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PHILADELPHIA, September 11, 1861.

L. C. BAKER, 466 Thirteenth Street:

I have just mailed you letter to-night. I have had W. H. Winder held for treason with abundance of evidence. Arrested him at armory of Home Guard, of which he was a member.

FRANKLIN,

Detective.

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington City, September 13, 1861.

GEORGE A. COFFEY, Philadelphia:

Send William H. Winder to Fort Lafayette. Seal up his papers and see that they are properly taken care of to be held as evidence for his conviction.

SIMON CAMERON,
Secretary of War.

No. 53 LIBERTY STREET, NEW YORK, [September 25, 1861]. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

MY DEAR SIR: I inclose you a note which I received this morning from William H. Winder, esq., a prisoner at Fort Lafayette. The answer which I made to it Colonel Burke, to whom I sent it, will forward to your Department. I should not institute or attempt any legal proceedings on behalf of any gentleman who might ask my assistance. My action in case I undertook to relieve any of them would extend no further than to the preparation of proofs to be submitted to the Department in such as I should consider clear instances of misapprehension, in which if any exist I think, knowing your sense of justice, the res toration to liberty of a party mistakenly committed and confined would be a relief to you only second to that which the prisoner himself would experience on being again free and unsuspected.

Yours, truly,

JOHN E. DEVELIN.

P. S.-May I ask the return of the inclosed? It may be that my answer will go to Secretary Cameron. If so and not received by you may I ask you to cause this and the inclosed to be sent over to him with an indorsement by you of my loyalty? I believe Mr. Winder was arrested by order of Secretary Cameron.

[Inclosure.]

FORT LAFAYETTE, September 24, 1861.

JOHN E. DEVELIN, Esq., Astor House, New York.

DEAR SIR: There are several parties here who though intelligent and possessed of means seem at a loss how exactly to proceed to secure their liberation from a confinement brought about under some misapprehension. I know nothing of the particulars of their cases but venture to suggest that if satisfied of their innocence of any impropriety which could justly consign them to this place you would probably be willing to take the necessary steps to secure their liberation with a zeal equal to your ability. At their instance I write to you, and if you should find it convenient to act for them and could get permission to see them in order to acquaint yourself with their cases they would be glad to see you.

I am, most respectfully, yours,

W. H. WINDER.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 30, 1861.

RICHARD M. BLATCHFORD, Esq., New York.

SIR: The Secretary of State has directed Col. Martin Burke to permit you to visit in presence of a proper officer the prisoner, W. H. Winder, at Fort Lafayette.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

E. D. WEBSTER,

Clerk.

FORT HAMILTON, September 30, 1861.

Col. E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General.

SIR: Inclosed you will find a letter from a respectable party in answer to one from Mr. Winder, now confined in Fort Lafayette. I thought it would not be improper to send it to you in order that I might be informed of the views of the Department upon the matter. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

MÁRTIN BURKE, Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding.

[Inclosure.]

No. 53 LIBERTY STREET, NEW YORK, September 30, 1861. WILLIAM H. WINDER, Esq.

DEAR SIR: On my return to-day from Washington I find on my table your favor dated Fort Lafayette, 24th instant, stating that there are several parties there at a loss how to proceed to secure their liberty from a confinement brought about under some misapprehension, and suggesting that if satisfied of their innocence of any impropriety which could justly consign them to that place I would probably be willing to take the necessary steps to secure their liberation.

In answer I would say I would feel it a duty imposed upon me by my profession to investigate the case of any of the gentlemen confined at the fort who should desire me to do so, and that in the event of evidence being_furnished which in my judgment ought to satisfy the officers of the Government that the party had been arrested and was detained under a misapprehension I should do all in my power to secure his release. Entrance to the fort can be had only by special permission, and the name of the gentleman to be visited must be inserted in the pass as I understand. You will therefore readily perceive that in order to pay a visit to any of the gentlemen referred to in your note it is necessary for me to be possessed of his name. If you will be so kind therefore as to send me their names I will endeavor to visit them to-morrow.

