully executed. You are desired especially to attend to all forms of official papers and to see [that] the details relating to military prisoners and to the manner of reporting citizens are particularly attended to and in a proper manner. The commissary-general further directs the purchase by you of six Farmer's boilers, barrel sizes (40 gallons), of the new pattern. These are completely enveloped by the fire and set down into the heat as far as the upper flange in a similar manner that the heater of a common glue pot receives the inner vessel of fluid. He requests you to have them put into daily use and he expects as a result a corresponding economy of fuel. They will be purchased by the quartermaster, who will have them prepared, but he will suspend operations [as to] the use of the same for the present, as it is expected that they may be paid for by the prisoners' fund accumulating from the savings. This same plan will be adopted by the quartermaster in the purchase by the quartermaster of all articles for the use of the prisoners and those ordered by you to be purchased by him, as it is desirable that all such expenditures should be covered in this manner. All expenditures ordered by you will be made by the quartermaster in town, as the placing of money [in] the hands of inexperienced or irresponsible volunteer officers is, as far as possible, to be avoided. Having particularly performed this duty you will proceed to Alton, Ill., and by conferring with Major Flint, the commanding officer at that point, you will ascertain what further instructions and explanations are necessary to completely carry out the views of the commissary-general, and so far as you have been authorized you will give them. The only particular suggested by the commissary-general is the introduction of Farmer's boilers at that place, to which you will attend. With much respect, I am, captain, your obedient servant, H. M. LAZELLE, Captain, Eighth Infantry. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, July 21, 1862. His Excellency DAVID TOD, Governor of Ohio. SIR: Yours of the 14th instant was duly received and at once laid before the Secretary of War. He said in reply that arrangements were about to be made for a general exchange of prisoners, which if done would obviate the necessity of a new prison at Columbus. Should the arrangement fail I will call his attention to the subject again. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, C. P. WOLCOTT, Assistant Secretary of War. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, July 21, 1862. Hon. JAMES W. GRIMES, Senate. SIR: The Secretary of War directs me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 6th instant inclosing a communication from His Excellency Governor Kirkwood, covering one from J. B. Dorr, quartermaster of the Twelfth Regiment Iowa Volunteers, with regard to 1,450 soldiers of Iowa regiments, paroled prisoners of war, and 250 officers now confined at Selma, Ala., and in reply to say that the Department is making every effort for a general exchange of all prisoners of war and has now strong hopes of its early accomplishment. Inclosed please find a copy of General Orders, No. 72,* regarding paroled prisoners, &c. I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, SECRETARY OF WAR: C. P. WOLCOTT, Assistant Secretary of War. CLINTON, IOWA, July 21, 1862. Will not Iowa soldiers of the Eighth, Twelfth, Fourteenth and Sixteenth Iowa sent home on parole be furloughed until exchanged? Was this not by officers commanding below Saint Louis? Who has a right to detail them for further service? Was not the detail for relief of the Twenty-third Missouri a violation of their parole? SECRETARY OF WAR: N. B. BAKER, Adjutant-General of Iowa. CLINTON, IOWA, July 21, 1862. I object to Iowa soldiers who are on parole doing anything which by implication or indirection may make them violate that parole. Most *Omitted here; see p. 94. of these men are at Benton Barracks and should be furloughed to their homes until exchanged. They are as brave and willing men as ever lived. They have proved what they are. They understand their parole prohibits any service. Should you put them in service for the relief of the Twenty-third Missouri and put muskets in their hands? Do not allow punishment to brave and gallant men who have done their duty. N. B. BAKER, Adjutant-General of Iowa. General L. THOMAS, HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Adjutant-General of the Army, Washington, D. C. GENERAL: I have the honor herewith to transmit lists* of certain of our wounded taken prisoners in the recent battles and who have been released on parole. I shall send to City Point to-morrow for another party of our wounded. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, [GEO. B. MCCLELLAN,] Major-General, Commanding. July 21, 1862. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, Maj. Gen. G. B. MCCLELLAN, I have Commanding Army of the Potomac. GENERAL: It has come to my knowledge that many of our citizens engaged in peaceful avocations have been arrested and imprisoned because they have refused to take the oath of allegiance to the United States, while others by hard and harsh treatment have been compelled to take an oath not to bear arms against that Government. learned that about 100 of the latter class have been released from Fortress Monroe. This Government refuses to admit the right of the authorities of the United States to arrest our citizens and extort from them their parole not to render military service to their country under the penalty of incurring punishment in case they fall into the hands of your forces. I am directed by the Secretary of War to inform you that such oaths will not be regarded as obligatory and persons who take them will be required to render military service. Should your Government treat the rendition of such service by these persons as a breach of parole and punish it accordingly this Government will resort to retaliatory measures as the only means of compelling the observance of the rules of civilized warfare. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF EAST TENNESSEE, Brig. Gen. G. W. MORGAN, Knoxville, July 21, 1862. Commanding U. S. Forces, Cumberland Gap. GENERAL: Inclosed you will find a list of prisoners of war, paroled by my order, and to-day directed to be sent within your lines. Accom * Omitted. + Nominal list of 130 names omitted. panying the detachment are two officers of the medical staff in your service. They are released as non-combatants, in compliance with existing orders from my Government. Your communication of the 5th instant sent under flag of truce would have been acknowledged by me, but I have been absent some time sick and have just returned to duty in the department. I will give its subject my immediate attention, and in acknowledging your courtesy, general, subscribe myself, with feelings of respect, Your most obedient servant, Col. WILLIAM HOFFMAN, E. KIRBY SMITH, Major-General, Commanding. QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Commissary-General of Prisoners, Detroit, Mich. COLONEL: The articles specified in your requisition of the 7th instant for issue to prisoners of war at Fort Delaware have this day been ordered from the depot in this city to Capt. A. A. Gibson, commanding Fort Delaware. By order of the Quartermaster-General: General L. THOMAS: ALEX. J. PERRY, DETROIT, July 21, 1862. One hundred and three prisoners escaped from Camp Douglas and forty-three from Camp Butler. I leave for Washington to-day. W. HOFFMAN, Commissary-General of Prisoners. HEADQUARTERS, Camp Douglas, Chicago, July 21, 1862. Col. WILLIAM HOFFMAN, Commissary-General of Prisoners, Detroit, Mich. COLONEL: I have the honor to forward the following papers, viz: 1. Letter from Captain Potter, assistant quartermaster, Chicago, Ill., requesting copy of your order to send rebel commissioned officers to Sandusky. Indorsed July 19, 1862, asking information. 2. Report of Post Surgeon McVickar on sanitary condition of the camp and employment of another contract physician. Indorsed July 16, 1862: Approved and referred. 3. Certificate of post surgeon recommending parole of Thomas Coulter, Company D, Forty-ninth Tennessee, on account of ill-health. Indorsed July 20, 1862: Approved and referred. 4. Petition of N. M. D. Kemp and others regarding certain prisoners of war, referred by General Halleck to commanding officer Camp Douglas, July 15, 1862. Indorsed: Release of Drake and Hail recommended, July 20, 1862. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOSEPH H. TUCKER, Colonel Sixty-ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, Comdg. Post. *Not found. |