PROVOST-MARSHAL'S OFFICE, Waynesville, Mo., August 30, 1862. General SCHOFIELD, Saint Louis, Mo. GENERAL: I feel that duties bind me to report to you some of the acts and orders executed by my superior regimental officers but wish to do it with all respect due them; yet I must condemn the act as one diabolical, inhuman and unsoldierlike, which I feel assured you will condemn in the same spirit. On the evening of the 29th instant a messenger came to my office and informed me that some 300 rebels, under command of Col. Robert R. Lawther, of Jefferson City, were making their [way] to North Missouri. I immediately notified the fact to Col. A. Sigel, commanding this post, when he ordered out all the available force at his command. Our pickets fired on them about six miles west of this post on the Springfield road. Our command captured two prisoners and they were turned over to me at this post as provost-marshal. They were young men (John M. Meadows and G. B. Blakely) who had been in the service ever since the commencement of this rebellion. They surrendered to our command and were properly brought in and turned over to me as prisoners of war and placed under guard in the guard-house. Afterwards in the hours of the next night they were by the orders of Colonel Sigel taken from the guard-house without my knowledge or consent and escorted to the woods where they were most inhumanly murdered and butchered, and half covered up and left to the mercy of the brute creation. General, I know that we have orders from you to take no prisoners (which I heartily approve), but the spot where they are taken in my judgment is the place where you intended to have them executed; not after being placed under guard, then without judge or jury courtmartial or any form of trial taken forcibly from the guard-tent and mercilessly murdered. To be done in such a manner is uncivilized and unsoldierlike. General, as all know that it will advance the cause in this part of the State to have such a policy cease and have this case investigated I have merely attempted to do my duty in stating this case. I merely speak for myself; others condemn it as severely as I do—that is, all the regiment. I am, your most obedient servant, JOSEPH B. REAVIS, Captain and Provost-Marshal, Post Waynesville, Mo. Mrs. TYLER: HEADQUARTERS, Fort Monroe, Va., August 31, 1862. The correspondence between General McClellan, Commodore Wilkes and yourself having been referred to me I will direct Captain Barstow, one of my aides-de-camp, who goes to Aiken's Landing this morning with a flag of truce to leave this note and call for you to-morrow. As the steamer is greatly needed here I must ask you to be ready at the dock for her return. She may be there quite early. It will afford me pleasure to facilitate your journey North from this point. I am, very respectfully, yours, [JOHN A. DIX,] Major-General. OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS, General L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General U. S. Army, Washington, D. C. GENERAL: I am informed by General Willcox that there are a number of political prisoners at Salisbury, N. C., who are very anxious to be exchanged for rebel prisoners that we have of the same character. Among these men there are many of high respectability and position from Virginia, Kentucky and other border States who are staunch Union men who have made great sacrifices for the cause in consequence of which they are treated with much severity. Under these circumstances it would seem to be only justice to them and to the interest of the Union cause that immediate arrangements should be made for their exchange, We have in our possession political prisoners and camp followers who might be singled out for such an exchange. The loyalty of persons in Southern States should not be the cause of loss and suffering to them when it is in our power to shield them. I learn also from the general that a number of our people were released from confinement at Richmond in May last who would return to the service and make efficient soldiers if they can be exchanged and notified of the fact. Capt. E. D. Phillips, First Infantry, just from West Point, informs [me] that First Lieut. J.W. Adams, Fourth Infantry, now at West Point, N. Y., wounded, has been exchanged three times, once by himself, once with others for a major and again with others for a colonel. He informs me also that First Lieutenant Steen, formerly of the Third Infantry, who resigned April 1, 1861, has been exchanged for a rebel officer. I think it proper to mention these reports to you without being able to vouch for their accuracy that if they be true you may take such steps in the matter as you think proper. