SERIES II.-VOL. V.
CORRESPONDENCE, ORDERS, ETC.,
RELATING TO PRISONERS OF WAR AND STATE
FROM DECEMBER 1, 1862, TO JUNE 10, 1863.
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CONFEDERATE CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.

{p.773}

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JACKSON, Miss., December 1, 1862.

Maj. Gen. M. L. SMITH, Vicksburg:

Measures will be taken to take care of the sick prisoners when forwarded here. Please state whether contagious disease exists among them and also at what time they will be forwarded.

DANIEL RUGGLES, Brigadier-General.

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ADJUTANT AND INSPECTOR GENERAL’S OFFICE, Richmond, December 1, 1862.

Lieut. Col. F. L. HUBBELL, Third Missouri Infantry. (Through Lieut. Gen. J. C. Pemberton.)

COLONEL: In reply to your communication of 9th ultimo I am directed by the Adjutant and Inspector General to say that the Confederate Government does not recognize the right of the United States Government to capture unarmed citizens not connected with any military organization. Any oaths or bonds entered into by such persons will not be respected by the Confederate Government.

Very respectfully, &c.,

J. S. WHITING, Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General.

{p.774}

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QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL’S OFFICE, Richmond, December 1, 1862.

Maj. JOHN AMBLER, Quartermaster, Richmond, Va.

MAJOR: The Secretary of War has decided the officers and men taken prisoners of war by the enemy at Rich Mountain are entitled to pay to the date they were exchanged; that the disbandment of a portion of the Twentieth Virginia Regiment was without authority of law, and therefore the companies disbanded as well as those retained in service are to be allowed pay to date of exchange.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

RICH’D S. COX, Major and Quartermaster. (For Quartermaster-General.)

[Indorsement.]

The Rich Mountain paroled prisoners were exchanged on the 12th of August, 1862.

WM. ROBINSON.

(For R. Ould, Agent for Exchange of Prisoners.)

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VICKSBURG, December 1, 1862.

Lieutenant-General PEMBERTON, Oxford:

Nine hundred prisoners just arrived. Shall I return the Yankee prisoners on hand? I do not mean those held as hostages.

N. G. WATTS, Major and Agent.

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CASTLE THUNDER, December 1, 1862.

Hon. JAMES A. SEDDON, Richmond, Va.

SIR: I am a private in the First Battalion Connecticut Cavalry. On the 7th of October last I was with my battalion encamped near Centerville. Pickets at night patrolled within two miles and a half of Gainesville. Twice a day a patrol was sent to Thoroughfare Gap to reconnoiter. On the 7th of October in the afternoon I was sent there. I was returning and when near Haymarket I was surprised by a party of the Twelfth Virginia Cavalry and taken prisoner. When taken I was within the Federal lines and as near as I can judge forty miles-at least that was the distance I had to travel before I reached the Confederate lines. I have been held since the 12th of October in this prison. Am I not a prisoner of war? And if so why should I not be exchanged? Does my case not come under the cartel? I am here without friends or money. True I am a poor private and that must be the reason I am overlooked. I am confined with all classes of criminals. I respectfully solicit an inquiry into my case.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

CHAS. H. MARSH, First Battalion Connecticut Cavalry.

[First indorsement.]

General WINDER:

I would suggest the propriety of inquiring into this case. The writer is evidently of some intelligence and tells a plausible tale. He may be really a mere prisoner of war entitled to exchange.

J. A. SEDDON, Secretary of War.

{p.775}

[Second indorsement.]

HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF HENRICO, December 20, 1862.

Respectfully referred to the Secretary of War with the inclosed letter* of the prisoner. He was charged with being a spy and his statement in that letter tended to confirm the suspicion.

JNO. H. WINDER, Brigadier-General.

* Omitted here; see Marsh to Wood (inclosure), p. 777.

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DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Richmond, December 2, 1862.

Hon. JAMES A. SEDDON, Secretary of War.

SIR: I inclose a copy of a letter to this Department dated 27th ultimo from Mr. Robert Bunch, consul of Her Britannic Majesty at Charleston, S. C. It will be seen that Mr. Bunch states that one Gabriel Cueto, claiming to be a British subject, has informed him that he has been arrested and confined nine months at Salisbury, N. C., without trial or charges, and that another British subject named John Carfoot has also been confined for several months without being made acquainted with the accusation against him. I respectfully request that you will direct an immediate and careful investigation to be made of the truth of these allegations and especially whether the parties named are British subjects and that the result may be communicated to this Department.

