the Government and are doing good and faithful service in the hospital without pay. Is the above action wrong in view of their small number and all the circumstances? Very respectfully, your obedient servant, R. S. SMITH, Major Twelfth Infantry. SANDUSKY CITY, OHIO, August 22, 1862. His Excellency EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. SIR: We have near Sandusky, on an island called Johnson's Island, a military prison where a certain number of Catholics are confined as prisoners of war. These poor misguided men would bear with resignation their well-deserved punishment if they only were allowed the consolation of a priest. As far as bodily comfort is concerned they are treated with a care which does honor to a noble people. Couldn't the same comfort be granted to their souls? It cannot be I am sure the intention of the Government which is now fighting for liberty to enslave the conscience of anybody. Prompted by these high considerations I humbly beg of Your Excellency to grant to the Catholic priests of Sandusky the permission of procuring to those poor men the consolations of their religion. The prison is under the command of Major Pierson. Hoping a favorable answer, I am, of Your Excellency the most humble and most obedient servant, L. MOLON, Catholic Priest of Sandusky and appointed Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, NEW YORK, August 23, 1862. Secretary of State, &c., Washington. DEAR SIR: From the kindness you have shown me in giving your permission to visit Mr. Soulé I feel it my duty to give you a candid statement of the result of that visit. In company with Judge Roselius and Doctor Cottman we called yesterday and found Mr. Soulé apparently well but far from being so in body or mind, complaining of rheumatism from the effects of the dampness of the fort; but this he remarked was more endurable than the privations he had to undergo in being subjected to all the indignities of a common felon, deprived of the privilege of writing to his family, of taking exercise in the open air of the fort-in fact being confined to a cell and not the liberty of leaving it even to the water-closets without an escort of the guard. Upon the political questions of the day he observed that he had clung to the Union until the State seceded according to the State rights doctrine of the party to which he belonged, but said nothing disrespectful of the Government, and said if desired he would leave the country and pledge himself not to do anything in opposition to the Government either directly or indirectly; that when the Federal forces took New Orleans his mouth was sealed and he neither did nor said anything against the Federal authority. He was not conscious of having done anything to merit the very severe punishment that was meted out to him and was willing and ready to meet his accusers and stand his trial. He wishes to be put on parole, and pledged himself to do nothing in opposition to the United States Government and would remain at Washington or any other place the Government thought proper to designate. Our interview here closed and we left. To-day the Secretary of War through the judge-advocate sent me permission to visit Mr. Soulé with his son, which I did, and after the very interesting and affecting interview between the father and son had passed I opened the subject of our present difficulties and drew him. out upon the newspaper reports of General Dix going South, to which he gave his cordial adhesion, and said General Dix was an old friend and none could be sent South that would or could please him more. His remarks of Senator Johnson were equally laudatory, and said if the Federal forces had success upon the next engagement that the appointment of Dix and Johnson would gradually bring back the State. I cannot of course give you minutely all our conversation, but the main features were decidedly conservative and I feel that at this time the parole of Mr. Soulé (while it will show a conciliatory course on the part of the Government) will have the effect of bringing to our ranks a man who will be of immense service when required. I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, CUTHBERT BULLITT. Hon. E. M. STANTON. [Indorsement.] MY DEAR SIR: I suppose it my duty to report the within to you for your information. Mr. Bullitt mistakes when he says he owes his permission to visit Mr. Soulé to me. I knew nothing of his going. WILLIAM H. SEWARD GENERAL ORDERS, WAR DEPT., ADJT. GENERAL'S OFFICE, No. 116. Washington, August 23, 1862. I. Commissioned officers and enlisted men of the discharged three months' volunteer regiments who have been exchanged or released on parole by the enemy and not yet discharged the U. S. service are hereby mustered out and discharged from this date. II. Officers and men of the forces aforesaid who may hereafter be exchanged or released by the enemy will be considered as regularly mustered out and discharged the service of the United States from the date of their arrival in a loyal State. By order of the Secretary of War: E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General. Washington, August 23. 1862. WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Lieut. Col. MARTIN BURKE, Third U. S. Artillery, Fort Hamilton, N. Y. SIR: Your letter of the 13th instant reporting you had declined to send a telegram from Messrs. Soulé and Mazureau to Hon. Reverdy Johnson has been submitted to the Secretary of War. The Secretary directs me to inform you that he approves your action in the matter. State prisoners should under no circumstances be allowed to communicate with any person except on the express authority of the Secretary of War. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, August 23, 1862. Instructions for Hon. Reuben Hitchcock, special commissioner to investigate and to report on the cases of state prisoners held in custody at Camp Chase. 1. You will report yourself to Governor Tod and furnish him with a copy of the order appointing you and procure from him a list of the persons held in custody as prisoners at Camp Chase and request him to furnish you all the information he has respecting the cause of their arrest and detention and the authority under which the arrest was made. 2. You will then see and examine each prisoner personally and receive such statement or explanation as he may be disposed to give, and also take any proofs that may be accessible touching the guilt or innocence. of the party and his disposition and intentions toward the Government whether loyal or hostile. 