Page images
PDF
EPUB

Knights of the Golden Circle is regarded as a traitorous and dangerous one and your action in relation thereto is highly approved. By order of the Secretary of War:

L. C. TURNER,

Judge-Advocate.

Colonel HOFFMAN.

HEADQUARTERS, Camp Chase, September 27, 1862.

COLONEL: I have respectfully to inform you that by orders from the adjutant-general of Ohio I assumed command of this post, succeeding Colonel Allison yesterday, the 26th instant, the colonel's term of service having expired and he mustered out of the service. My atten tion, colonel, has been called to your orders of the dates of September 16, 19, 20, 22 and 25, which are hereby acknowledged and their contents noted, and your orders will receive the promptest attention possible. Doctor Leyston is on parole to limits of camp and rendering professional services to prisoners as ordered. We have 160 prisoners of war or more to send to Cairo for exchange, and some fifty or more prisoners of war not belonging to the Confederate Army to go to the Sandusky depot, but up to the present have not been able to get transportation either way. Have released some fourteen prisoners on their oath under your orders. Judge Hitchcock has been absent for some days and has not as yet notified me that he has acted upon the cases of any prisoners. Your paper of the 25th, colonel, I will reply to separately from this, and at as early a time as I can possibly give it the attention it requires.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

PETER ZINN,

Major Governor's Guards, Commanding Post.

Maj. Gen. T. C. HINDMAN,

HEADQUARTERS FIFTH DIVISION,
Memphis, September 28, 1862.

Commanding Confederate Forces, Little Rock, Ark.

SIR: I have just received your two letters* of September 24 and 26 at the hands of Captain Chew, of your staff. Of course, being simply the commander of the U. S. forces here, I have no official knowledge of anything that transpired on White River last summer. I will refer that letter to General Curtis, now in Saint Louis. Nor have I any knowledge of the affair of Samuel Berry, a citizen of Crittenden County, nor do I believe one word of it. Certainly the men of my command never do such acts as you describe. As to Lieutenant Tolleson, he was in the Irvin Block here, but escaped last week through the negligence of the guard. Had he remained he would have been tried, and if convicted of murder his sentence after approval by the President of the United States would surely have been executed. So jealous is our Government of life that no general of whatever rank can inflict the punishment of death except by sentence of a general court-martial, and that must be approved by the President of the United States. You know the laws of Congress as well as I do.

Now whether the guerrillas or partisan rangers without uniform, without organization except on paper, wandering about the country

*Not found.

plundering friend and foe, firing on unarmed boats filled with women and children and on small parties of soldiers, always from ambush or where they have every advantage, are entitled to the protection and E amenities of civilized warfare is a question which I think you would settle very quickly in the abstract. In practice we will promptly acknowledge the well-established rights of war to parties in uniform, but many gentlemen of the South have beseeched me to protect the people against the acts and inevitable result of this war of ununiformed bands who when dispersed mingle with the people and draw on them the consequences of their individual acts. You know full well that it is to the interest of the people of the South that we should not disperse our troops as guerrillas, but at that game your guerrillas would meet their equals and the world would be shocked by the acts of atrocity. resulting from such warfare. We endeavor to act in large masses, and must insist that the troops of the Confederacy who claim the peculiar rights of belligerents should be known by their dress, so as to be distinguished from the inhabitants. I refer you to the proclamation of your [E.] Kirby Smith in Kentucky on this very point.

I will refer your letters to General Curtis, at Saint Louis, with whom I beg you will hereafter confer on all matters under a flag of truce. He commands our forces west of the Mississippi, and I am not aware as yet that any question has arisen under my command at Memphis that concerns your command. The idea of your comments on the failure of " your efforts to induce our army to conform to the usages of civilized warfare" excites a smile. Indeed, you should not indulge in such language in official letters.

I am, &c., your obedient servant,

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS PAROLED PRISONERS,
Columbus, Ohio, September 28, 1862.

General L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General, &c.