With great respect, your obedient servant,

J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State.

[Inclosure.]

BRITISH CONSULATE FOR NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA, Charleston, November 27, 1862.

Hon. J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State, Richmond, Va.

SIR: I have just received a letter from a person named Gabriel Cueto who describes himself as a British subject born at Edinburg who has never relinquished his allegiance to the Queen. He writes from Salisbury Political Prison, N. C., in which he states that he has been imprisoned for nine months without any charges having been brought against him and consequently without trial. He adds that he came to America as the correspondent of a Scotch newspaper. He gives me no clue to his alleged offense and professes entire ignorance respecting it. Mr. Cueto mentions that there is another British subject named John Carfoot who has been likewise confined in the same prison for several months and who is equally ignorant of the reasons for his detention. It is stated by my correspondent that both he and Mr. Carfoot have been debarred from writing to me and I am led to infer that their present application is made surreptitiously. Under these circumstances I have the honor to request that you will he so good as to inform me as speedily as may be practicable why these arrests have been made and also why these British subjects have been detained in confinement for so long a period without a trial. I feel assured that such abuses of authority if they have really occurred will meet with the prompt reprobation of your Government and that they will be at once redressed.

I beg leave to remain, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

ROBERT BUNCH, Her Majesty’s Consul.

{p.776}

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RICHMOND, VA., December 2, 1862.

Hon. JAMES A. SEDDON, Secretary of War.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the inclosed papers* indorsed with a request for my opinion and report.

The prisoners who are held by the Federal authorities are citizens of one of the Confederate States. So also are those who are held by us. The proposition made is to release one set on condition of the discharge of the other. In other words it is a proposal to exchange our own citizens who have been arrested for disloyalty to our Government for other citizens of the Confederate States who in defiance of the usages of civilized warfare have been arrested by the enemy.

I am well satisfied from the course of the Federal authorities that it is their anxious desire to consummate just such a system as is contained in this proposal. It is a deeply laid design to interfere with the administration of justice in the Confederate States and to give practical immunity to such of their friends and partisans in the Confederate States as may preach and practice disloyalty.

There is no sort of reciprocity in the proposed arrangement. We are asked to exchange our own people for our own people. One or more of these parties is subject to the conscript act. In a military point of view what real equivalent do we get for him? Moreover would not the acceptance of a proposal like this be a practical invitation to every man who was inclined to be disloyal to proclaim his hostility to our Government in order that by arrest and subsequent exchange he might relieve himself from conscription? If this request is granted other parties in similar circumstances will claim the benefit of the precedent and demand the exchange of such loyal citizens as the enemy may have wrongfully captured for our own disloyal people.

Our Government has already formally protested against the arrest of such of our people as are not connected with military organizations. We have officially declared to the enemy that persons so taken will not be recognized as lawful captures and therefore not subject to exchange. We have further declared that if persisted in such a course will be met by retaliation.

An acquiescence in the present proposal is substantially an invitation to a future arrest of our non-combatant citizens. Even if the exchange were made there is no guaranty that the same persons would not be arrested again within a week. My own course heretofore has been to refuse any such negotiation as the one proposed.

I shall not consummate any such arrangement unless I am specifically instructed to do so.

With great respect, your obedient servant,

RO. OULD, Agent of Exchange.

* Not found.

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CASTLE THUNDER, December 2, 1862.

Hon. JAMES A. SEDDON, Richmond, Va.

DEAR SIR: I am a prisoner of war belonging to the First Battalion of Connecticut Cavalry and have been confined here since the 12th of October, and I beg that you will please investigate the matter as there have been several exchanges since I have been here.

I remain, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

CHAS. H. MARSH, First Battalion Connecticut Cavalry.

{p.777}

[First indorsement.]

I find from our books that the within-named prisoner was received here and delivered to Captain Alexander on 24th of October charged with being a spy.

TH. P. TURNER, Captain, &c.

[Second indorsement.]

CASTLE THUNDER, December 8, 1862.

The record against Charles H. Marsh, who is here, is that he was taken at Bull Run August 9 as a Yankee spy. Papers with General Winder. Brought here October 24, 1862.

G. W. ALEXANDER, Assistant Provost-Marshal.

[Third indorsement.]

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF HENRICO, December 10, 1862.

Respectfully returned to the Secretary of War inclosing letter from the prisoner, which was deemed of itself sufficient to establish a grave suspicion and to warrant his detention.

JNO. H. WINDER, Brigadier-General.

