WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, October 9, 1862. ANDREW PARKS, Esq., AND OTHERS, Charleston, Kanawha County, Va. GENTLEMEN: I have received your letter requesting that Capt. C. N. Goulding, one of General Pope's officers, may be placed on the footing of an ordinary prisoner of war. In reply you are respectfully informed that General Pope's officers have been exchanged, the United States Government having given assurance that his obnoxious orders were no longer in force. Your obedient servant, GEO. W. RANDOLPH, HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, Hon. G. W. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War. GENERAL: The prisoners taken by Colonel Imboden were sent to Richmond instead of being paroled because the enemy hold some of his men as prisoners and it is said refuse to parole soldiers belonging to the partisan corps. They had better be retained I think until the determination of the enemy in this regard is definitely ascertained. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, R. E. LEE, General. [Indorsement.] OCTOBER 14. Send copy to Robert Ould, esq., and direct him to inform the enemy's agent that prisoners taken by the partisan corps will not be exchanged until the enemy.consent to exchange the partisans. G. W. RANDOLPH. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF EAST TENNESSEE, General S. COOPER, Knoxville, October 9, 1862. Adjutant and Inspector General, Richmond, Va.: Is the writ of habeas corpus still suspended in this department? It is claimed that the time for which it was suspended has expired. Important that I should know as soon as possible. SAML. JONES, Major-General, Commanding. Adjutant and Inspector General, Richmond, Va.: Brigadier General Forrest asks for a copy of the cartel for the exchange of prisoners. He is at Murfreesborough and needs it. Please inform me by telegraph what is the relative value of officers established by the cartel. 58 R R-SERIES II, VOL IV SAML. JONES, Major-General. Maj. Gen. S. JONES, KNOXVILLE, TENN., October 10, 1862. Commanding Department of East Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn. SIR: My father, Mr. T. G. Craighead, who was arrested at his home in Marion County, Tenn., on the 5th day of June last and taken to Nashville as a political prisoner by Brigadier-General Negley, of the U. S. Army, has returned "on parole of honor, with the privilege of exchange for a person of like grade," he having given bond of $2,000 to report within thirty days from the 3d of October to BrigadierGeneral Negley's headquarters, Nashville, Tenn., and is desirous to know if the major-general commanding will make an exchange. He says that the military authorities of the U. S. Army at Nashville are willing to exchange all the political prisoners held by them, and therefore I would most respectfully ask the major-general to exchange some of the political prisoners held by the C. S. authority within his department for my father. And also for Mr. W. Turner, of Marion County, who is at home on parole of thirty days; Dr. J. C. Bebee, of Tracy City, Marion County, Tenn., who is in Nashville as a political prisoner; Mr. William H. Ballard, of Marion County, Tenn., and Mr. Claiborn Gant, of Sequatchie County, Tenn., who are at Camp Chase, Ohio. All of whom are held by the U. S. authorities as political prisoners, they never having taken up arms against the United States Government, but for having advocated, aided and abetted the Government of the Confederate States in a civil manner they are now suffering imprisonment. Hoping that you may be able to effect an exchange for the abovementioned gentlemen, so that they may be able to return to their fam ilies, I am, with great respect, your most obedient servant, WILL. A. CRAIGHEAD. WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, October 11, 1862. ROBERT OULD, Esq., Agent, &c. SIR: You will inform the agent of the United States that an equal number of Federal prisoners will be selected by lot and retained until the prisoners named in the list* are either returned or shown not to be embraced by the cartel. You will also inform him that a hostage will be retained for Colonel Zarvona, and that you will furnish a list of the hostages hereafter. Your obedient servant, GEO. W. RANDOLPH, [OCTOBER 11, 1862.] General COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General: The officers and soldiers of the U. S. Army who were captured early last year in Texas by General Van Dorn, and perhaps others, including the Eighth Infantry, have been exchanged. These men were on parole. The terms of the cartel require us to deliver them within the enemy's lines. As General Magruder is about to go to Texas will you do me the favor to put the delivery of these men to some convenient point in possession of the enemy under his charge? If General Magruder is not going will you have the necessary orders sent to the commanding officer in Texas to have these men delivered *Not found. to the U. S. authorities? The men I understand are in the neighborhood of San Antonio. The exchanged list embraces all our captures of the regulars of the United States in Texas. Respectfully, ROBT. OULD, Agent of Exchange. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF EAST TENNESSEE, Col. W. W. BOYD, Commanding at Chattanooga, Tenn.: Very respectfully, your obedient servant, CHAS. S. STRINGFELLOW, MILITARY PRISON, Richmond, Va., October 11, 1862. Hon. SECRETARY OF WAR OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. SIR: I was captured in Kentucky on the 9th day of July, 1862, while in command of the post at Tompkinsville, and have been a prisoner of war in confinement ever since. On Tuesday last I was informed by Captain Calhoun, who commanded the military prisoners at Madison, Ga., that I would be sent to Richmond for the purpose of being paroled or exchanged. I arrived in this city this morning and was taken to the office of Major-General Winder, who informed me that I could not be either paroled or exchanged but would be held to answer certain charges that had been preferred against me. He told me that the charge was that I had threatened to turn loose my men upon the women of Tennessee and allow them to be ravished, and also that I had compelled the women to cook for my soldiers. These charges I had before seen in one of the papers and I now pronounce them false in every particular. I will briefly state what did once occur with my command when at Sparta, Tenn., and from which the story has originated. A day or two after Colonel Morgan took Cave City, Ky., I was ordered by General Dumont to march toward the Cumberland Mountains and intercept the colonel if possible, and to facilitate my march to take no wagons or anything to impede me but to forage upon the people for subsistence. I reached Sparta on the fourth day and after a march of forty-five miles, and my men had been twenty-four hours without food of any kind. They were in such a condition that I could not march them further without food, and I feared that should they enter the houses of the people they might use insulting language and take things that would outrage the people. I therefore rode up to the hotel where quite a number of people were congregated and stated to them the necessities of my men and my desire to keep them out of their houses and prevent outrages of any kind. They at once agreed to cook for my men a meal and I asked them to send me their bills, for which I made out a proper receipt, upon which they could at any time obtain the money by presenting them at the quartermaster's department at Nashville. I pledge my honor as a soldier and a gentleman that the above is a true statement. THOS. J. JORDAN, Major, Ninth Pennsylvania Cavalry. [First indorsement.] I certify on honor that I commanded one of the companies of the Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, a part of Major Jordan's command on his expedition to Sparta, and that the above statement is true in every particular. AMOS B. RHOADS, Lieut., Comdg. Company B, Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry. [Second indorsement.] We certify that we are all well acquainted with Maj. Thomas J. Jordan, Ninth Pennsylvania Cavalry, and that he is a gentleman and a man of honor and that any statement emanating from him may be relied upon in every particular. We would therefore respectfully ask that he be included in the present list of paroled prisoners. B. M. PRENTISS, Brigadier-General, U. S. Army. T. L. CRITTENDEN, Brigadier-General, U. S. Army. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF EAST TENNESSEE, Knoxville, October 12, 1862. Brigadier-General FORREST, Commanding at Murfreesborough: General Cooper telegraphs the following as the value of officers in privates as established by the cartel: General commanding, 60; major-general, 40; brigadier-general, 20; colonel, 15; major, 8; captain, 6; lieutenant or ensign, 4. By command of Maj. Gen. S. Jones: CHAS. S. STRINGFELLOW, Assistant Adjutant-General. CHARLESTON, S. C., October 13, 1862. Hon. W. PORCHER MILES, Member of Congress, Richmond, Va. : Has bill for execution of abolition prisoners after 1st of January next passed? Do it and England will be stirred into action. It is high time to proclaim the black flag for that period. Let the execution be with the garrote. G. T. BEAUREGARD. LIBBY PRISON, [October 13, 1862) Brig. Gen. J. H. WINDER, Richmond. GENERAL: I am informed that the flag-of-truce boat will not leave Aiken's Landing before 1 p. m. to-morrow (Tuesday), and as I did not come to Richmond voluntarily to be detained in prison, but for the purposes I have heretofore stated to you, I respectfully request that you will permit me to return to the North by this present boat, and allow me to visit Governor Brown, Senator, and Mr. Boyce, Member of Congress, before I leave. It will be necessary for me to leave Richmond by 11 a. m. to-morrow in order to reach the boat. I desire to see Judge Baxter also. Your obedient servant, WM. CHASE BARNEY. ADJUTANT AND INSPECTOR GENERAL'S OFFICE, Brig. Gen. N. B. FORREST, Commanding, Murfreesborough, Tenn. GENERAL: At the request of Maj. Gen. Samuel Jones, commanding, by telegraph, I have the honor of forwarding you with this a copy of the cartel for the exchange of prisoners. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JASPER S. WHITING, Major and Assistant Adjutant-General. My Honorable PRESIDENT: CASTLE THUNDER, October 13, 1862. I say my, for I own no other; will no other own. I come to you, a poor weak woman whose future looks, oh, so cheerless. I come to you, the relict of him who has paid the penalty of his wrongdoing, if wrong he did, of which I know nothing. I come to you begging. I wish to go home. It was hinted an exchange. Oh, sir, exchange me, a Southern born, a South-adoring woman. No, no; rather let me remain here in my people's prison and die than exchange me for one of my own countrywomen. They say I might harm some one. Does a mother harm her child, a child her mother? The South is my mother. I will not harm her. Her glory is my pride. I look to her like a bleeding bird for succor. I have suffered. Oh, you can feel for the suffering; let me go home where I may seek some spot, and unnoticed pass the remainder of my dreary, dreary days. I will pray for you; do you no harm. There is nothing so ingenuous as fear but I fear nothing. I am protected here and my Holy Mother knows my heart, but I have ties in Maryland-interests there. Please let me go home. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, MRS. T. WEBSTER. Respectfully returned to the Secretary of War with the report that it was decided by the Secretary some time since to release Mrs. Webster and send her home, but the Secretary having been told that Mrs. Webster would compromise many friends in Maryland, the Secretary directed she should be retained until further orders. JNO. H. WINDER, Brigadier-General of Volunteers. * Omitted here; see p. 266. |
