be retained for an indefinite period. Arrangements are being made to send a considerable portion to Danville, where we have some large, vacant buildings at command; but as a more appropriate, permanent place of imprisonment I am endeavoring to find and secure possession of some suitable island, surrounded by water of sufficient depth to render an attempt at escape dangerous. Such an island, very convenient, as being near the terminus of a railroad, exists in the Yadkin, and I have made earnest effort to purchase or lease it. The owner positively refuses to sell or lease, and I can only obtain it by the compulsion of impressment, which I am very loath to resort to. There are some other islands in the Roanoke River in the neighborhood of Clarksville not quite so convenient which I am having examined at this time by an officer with the view to the selection of one if suitable. I fully realize all the considerations mentioned by you inducing the removal of the prisoners from Richmond and shall endeavor to effect it as soon as practicable. Very respectfully, JAMES A. SEDDON, CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, October 31, 1863. Brig. Gen. J. H. WINDER: GENERAL: An arrangement between the Quartermaster-General and Commissary-General has been consummated under which the latter officer assumes the duty of feeding the prisoners of war, giving them rations bearing a proper proportion to those supplied to the army. You are, therefore, relieved from the duty of making provision for them and will direct Captain Warner to discontinue his purchases. Respectfully, Maj. I. H. CARRINGTON, JAMES A. SEDD War. Secretary of War. RICHMOND, October 31, 1863. Commissioner, &c., Richmond, Va.: MAJOR: Thirty-four hundred and forty-four dollars were delivered to me as having been taken from Colonel Streight, Fifty-first Indiana Regiment. Of this there were $2,512 in U. S. Treasury notes and $932 in Southern bank bills. The U. S. money was in the original packages as paid out from the U. S. Treasury and had never been in circulation; $1,152 were in $1 notes. Respectfully, your obedient servant, C. MORFIT, Captain and Assistant Quartermaster. [First indorsement.] NOVEMBER 11, 1863. I have re-examined the package of money taken from Colonel Streight and find there $1,152 in $1 greenbacks as stated above. C. MORFIT, Captain and Assistant Quartermaster. [Second indorsement.] C. S. MILITARY PRISON, Richmond, May 16, 1863. Received of Colonel Streight a package supposed to contain about $3,000 in Federal money to be returned when he leaves this prison. TH. P. TURNER, Captain, Commanding. (Credit indorsed, $50 May 22, and $50 May 23.) I copied the above from the original in Colonel Streight's possession. I. H. CARRINGTON. PRIVATE.] OFFICE COMMISSIONER FOR EXCHANGE, Maj. Gen. E. A. HITCHCOCK, Washington, D. C.: MY DEAR GENERAL: I inclose you herewith a letter which I have written to Mr. Ould. I have but little hope that he will accept either proposal, but I think if it is presented to him and then published it will have the effect of allaying any public feeling against the Government as to the suspension of exchanges. In cousequence of certain movements now in progress I will not be able to go to City Point before Friday or Saturday next, and would be pleased to have your decision on the accompanying before that time. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, [Indorsement.] Respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War, with the remarks that the undersigned does not approve of the manner or precise language employed in the first portion of the letter proposed by General Meredith, which, however, may be easily modified if any part of the propositions should be approved. The second portion of the proposal is believed to be impracticable. The first portion involves the question as to whether an exchange of prisoners can be made as proposed without impliedly acquiescing in the formal determination of the rebel authorities, by the proclamation of Mr. Davis and an act of the Confederate Congress, to make a distinc tion between officers of the Federal Army taken prisoners while serving with white troops and those serving with colored regiments. With these remarks the questions connected with the proposal of General Meredith is respectfully submitted. E. A. HITCHCOCK, Major-General and Commissioner for Exchange of Prisoners. [Inclosure.] OFFICE COMMISSIONER FOR EXCHANGE, Fort Monroe, Va., November 2, 1863. Hon. R. OULD, Agent of Exchange, Richmond, Va.: SIR: Having learned from the most undoubted authority that the Confederate Government have neither the means nor the power to subsist, clothe, or furnish proper quarters for