SALT POND, GILES COUNTY, VA., June 27, 1862. Hon. G. W. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War. SIR: On the 29th of January last I was paroled by Brigadier-General Rosecrans for exchange as a prisoner of war. The nature of parole will fully appear by reference to a letter addressed to yourself by Colonel Willey and myself about the 27th of March last. At that time negotiations for exchange of prisoners of war were suspended. On the 31st of March you addressed a letter to me informing me that the President would not consent to my return to captivity according to the terms of my parole, for reasons therein stated. On the 14th of May I called again at your office and was then informed that I had not yet been exchanged, but that negotiations were again opened and it was thought a system of exchange would be agreed upon very soon. My parole and the letter aforesaid is in your office and you will see that my parole was limited. I am doing nothing for the good of my country while in my present condition. If the reason for my compulsory detention has ceased to exist I want to be exchanged or to receive passports to return to my captors in conformity to the terms of my parole. The individual designated in my parole to be returned for me was Lieutenant-Colonel Neff, of the Second Kentucky Regiment. I am now in the vicinity of the force with which I was acting nearly twelve months since when captured. I hope to be able to render some service, and if any regard is paid to the date of capture in exchanging prisoners let me have the benefit of that preference. If I can receive a certificate of exchange according to my parole or a passport for return to my captors be pleased to forward it to me at Giles CourtHouse, Va., care of Col. Peter C. Buffington. My condition is extremely embarrassing to me and I beg of the Department to act in my behalf. Yours, most respectfully, MILTON J. FERGUSON. [First indorsement.] I wish to see his letter of March 27. [Second indorsement.] [G. W. R.] The file room cannot find anything except the inclosures. I find letter written to Mr. F. telling him that he could not be exchanged until the enemy should make due return for men already released and that General Wool would be informed of the fact and reasons for the compulsory detention. [Third indorsement.] [MOG.] Inform him that the enemy have agreed to a general exchange and that communications were interrupted by the recent operations before Richmond. [Inclosure No. 1.] G. W. R. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, March 26, 1862. Honorable SECRETARY Of War. SIR: You can place the most implicit confidence in the inclosed statement* of Colonels Willey and Ferguson and Private Spurlock. I know them well. The two latter are my constituents. I am myself personally cognizant of nearly everything stated by these three gentlemen. *Not found. Allow me to beg the most speedy action in this matter. You kindly promised this morning to call the attention of the President to the case. Your predecessor sent a communication to our body containing a suggestion that Congress should pass a resolution declaring our officers now here on parole from the enemy released therefrom. I do not see much prospect of proper and timely relief in this quarter. In great haste, yours, respectfully, [Indorsement.] A. G. JENKINS. Inform Mr. Jenkins of letter to Messrs. Willey, &c., and its purport. [G. W. R.] [Inclosure No. 2.] RICHMOND, VA., March 28, 1862. Hon. G. W. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War, Richmond, Va.: On the 26th instant the Secretary of War asked of us to submit to him a written statement of our cases as paroled prisoners, which we did. We now solicit a prompt decision that we either return to our captors or that we are exchanged, and if we return to our captors that our passports be furnished us. Respectfully, WILLIAM J. WILLEY. MILTON J. FERGUSON. BALTIMORE, June 28, 1862. Hon. SECRETARY OF WAR OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES. DEAR SIR: On to-day I called upon Major-General Wool. I showed him the letter you addressed to me stating the reasons why no more special exchanges would be made. He says that he has been and is now in favor of and authorized to make a general exchange. That he is willing to make a general exchange by the cartel adopted between the United States and Great Britain in the war of 1812, or he is willing to make a new cartel. That when he sent the privateersmen up to City Point he sent with the officer who had them in charge that cartel, i. e., the one adopted between himself and General Cobb. That he has had no answer from our Government on the subject. Further, he says that he cannot write to your Department in answer to a letter directed to me or any third party. That inasmuch as his letters have not been answered he thinks the initiative ought to come from you and that he is ready to respond to any proposition made to him by you for a general exchange and parole of prisoners of war. Respectfully, H. H. ROBERTSON. P. S.-My destination is Fort Delaware. I start by first boat. H. H. R. General R. E. LEE, WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, June 29, 1862. Commanding Department of Northern Virginia. GENERAL: When you send a flag of truce again there are two matters which I wish you to bring to the notice of the general in command of the U. S. forces for the consideration of his Government. We have seen in the Northern papers that Mr. William B. Mumford, of New Orleans, and Col. John L. Owen, of the Missouri State Guard, have been executed by the U. S. authorities-Mr. Mumford for having pulled down the U. S. flag in New Orleans, and Colonel Owen upon the charge of bridge burning in Missouri. The former was hung, the latter was shot. We are informed that Mr. Mumford pulled the flag down when the enemy were not yet in possession of the city, but had merely anchored their vessels before it and had made a demand for a surrender which had not been complied with. A party landed, hoisted the flag and retired. The city was not in their possession nor subject to their jurisdiction. Under such circumstances the execution of Mr. Mumford was the murder of one of our citizens. I inclose* the account of his execution from the New Orleans Delta. We are informed that Colonel Owen was shot without trial. Such is the account given in the Missouri papers, as you will perceive from the inclosed slip containing an extract from the Hannibal [Mo.] Herald. He was a duly commissioned officer of the Second Division of the Missouri State Guard. We have executed private individuals for burning bridges and persons in military service for coming disguised within our lines to destroy railroads, but we have given them fair trials. If Colonel Owen entered the enemy's lines in disguise and burnt bridges, we could not consistently deny their right to try and punish him, but an execution without trial is not justifiable under any circumstances, and if he acted in obedience to orders and without entering the lines of the enemy in disguise his execution is a palpable murder committed by a U. S. officer. Supposing Mr. Mumford, a citizen of the Confederate States, to have been executed for an insult to the U. S. flag hoisted in a city not in their possession, and Colonel Owen to have been executed without trial, we deem it our duty to call on the authorities of the United States for a statement of the facts, inasmuch as we do not intend to permit out. rage of that character to be perpetrated without retaliation. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, GEO. W. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War. WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, June 29, 1862. Hon. T. A. HARRIS, Lynchburg, Va. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23d instant and to inform you that in consequence of the information in your letter of the 10th instant I directed General Lovell to inform the United States Government through General Butler of our intention to retaliate in case members of the State Guard of Missouri were executed under circumstances not justified by the laws of civil warfare. We ourselves have exercised the right of hanging persons not in military service who burned bridges, and we have hung persons in military service who entered our lines disguised for the purpose of destroying a railroad. We cannot therefore retaliate without accurate knowledge of the facts of the case. I directed General Lovell to inform General Butler that we claimed the right of fair trial in such cases and that we reserved the right to + See page 134. * See page 135. determine whether such trial had been allowed. I will make the same communication here and call special attention to the case of Colonel Owen. I submitted your views in reference to the guerrilla war said to be going on in Missouri to the President and informed him that you desired an expression of opinion from the Government on the policy of such warfare. He is inclined to agree with you in opinion, but does not consider himself sufficiently informed of the state of things in Missouri to express an opinion upon the matter. Generals Magruder and Price will soon repair to the Trans-Mississippi Department, and we hope that a system of regular warfare will soon be initiated which will render a guerrilla war unnecessary. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, GEO. W. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War. RICHMOND, June 29, 1862. GEORGE W. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War, Richmond. DEAR SIR: Release on parole the men and keep the officers here or at Salisbury, N. C. I have had many chances to observe these people and find the officers bitter. The privates to a man say: "Let us go and we will never fight again." God bless you. Your old friend, [Indorsement.] W. W. GILMER. Inform that the Department was engaged in doing so when the recent operations commenced and had sent off about 2,000 privates and noncommissioned officers. [G. W. R.] HEADQUARTERS, [DEPARTMENT No. 2,] June 30, 1862. Col. P. B. STARKE, Commanding, Jackson, Miss. COLONEL: You may inform Captain Nase (Federal prisoner of war) that the general commanding has made repeated efforts to induce the Federal authorities to recognize and square their conduct with the usages of war in relation to prisoners of war, but General Halleck has failed to reply to the efforts made to ameliorate the condition of prisoners and has violated in effect his own voluntary promises, hence the general at present does not feel authorized to parole Captain Nase, but will propose his exchange at an early day for Capt. M. T. Polk, one of our wounded officers in possession of the enemy at Respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. G. W. RANDOLPH. THOMAS JORDAN, NEAR ASHLAND, June 30, 1862. MY DEAR SIR: By this mail I send you officially a notification of the facts that on the 29th ultimo I was captured by a party sent for that purpose by General Emory to my father's where I was too ill to get out of the way. I add this private note to beg your good offices in getting me released as soon as practicable from my parole not to bear arms against the United States until exchanged. Robertson's promotion makes me particularly anxious to be enabled to rejoin the regiment, which sadly needs my care. I feel confident that both for my sake and the sake of the service you will do what you can for me. Yours, truly, WMS. C. WICKHAM. NEAR ASHLAND, June 30, 1862. Hon. G. W. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War. SIR: I beg leave to call your attention to the fact that on the 29th of May (I being at that time lieutenant-colonel of the Fourth Virginia Cavalry), being at my father's wounded and in a state of health in which my surgeon told me my life would be endangered by any attempt at removal, I was by order of General Emory, of the U. S. Army, put upon my parole not to bear arms until exchanged. I find myself now so far better that I think I could join my regiment in a few days could I procure the release from my parole. I am very desirous to do so and there are reasons why I should be as soon as practicable with the regiment. I hope therefore that I may look forward to an early exchange. Your obedient servant, GENERAL ORDERS, No. 46. * WMS. C. WICKHAM, Colonel Fourth Virginia Cavalry. II. Paragraph IV, General Orders, No. 44, current series, is hereby rescinded and the following paragraph is substituted in lieu thereof: Persons under eighteen and over thirty-five years of age who have re-enlisted for three years or the war are not entitled to their discharge under the conscript act. Persons of the ages above mentioned who enlisted for twelve months or for a shorter term will be entitled to their discharge ninety days after the expiration of their term of service. III. All chaplains taken prisoners of war by the armies of the Confederate States while engaged in the discharge of their proper duties will be immediately and unconditionally released. By command of the Secretary of War: S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, July, 1862. Maj. Gen. D. H. Hill, Commanding Division. GENERAL: I find on inquiry that there will be some difficulty in delivering the released prisoners at City Point. It will be best to march them down by the Varina road (a branch of the New Market road) to A. M. Aiken's, a point on the river below Dutch Gap, where they can be received by their own boats. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, R. E. LEE, General. |