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. HOFFMAN, Colonel Third Infantry, Commissary-General of Prisoners. IOWA CITY, Iowa, August 31, 1862. Col. E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General. DEAR SIR: Governor Kirkwood desires me to call the attention of the Adjutant-General to my status as a prisoner of war. You will doubtless remember me as one of three officers who were sent to Washington to secure a general exchange of prisoners and ordered to report to the commanding officer at Saint Louis. I was taken prisoner at the battle of Shiloh on the 6th of last April with Brigadier-General Prentiss and paroled for the purpose stated on the 30th day of May. My parole continues until I am exchanged and therefore I can do no service until then. The Governor has appointed me colonel, or will as soon as I am exchanged, of the Twenty-second Regiment from this State. This appointment has been approved by the Secretary of War and I am waiting to be exchanged in order that I may take command of my regiment. The regiment has been mustered into the service and is armed and equipped ready for the field. At the time I was taken prisoner I was major of the Third Iowa Infantry. I desire my name sent forward for exchange as soon as possible that I may go into the service. All that is necessary is to send some Confederate officer of my rank, or the number of equivalents according to the existing cartel, to the lines in exchange for me. As I am here nothing more will be needed in the way of actual delivery. I address this to you, colonel, as I have met you and have some acquaintance with you and believe you will do all you can to aid me in this matter. The early attention of the department to it will be a great favor to me and my regiment. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. M. STONE, Major Third Iowa Infantry. COLE'S BRIDGE, IRON MOUNTAIN RAILROAD, Col. A. H. POTEN, August 31, 1862. Comdg. Fifth Regt. Infty. Missouri Vols., Sulphur Springs, Mo. COLONEL: I have the honor to report to you the following about an expedition sent out by Capt. B. Essroger, under my command, consisting of twenty men, mounted infantry. My order received from Captain Essroger was to proceed to the residence of Mr. Joseph Bass, on Indian Creek, where he was told that the notorious murderer, Rufus Hopkins, was residing; to arrest both Joseph Bass and Rufus Hopkins and to shoot the said Hopkins. Therefore I left Deok Bridge at 9 o'clock p. m. on the 29th instant; went over the Old Mine and Fourche à Renault to the place designated to me where I arrived at 6 a. m. on the 30th instant. On my demand Mr. Joseph Bass delivered himself quietly, and inquiring of him about Rufus Hopkins he assured me where he could be found. A sergeant and eight men sent out from Bass' place after him met him on the road, took him prisoner and brought him to me. I gave the prisoner Hopkins in charge of Corporal Stolz and Privates Pfluge and Kreichauf, with the order to follow the detachment at the distance of half a mile and to shoot the said Hopkins. This order was executed about a mile from Bass' place, near Indian Creek. The corporal with the two men on their way to join the detachment again were fired at from the bushes. I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant, WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Col. PERCY WYNDHAM, Washington, September 1, 1862. First New Jersey Cavalry, Army of Virginia, Centerville. SIR: Since the return of Brigadier-General Thomas I have been informed by him that you were not exchanged as was supposed. I have just learned you were with your regiment on duty. I am, sir, &c., GENERAL ORDERS, No. 30. W. A. Van Nostrand, city marshal of Baltimore, is this day appointed civil provost-marshal for the Eighth Army Corps, Middle Department, subject only to the orders of the commanding general. As provost-marshal he will have charge of all political prisoners arrested or confined until disposed of by order of the commanding general, to whom the marshal will report daily all prisoners arrested, with the charges and specifications against them. As many persons have been arrested and confined upon frivolous charges and others upon rumor or suspicion, no citizen or other person not a soldier within the limits of this department will hereafter be arrested or confined upon charges of disloyalty or treasonable practices unless the charges and specifications shall have first been submitted in writing to the provost-marshal, setting forth in what respect and at what time he may have been disloyal or guilty of treasonable practices, and the truth of which attested under the solemnity of an oath by the person preferring them, and no such accused person