[Inclosure.]

CASTLE THUNDER, Richmond, October 25, 1862.

Mr. WOOD, Commissioner of the United States.

SIR: I am a private of Company D, First Battalion Connecticut Cavalry. On Tuesday, the 6th day of October, 1862, I was detailed by Capt. L. N. Middlebrook, who was stationed with his company at Fairfax Court-House and Centerville, Va., to go to Thoroughfare Gap of Bull Run Mountain for the purpose of watching the enemy. One man was detailed each day for that purpose. After I had passed Haymarket I was captured by eleven members of the Twelfth Virginia Cavalry who got into my rear. I was mounted upon a gray horse with my military saddle and armed with my revolver. My company are without sabers. I was clothed in my uniform. As I was coming up to Haymarket I found on the road a gray jacket which I put on over my blouse as it was a very cool morning. I have been informed that I am charged with being a spy. I claim the protection of the United States.

Yours, truly,

C. H. MARSH, Private, Company D, First Battalion Connecticut Cavalry.

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VICKSBURG, December 3, 1862.

General PEMBERTON:

The flag-of-truce officer is instructed by General Grant to retain four of the returned prisoners in place of the four held in custody here, subject to the same treatment and fate. Do you wish any reply sent?

M. L. SMITH.

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HEADQUARTERS MILITARY POST, Atlanta. Ga., December 3, 1862.

Brigadier-General WINDER, Commanding, Richmond.

SIR: I have the honor to inclose list of prisoners herewith sent by an order from General Beauregard, commanding Department of South {p.778} Carolina and Georgia. They have been confined here some time and are many of them a desperate, bad set of men. You will please send by return guard a receipt for them, and also order the guard furnished with rations for their return to this post.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

G. W. LEE, Commanding Post.

[Inclosure.]

List of Federal prisoners in barracks.

Name.	Company and regiment.	Date of capture.	Charge.
		1862.
P. Pierce	company B, 1st Tennessee	Apr. 25	Bridge burning.
J. J. Barker.	Company E, 2d Tennessee	May 3	Do.
T. McCoy	company G, 2d Tennessee	Mar. 28	Do.
W. Bensinger	company G, 21st Ohio	Apr. 13	Engine thief.
G. Smith	Company H, 2d U. S. Artillery.	May 20	Prisoner of war.
H. Hebling	company G, 10th Wisconsin	July 3	Do.
G. W. Walton	company H, 2d U. S. Artillery	May 20	Do.
T. W. Coleman	Company G, 10th Wisconsin	July 3	Do.
B. Powers	Company G, 19th Kentucky	May 5	Do.
Jacob Parrott	Company K, 33d Ohio	Apr. 3	Engine thief.
William Pittenger	Company G, 2d Ohio	Apr. 14	Do.
Robert Buffum	Company H, 21st Ohio	Apr. 13	Do.
Elihu H. Mason	Company K, 21st Ohio	Apr. 14	Do.
William H. Reddick	Company B, 33d Ohio	Apr. 18	Do.
John Walls	Citizen, East Tennessee	Mar. 25	Disloyalty.
H. Mills	do	Mar. 12	Do.
R. White	do	Mar. 21	Do.
John Green	do	Mar. 24	Do.
G. W. Barlow	do	Mar. 11	Do.
J. Tompkins	do	May 11	Do.

All except the five prisoners of war were delivered to Captain Alexander December, 1862.

ATLANTA, Ga., December 3, 1862.

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GRENADA, December 4, 1862.

Maj. J. R. WADDY:

Bragg’s prisoners can go if there is an officer of his to take charge of them.

J. C. PEMBERTON, Lieutenant-General, Commanding

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VICKSBURG, December 4, 1862.

Major WADDY, Assist ant Adjutant-General:

The prisoners were guarded on board the train and sent to Jackson, General Ruggles being notified by telegraph of their departure. The prisoners sent over are exchanged and not paroled.

M. L. SMITH.

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HEADQUARTERS FIRST MILITARY DISTRICT, DEPT. OF MISSISSIPPI AND EAST LOUISIANA, Jackson, Miss., December 4, 1862.

Maj. J. R. WADDY, Assistant Adjutant-General.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt to day of Special Orders, No. 43, of November 29, assigning to me the duty in charge of exchanged and paroled prisoners. I am desirous of information as to the authority invested in me from the lieutenant-general commanding.

{p.779}

First. Is there any established hospital to which I have authority to send the sick and wounded; and if not have I authority to establish one for that purpose?

