HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF NORTH CAROLINA, Hon. G. W. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War, Richmond, Va. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, S. G. FRENCH, Brigadier-General, Commanding. [Inclosure.] July 17, 1862. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Maj. Gen. TH. H. HOLMES, Commanding Department of North Carolina, Petersburg, Va. GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 15th instant making inquiry in regard to a report which has reached you that Lieut. Col. F. T. Nicholls, Eighth Louisiana Regiment, has recently been arrested within the lines of the U. S. forces in disguise and is to be treated as a spy. In reply I beg to say that I know nothing of the facts of the case. The arrest was certainly not made by any part of the troops of my command. I will, however, at once communicate your letter to the War Department and ask to be furnished with such information as it may have on the subject and will inform you of the result at the earliest possible moment. I understand that there are a number of our officers-surgeons and chaplains at Petersburg who have been unconditionally released and only await an opportunity to return to our lines. If this be so I shall be glad to send for them to City Point or elsewhere at any time you may designate. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, GEO. B. MCCLELLAN, OLD CAPITOL BUILDING, Washington, July 18, 1862. Hon. J. R. TUCKER, Attorney-General State of Virginia. MY DEAR SIR: By the above you will perceive that I am a prisoner. I am informed that I may be released by being exchanged for some citizen of Loudoun or Fairfax County, now under arrest in Richmond for disloyalty to the Southern Confederacy. Will you favor me by calling at the War Department and seeking to have such an exchange effected immediately. If this be impossible, perhaps the War Department will exchange me for some Federal chaplain or other prisoner, and let me go at once to Richmond and engage in my ministerial labors either in the camp or in the hospital as may appear desirable. If Mr. Charles Ball, our Senator, is in the city he will doubtless aid you. I have also a slight acquaintance with the officers of the troops quartered with us last winter. Alexander Brown, esq., of the firm of Brown & McClelland, and Mr. Charles H. McMurran, of the firm of Bayne & McMurran, under the Spotswood House, will also join you in any effort to benefit me. You will please reply by your very earliest opportunity. Sincerely yours, CHARLES H. NOURSE. P. S.-There are other citizens of the border counties with me in like circumstances who wait for your decision in my case. General D. H. HILL. [JULY 18, 1862.] GENERAL: I return to you copy of agreement for exchange forwarded by you. I see no object with the present erasures, as it does not seem to differ materially from the agreement proposed, which was the cartel agreed upon between Great Britain and the United States, except in article 2. That article in the agreement before me strikes off a large class of non-combatants, and is silent as to the arrest of our citizens. I think it best to let it remain so, as the fear of arrest drives people beyond the lines of the enemy whose services would otherwise be lost to us, and the effect of such arrests upon the temper and feeling of the people is beneficial. If the latter part of article 2 was stricken out with that view on your part I make no objection. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, R. E. LEE, General, Commanding. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, Maj. Gen. D. H. HILL, Commanding Division, &c. July 21, 1862. GENERAL: I herewith inclose you articles* of agreement for exchange of prisoners with proposed additions to second article, and a letter from General Lee. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, A. L. LONG, Colonel and Military Secretary. [Inclosure No. 1.] Proposed addition to second article of agreement for exchange of prisoners: Private citizens shall not be arrested or confined except upon the charge of acting as spies, giving aid and comfort to the enemy, being turbulent and troublesome to the belligerent within whose lines they may be. And when such arrest shall be made the alleged offender shall be granted a speedy and fair trial, and if innocent shall be immediately released from confinement. All citizens hitherto taken by either party for offenses not above enumerated shall be immediately and unconditionally released. [Inclosure No. 2.] HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, Maj. Gen. D. H. HILL, Commanding Division, &c. R. E. LEE, General. * See p. 266. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF EAST TENNESSEE, General S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General, Richmond, Va. : Forty-three Federal officers captured at Murfreesborough left Knoxville to-day for Madison, Ga. Descriptive lists will be forwarded by mail to General Winder to-morrow. E. KIRBY SMITH, Major-General, Commanding. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF EAST TENNESSEE, Brig. Gen. C. L. STEVENSON, Bean's Station, via Morristown, Tenn.: Knoxville, July 21, 1862. Open the letter for General Morgan sent with paroled prisoners by Captain Gholson. Copy the list of names with companies and regiments and forward to department headquarters. By command of Maj. Gen. E. Kirby Smith: J. F. BELTON, Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF EAST TENNESSEE, General S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General, Richmond, Va. GENERAL: If not conflicting with public interest I would ask that the Forty-second Regiment North Carolina Volunteers, now on prison duty at Lynchburg and Salisbury, be ordered to this department. I am induced to make this application, knowing Colonel Gibbs personally and believing his regiment, after an exchange of prisoners has been effected, will not be required for its present duty. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, E. KIRBY SMITH, Major-General, Commanding. HEADQUARTERS, July 23, 1862. General D. H. HILL, Commanding, &c. GENERAL: I have received your letter* of this date accompanying the agreement for the exchange of prisoners. I hope it may be productive of good. I thank you for your efforts and management of the matter. It is silent I observe as to the treatment of citizens. What was the result of your negotiations in that respect? I will endeavor to have some one to meet the agent of General McClellan on Thursday. You can repair to your command, where I will communicate with you when necessary. I wish you would see if you cannot harass or arrest the passage of the enemy's transports on the James River by means of your long-range batteries supported by some infantry and cavalry. If you have not the proper guns let me know. Sharpshooters may also be *Not found. useful. Push the works around Drewry's Bluff. Make every preparation for the advance of the enemy. See where the troops in your department are and how they can best be posted. I rely greatly upon your intelligence, energy and zeal. With high respect, your obedient servant, R. E. LEE, General. P. S.-I do not like the first paragraph of article 3. It would seem that the capture of citizens on charges of disloyalty, &c., was recognized. Why was that introduced? R. E. L. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF EAST TENNESSEE, Brig. Gen. JOHN H. WINDER, Richmond, Va. GENERAL: By direction of Maj. Gen. E. Kirby Smith, commanding Department of East Tennessee, I forward to you lists of prisoners sent to Richmond, Va., Madison, Ga., and through the lines to Cumberland Gap. The last will be exchanged by General Morgan, of the Federal Army, for Confederate soldiers captured by his troops. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. L. CLAY, Assistant Adjutant-General. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF EAST TENNESSEE, Col. W. M. CHURCHWELL, Provost-Marshal, Knoxville, Tenn. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. L. CLAY, Assistant Adjutant-General. RICHMOND, VA., July 25, 1862. Hon. G. W. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War. SIR: In obedience to instructions I started early this morning for Aiken's and reached there at 11 a. m. At 12 m. Colonel Sweitzer and Colonel Wright, two of General McClellan's aides, arrived. They handed to me the inclosed communication. They appeared to be familiar with its contents. Upon reading it I inquired if they could tell me with any reasonable certainty when the agent might be expected to appear at his post. They told me they could not, and repeated the assurance given in the communication that General McClellan would urge their immediate appointment. Respectfully, your obedient servant, ROBERT OULD, Agent. [Inclosure.] HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, July 25, 1862. AGENTS FOR THE EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS, Aiken's. GENTLEMEN: I have just learned that you will reach Aiken's at noon to-day expecting to meet there our agents for the exchange of prisoners. I regret to have to inform you that so far as I am aware no agents have yet been appointed for the purpose by our Government, but I have urged their immediate appointment and will at once repeat the request. I will advise General Lee of their appointment and the time when the meeting can take place, which I trust may be within a very brief period. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, GEO. B. MCCLELLAN, HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF EAST TENNESSEE, Col. J. J. FINLEY, Sixth Regiment Florida Volunteers. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. L. CLAY, Assistant Adjutant-General. GRENADA, MISS., July 27, 1862. Hon. G. W. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War, Richmond, Va. SIR: I see by the newspapers that a general exchange of prisoners is about to be effected, and as the enemy have a class of prisoners in the West which they may not have elsewhere and whose cases may require some especial agreement I feel it my duty to call your attention to them. There are a number of persons now confined in the military prisons of Alton, Chicago and Saint Louis who were officers and soldiers, but whose terms of enlistment had expired and who had been discharged, but who were nevertheless taken by the enemy in Missouri because it was known that they were Southrons and would probably re-enlist in the C. S. Army. These persons are held as prisoners of war, not as citizens, and are subject to exchange. My brigade of Missouri State Guard was disbanded in December, 1861, preparatory to a reorganization in the Confederate service in January. During the interval several hundred were captured, some of whom were paroled and many retained who will immediately enter the service upon being exchanged or released by order. Another class who will deserve attention are persons who having received the authority to raise companies and regiments, were captured before their complement of men had been raised and consequently before a legal organization had been had. These gentlemen are held as regular officers and the |