3. You will make a brief minute or report on each case, stating the name and residence of the party, the cause of his arrest, when it was made and by what authority and your opinion as to whether the peace and safety of the Government requires his detention or whether he may be discharged without danger to the public peace. 4. Your powers in respect to the investigation embrace the largest discretion. The Department has confidence in your judgment and discretion and unless under very special circumstances your report will be conclusive of its action. It is the desire of the Department to forbear the exercise of power as far as it can be done with safety to the Government. 5. You will confer freely with His Excellency Governor Tod and avail yourself of his counsel and assistance. You will submit your report to him and note in each case whether he agrees or differs with you in judgment and the point of difference if there be any. 6. You are authorized to employ such clerical assistance as may be necessary at a reasonable compensation, to be stipulated and reported to the Department. Your compensation will be $8 per day and the usual mileage. 7. Any other or further instructions that you may desire will be communicated, and on all matters touching your commission you will communicate with me. By order of the Secretary of War: L. C. TURNER, HEADQUARTERS IN THE FIELD, August 23, 1862. General G. W. MORGAN, Cumberland Gap. GENERAL: I herewith send you the formal receipt* for the prisoners sent yesterday; also a communication from Maj. Gen. E. Kirby Smith, commanding Department of East Tennessee. I am, very respectfully, yours, &c., *Not found. J. P. McCOWN, Major-General, Commanding. [Inclosure.] HEADQUARTERS CONFEDERATE FORCES, Brig. Gen. GEORGE W. MORGAN, Commanding U. S. Forces, Cumberland Gap. August 23, 1862. GENERAL: Your communication* of yesterday to General McCown having been referred to me I have the honor to reply that as the prisoners you released belonged for the most part to Virginia regiments they should have been sent to the nearest Confederate command. I decline to accept them in exchange for the same number sent from here. They will be sent to their homes there to await their exchange. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Capt. R. BURR, E. KIRBY SMITH, Major-General, Commanding. OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS, Assistant Quartermaster, U. S. Army, Columbus, Ohio. CAPTAIN: There is in the possession of General Wright, quartermaster-general of Ohio, a box containing the side arms of the Confederate officers, prisoners of war, which I request you will have forwarded to Capt. H. M. Lazelle, Eighth Infantry, U. S. Army, at Vicksburg, Miss. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. HOFFMAN, Colonel Third Infantry, Commissary-General of Prisoners. HDQRS. MILITARY DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON, D. C., Maj. Gen. JOHN A. DIX, Fort Monroe, Va.: August 23, 1862. I have the honor to inclose a list of Union prisoners in addition to those forwarded yesterday. They are confined in the Libby Prison at Richmond: R. C. Eveleth, sutler, Seventeenth Regiment New York Volunteers; William Westaway, sutler, Fifth Regiment Michigan Volunteers; R. E. Parker, sutler, Second Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers; J. W. Laughlin, sutler's department, Second Regiment Rhode Island Volunteers; W. Kern, sutler's department, Fifty-fifth Regiment New York Volunteers; G. Mills and C. E. Gildersleve, sutler's clerks, Seventeenth Regiment New York Volunteers; C. B. Mann, sutler's clerk, Eighteenth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers; Samuel May, sutler's clerk, Twentieth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers; William Phillips, sutler's clerk, Fifth Regiment Michigan Volunteers; G. R. Salisbury and William O. Chapin, sutler's clerks, Fourth Regiment Vermont Volunteers; L. G. Parkhurst and E. B. Fisher, sutler's clerks, Second Regiment Vermont Volunteers. All the above named were captured on the 13th of June near White House Landing, Va. S. S. Mann, sutler, Eighteenth Massachusetts, *Not found. now at Frederick, Md., sick, released to effect exchange of R. C. Eveleth for Samuel Price. Exchange not yet effected. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Brigadier-General. OFFICE OF PROVOST-MARSHAL-GENERAL, Wheeling, Va., August 23, 1862. Col. WILLIAM HOFFMAN, Commissary-General of Prisoners. SIR: I have the honor to report that I have this day been authorized by the Secretary of War to release prisoners received here on oath and bond whenever recommended by Governor Peirpoint. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOS. DARR, JR., Major and Provost-Marshal-General of Virginia. FORT MCHENRY, MD., August 23, 1862. COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS, Washington, D. C. GENERAL: Some 250 prisoners are now confined at this post, seventy of which are political prisoners. Fifteen or twenty descriptive rolls are required to enroll them. Will you please forward them at your earliest convenience. Very truly, yours, H. L. EMMONS, JR., Captain, Fifth New York Artillery, Provost-Marshal. Col. WILLIAM HOFFMAN, CAMP CHASE, OHIO, August 23, 1862. Commissary-General of Prisoners, Detroit, Mich. DEAR SIR: Inclosed please find an attested copy of a letter from the Hon. Cave Johnson, ex-Postmaster-General. Please hand it to Captain Lazelle and say to him that this is the letter alluded to in the note among my papers spoken of therein as the letter addressed to His Excellency Jeff. Davis, and I will here remark that this with what you already have constitutes the sum of documents in my possession. Tell him I would have shown it to him at first but that I knew it was nothing violative of my parole, and that I would have sent it to him this morning but for its not being copied and attested before the sergeant was compelled to leave. The letter of which Captain Lazelle spoke to me as containing something contraband (and which you will see) is one of a number handed to me while in Louisville en route for General Halleck's headquarters, none of which I had had time to examine. I would on no account have carried any improper paper through with me. Requesting you to thank Captain Lazelle cordially for me I will beg, colonel, that you will give me a hearing as soon as possible, for considering I have never knowingly violated my parole but it seemed was unceremoniously thrown and detained in prison when I thought I had kept my parole if anything over studiously, and was in good faith on my road to report to General Halleck taking care to report to each commandant where I stopped, my imprisonment on this grave charge |