SIR: I telegraphed the Secretary of War day before yesterday not to send any more paroled prisoners to Camp Chase. As the reasons could not be sent by telegram I hasten to give them by letter. One regiment has at last been organized and its last companies are now being paid off. But to give a better idea of the worth of such an organization I give you an informal morning report substantially as it was given me:

Morning Report of First Regiment Paroled Prisoners.

Commissioned and non-commissioned officers, musicians and privates: Company A, present for duty, 24; Company C, present for duty, 41; Company D, present for duty, 27; Company E, report not in, but at roll-call, 46. The other companies are being paid off.

Morning reports show: Cavalry, present for duty, 12. Artillery, Company D, present for duty, 101; Company A, present for duty, 23.

All the above companies when paid off and marched to camp were full to the maximum. All not present at roll-call have deserted. I have already informed the Secretary of War that when I visited Camp Chase the day of my arrival (and it was the second day after receiving my order to come) I found about 3,000 paroled soldiers present. There had never been such a thing as enforcement of order amongst them;

never any guards mounted or duty of any kind performed. With but few exceptions officers abandoned the men and left them to shift for themselves. The consequences can be easily imagined. The soldiers become lousy, ragged, despairing and totally demoralized. In addi tion to that it seems each man became possessed with an idea that because he was paroled he was until exchanged exempt from duty of any kind, even from the most ordinary camp duty. A large number in fact hold paroles which they have sworn to, obligating them not to go into camp or take arms for any purpose in behalf of the United States, and not merely as against the Confederate States but as against any power or authority.

When I announced my purpose in camp that I was to organize them for service against the Northwestern Indians a very few received it with favor. Nearly the whole body protested. Especially was this the case with the Eastern troops. Every objector intrenched himself behind his parole. If I had had a reliable regiment at hand to enforce my orders a guard would have been instantly thrown around the camp and every protestant arrested. My authority should have been recog nized at all hazards. But no such regiment was present. Force was out of question. I endeavored to reason with the men, but when my back was turned they jeered and groaned at me. I promised them their pay and a complete uniform without charge. The clothing part of my promise I presumed to make them under General Orders, No. 85, War Department, &c. They would believe nothing I said. The motive of all this was easily understood, viz, a disinclination to longer service.

Finding it was impossible to force or coax the men into organization I then concluded to leave the matter to time and adopted the plan of organizing one regiment after another, first giving it out distinctly that no one should receive pay or clothing until he had enrolled himself in a company under designated officers. When a company was full the captain was to march it to the state-house to be paid off and when paid off conduct it to Camp Thomas, a new camp established with the hope that by separating the willing from the unwilling a better state of feeling might be brought about. You will see that in this way I thought to use the ideas of pay and clothing as incentives to a return to duty. By this method company after company has been marched from Camp Chase, paid off, then marched to Camp Thomas, where each one was promptly furnished its complement of tents with all necessary supplies. A regiment entitled the First Regiment Paroled Prisoners, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Neff, a really accomplished officer, has been sifted from the mutinous soldiery of the old camp. Colonel McMillen, of the Ninety-fifth Ohio Volunteers, captured and paroled at Richmond, Ky., has been ordered to organize the Second Regiment Paroled Prisoners, and he is now at work. But what will such regiments be worth? Of what profit will they be? Let the morning report I have already quoted answer. The great body of my first regiment has deserted. The officer of the guard at Camp Thomas in making the rounds this morning found three muskets against a tree-the sentinels had gone to parts unknown. What a commentary! Colonel MeMillen is directed to constitute his regiment as far as possible from the paroled Ohioans, and as he has between 600 and 700 of his original regiment within reach (most of them had gone home without permission), I have some hope of his succeeding better. But with that exception I think it my duty to inform the Secretary that all attention, money, clothing. &c., furnished the great body of prisoners now here is idly expended. (As if to enforce my argument an incident has this minute transpired. A company of the First Regiment, just paid off, was being marched to

3

the new camp. Suddenly they filed into a cross street. The officers endeavored to stop them but without success. A company of the provost-guard was sent after them with directions to capture or shoot them. Fifty were brought back. The whole are under guard. The ringleaders will be confined in the penitentiary. They threaten the lives of the captain and colonel.)

