modore Lynch having left, Commander Muse was again informed that the Hansa would not be permitted to sail unless with consent of the naval authorities.

I hope the above will fully satisfy the President as far as I am concerned. The correspondence referred to is forwarded herewith, which is all that relates to this particular affair. But that the President may be fully satisfied as to my course relative to the Navy, and co-operation with them as well in this matter, I respectfully refer to paper marked 7, which is a list showing dates of letters to Flag Officer Lynch since August last. These letters are all in the accompanying volume of the Official Record of the Department of Cape Fear. They are few in number, being only seventeen, and very brief. They are confined, with a very few exceptions, to answers to the flag officer's requests for assistance (invariably granted when in my power), and to one or two letters of suggestion as to the common good or common defense. I request, in order to a full understanding of my course, not only as connected with the present matter but heretofore, that these letters may be read and weighed. They need no comment from me, but they belong to the subject.

If I do not now bring forward the correspondence which occurred previous to last summer it is for the reason: First, that since June last, when Flag Officer Lynch had the assurance to report me to the War Department for discourtesy and breach of faith because I refused to let him have two Brooke guns destined for the defenses of the Cape Fear on the gun-boat Raleigh, and lent to me by the honorable Secretary of the Navy himself to be mounted in my batteries until the Raleigh should be ready to receive them, I have declined any communication with him, the cases above mentioned excepted. He wanted to put the guns on Roanoke River. I refused. The Raleigh was not ready when he asked for them, nor is she ready now. Second, because if I should find it necessary, which I do not expect, to put any more weight upon this officer as to his course. while in the naval command of North Carolina, and as to his interference with me, for my own exculpation in this matter, the previous correspondence, which is all here, will form the subject of a separate communication.

Very respectfully,

W. H. C. WHITING,

Major-General.

[Indorsement.]

MARCH 14, 1864.

Respectfully submitted to the President.

These are the two telegrams* which you expressed a desire to see on Saturday. The first relates to the first trip of the Alice, and was indorsed by the letter of the honorable Secretary of the Navy. The second was on the receipt from him of the telegram informing that General Whiting did not recognize the rights of the Navy. After the receipt by him of my second telegram, he gave notice to Mr. Peters of his readiness to co-operate and detained the Alice till a satisfactory arrangement was effected by Mr. Peters.

J. A. SEDDON,
Secretary of War.

*See inclosures A and B.

[Inclosure No. 1.]

General WHITING,

Wilmington:

WILMINGTON, N. C., March 8, 1864.

SIR: Commodore Lynch has sent an order to the steamer Hansa to drop alongside the North Carolina. I have declined to do so, and beg that you will either allow the steamer to lie at a more accessible spot or take her under your charge until all troubles or questions in suspense are settled.

I am, sir, yours, most respectfully,

TH. ANDREA.

[Indorsement.]

HEADQUARTERS, Wilmington, March 8, 1864.

Original letter, and first and only communication to me that the steamer was to be detained.

W. H. C. WHITING, Major-General, Commanding.

Inclosure No. 2.]

Flag Officer LYNCH,

HEADQUARTERS, Wilmington, March 8, 1864.

Comdg. C. S. Naval Forces N. C., present Flag Officer:

I have just received the following communication from Mr. Andrea, agent for steamer Hansa:*

I respectfully refer this communication to you for explanation, taking it for granted that there must be some misapprehension. In the mean time, without designing to prejudice this case, I have the honor to inform you that I will permit no interference with any vessel whatever in this department not belonging to the C. S. Navy by any authority but my own or by orders emanating from the War Department.

A guard is ordered upon the Hansa and no person will be permitted to approach her without proper authority.

Very respectfully,

W. H. C. WHITING, Major-General, Commanding.

[Inclosure No. 3.]

Maj. Gen. W. H. C. WHITING :

WILMINGTON, March 8, 1864.