or prisoner in this department will be held by any provost-marshal, civil or military, or commandant of post under the control of the commanding general, until after the charges as above described and attested shall have been transmitted to him for his action and orders in the case. The military and civil provost-marshals will actively and vigilantly co-operate in preserving the peace and order of the city under special instructions to be given from time to time by the commanding general. The duties of the first will in general be limited to the military stationed in and about Baltimore, and of the second to civil persons, but both will aid each other when necessary in the discharge of the duties required of them. JOHN E. WOOL, Major-General, Commanding. HEADQUARTERS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT, Maj. Gen. S. R. CURTIS, Little Rock, Ark., September 1, 1862. Commanding U. S. Forces, Helena, Ark. GENERAL: I have to acknowledge the receipt of thirty-one Confederate prisoners sent by you in exchange for others of your own heretofore sent by General Hindman to you. I cannot now determine the true balance not being accurately informed as to the number of your deficiency on the Pea Ridge exchange. I send now to you for exchange three others, equivalent to -, according to the scale. No complaint has been made of your treatment of men taken in arms, and if there were any such fighting on their individual account I ask no extenuation of your wrath for them, though there is no doubt that they were not only cases of rare occurrence but were induced by the brutal outrages perpetrated by your troops on their families and friends. I solemnly warn you against this vandal warfare and the danger of justifying a sweeping devastation by individual acts induced by being goaded to desperation. The cases of the two men in my custody mentioned by Captain Noble shall be investigated, as shall also the case of the soldier Sheppard, said to have been killed by Captain Anderson's company, if I can procure any specification on which to base an inquiry. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, [Indorsement.] KEOKUK, IOWA, September 16, 1862. Respectfully forwarded to Major-General Halleck. General Holmes on paper seems very reasonable, but to Captain Noble* who bore my dispatches he expressed very sad conceptions of me. S. R. CURTIS, Major-General. HDQRS. FIRT DIVISION, DEPT. OF EAST TENNESSEE, Brig. Gen. G. W. MORGAN, Commanding U. S. Forces, Cumberland Gap. GENERAL: On the 15th of August I exchanged 34 prisoners, equivalent to 51 privates, for 11, equivalent to 25, and 18 privates; total, 43. The eighteen privates had been exchanged by authorized agents of our Governments the day previous (see orders from the War Department, C. S., herewith inclosed).† You will perceive, general, from the papers herewith inclosed that there was an error in the transaction against the Confederate States of twenty-six privates occasioned by the previous exchange of the eighteen paroled by you on the 23d of July and the error in value of the noncommissioned officers. To correct this and dispose of the prisoners properly I propose that those named in list A be exchanged for an equivalent in list B, to take effect from the dates set opposite their names respectively, the surplus to be paroled until properly exchanged. The two wounded men were not exchanged or paroled on the 15th of August as they could not be removed. The sergeant-major has since been paroled and both of them will be delivered to you as soon as they can be transported. You will find from their signatures herewith transmitted that John W. McLaughlin and Barney Shelts were paroled and not exchanged, and John M. Snider and Silas Uhl were exchanged and not paroled, as supposed by you. I hold two prisoners taken in the act of bushwhacking, and A. I. Bunch selected on the 15th of August at Tazewell as a hostage for Parkey held by you. I propose to exchange either of them for Mr. Parkey. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF ARIZONA, COMMANDER OF THE C. S. TROOPS, San Antonio, Tex. SIR: I found on my arrival here some twenty-odd sick and disabled soldiers of the C. S. Army whom I was ordered by General Canby, commanding the Department of New Mexico, to make prisoners of war. These men at their earnest solicitation I send to San Antonio on their parole. They have been furnished with rations of subsistence for forty days and with such medicines and hospital stores as were necessary for them for the road. I have also furnished two wagons for the transportation of those who are unable to walk, and I have sent an escort of *See Noble's report of his mission, September 5, p. 492. + Not found. |