Second. Have I authority to order supplies from the quartermaster’s, subsistence, ordnance and medical departments for the use and benefit of these prisoners?

Third. Have I authority to employ any of the exchanged prisoners as guards in the absence of other good and sufficient guards?

Fourth. In the absence of supplies of clothing for the exchanged prisoners am I authorized to apply to the War Department at Richmond for supplies?

Fifth. My quartermaster and commissary having been assigned to other duties am I entitled to their official services or not?

I shall hope to receive information at an early moment on this subject.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

DANIEL RUGGLES, Brigadier-General, Commanding District.

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VICKSBURG, December 5, 1862.

Major WADDY, Assistant Adjutant-General:

Four transports with prisoners instead of two have arrived. Having no place for them here will send forward as rapidly as possible.

M. L. SMITH.

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INSPECTOR-GENERAL’S OFFICE, Murfreesborough, December 6, 1862.

INSPECTOR-GENERAL, Lieutenant-General Polk’s Corps.

SIR: Accompanying you will find a list* of 179 paroled prisoners belonging to Lieutenant-General Polk’s command. These men are at Chattanooga and in want of pay, &c., to obtain which their descriptive lists are necessary. You will please have them made out and sent to this office as soon as possible.

By order:

A. J. HAYS, Lieutenant-Colonel and Assistant Inspector-General.

* Omitted.

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VICKSBURG, December 6, 1862.

Maj. J. R. WADDY, Assistant Adjutant-General:

Five hundred political prisoners. None landed and will not be landed until definite instructions are received regarding them.

D. BELTZHOOVER.

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IUKA HOSPITAL, Iuka, Miss., December 7, 1862.

Lieutenant-General PEMBERTON, Commanding C. S. Army of the West.

SIR: Occupying the position that I do I feel impelled from a sense of duty to report to you the conduct of Colonel Roddey and officers and men under his command. They have not only violated the condition {p.780} upon which the Federal authorities established this hospital but have insulted Surg. A. B. Stewart whom it was the pleasure of the Federal authorities to place here in charge in a manner which in my opinion demands that a just Government should no less than ask for an explanation and redress. About two weeks ago Capt. Richard W. Johnson entered Iuka in violation of the agreement upon which the Federal lines were extended thus far, and embracing this village and the line of railroad between here and Corinth, and when politely requested to withdraw from the town in reply cast an ungentlemanly reflection upon Surgeon Stewart. And yesterday during the absence of Surgeon Stewart on business for the hospital Major Johnson, accompanied by his brother, Captain Johnson, and about 300 armed men passed through this town, Captain Johnson and one man entering the room where Surgeon Stewart’s wife lay sick and under pretense of searching for a contraband (a body servant of Surgeon Stewart’s from Northern Kentucky) made a complete search of the room even to the bed upon which Mrs. Stewart was lying, from which she has suffered greatly. General, permit me to say that such conduct must be punished or this hospital located here by the special request of your surgeons will be closed, although many of the wounded of your command are pronounced by the surgeons in charge not in a condition to be safely moved. It has been our pleasure to treat with the most circumspect deference the wounded who have fallen into our hands and the Confederate surgeons in charge of them, and we look for an honorable and speedy redress of those outrages.

I am, general, very respectfully,

J. C. CAMERON, Capt., U. S. Army, and Provost-Marshal-General, Dist. of Corinth.

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GENERAL ORDERS, No. 100.}

ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL’S OFFICE, Richmond, December 8, 1862.

...

XIII. Commanding officers may order necessary issues of clothing to prisoners and convicts, taking deserters’ or other damaged clothing when there is such in store.

...

By order:

S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General.

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HDQRS. C. S. TROOPS ON SHENANDOAH MOUNTAIN, VA., December 9, 1862.

His Excellency the PRESIDENT.

SIR: Day before yesterday Mr. Job Parsons, a citizen of Tucker County in this State, personally well known to me as a man of the highest respectability, came to this camp to enlist under my command. He was pursued by eight of the enemy’s cavalry for many miles, but his superior knowledge of the mountains enabled him to elude his pursuers and escape. He handed me the inclosed original papers* which had been served upon him by the military authorities at Saint George. A similar assessment was made upon Mr. Parsons’ father for $300 and {p.781} on another relative for $700, and payment coerced under the same diabolical threats. The pretext of robberies of Union men by bands of guerrillas is a falsehood. The fact is that Union men have conspired to run off each other’s horses to Pennsylvania where they are secretly sold, the owners afterwards setting up a claim for reparation on the false ground that guerrillas have robbed them. I inclose this evidence of the atrocity of General Milroy for such action as Your Excellency may deem expedient in retaliation, either as a restraint upon this savage or a punishment should his horrible threat ever be carried into execution. This is only one of a thousand barbarities practiced here in these distant mountains of which I have almost daily heard for the last four mouths. Oh, for a day of retribution!