the Union prisoners held in custody in Richmond and elsewhere in the South, I deem it incumbent on me from motives of humanity to urge upon you the acceptance of one of the following propositions: First. I will exchange officer for officer, man for man, according to the grade and rank or equivalents as provided in the cartel, according to the date of capture, sufficient to secure the release of all Union pris. oners of war now held in confinement in the South, with the distinct understanding that this offer, if acceptable to the Confederate authorities, shall not waive or forego any claim, demand, or matter of contro versy now pending between us. Should you decline to accept the above proposition I will agree that each party shall subsist and clothe the prisoners of war held by the other, and shall provide for the speedy transportation and delivering of such subsistence and clothing within the lines of each army respectively to the place or places where the same is needed to be issued, provided that either party provide money sufficient for that purpose in lieu of subsistence and clothing in kind, the respective agents exchanging proper vouchers from time to time, and at all times to mean a faithful compliance with the terms of this proposal. On the 28th ultimo 181 Union prisoners were delivered at City Point, eight of whom died on the passage from that place to Annapolis. They were all in a starving condition. You have stated to me yourself that there were no lights in the sashes in Libby Prison, and that your authorities had no means to place any there. How great, then, will be the suffering of our prisoners during the coming winter. Confederate prisoners held by the U. S. authorities are at present well fed, clothed, and housed. Should you decline the foregoing propositions I shall deem it my duty to urge upon my Government the necessity and the justice of rendering the condition of Confederate prisoners held by us as nearly as possible similar to that of ours held by the Confederates. Respectfully, your obedient servant, S. A. MEREDITH, Brigadier-General and Commissioner of Exchange. Colonel HOFFMAN, MEDICAL INSPECTOR-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Commissary-General of Prisoners, U. S. Army: SIR: The following is an extract from Lieut. Col. G. T. Allen's report of inspection of the post hospital at Corinth, Miss., October 17, 1863: * The only complaint is for clothing and blankets. Doctor Leonard complains that he cannot procure enough blankets to keep the prisoners comfortable. * Prison in excellent order. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JNO. M. CUYLER, Acting Medical Inspector-General, U. S. Army. Brig. Gen. S. A. MEREDITH: WASHINGTON, November 3, 1863. Have the blankets forwarded by the quartermaster been delivered to the prisoners at Richmond? Will it be safe to send clothing? W. HOFFMAN, Commissary-General of Prisoners. FORT MONROE, November 3, 1863. Col. WILLIAM HOFFMAN, Commissary-General of Prisoners: I have sent 1,000 suits of clothing and 1,500 blankets. Sent as many more to-day. General Dow writes that he received and will distribute them. S. A. MEREDITH, JUDGE-ADVOCATE-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War: SIR: In a formal statement* made under the direction of the Hon. P. H. Watson, Assistant Secretary of War, by Colonel Irvine, a prisoner of war recently returned from Richmond, and submitted for the consideration of this office, is found the following language: Maj. B. F. Mosely, of Fourth Kentucky Cavalry, captured at Nashville, is in irons, wearing a 64-pound ball and chain, at Atlanta. Capt. Lewis L. Carter, of the East Tennessee cavalry, detailed on General Wilder's staff, was also captured at Nashville and is held and treated in like manner. They have not been served with any charges, but the officers about there report the charges against them to be, levying war against their sovereign States. Major Mosely being a Kentuckian and the other from Tennessee, they are held as political prisoners. Captain Carter desires General Wilder to be informed of his condition. Mosely has been aide to Governor Johnson, whom he wishes informed of his situation. Lieut. E. H. Mason, Company B, Twenty-first Ohio Volunteers, and Lieut. Wilson W. Brown, of same regiment, are in irons at Atlanta. The charges against them are that they were in the bridge-burning expedition of General Mitchel, at which time they were privates. One was exchanged and the other escaped. They were promoted, captured in battle, and are now held on the old charges. John Wollam, private, Thirty-third Ohio Volunteers, is also in irons and cannot learn the charges against him. Capt. C. S. F. Dircks, Company