Yours, very respectfully,

JOHN E. DEVELIN.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 1, 1861.

Col. MARTIN BURKE, Fort Hamilton, N. Y.

COLONEL: I transmit a copy of a letter of the 24th ultimo, addressed by Mr. W. H. Winder, a prisoner at Fort Lafayette, to Mr. John Develin at the Astor House, New York, the original of which has been for

* Omitted here. See inclosure Develin to Seward, September 25, p. 726.

warded to this Department by Mr. John Develin. It is presumed that in forwarding the original to Mr. Develin Mr. Winder must have found means to elude the vigilance of the authorities at Fort Lafayette.

I am, colonel, your very obedient servant,

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 1, 1861.

JOHN E. DEVELIN, Esq., Astor House, New York.

SIR: I have received your note without date, accompanied by one addressed to you by Mr. W. H. Winder, which is herewith returned agreeably to your request. It is not deemed advisable that you should have interviews with the persons to whom he refers, or compatible with the reputation of a good citizen which you so deservedly enjoy that you should have any professional connection with them. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

[CHARLES H. WINDER.]

FORT LAFAYETTE, October 20, 1861..

DEAR CHARLES: I received on the 15th yours of the 11th announcing your sad bereavement to which I immediately replied. I also received and replied to yours written after your return from Baltimore in which you spoke of bringing my case to the consideration of Governor Seward. To my remarks on this suggestion of yours I would add these further observations. In regard therefore to any qualification or condition to a release I inclose some hasty remarks.

I am wholly unwilling to believe that Governor Seward or General Cameron could wish me to slime myself with conditions that would place upon me a lasting mark of degradation so poisonous to my peace as to render life undesirable, and implanting in the bosom an implacable feeling which may cause unhappiness to others as well as to myself. A release to be in any manner acceptable must be on such terms and in such manner as is best calculated to restore the personal good feeling which I had ever entertained and had oft manifested and which I had supposed was mutual, and to bury in oblivion the hardship and losses caused by my arrest and confinement. I am guiltless of wrong to the Constitution and the Union or to any section of the country in thought, word or deed, and upon this rock I stand and I cannot countenance anything inconsistent with it. I am now under the responsibility of the oath as much so as if I again should take it, and if I have violated it I am now amenable to condign punishment. If guiltless why make an oath a condition of my release?

I conclude with a suggestion that I be allowed on parole to go to Washington in person to attend to the investigation of my case. I will of course in no manner avail myself of the liberty of parole to do anything inconsistent with its spirit but will confine myself strictly to its object and return promptly to this place if my liberation be not the result. Give yourself no uneasiness about me. If you can obtain your own honorable discharge I have the heart for any fate and an abiding confidence in a retributive future.

I am, ever, your most affectionate brother,

W. H. WINDER.

FORT HAMILTON, N. Y., October 22, 1861.

Col. E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General, &c.

SIR: Inclosed please find a letter from William H. Winder, a prisoner at Fort Lafayette, which I deem best to forward through you. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

[CHARLES H. WINDER.]

MÁRTIN BURKE, Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding.

[Inclosure.]

FORT LAFAYETTE, October 18, 1861.

DEAR CHARLES: I have this moment yours of the 15th instant, and hasten to urge upon you my strong wish not to compromise me by any application for my release, except to learn the cause of my detention. In order that you may clearly comprehend my position I will state the facts:

On Tuesday, the 9th, in the evening, I was arrested on a warrant issued by the mayor of Philadelphia, predicated upon a dispatch from the provost-marshal of Washington, for carrying on a treasonable correspondence with the Confederates. The officer who took me by his inquiries indicated they expected to find such among my papers with General Winder and myself. Two officers went with me to my chamber and ransacked trunks, closets, drawers, &c., and took away every paper found, though upon examination not one was found in any manner to 1efer to political matters. I was then locked up in station house all

night, and I learn that during the night having searched my person and . taken all my keys they ransacked my office, and during the next day overhauled all my private papers of thirty years' standing to find out what I had been doing during the last few months.