Entertaining the above opinion my advice (if I can be pardoned for giving it) is to give a dishonorable discharge to every man who refuses to be attached to an organization or who deserts after being paid. Whoever gets into Camp Chase or comes in contact with its inmates is instantly seized with the mutinous spirit I have described. Hence I thought it my duty to beg the Secretary not to send more troops to this place. The Indiana regiments captured at Richmond and Munfordville have not yet arrived and I hope will not. It would be far better policy to send such regiments directly to Minnesota, to be armed and re-equipped there.

Very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant,

LEW. WALLACE,
Major-General, &c.

CINCINNATI, OHIO, September 28, 1862.

Major-General HALLECK, General-in-Chief:

The new regiments from Indiana that were surrendered and paroled at Richmond and Munfordville were enlisted upon the promise that they should have a furlough of a few days in which to see their families and arrange home business. When the invasion of Kentucky by [E.] Kirby Smith took place they were organized at once and hurried out of the State without being furloughed according to promise. This can be done now without injury to the public service, and in my opinion the good faith of the Government requires that it should be done. To that end I recommend that they be required to report at Indianapolis instead of Camp Chase and that authority be given me to furlough them for a time not exceeding twenty days unless sooner exchanged. H. G. WRIGHT, Major-General, Commanding.

SAINT LOUIS DISTRICT, September 28, 1862.

Colonel HARDING, Pilot Knob:

Colonel PECKHAM, Cape Girardeau:

You will arrest all persons in the vicinity of your posts and commands who come properly under the designation of "bad and dangerous. men," and send them up here under guard to be imprisoned during the war. Publish an order stating the same and circulate it around your counties. Under the President's proclamation any one advising against enlistments or speaking against the Government comes under the above category.

DAVIDSON,

Brigadier-General.

HUDSON, MO., September 28, 1862.

General GUITAR, Columbia (via Sturgeon, Mo.):

[blocks in formation]

You must act at your discretion in the matter. Krekel ought to be able to do something, but he and his men are evidently so worthless

that I can hope for nothing from them. Do not release any prisoners you have on any terms. To those who will surrender you may say that their lives will be spared. Nothing more will be promised them. Have just been informed that Porter with a number has crossed the river, probably near Hermann. Colonel Gantt can give no orders in this district except through these headquarters.

LEWIS MERRILL,

Brigadier-General.

HEADQUARTERS, Fort Monroe, September 28, 1862.

Adjt. Gen. L. THOMAS.

GENERAL: Captain Phillips, One hundred and thirty-fifth Pennsyl vania Volunteers, has just returned from Aiken's Landing, having delivered there 206 paroled prisoners of war to R. Ould, esq. The lists are here and will be forwarded to you if you so direct.

Mr. Ould expresses a strong desire that all the Confederate prisoners now in our possession shall be immediately exchanged or released on their parole.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

WM. H. LUDLOW,

Lieutenant-Colonel, Inspector-General Seventh Army Corps.

Hon. E. M. STANTON:

COLUMBUS, OHIO, September 29, 1862.

What shall I do with officers and privates when exchanged?

LEW. WALLACE,
Major-General.

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, September 29, 1862.

General LEW. WALLACE, Columbus, Ohio:

Officers and privates who are exchanged should be sent to their respective regiments if in the field.

EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, September 29, 1862.

Maj. Ger.. H. G. WRIGHT, Cincinnati, Ohio:

Do as you deem best in carrying out promises to Indiana volunteers. Why is General Morgan retreating, and what force of the enemy is pursuing him? His abandonment of Cumberland Gap must be promptly inquired into and reported on.

H. W. HALLECK,
General-in-Chief.

HDQRS. FIFTH DIVISION, ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE,

Maj. Gen. S. R. CURTIS,

Memphis, September 29, 1862.

Commanding Department of the Missouri, Saint Louis.

DEAR GENERAL: I inclose you two papers received last night by flag of truce from General Hindman. By them you will see he has got

« PreviousContinue »