Copies of all orders, letters, telegrams sent and received to be kept. Open all telegrams directed to me and advise me if necessary. General PEMBERTON: LLOYD TILGHMAN, Brigadier-General, C. S. Army. HOLLY SPRINGS, October 26, 1862. Will the 2,700 prisoners sent from Guntown to Meridian do for the retained 2,000 you wrote about, their exchange not being completed? EARL VAN DORN. HEADQUARTERS EXCHANGED PRISONERS, Maj. J. R. WADDY, Assistant Adjutant-General. MAJOR: I have learned from prisoners arriving here that General Van Dorn has ordered the prisoners paroled by the Federal authorities at Bolivar and returned thence to Holly Springs to remain at that place quartered with their regiments. If it is desired that these prisoners shall report to me it will be necessary for General Pemberton to issue an order requiring it. The prisoners at Holly Springs so far as I can learn are not accounted for at these headquarters and we can obtain a list of them only by their reporting. Respectfully, JOHN GREGG, Brigadier-General, Provisional Army, C. S. GENERAL ORDERS, No. 25, Į HDQRS. DEPT. OF HENRICO, } Capt. T. P. Turner will assume command of the C. S. prisons. Capt. G. W. Alexander is hereby relieved. By order of General Winder: Lieutenant-General PEMBERTON. W. S. WINDER, Assistant Adjutant-General. OXFORD, MISS., October 27, 1862. DEAR SIR: We, the undersigned, would respectfully represent to you that on Saturday evening, 18th instant, we with four other gentlemen of our vicinity were arrested by the Federal authorities at Jackson, Tenn., and are now held as hostages for four Union men arrested by some independent partisans, who were brought by those partisans and are now held in confinement at Holly Springs, Miss. These four Unionists are men of no standing in our community-ignorant and move in the lowest circles, incapable of doing good to any cause they may espouse, further than giving information to the enemy. We, who are held as hostages for their safety, represent wealth and influence and will be ruined by the Federal officials if these four men are not released. We would further represent to you that we who are held as hostages are Southern men, capable of giving material aid to the Southern Army should it ever reach our locality, a thing we devoutly desire. These are facts we can attest by the right sort of men, and we earnestly desire the release of these four deluded wretches, not for their sakes but ours and the cause we have at heart. We will be in Holly Springs on to-morrow and await your answer. If references are needed as to our characters and standing we can give them by telegraph from Holly Springs. We would further state that we are all men of families, identified with what we consider the best interests of Tennessee, and deprecate those acts of partisans which confer no good to the general cause but heap hardships upon citizens. All of which is respectfully submitted by THO. H. NEWBERN, in behalf of themselves and of Eaton Bond, Thomas W. Cooper, David Reid and Stephen Bryant, who are now held in confinement at Jackson, Tenn. We refer you to Maj. Robert Hurt at the Confederate House. THO. H. NEWBERN. HDQRS. DEPT. OF MISSISSIPPI AND EAST LOUISIANA, Captain MAXWELL, Commanding Peach Creek Rangers. J. C. PEMBERTON, Lieutenant-General, Commanding. HDQRS. DEPT. OF MISSISSIPPI AND EAST LOUISIANA, Jackson, October 29, 1862. Maj. Gen. E. VAN DORN, Holly Springs: Your letter* of 24th instant was only received this morning. If the eleven Tennesseeans now in confinement in charge of commandant of the post at Holly Springs are as they represent themselves to be U. S. soldiers they should be proceeded with as other prisoners of war. there is reason to believe any of their number deserters from Confederate service they should of course be brought to trial by court-martial on charges duly preferred. If I do not approve the policy of arresting citizens as such because of their political proclivities only whilst the enemy is in occupation of the portion of the country in which they reside, inasmuch as our own loyal citizens are made to suffer correspondingly by the enemy on the plea of retaliation. I desire you therefore to discountenance and forbid such arrests except in cases where there is actual proof of active hostility against the Confederate Government. Traffic with the enemy is to be prevented. I know of no punishment, however, that can be legally inflicted beyond the confiscation of goods or payment to the Confederate Government the value of the article sold. I inclose copy of act* of Congress as furnished me by Adjutant and Inspector General's Office, Richmond. Unless there are other reasons for detaining the parties themselves engaged in this traffic I think that after seizure and confiscation of their goods thus obtained they should be released from arrest. Very respectfully, &c., J. C. PEMBERTON, Lieutenant-General, Commanding. No. 18.] CONFEDERATE STATES COMMISSION, Hon. J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State. SIR: It becomes my painful duty to inform the Government of an occurrence which has recently happened on board the C. S. ship Sumter, lying in the Bay of Gibraltar. Captain Semmes and his officers having been transferred to the Alabama, the Sumter was left in charge of a midshipman and boat's crew only, a guard deemed sufficient by Captain Semmes. On the 14th of this month I received a telegram from Sergeant Stephenson, of the marines (one of those left in charge of the ship), that Acting Midshipman Andrews (in command) had been shot and killed by one of the men named Hester, who was master's mate; that Hester had been taken into custody by the civil authorities there and asking for instructions. I immediately replied by telegraph to Sergeant Stephenson directing him to take charge of the ship and the public property on board, and that an officer would be sent at once to relieve him. Lieutenant Chapman, a former officer of the Sumter, was then in Paris on duty assigned him by the Secretary of the Navy. In the emergency I wrote to and ordered him to proceed immediately to Gibraltar and take command of the ship, after the death of Midshipman Andrews and the arrest of the master's mate, the only person on board having the semblance of authority being the sergeant of marines. Some days after I received a letter dated on board the Sumter the 17th of October, signed by all the ship's crew (only nine in number), includ ing the sergeant of marines, denouncing in strong terms the act of Hester as a cool, deliberate murder and promising that everything should be done by those on board to take care of the ship until further orders. I subsequently received two letters from a Mr. George F. Cornwell, dated respectively at Gibraltar the 17th and 22d of October, informing me that he had