With the highest respect, your obedient servant,

JOHN D. IMBODEN, Colonel, Commanding.

* See Exhibits A and B, p. 510.

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Medical director’s remarks in reference to statements made by Brig. Gen. D. Ruggles in a communication to department commander of December 6, 1862. Referred to medical director by assistant adjutant-general December 8, 1862.

MEDICAL DIRECTOR’S OFFICE, Jackson, Miss., December 9, 1862.

Maj. J. R. WADDY, Assistant Adjutant-General, Jackson, Miss.:

The statement of General Ruggles that I was in any way the cause of much exposure to the sick of exchanged prisoners is unjust in the extreme as will at once be seen from the following facts:

On the morning after the arrival of the prisoners I was informed (not officially or by General Ruggles) that the piazza at the Bowman House was crowded with paroled prisoners seeking shelter from the rain. I at once sent for the surgeon whose duty it is to attend the prisoners arriving here and directed him to notify General Ruggles of the above fact. He told me he had been to see General Ruggles but was unable to obtain an audience with him. I directed him to go again and to say his business was urgent. I believe that he then succeeded. General Ruggles soon afterwards requested me to call at his office, which I did. I met Major Waddy, the assistant adjutant-general, there and the propriety of sending the sick to Brandon or to any other of the general hospitals was then discussed. I advised against it as I thought there was danger of spreading smallpox over the department. It was then understood between General Ruggles, Major Waddy and myself that the surgeon in charge of the prisoners was to treat all ordinary diseases among them in camp, and if any cases of smallpox occurred they were to be sent to the Deaf and Dumb Institute Hospital where some eighteen cases were already under treatment. I have approved for the surgeon a number of requisitions for hospital tents and other camp equipage, and supposed that all necessary arrangements had been or were being made for the comfort of the prisoners.

It was about 9 or 10 o’clock on the morning referred to that I sent to notify General Ruggles of the prisoners being at the Bowman House. I had heard nothing from him on the subject and did not know whether any of the prisoners were sick or not. I was actuated by sentiments of humanity in sending to notify him. It is I believe General Ruggles’ {p.782} duty to provide for paroled prisoners arriving here and not that of the medical department except as far as relates to those that are sick, and I will do what I can to provide hospital accommodations for such when due notice of their arrival is given me by him. To avoid the risk of spreading smallpox I recommended in my letter of November 29 to the department commander to keep the prisoners in camp for twenty days after their arrival. I have had no reasons to change my views on that subject and I believe that the wisdom of that measure is concurred in by a majority if not all of the medical officers at this post. My prohibitions to sending prisoners to Brandon or to any other general hospital amounted to advice only as it would have been presumptuous in me to have prohibited it while the assistant adjutant-general, the representative of the department commander, was present and could have ordered the sick sent there had General Ruggles convinced him of the policy of doing so notwithstanding my prohibition. I expected no credit from General Ruggles for anything I did but had still less reasons to expect censure from him for not attending to his duties. I was credibly informed yesterday that the night previous the proprietors of the Bowman House had lodged and fed free of charge 200 paroled prisoners who it appears from this up to that time had not been provided for. Will General Ruggles reproach me with that also? Or rather will he not give said proprietors credit for their hospitality and thank them for their kindness in thus relieving him from what might have appeared a neglect of duty on his part had the prisoners been compelled to sleep out of doors.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

N. S. CROWELL, Surgeon, C. S. Army, Medical Director.

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RICHMOND, December 10, 1862.

Hon. J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State.

SIR: Orders were given some time ago for the release of Cueto whenever the British consul in this city should require him for removal beyond the limits of the Confederacy. An order has been issued to-day to General Winder to hold John Carfoot subject to your orders.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. A. CAMPBELL.

(For Secretary of War.)

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HDQRS. DIST. OF TEXAS, NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA, Houston, Tex., December 10, 1862.

Colonel REILY, Comdg. Sibley’s Brigade, Millican, Tex.

