within our lines while they do not claim to have been forced to take up arms, yet profess to be tired of the rebellion now and desire to return to their loyalty and their homes. I would be grateful to have information which will enable me to make the proper answers to these numerous inquiries and to know whether time will be allowed to those whose cases I have described to substantiate their statements. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOSEPH H. TUCKER, Colonel Sixty-ninth Regt. Illinois Vols., Comdg. Post. CAMP CHASE, Columbus, Ohio, July 30, 1862. Col. WILLIAM HOFFMAN, Third Infantry, U. S. Army, Commissary-General of Prisoners. COLONEL: I have the honor to inform you that on the day of my arrival at this place I directed Mr. Stirling to telegraph to Captain Freedley to whatever point he might be that he should await instructions at Alton, Ill. I did this that he should not fail to receive at that place your orders to him given by you to me and mailed to him on the evening of the day of my arrival here, directed to Alton. After the telegram had been sent I feared that he would misinterpret it to mean that he should at once proceed to Alton, and acting on this would not receive at Springfield the instructions sent to him at that point on the 20th instant from your office relative to his duties at Alton. I consequently wrote to the commanding officer at Springfield that he should send to Captain Freedley all official communications without delay in case he had gone to Alton. I have no doubt but that through these means his instructions have all reached him. I have informed the Governor of your wish relative to recalling of all paroles given to prisoners allowing them the limits of the city of Columbus. He has not yet acted upon it. I inclose the corrected return of prisoners for June, 1862, which I believe is now correct. I am, colonel, with the highest respect, your obedient servant, FREDERICKSBURG, July 30, 1862. SECRETARY OF WAR: I have in my possession the most positive proof that M. Slaughter, of this place, is the channel through which the Confederate mail reaches Richmond. Other charges of the most outrageous character can be proven. He is a dangerous man to be at liberty at this time and place. Shall I arrest him? L. C. BAKER. FORT DELAWARE, July 30, 1862. Brig. Gen. L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General U. S. Army. SIR: I have the honor to state for Brigadier-General Pettigrew, C. S. Army, prisoner of war, that in consequence of a wound in the shoulder his right arm has become paralyzed. He requests that you permit him to go to Baltimore on parole to have the advantage of the application *Not found. of a galvanic battery to it, promising to report at Fortress Monroe at such time as you may designate. Being unable to go unattended he desires that I be permitted to accompany him on a similar parole. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. BARROLL WASHINGTON, First Lieut. and Aide-de-Camp, C. S. Army, Prisoner of War. [Indorsement.] This application cannot be granted. JULY 30, 1862. L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, July 31, 1862. L. C. BAKER, Police Agent, &c., Fredericksburg, Va.: General King has received instructions to arrest Slaughter if the information you send is correct. See General King and give him the necessary information. General R. E. LEE, P. H. WATSON, Assistant Secretary of War. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, July 31, 1862. Commanding Department of Northern Virginia. GENERAL: I have the honor to inform you that I have been apprised that the prisoners of war in our hands confined at Fort Warren will leave that place to-day for the James River on the steamer Ocean Queen. The prisoners from Fort Delaware are expected here within a day or two. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, [GEO. B. MCCLELLAN,] FORT DELAWARE, July 31, 1862. Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War, Washington: The prisoners of war are being embarked and two of the steamers will be ready this evening but may not sail before early to-morrow. The Atlantic had to go to Philadelphia for coal and may not return to the fort before night. Everything, however, is in readiness. Upward of 3,000 will be embarked. I leave 40 sick and 301 who will take the oath of allegiance. I found it necessary to separate the latter from the rebels. A number of them say they would be shot if exchanged. A number of them desire to enter our service. I shall take the little steamer, Henry Burden, which can be spared, and she will be very useful to me on the James River. L. THOMAS, FORT DELAWARE, July 31, 1862. Maj. Gen. JOHN A. DIX, Commanding, &c. GENERAL: On the arrival of the steamer Atlantic you are requested to have the prisoners of war, some 1,200, transferred to vessel of lighter draft to proceed up the James River. I leave this place some time to-morrow. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, July 31, 1862. Major-General DIx, Fort Monroe: (For Adjutant-General Thomas.) Henry Myers, paymaster of rebel steamer Sumter, was sent with prisoners of war from Boston. Secretary of State says: "Though not properly a prisoner of war question had better not be raised and let him be exchanged." I have sent you rolls from Delaware and this city yesterday and from Sandusky, Camp Morton, Fort Columbus, Saint Louis and Fort Warren to-day. E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General. HEADQUARTERS, Fort Monroe, Va., July 31, 1862. Brig. Gen. J. K. F. MANSFIELD, Commanding at Suffolk, Va. GENERAL: There are no Springfield rifled muskets at this post and I doubt very much whether there are any at Washington. There is nothing here but Austrian rifles and our own smooth-bores. I do not think the oath of allegiance should be exacted from the people living in Suffolk or in the surrounding country. Our hold upon it, considering the very large force which the enemy has at Richmond and at Petersburg, must be regarded as uncertain and precarious. If we should be compelled to retire the persons who took the oath of allegiance would be subject to persecution by the insurgents and would very likely be stripped of their property. They certainly would if the oath were voluntarily given, and if it were extorted from them it would not be considered as binding. I think therefore it should not be exacted except from persons exercising official trusts. If private citizens misbehave themselves they should be punished by imprisonment and if suspected of disloyalty they should be compelled to give their parole of honor not to render aid or comfort or furnish information to the enemy during the continuance of the war. I consulted General Halleck on the subject when he was here a few days ago and he concurs with me fully. It is unnecessary to add that if a parole is given and violated the punishment shall be exemplary. I have asked for a regiment of cavalry for you and I shall continue to urge the application until it is granted. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOHN A. DIX, Major-General, Commanding. SPECIAL ORDERS, Į HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, It having come to the knowledge of the commanding general that the Commercial Bulletin newspaper was conducted by Captain Seymour, a paroled prisoner of war, such parole is hereby revoked and Captain Seymour is to be kept at Fort Jackson as a prisoner of war. By order of Major-General Butler: R. S. DAVIS, Captain and Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DISTRICT, Maj. Gen. S. R. CURTIS, Commanding U. S. Forces, Helena, Ark. GENERAL: I send to your lines under flag of truce a number of prisoners of whom a list is inclosed. You will please indorse your receipt thereon and return the same. have directed that prisoners held by my officers at other points be sent in the same way to the nearest Federal commander. The same course will be adopted by me as to prisoners sent to my lines from your army. It is a mistake to rank Capt. Joseph Fry as "colonel." We have no officers of that title in our Navy. If any communication from me found with him when captured has that address it was the mistake of a clerk or telegraphic operator. It is not even correct to style him "captain,” except that the ordinary usages in similar cases justify it. His true rank is that of first lieutenant, C. S. Navy. He commanded the gunboat Maurepas and hence derived the title of captain without the rank. I propose the exchange of your Capt. Joseph Indest, Third Regiment Missouri Infantry, for Lieutenant Fry, which is in exact accordance with the scale of exchanges in such cases as I understand. To effect this exchange Capt. Joseph Indest is paroled for twenty days from the time when he reaches your lines. If at the end of that time Lieutenant Fry is not released and granted safe conduct to me Captain Indest is to return himself as a prisoner. I beg again to call your attention to the excess of prisoners released by General Van Dorn, as he thinks, over the number released by you, and ask that you make up the deficit, if any. Your attention is also called to the reports which come to me directly and from innumerable sources of great atrocities committed by your troops on their march to Helena and since, such as the burning of houses, robbing women and children of their clothing, bedding and last pound of meat and breadstuffs; taking medicines from planters and practicing physicians; in some cases offering personal violence to females even to the horrible extent of ravishing them. These are crimes against humanity and civilization. If you doubt that they have been perpetrated I propose to you a joint commission to proceed under flag of truce to places which I will indicate and thereby get all the facts. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, [Indorsement.] HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF SOUTHERN MISSOURI, Helena, Ark., August 5, 1862. Respectfully referred to department headquarters by the hands of Captain Indest. The flag-of-truce bearer has been sent home without * Omitted. reply except a verbal message requesting General Hindman not to send so many flags of truce. The list of prisoners has been receipted, copy kept here, and they returned to duty, not having been paroled. By order of Major-General Curtis: H. Z. CURTIS, Assistant Adjutant-General. OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS, General L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General U. S. Army, Washington, D. C. GENERAL: I have the honor to inclose herewith a report of Maj. F. F. Flint concerning the escape of thirty-six prisoners of war from the military prison at Alton, Ill. Nothing is said to show that all proper precautions were taken to discover the preparation of the means of escape, nor is it explained how so many men could pass so near the sentinel without detection. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. HOFFMAN, Colonel Third Infantry, Commissary-General of Prisoners. [First indorsement.] AUGUST 9, 1862. The escape of these prisoners was the result I think of carelessness. I advise that a court of inquiry be ordered. None but the President can order it. H. W. HALLECK,. [Second indorsement.] AUGUST 20, 1862. ADJUTANT-GENERAL: A court of inquiry is directed by order of the President. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. [Inclosure.] Col. WILLIAM HOFFMAN, HEADQUARTERS, Alton, Ill., July 26, 1862. Commissary-General of Prisoners, Detroit, Mich. SIR: I regret to report the escape of some thirty-six prisoners from this prison last night. They effected their escape through a hole or long trench dug under the wall on the west side and coming to the surface some six or eight feet from it and not far from the end of the sentinel's post. The hole was first discovered by the sentinel at daylight. A thorough examination was made of the interior of the prison to find the opening on the inside. No place in the vicinity of the wall could be found. At length upon examining the interior of the buildings, sheds, &c., the opening was discovered on top of an old pile of brick masonry, some twenty inches or two feet beneath the roof of the shed, which has been used as a wash-house by the prisoners. There was no dirt or other indications of the digging visible on entering the shed, and the hole was found by climbing upon the masonry, where the dirt was packed away closely between the top and the roof of the shed. |
