Capt. N. MONTGOMERY, Belle Isle. C. S. MILITARY PRISONS, Richmond, Va., August 31, 1862. CAPTAIN: There will be an additional number of prisoners here by to-morrow-about 2,000. This will make it necessary to extend your lines. Have you men enough? If not let me know how many more you want; also how many more tents. I shall send you to-morrow 100 guns. Very respectfully, H. WIRZ. Return of provisions received and used at Lynchburg Military Prisons during the month of August, 1862, by Capt. J. V. L. Rodgers, acting assistant quartermaster and assistant commissary of subsistence, C. S. Army. Capt. and Acting Assistant Quartermaster for Prisoners of War. WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, September 1, 1862. His Excellency JEFFERSON DAVIS, President, &c. SIR: In response to the resolution of the House of Representatives eferred to this Department I have the honor to inclose a copy of the artel* agreed on for the exchange of prisoners and to inform you that he Department has no reason to believe that any of our men have been coerced into taking the oath of allegiance to the United States Government. A list of 309 who had taken the oath, attested by their ›wn signatures, was furnished to our agent and they were dropped by he enemy from the roll of prisoners, thus leaving an equal number of cheir prisoners in our hands not embraced in the exchange. The Department is not informed of any violation of the cartel. An order issued by General Buell which if carried out will be a violation of it has been made the subject of a strong remonstrance by General Bragg, and it is hoped the order will be rescinded. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, GEO. W. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War. HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA, Hon. G. W. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War, Richmond, Va. The President had previously made known to me that two chaplains of the enemy captured by us had been released in exchange for whom he thought John Brown should be released, and of this I had informed the commanding officer of the enemy's forces. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, [Inclosure.] HEADQUARTERS THIRD PROVISIONAL BRIGADE, COMMANDING OFFICER, Confederate Forces in Monroe County, Va. SIR: I am directed by the commanding officer in this district to inform you that the Rev. John Brown denies having accepted the commission of chaplain; that his case, together with Major-General Loring's letter, has been submitted to the Secretary of War. I am also directed to notify you that the commanding officer in this district has received information from what he deems a reliable source that Doctor Rucker (a loyal citizen of the United States, who was arrested at Summersville about a month ago, and for whom Hon. Samuel Price, a citizen of Lewisburg, is held as a hostage) is kept in close confinement and in irons and is treated otherwise with unusual and unnecessary harshness and rigor, and to ask you if this is true. Also to notify you that if this question is answered in the affirmative, or if no direct answer is given, Hon. Samuel Price, who has thus * Omitted here; see p. 266. far since his arrest been allowed the limits of the town of Charleston, will at once be placed in close confinement and in irons and so kept until information is received of a change of treatment to Doctor Rucker, when the same will be accorded to Mr. Price. Doctor Rucker's wife and children accompany this flag of truce and I would respectfully ask that she be permitted to see her husband and that the courtesies due her sex and condition be extended to her. The rigors of war should be made to rest as light as possible upon non-combatants who are not responsible for its existence. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, HEADQUARTERS CAMP, Staunton, Va., September 1, 1862. GEORGE W. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War. DEAR SIR: John A. Reynolds, who was taken prisoner at the battle of Manassas, presented to me a discharge from the Secretary of War, which not exempting him I enrolled him. He now presents a pass, copy of which please find inclosed, which he accepted rather than remain in their prison, learning from them that he would never be exchanged, paying little attention to the oath when read and not signing it. He has not received pay since he was allowed to return. Shall he be sent to be exchanged as a paroled prisoner or remain enrolled as a conscript? Very respectfully, M. G. HARMAN, Colonel Fifty-second Regiment Virginia Volunteers, Enrolling Officer. [Inclosure.] HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DEPARTMENT, Pass John A. Reynolds over the Chain Bridge and to Falls Church. DRAKE DE KAY, It is understood that the within named and subscriber accepts this pass on his word of honor that he is and ever will be loyal to the United States, and if hereafter found in arms against the Union or in any way aiding her enemies the penalty will be death. [Indorsement.] I certify that this is a correct copy of a pass given to and in possession of John A. Reynolds. M. G. HARMAN, Colonel Fifty-second Regiment Virginia Volunteers, Enrolling Officer. Maj. N. G. WATTS, Vicksburg, Miss.: RICHMOND, September 3, 1862. We are now delivering the Federal prisoners at this place and wil order to Vicksburg the few that are confined in the South. G. W. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War. General L. TILGHMAN: JACKSON, MISS., September 3, 1862. Received following from Secretary of War: The exchanged prisoners must be sent to their respective regiments. Where the headquarters of the regiment is with you it will remain under your command. First Alabama here under Villepigue. Send balance here. EARL VAN DORN. Brig. Gen. J. H. WINDER. C. S. MILITARY PRISONS, Richmond, Va., September 5, 1862. GENERAL: James Owens, Company E, City Battalion, whilst on post No. 3 discharged his gun at a Federal prisoner, name unknown, who amused himself since last evening putting his head out of the window, and when told by the sentinels on post to take it in would abuse them. Said Owens being on post, the prisoner at his game again, fired at him, not with the intention to hit him, but merely to frighten him; unfortunately the ball went in through the open window and through the ceiling, killing instantly one John Hickey, citizen prisoner from Philadelphia. I had Owens immediately put under arrest until further orders. Most respectfully, your obedient servant, H. WIRZ. Capt. N. MONTGOMERY: C. S. MILITARY PRISONS, Richmond, Va., September 5, 1862. Will you be so kind as to give such orders as will exclude everybody (women not excepted) from selling pies, fruit and other things to prisoners under your charge, as this has been a source of trafficking in money, &c. The commissary at the island will be the only one allowed to trade. Your obedient servant, H. WIRZ, Captain, Commanding. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF KENTUCKY, Col. J. WARREN GRIGSBY, C. S. Army, Lincoln County, Ky. COLONEL: I am directed by Maj. Gen. E. Kirby Smith to inform you that you are hereby authorized to parole the home-guards in the counties of Boyle, Lincoln and Mercer on condition that they give up their arms and pledge themselves not to take up arms again or in any way give aid or comfort to the enemies of the Confederate States by giving information or otherwise while within the Confederate lines. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. P. PRATT, Lieutenant and Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. GENERAL ORDERS, WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL'S OFFICE, No. 64. I. Conscripts in the employ of the Government who leave their employment without authority will be arrested as deserters on the order of the officer under whom they are employed. Conscripts work ing for contractors will, under like circumstances, be arrested as deserters by the enrolling officer of the district on complaint and proof by the contractor. II. The reception of substitutes under eighteen years of age is hereby prohibited. The reception of substitutes into partisan corps is pro hibited, as is also the reception of substitutes into any company not fully organized and received by the Department. A substitute becom ing liable to conscription renders his principal also liable, unless exempt on other grounds. V. Paragraph II, General Orders, No. 62, current series, is amended so as to read as follows: It is hereby announced that no oath of allegiance to the United States and no parole by a person not in military service pledging himself not to bear arms against the United States will be regarded as an exemption from service in the armies of the Confederate States, but persons liable to conscription taking such oath or giving such parole will be enrolled for service. If captured by the enemy they will be demanded as prisoners of war. By order: S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General. SAN ANTONIO, September 8, 1862. Capt. C. M. MASON, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. SIR: I have examined with care the transcript referred to me through you, the same being a certified record of the proceedings and decision of the provost-marshal of Travis County in the matter of the Confederate States vs. George W. Paschal, charged in general terms with disloyalty. The facts proven on the examination consisted altogether of a culpable neglect on the part of Paschal to render for assessment his property, and a consequent failure to pay the Confederate States war tax when assessed by the proper officer. For this neglect on his part he suffered the penalty of the law, viz, the forced sale of his property, the imposition of a double tax, &c. The law having provided this penalty and no other, and Paschal having suffered it, it appears plain under the facts presented on the record there is no case for the action of the military commission, as under the paragraph of the general order defining its jurisdiction it is clearly inhibited from taking judicial cog. nizance of a matter which (in the form here presented at least) is so peculiarly and completely within the province of the civil authorities, and on which they have already acted in the manner pointed out by the law. It is not deemed necessary further to refer to the pleadings, protest and other documents in the record. Respectfully submitted. C. S. WEST, Judge-Advocate and Recorder. |