SIR: I am instructed by Major-General Magruder to communicate to you the existence of the following order from the Adjutant and Inspector General’s Office at Richmond, November 12, 1862, for the information of all concerned:

{p.783}

I am further instructed by the major-general commanding to say that all officers and men of your command who have been delivered at the above place will be ordered at once by you to join their respective regiments and companies without the least delay. None of your command except those delivered in conformity with the above order have been exchanged.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

E. P. TURNER, Assistant Adjutant-General.

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SPECIAL ORDERS, No. 26.}

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT No. 2, Murfreesborough, December 10, 1862.

...

II. All paroled prisoners who have been or who hereafter may be delivered at Vicksburg are declared by the agent at that point as exchanged. They will therefore report for duty with their respective regiments.

By command of General Bragg:

GEORGE G. GARNER, Assistant Adjutant-General.

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WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, Va., December 11, 1862.

Lieutenant-General PEMBERTON, Commanding, Jackson, Miss.

GENERAL: Your letter* of the 19th ultimo containing the correspondence between yourself and Generals Butler and Rosecrans, of the Army of the United States, has been received. The papers will be referred to Major Ould, commissioner of the Confederate States to arrange the exchange of prisoners with the United States.

Your own correspondence is approved by the President.

By order of the Secretary of War:

Very respectfully,

J. A. CAMPBELL, Assistant Secretary of War.

* See Vol. IV, this Series, p. 948.

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HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF HENRICO, December 11, 1862.

Captain TURNER.

SIR: You will parole all the prisoners of war now in your custody to be sent by flag of truce to-morrow.

By order of General Winder:

W. S. WINDER, Assistant Adjutant-General.

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SPECIAL ORDERS, No. 11.}

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF TEXAS, NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA, Houston, Tex., December 11, 1862.

...

V. Brig. Gen. H. P. Bee, commanding Sub-Military District of the Rio Grande, will at once cause the officers and men of the U. S. Army who were captured early last year in this State, including the Eighth {p.784} U. S. Infantry, to be sent under a guard of cavalry to Vicksburg, Miss., there to be delivered to the commanding officer at that point to be placed by him at some convenient point in possession of the enemy. General Bee will direct the necessary transportation and subsistence arrangements to be made for the above purpose.

By command of Major-General Magruder:

A. G. DICKINSON, Major and Assistant Adjutant-General.

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BRITISH CONSULATE, Charleston, December 12, 1862.

Hon. J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State, Richmond.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th instant with which you have been so good as to convey to me certain information which has been furnished to you by the War Department on the subject of the imprisonment at Salisbury, N. C., of Gabriel Cueto. I observe also that the Secretary of War promises to acquaint you with the reasons for the detention at the same place of John Carfoot, who as well as Mr. Cueto is a subject of the Queen. I beg leave to return my thanks to you for your compliance with my request for information respecting these men. As regards the first of them I shall reserve any further action until I can consult with Her Majesty’s consul at Richmond, by whom the investigation into his case has been commenced. With reference to the other I must await the report to you of the War Department.

I have the honor to remain, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

ROBERT BUNCH, Ker Majesty’s Consul.

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STEVENSON, JACKSON COUNTY, ALA., December 12, 1862.

Honorable SECRETARY OF WAR, Richmond, Va.

DEAR SIR: I have belonged to the Confederate Army almost since the commencement of the war until a few months since, when I was taken prisoner by the Abolitionists. After being confined in the cells of a loathsome jail and other prisons and told I would not be exchanged I was induced to accept their terms by which I could be released which was taking the oath and giving a heavy bond, which I complied with. These being the facts of the case I wish to know if our Government forces me by conscription back into the service, not allowing me even the privilege of other soldiers who have been taken and released by parole or exchanged. If such is the case I submit as it is our law, but at the same time do not believe it is religiously or morally right. Besides which death is my penalty should I ever again fall into their hands for the violation of this oath or parole. I simply ask for the same as other prisoners-an exchange; but if it is not granted I am willing to do my country all the good I can. Without troubling you more upon this subject I close, hoping to hear from you soon.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOHN T. FITZPATRICK.

[Indorsement.]

Answer that if the writer of this letter was in the Confederate service and while so was taken a prisoner until his exchange is made he is {p.785} not liable to conscription; but if he was not in the Confederate service but a citizen peaceably employed the Department does not acknowledge the authority of the United States to take him a prisoner or to exact from him an oath and will defend him against the consequences of re-entry into service.

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HEADQUARTERS CAVALRY, La Vergne, Tenn., December 13, 1862.