On the next day (Wednesday) I was discharged by the mayor and at the request of the U. S. district attorney was turned over to him, the marshal taking charge of me until afternoon, when a hearing was to be had before the commissioner. At the hearing the U. S. attorney expressed his disappointment at finding no correspondence to implicate me, but having read my papers (copies of my political correspondence, contributions to newspapers and memoranda for reference, many of them never sent, both of letters and communications and many intended for future use to be incorporated in communications where in the context they would wear an aspect very different from the naked memoranda), he desired postponement to hunt up evidence in Philadelphia of my conversations, the charge upon which I was taken being unsupported by a scintilla of evidence. But in my writings I had freely spoken and had condemned without stint or limitation the abolition wing of the Republican party. This stung the district attorney, who not daring to put my writings in evidence but desirous of punishing me for them wanted time to hunt up charges, and two days were allowed him for that purpose.

When the hearing came on he was still unable to bring any charge, and in meantime had contrived to get a dispatch from General Cameron to send me here. I was then discharged by the commissioner and instantly sent here. The marshal showed me a dispatch received on the 11th from Governor Seward: "Send W. H. Winder to Fort Lafayette." This was not used, they hunting up cause of accusation. I wrote Governor Seward a letter, and this dispatch would seem to have been written in reply or on receipt of my letter, which was written and sent before I was arrested or had dreamed of such a thing.

Thus it would seem that I was originally arrested on a false alarm that I was in correspondence with General Winder at Richmond, with whom I have had no communication verbally or in writing since about January, and at no time was politics the subject of a single remark between us. My writings may be sharp and ill judged, but not sharper or of wider scope than Governor Seward, General Cameron and all others of that party allow themselves in speaking of us. But in regard to devotion to the Constitution and the Union which it formed it is breathed in every line. White is not a more inseparable attribute of snow than love of the Constitution is of all my writings, and I could not wish a more triumphant viudication of myself than would be the publication of my writings entire. I here repeat emphatically that unless a difference of opinion from the Administration in regard to the best mode of securing the perpetuity of the Union be cause of offense there exists no ground upon which to base a charge.

Such being the state of the case I have supposed that neither General Cameron nor Governor Seward could have given any personal attention to the charges against me; nor can I reconcile it to myself that either could so far distrust me as to suppose I would clandestinely do anything I was ashamed to avow, and that if I had been in favor of a separation of the States that I would openly have taken my stand. I look therefore for an unconditional release, and in such a manner as shall make it manifest to the world that I stand perfectly acquitted of anything inconsistent with a true lover of the Constitution and its Union. To be called upon to take an oath to support the Constitution, &c., as a condition of release is by my own act to indorse my arrest and imprisonment as being deserved. Than to utter such self-calumny my burial here is less revolting. If I have any knowledge of those. gentlemen my liberation as indicated above will be the prompting of their own hearts. I have so believed all along and shall not cease to do so except upon their own testimony. I am entirely satisfied that in a majority of cases their authority to arrest is given upon confidence in parties demanding it and without any sufficient authenticated evidence satisfactory to their own judgment. As no testimony has ever existed so none can ever be adduced or will be made public which can justify my arrest. It was clearly made under misinformation. Do nothing therefore to put me in a false position. Captain T. sends his kindest regards and warmest sympathy for your sad bereavement. Remember me most affectionately to Mary and Josie.

Your affectionate brother,

W. H. WINDER.

Possession of my office and papers was retained for nearly two weeks by the officers, and extracts or purported contents of private letters falsely published.

WILLIAM HODGE, Esq.

BALTIMORE, October 22, 1861.

MY DEAR SIR: I venture with no little diffidence to trespass upon your kindness in a matter that may seem to you to be out of my appropriate sphere and in which nevertheless I cannot but feel a deep interest. There is in my church a venerable lady, the widow of the late General Winder, who as you know was in his day one of our most prominent and distinguished citizens. She has been for many years living a very retired life dependent upon three sons, one of whom is in the Confederate Army from whom she cannot hear. The two others

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