GENERAL: I am just in receipt of your note respecting the Hansa. The order. to me from the hororable Secretary of the Navy is not to allow the Hansa or the Alice to proceed to sea unless the agents or the owners of those vessels consent to take the quantity of cotton which the Navy Department claims the right to send. The agents of both vessels have been notified of my instructions. So long as the vessels were alongside the wharves I did not interfere with them, hoping to the last moment that matters might be ad

*See inclosure No. 1.

justed; but when one of them, with cargo on board, hauls out into the stream, and it is given out by those belonging to her that she is about to leave, it becomes my duty to obey the order I have received.

Commander Muse is ordered to keep the Hansa near the North Carolina, so as to prevent her slipping off. If the smoke-stack of the latter vessel were in place she would have taken a convenient position, instead of moving the Hansa.

Commander Muse is further ordered not to use force except in the last resort, but if it be necessary to enforce the order, to exercise all the means at his disposal. In this I will sustain him against any authority not paramount to that of the honorable Secretary of the Navy, and the only one I recognize as paramount thereto is that of His Excellency the President of the Confederate States.

In the hope that you will not bring on a collision between two branches of a profession which should ever act in harmony, I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

Flag Officer LYNCH,

(Inclosure No. 4.]

HEADQUARTERS, Wilmington, March 8, 1864.

Comdg. C. S. Naval Forces N. C., present Flag Officer:

I have just received your note of this morning in reply to mine relative to the detention of the steamer Hansa. I can enter into no discussion upon this subject in reply at this time. My officer of the guard, Lieutenant Thomas, reports to me that a marine guard is now on board of the steamer Hansa. I have only to say respectfully that I require the marine guard to be withdrawn at once from the steamer Hansa. I request an immediate answer, if you please, by the bearer, Maj.J. H. Hill, assistant adjutant-general.

Very respectfully,

W. H. C. WHITING, Major-General, Commanding.

[Indorsement.]

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE CAPE FEAR,

Wilmington, March 8, 1864.

As the bearer of this letter, I have to say that Captain Lynch would not give me a written reply to this letter, though the majorgeneral commanding requested it.

Respectfully,

JAMES H. HILL,

Major and Assistant Adjutant-General.

[Inclosure No. 5.]

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE CAPE FEAR,

Wilmington, N. C., March 8, 1864. Remarks of the major-general commanding the Department of the Cape Fear upon Captain Lynch's (C. S. Navy) letter of this date, herewith inclosed:

As to the first paragraph of Captain Lynch's note of 8th instant, in which he states that the order to him of the honorable Secretary of the Navy is "not to allow the Hansa or the Alice to proceed to sea unless the agents of the owners of those vessels consent to take

the quantity of cotton which the Navy Department claims the right to send," I have to say, with all respect to the honorable Secretary of the Navy, if his orders are as alleged, that in my opinion neither by the custom of service, the etiquette subsisting between the military and Navy Departments, by the act of the Confederate Congress regulating foreign exports, &c., or the regulations of the Government, signed by the Secretaries of War and Treasury, has Captain Lynch, of the Navy, anything whatever to do with exercising the authority he claims in the military department of the Cape Fear in this case. I suggest respectfully that the proper course should have been to communicate to the commanding general that there was a necessity to detain a vessel. No vessel can leave this port without his express authority, if he has any.

Second. Captain Lynch states in his second paragraph, “As long as the vessels were alongside the wharf I did not interfere." He has no right to interfere at all here with any vessel not belonging to the C. S. Navy, either with the orders of the honorable Secretary of the Navy or without them. If the case were supposable he might with equal propriety have orders to take command of my troops and this department. Again, Captain Lynch well knows, from published orders and from his own experience, that no vessel can pass the forts without special written orders and telegraph dispatches from these headquarters, and he could have communicated to me the desire or order of his Department to stop the vessel. He did not do it.