been engaged as counsel by Hester, and stating that the latter fully owned the act and vindicated it on the ground that Midshipman Andrews had expressed his determination to take the vessel out of this port (Gibraltar) and give her up at Algeciras to the U. S. ship Supply, then in the latter port, and had threatened to shoot any one who opposed his purpose. Mr. Hester not being (as he says) able to rely on the crew adopted this fatal course and believes that be has only done his duty. I should have stated above that in the letter from the crew of the Sumter no particulars of the affair were given nor *Not found. anything stated as the cause of the act except as in the following paragraph quoted from that letter: As regards the accusation made by Mr. Hester against Mr. Andrews being a traitor it is as far as we all know entirely without foundation, for he was one that was beloved and respected by all that knew him, more especially by his crew. Lieutenant Chapman came immediately to London on receipt of my letter (as the shortest route to Gibraltar) and sailed for that port in the mail packet on Monday last, the 27th instant. He should have arrived there yesterday. I instructed Lieutenant Chapman to make full inquiry into the affair and its circumstances and to report them accordingly. In the letters of Mr. Cornwell, the counsel, he reports the earnest request of Hester that I would provide means for his defense, and in his last letter a like earnest request that I would take measures to have the prisoner restored to the jurisdiction of the Confederate States, fearing the result of a trial by the British authorities. He further requests that measures be taken to have certain officers of the Sumter, including Lieutenant Chapman, brought as witnesses on his behalf at his trial. I can form no opinion of what it may be proper for me to do in the premises until I get the report of Lieutenant Chapman. Should there be reasonable foundation for the alleged belief of Hester that Andrews designed the surrender of the ship to the enemy I shall consider it my duty to do whatever may be found best to give him the full benefit of the proofs he may adduce. On the question of jurisdiction it would certainly be right that he should be tried under the authority of our Government, but even should the jurisdiction be yielded by the British Government (which in our unrecognized condition is by no means certain) I should be at a great loss to know how to bring the prisoner to trial and what to do with him in the meantime. This, however, can be only or best determined after getting Lieutenant Chapman's report. I have further to state that in the dilemma arising out of this unfortunate affair, and with the entire concurrence and advice of Captains Bulloch and Sinclair, of the Navy, as well as of Lieutenant Chapman, I have determined to have the Sumter sold, and have taken measures to have the sale made by Captain Bulloch, the senior officer in the service here. Her armament and such stores of clothing, &c., as can be used in fitting out other ships will be reserved. Lieutenant Chapman's report shall be transmitted as soon as received to the Secretary of the Navy. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. M. MASON. HAMPDEN SIDNEY, October 31, 1862. Hon. G. W. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War, Richmond, Va. MY DEAR SIR: In the spring of 1861 a company of young men, students and alumni of Hampden Sidney College, with their president, Rev. Dr. Atkinson, volunteered in the service of the Confederate States under the name of Hampden Sidney Boys. They were mustered into service in the Twentieth [Virginia] Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Pegram commanding, and assigned to the Northwestern Army under General Garnett. At the battle of Rich Mountain the most of this company were made prisoners and paroled by McClellan. The larger part were discharged from service in September, 1861, and I believe all during the following winter and spring. One of them has recently stated in this community that under some decision of your Department all who were thus discharged previous to the passage of the conscript law of last spring were thus unconditionally and finally released from all obligations of military duty except such as they might voluntarily undertake. I have a son who was in that company and several young friends. He and some others have since their exchange re-entered the service as volunteers. But I would be pleased to know certainly whether it is true that their discharge relieves them finally and for this war from all liability to conscription. As early as is consistent with your duties will greatly oblige me and them. Address, yours, with high regard, &c., REV. B. M. SMITH, Hampden Sidney Post-Office. HEADQUARTERS SECOND DISTRICT, Lieutenant-General PEMBERTON. SIR: Two days ago we received the prisoners taken at the Bayou des Allemands by General Taylor. They were sent here for exchange. This will be speedily effected except in the cases of four of the men who are surely identified as belonging to the Fort Jackson mutineers by the officers now here, who commanded them at that time. One, a man by the name of Graham, mutinied unconditionally, being of the party who left the fort the evening before its surrender. The other three are of the party who consented to remain under promise of a surrender on the following day. Charges have been prepared against them by their former officers. I would now respectfully ask for instructions as to what disposition shall be made of these men. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, M. L. SMITH, Brigadier-General, Commanding. EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Jackson, Miss., November 1, 1862. Lieut. Gen. J. C. PEMBERTON. GENERAL: Yours of yesterday* asking information as to time, place and circumstances of the murder of William H. White is before me. At my request a full statement of the whole affair was made out and sworn to by the eye-witnesses and sent by me to the President, and there are no papers on file in my office from which I can give you the desired information. My recollection of the affair is clear that the murder was committed in De Soto County not far from the railroad bridge over Coldwater. That his wife, sister and mother were present and the Federal troops were from Illinois. Major Blythe, now commanding a battalion of mounted State troops at Hatchie Bridge, near Holly Springs, and Col. Frank M. White, president of the Mississippi and Tennessee Railroad, at Hernando, will give you the information you wish. If neither of these are to be seen you will not fail on your arrival at Holly Springs to find many who can give you all the necessary infor mation. Very respectfully, JOHN J. PETTUS. *Not found. |