Mine is not an individual case as there are others in the same predicament. I trust that you will take this affair under consideration and make Lieutenant Wood give an account of dealings with me. Yours, respectfully, B. W. SANDERS. WASHINGTON, D. C., August 2, 1862. His Excellency ANDREW JOHNSON, Governor of Tennessee, Nashville : The following dispatch just received from the custodian of the prisoners at Indianapolis, viz: Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War: There are at Camp Morton from 1,000 to 1,200 prisoners who want to take the oath of allegiance and protest against being exchanged. What rule will be adopted in their case? They are principally Tennesseeans. JAS. A. EKIN, Assistant Quartermaster. In the temporary absence of the Secretary of War I take the liberty of inquiring what course you advise in regard to these prisoners. P. H. WATSON, Assistant Secretary of War. WASHINGTON, D. C., August 2, 1862. Governor TOD, Columbus, Ohio: C. P. WOLCOTT, Assistant Secretary of War. HEADQUARTERS C. S. ARMY, Near Richmond, Va., August 2, 1862. GENERAL COMMANDING U. S. ARMY, Washington. GENERAL: On the 29th of June last I was instructed by the Secretary of War to inquire* of Major-General McClellan as to the truth of alleged murders committed on our citizens by officers of the U. S. Army. The cases of William B. Mumford, reported to have been murdered at New Orleans by order of Maj. Gen. B. F. Butler, and Col. John L. Owen, reported to have been murdered in Missouri by order of Major-General Pope, were those referred to. I have the honor to be informed by Major-General McClellan that he had referred these inquiries to his Government for a reply. No answer has as yet been received. The President of the Confederate States has since been credibly informed that numerous other officers of the Army of the United States within the Confederacy have been guilty of felonies and capital offenses which are punishable by all laws human and divine. I am directed by him to bring to your notice a few of these best authenticated. Newspapers received from the United States announce as a fact that Major-General Hunter has armed slaves for the murder * See p. 134. of their masters, and has thus done all in his power to inaugurate a servile war, which is worse than that of the savage, inasmuch as it superadds other horrors to the indiscriminate slaughter of all ages, sexes and conditions. Brigadier-General Phelps is reported to have initiated at New Orleans the example set by Major-General Hunter on the coast of South Carolina. Brig. Gen. G. N. Fitch* is stated in the same journals to have murdered in cold blood two peaceful citizens because one of his men while invading our country was killed by some unknown person while defending his home. I am instructed by the President of the Confederate States to repeat the inquiry relative to the cases of Mumford and Owen and to ask whether the statements in relation to the action of Generals Hunter, Phelps and Fitch are admitted to be true, and whether the conduct of these generals is sanctioned by their Government. I am further directed by His Excellency the President to give notice that in the event of not receiving a reply to these inquiries within fifteen days. from the delivery of this letter that it will be assumed that the alleged facts are true and are sanctioned by the Government of the United States. In such event on that Government will rest the responsibility for retaliatory measures which shall be adopted to put an end to the merciless atrocities which now characterize the war waged against the Confederate States. I am, most respectfully, your obedient servant, R. E. LEE, General, Commanding. HEADQUARTERS C. S. ARMY, Near Richmond, Va., August 2, 1862. GENERAL COMMANDING U. S. ARMY, Washington. GENERAL: In obedience to the order of His Excellency the President of the Confederate States I have the honor to make to you the following communication: On the 22d of July last a cartel for a general exchange of prisoners of war was signed by Maj. Gen. John A. Dix on behalf of the United States and by Maj. Gen. D. H. Hill on the part of this Government. By the terms of that cartel it is stipulated that all prisoners of war hereafter taken shall be discharged on parole until exchanged. Scarcely had the cartel been signed when the military authorities of the United States commenced a practice changing the character of the war from such as becomes civilized nations into a campaign of indiscriminate robbery and murder. A general order issued by the Secretary of War of the United States in the city of Washington on the very day that the cartel was signed in Virginia directs the military commanders of the United States to take the property of our people for the convenience and use of the Army without compensation. A general order issued by Major-General Pope on the 23d of July last, the day after the date of the cartel, directs the murder of our peaceful citizens as spies if found quietly tilling their farms in his rear, even outside of his lines. And one of his brigadier-generals, Steinwehr, has seized innocent and peaceful inhabitants to be held as hostages to the end that they may be murdered in cold blood if any of his soldiers are killed by some unknown persons whom he designated as "bushwhackers." * See Fitch to Halleck, August 22, p. 419. Some of the military authorities seem to suppose that their end will be better attained by a savage war in which no quarter is to be given, and no age or sex to be spared, than by such hostilities as are alone recognized to be lawful in modern times. We find ourselves driven by our enemies by steady progress toward a practice which we abhor and which we are vainly struggling to avoid. Under these circumstances this Government has issued the accompanying general order* which I am directed by the President to transmit to you recognizing Major-General Pope and his commissioned officers to be in the position which they have chosen for themselves, that of robbers and murderers, and not that of public enemies entitled if captured to be treated as prisoners of war. The President also instructs me to inform you that we renounce our right of retaliation on the innocent and will continue to treat the private enlisted soldier of General Pope's army as prisoners of war, but if after notice to your Government that we confine repressive measures to the punishment of commissioned officers who are willing participants in these crimes the savage practices threatened in the orders alluded to be persisted in, we shall reluctantly be forced to the last resort of accepting the war on the terms chosen by our enemies until the voice of an outraged humanity shall compel a respect for the recognized usages of war. While the President considers that the fact referred to would justify a refusal on our part to execute the cartel by which we have agreed to liberate an excess of prisoners of war in our hands, a sacred regard for plighted faith which shrinks from the semblance of breaking a promise precludes a resort to such an extremity. Nor is it his desire to extend to any other forces of the United States the punishment merited by General Pope and such commissioned officers as choose to participate in the execution of his infamous order. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Brig. Gen. L. THOMAS, HEADQUARTERS EIGHTH ARMY CORPS, Adjutant-General U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.: The accommodations at Fort McHenry are altogether too limited for the number of political prisoners and prisoners of war now confined there. I request that fifteen of them be ordered to be removed to Fort Lafayette. [JOHN E. WOOL,] Major-General. Hon. E. M. STANTON: FORT MONROE, August 2, 1862. General Thomas has arrived with 2,200 prisoners of war from Fort Delaware. Eight hundred more are expected to-night. He has received your dispatch in relation to General Prentiss. Col. E. D. TOWNSEND, FORT MONROE, VA., August 2, 1862. Assistant Adjutant-General, Washington, D. C. : I return the rolls of prisoners of war sent me at Johnson's Island, Saint Louis and Camp Morton, which I shall not require, as the prisoners from those places will be sent down the Mississippi. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, P. S.-I arrive at 11 a. m. to-day. L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General. OFFICE COMMISSARY GENERAL OF PRISONERS, General W. S. KETCHUM, Detroit, Mich., August 2, 1862. Asst. Insp. Gen., Hdqrs. Dept. of the Miss., Saint Louis, Mo. GENERAL: I am informed by Colonel Kelton, assistant adjutantgeneral, that there are in your office lists of all prisoners of war captured by the armies under General Halleck and paroled and as an exchange of prisoners is expected to take place immediately I have to request that you will cause a roll of all such prisoners to be prepared as soon as practicable to be used in making the exchange. The roll should be arranged alphabetically by company, and should show the rank, regiment and company of each person and where and when taken. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. HOFFMAN, Colonel Third Infantry, Commissary-General of Prisoners. INDIANAPOLIS, IND., August 2, 1862. Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War: They are principally JAS. A. EKIN, Assistant Quartermaster. ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Lieutenant-Colonel HOFFMAN, U. S. Army. DEAR SIR: Will you please inform us if in your ability the probable date when we may be relieved from guarding the prisoners? Much has been said about their exchange, and you have I learn ordered rolls to be prepared immediately, yet I have had no intimation of the time when they would probably be discharged. My aim in writing is to ascertain that fact so that we may have the proper force here to guard them, two-thirds of the present guard being State militia called here July 17 for thirty days, who will want to return to their homes at the expiration of that time. Yours, respectfully, LAZ. NOBLE, ASSISTANT QUARTERMASTER'S OFFICE, Col. WILLIAM HOFFMAN, Commissary-General of Prisoners, Detroit, Mich. COLONEL: The requisition of Major Fonda for clothing for the prisoners at Camp Butler I have not been able to fill except partially, and that by ordering the assistant quartermaster at Springfield to issue such informal clothing as he happened to have. I now need for issue here at Camp Douglas 3,000 coats, 3,000 pants, 3,000 shirts, 3,000 hats and 3,000 pairs of shoes. As I am not allowed to issue regulation supplies will you allow me to purchase or will you make requisition on the proper officer for the necessary supplies? They are very much needed now. Yours, respectfully, Adjutant-General THOMAS. J. A. POTTER, Assistant Quartermaster, U. S. Army. FORT MONROE, July [August] 2, 1862. GENERAL: I went to Savage Station, near Richmond, on the 24th of June, having under my direction a party of volunteer nurses and some medical and hospital stores sent by the citizens of Pittsburg to be distributed among the sick and wounded soldiers whose sufferings we desired to alleviate. Our labors began as soon as we arrived and when the army retreated the number of wounded men needing aid was so largely increased and the supply of attendants so inadequate I decided to remain with them, although certain to become with them prisoners. Eleven of my party made the same choice. The Confederates took possession of the hospital Monday, 30th [June]. On that morning I addressed a note to General Magruder [inclosed] reporting our names and status and asking that he would if possible arrange so that we could return home when the wounded no longer seemed to require our services, or at least that we should be considered as surgeons. General Magruder returned the note with an indorsement that Mr. Brunot and his party were to be treated as surgeons, subject, however, to the restriction that they should not leave the lines without a pass from General Lee. We were suffered to continue at Savage Station until the 8th of July and on that day taken to Richmond as the prisoners of General Winder, the provost-marshal. A few days after we were placed in the Libby Hospital Prison I was sent for by the authorities and offered a parole on the conditions of the order of the Confederate Secretary of War, a copy of which accompanies this. Secretary Stanton, in view of the fact that we were persons engaged in acts of humanity as were the surgeons and especially that we were no part of the army organization nor in Government employ, &c., holds the opinion that we should not be detained or any exchange demanded, and that the Confederate Government will recognize the correctness of his position and free us at once. He therefore declined to consider the case of the parties asked to be released for us. In the meantime my parole expires on Monday, the 4th instant. I respectfully ask you to furnish me such facilities of transportation as *Not found. |