Third. He orders Commander Muse to "keep the Hansa near the North Carolina, so as to prevent her slipping off." This is an absurdity, consequent on his usurpation of authority in assuming to take charge of and move the Hansa under the guns of the North Carolina, he well knowing that not even his own vessels can "slip off" without my authority or permission.

Fourth. He states that "Commander Muse is ordered not to use force except in last resort, but if it be necessary to enforce the order to exercise all the means at his disposal." The order which he alleges to have received is, in his own words, to "prevent the Alice or Hansa from proceeding to sea;" that is all. When the agent of the Hansa informed me that the Navy commandant had ordered his vessel under the guns of the North Carolina, an unwarrantable proceeding, I sent a guard on board the ship to take her in my own custody. The officer of the guard found her moved already and a guard of marines on board. I demanded their removal. Captain Lynch refused. I have increased my guard, but have forborne to place Captain Lynch under guard himself for conduct subversive of all I am put here for. I have so forborne because, first, I have His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief to appeal to, and because no collision can originate with me, and because also I can afford to have even my authority questioned or defied rather than produce a scandal such as this has nearly been.

Fifth. He concludes his extraordinary note with the singular remark, all things considered, that he hopes I "will not bring on a collision between two branches of a profession which should act in harmony.

It should be observed that, acting under the orders of the Secretary of War, received on the 6th instant, I had detained the Alice on behalf of the Navy Department. No notification whatever had been received by me as to the Hansa until her agent informed me of her improper seizure.

Lastly, I have to say that this is by no means the first occasion of usurpation by Captain Lynch or of forbearance on my part. The correspondence between this officer and myself for more than a year I am willing to submit without comment. I have often thought it due to myself personally to report him and request his removal. I have been loth to do so from the regard and admiration I have ever felt for his branch of service, the Navy, with which I have been so much associated. It now, however, becomes my duty not only to myself but to the cause and to the country to report him.

I may say, if I have refrained heretofore, it has been because his course here had convinced me that with his opportunities, if he could do no good for his country's defense, he might perhaps do no harm. In May last he wrote me requesting that an appeal should be made to the President "before his small but resolute force should come into collision with my comparatively overwhelming one." Captain Lynch is always ready for this kind of thing, but when a few days ago I suggested that the force at his disposal might be useful relative to the late attempt to capture General Hébert in doing picket duty, instead of lying in perfect safety at the town and doing nothing, he answers me to the effect, as will be seen by his letter herewith forwarded, that he cannot rely upon his "small but resolute force as against the enemy. This is at any rate an insult to his officers and men, for he has never tried them.

I have therefore respectfully, in the name of the country, the Navy, and of myself, as charged with the command and defense of this important place, to request that the President will remove this officer and place some one here who will at least attempt to aid me. Very respectfully,

W. H. C. WHITING, Major-General, Commanding.

[Inclosure No. 6.]

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE CAPE FEAR,

Flag Officer W. F. LYNCH,

Wilmington, March 2, 1864.

Commanding C. S. Naval Forces, N. C.:

FLAG OFFICER: Night before last a party of the enemy, in two small boats with muffled oars, rowed in between Fort Caswell and Bald Head and landed at the upper part of Smithville, conducted, evidently, by some one perfectly familiar with the localities. They went to the house occupied by General Hébert for his residence, and succeeded in capturing Captain Kelly, of his staff. A flag-oftruce boat appeared yesterday from the enemy, with which I permitted communication. It was learned that the party was commanded by a Lieutenant Jones,* of the U. S. Navy, and that their object was the capture of General Hébert. A few days since a party of 6 men, belonging to the Tenth North Carolina Battalion, were ordered, about sundown, to take a boat in which some of the

*Note on original by General Whiting:

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT, March 8, 1864. Lieutenant-Commander Cushing [was] for some time with Captain Maffitt on the coast survey in Wilmington, in 1855 and 1856. Lieutenant Jones accompanied him. Cushing knew the boat pass by the east end of Battery Island to Smithville, which could only be known by a pilot or a coast-survey man.

W. H. C. W.