K, First Middle Tennessee Infantry, a native of Denmark, taken last January, was also subjected to the same treatment for five months. The irons have been taken off, but he is still held and cannot learn what charges, if any, there are against him. They did not try him nor make any pretense of expecting to. This information in regard to these officers and soldiers of the U. S. Army now languishing in Southern prisons is regarded as entirely reliable, it having been obtained by Colonel Irvine from officers captured at Chickamauga and confirmed by personal conversations with General Dow, who himself saw these persons and knows the facts. Maj. J. P. Collins, of Twenty-ninth Indiana, is one of the persons who furnished the information. He was captured at Chickamauga and conversed with these prisoners, who were anxious to ascertain what was against them. As the officers and private named are prisoners of war and are recognized by this Government as occupying that status, and that only, its utmost power should be exerted to secure for them the treatment to which they are entitled according to the usages of civilized nations. All restraints upon their liberty beyond what are necessary for their safe-keeping are violations alike of the customs of war and of the sentiments of humanity. It is entirely manifest that the unarmed and helpless captives mentioned now confined in prisons at remote points from the loyal States have not been loaded with irons as a precaution necessary for their security. This inhumanity is either one of the caprices of the rebel * Omitted in view of quotations herein given. despotism or is the result of a deliberate purpose to chastise and torture those who in being disarmed by the fortunes of war are only the more under the shelter of its laws. In those cases where it is suggested that there are any grounds alleged for this course of treatment it will be observed that they are mere pretenses and do not deserve serious consideration. Upon the insolent pretension that because citizens of Kentucky and Tennessee have been true to their national flag they may in disregard of the cartel be held and tried as traitors not a word need be said. Equally untenable is the position said to be taken in reference to Lieutenants Mason and Brown. The "bridge-burning expedition" to which it is stated they belonged was the subject of an investigation in this office and of a report to yourself under date of 27th of March, 1863. It was fully proved that it was military in its character, set on foot for the purpose of cutting the communications of the rebel army, and that the soldiers engaged in it were regularly detailed for the duty: It is true that, the expedition having failed, seven of these men were executed at Atlanta under the charge of being spies; the testimony, however, left no doubt but that this execution took place under a peremptory order from Richmond and against the convictions of the court by whom the men were tried. In every aspect in which it can be regarded it must be pronounced to have been a cold-blooded and cowardly murder. But if even these two lieutenants had been spies, which they certainly were not, their having escaped and returned in safety to the lines of their own army would, according to the universal law on the subject, protect them from punishment. Spies to be punished must be found or taken as such. If they succeed in reaching the military forces to which they belong the offense does not follow them, and they are not liable to be tried for it if afterward captured. Retaliation for outrages such as those of which these captives are now the victims is, it is true, an inadequate mode of redress, but it is the only one within the reach of the Government. It is therefore recommended that it be at once resorted to and that rebel prisoners corresponding in position in the military service to the officers and private named be subjected to precisely the same treatment which the latter are now enduring. This much is due equally to the public honor and to the victims of these oppressions, and it is believed that such a retaliatory measure, if promptly adopted and persisted in, will go far to repress such brutal and barbaric practices in future. All of which is respectfully submitted. [Indorsement.] J. HOLT, Judge-Advocate-General. WAR DEPARTMENT, November 9, 1863. Referred to Maj. Gen. E. A. Hitchcock, commissioner for exchange of prisoners, with instructions to ascertain from the rebel agent for the exchange of prisoners whether the facts herein alleged can be true, and if they be true to direct immediate retaliation. By order of the Secretary of War: P. H. WATSON, Assistant Secretary of War. |