Col. GEORGE WILLIAM BRENT, Assistant Adjutant-General and Chief of Staff.

COLONEL: I have the honor to forward you per courier three letters addressed to General Braxton Bragg which have this day been brought in with flag of truce. I inclose note* of Major Prentice which explains circumstances of the capture of three men from the Fifth Kentucky Cavalry. They were vedettes on the enemy’s outpost and were captured by Criswell and a party of six others-a party of six scouts authorized to act by Colonel [General] Wheeler. At the time of the capture a Federal flag of truce under command of Captain Buford was in front at our picket-lines covering the dispatches herewith sent. The Federal flag-officer entered his protest against the capture under the circumstances. I have the honor to inquire what disposition shall be made of the prisoners, their arms and equipments.

Respectfully, colonel, your obedient servant,

JNO. T. MORGAN, Colonel, Commanding Outpost.

* Not found.

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HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF MISSISSIPPI, Grenada, December 14, 1862.

General S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General, Richmond, Va.

GENERAL: I had the honor to forward to the War Department sometime since a letter from Major-General Butler, commanding U. S. forces, New Orleans, in which he said he would hold Brigadier-General Clark and fourteen other prisoners subject to retaliation for the pretended murder of certain parties in Louisiana, also my reply stating that I would consequently retain all U. S. prisoners until I received instructions from my Government.

I would respectfully ask directions from the honorable Secretary of War for action in the premises.

Very respectfully, &c., your obedient servant,

J. C. PEMBERTON, Lieutenant-General, Commanding.

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HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF TENNESSEE, Murfreesborough, December 14, 1862.

Brig. Gen. JOSEPH WHEELER, Chief of Cavalry, La Vergne.

GENERAL: The general commanding directs me to inclose you the accompanying communications* from Colonel Allen and Major Prentice {p.786} in relation to certain Federal vedettes captured on yesterday whilst a flag of truce from the enemy was within our lines.

The general desires you will investigate fully and report all the facts in the case, especially the localities and relative position of the flag and the parties captured.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

GEO. WM. BRENT, Assistant Adjutant-General.

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HEADQUARTERS, Ponchatoula., La., December 14, 1862.

General PEMBERTON:

...

I have the farther honor to inform you that I this day send to the provost-marshal at Jackson five Federal prisoners captured by one of my scouting parties. Some three months ago a picket of four men belonging to Rhodes’ Partisan Rangers were captured by the enemy and taken to New Orleans. I have been informed that their exchange has been refused by the commanding Federal officer. I therefore respectfully request your permission to order a flag of truce with instructions to ascertain whether General Butler will exchange them or the reasons for his refusal.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. R. WITT, Colonel, Commanding Post.

[Indorsement.]

Say to Colonel Witt that the case of the four men referred to will be brought to the notice of General Butler by first flag of truce.

J. C. P., Lieutenant-General.

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HEADQUARTERS CAMP OF INSTRUCTION, Macon, Ga., December 14, 1862.

Hon. JAMES A. SEDDON, Secretary of War, Richmond.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit the following copy of a letter received on yesterday from Lieut. J. M. Brittian, enrolling officer of the Sixth Congressional District in this State. I telegraphed the Attorney-General upon the subject immediately upon receipt of the information.

The circuit judge alluded to was the first judicial officer in this State who pronounced the conscript act to be unconstitutional.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JNO. B. WEEMS, Lieutenant-Colonel, Commanding, &c.

[Inclosure.]

DECATUR, GA., December 10, 1862.

Maj. CHARLES S. HARDEE, Commanding Conscript Camp No. 2:

Judge Thomas W. Thomas of the northern circuit is releasing men again on writ of habeas corpus. He ordered J. M. N. Glenn, sub-enrolling officer of Oglethorpe County, to be confined in jail because he did {p.787} not bring the person of R. S. Freeman before his honor to be tried on the writ. The sub-enrolling officer informed me of Freeman’s refusal to go to camp at the appointed time whereupon I ordered the squad to proceed to the residence of Freeman and arrest him and put him under guard to be forwarded to camp the next morning with the squad. It seems that Glenn had been warned to bring Freeman before his honor for trial, but I had no evidence of it before I issued the order for the arrest of Freeman. I sent him to camp previous to the trial ordered by Judge Thomas because he had refused to go. Glenn proceeded to Judge Thomas’ quarters at the time specified whereupon his honor ordered him to be put in jail until the person of Freeman was brought before him.

JABEZ M. BRITTIAN, Enrolling Officer Sixth Congressional District of Georgia.

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WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, December 15, 1862.

Brig. Gen. J. H. WINDER.

GENERAL: The Secretary of State desires to have a report of the time when Carfoot was arrested and the exact circumstances of his arrest and the facts elicited at his examination.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. A. CAMPBELL, Assistant Secretary of War.

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HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT No. 2, Murfreesborough, Tenn., December 15, 1862.

Col. B. S. EWELL, Assistant Adjutant-General, Chattanooga.

SIR: I have the honor to inclose for the information of the general commanding the following papers:*

Field return of the Army of Tennessee; tabular form of the organization of same; copies of general orders in same; copy of correspondence with Major-General Rosecrans, commanding enemy’s forces in my front; a map of the country in my front and flanks.

I invite your special attention to the correspondence with General Rosecrans. With that as a basis I have refused to exchange political prisoners; have discharged the only one in my command and have demanded a like discharge on his part.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

BRAXTON BRAGG, General, Commanding.

* Not found.

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WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, December 16, 1862.

Brig. Gen. J. H. WINDER.

GENERAL: You will discharge from arrest and confinement J. G. Anderson, confined at Castle Thunder as a political prisoner.

By order of the Secretary of War:

J. A. CAMPBELL, Assistant Secretary of War.

{p.788}

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HEADQUARTERS, Jackson, Miss., December 16, 1862.

Maj. J. R. WADDY, Assistant Adjutant-General.

MAJOR: I have the honor to state for the information of the lieutenant-general commanding that it is apparently important to send a flag of truce to Major-General Butler in relation to the release or exchange of Brigadier-General Clark who was captured after having been severely wounded at the battle of Baton Rouge, and some other prisoners. If this meets with the approval of the lieutenant-general I shall cause preparations to be made accordingly.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

DANIEL RUGGLES, Brigadier-General, C. S. Army, Commanding District.

[Indorsement.]

Inform Brigadier-General Ruggles that the matter of communication with the enemy is exclusively under the control of department headquarters.

J. C. P., Lieutenant-General.

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HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF TENNESSEE, Murfreesborough, Tenn., December 16, 1862.

Brig. Gen. JOSEPH WHEELER, Chief of Cavalry, La Vergne, Tenn.

GENERAL: I am directed by the general commanding to instruct you to return to their lines the three vedettes captured on the 13th together with their entire equipments-arms. The passing of the flag implied protection to all in its rear. He exonerates the officers and men of your command involved in the matter from all intention to violate the flag and has so explained to General Rosecrans.

Respectfully, &c.,

J. STODDARD JOHNSTON, Lieutenant-Colonel and Aide to General Bragg.

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RICHMOND, VA., December 17, 1862.

Lieut. Gen. J. C. PEMBERTON.

SIR: Several communications of yours to the War Department have been referred to me. One of them refers to the case of Captain Murphy. On the 21st September last Captain Murphy was exchanged for Maj. Charles E. Livingston, Seventy-sixth New York Volunteers. General Butler has therefore no claim for any further equivalent for Captain Murphy. The exchange was a special one and was made by me in consequence of an urgent letter from Governor Moore, of Louisiana, in whose service Captain Murphy had been acting. I informed Governor Moore of the consummation of the exchange nearly three months ago. If General Butler will refer to General Orders, No. 147, issued by time United States Government, September 30, 1862, he will see the above exchange therein published. The same communication refers to Partisan Rangers.

The following agreement has been made between the respective commissioners of exchange, to wit:

{p.789}

The Federal Government has recently professed to carry out the above agreement to its full extent. I am inclined to believe it has done so in the East. Perhaps General Butler has not as yet been notified of the action of his Government. The agreement above quoted comes from the War Department at Washington and is signed by their agent of exchange.

It is yet an open question as to what action the Federal Government will take as to Partisan Rangers whose officers are not commissioned by the Confederate Government. We demand also their exchange as prisoners of war. To this the Federal Government has not formally acceded, though many such have been delivered for exchange by the Federals. I am in hopes they will soon embrace them as proper subjects of exchange.

Some time ago I informed Major Watts at Vicksburg that all Confederate officers and men who had been delivered at Vicksburg on or before November 1, 1862, and all officers and men who should after that date be delivered there until I informed him to the contrary were duly exchanged. Has he not so informed you? I presume you have not been so informed as the Secretary of War to-day refers a letter of Capt. James Clark, Company A, Seventh Missouri Cavalry, forwarded by you under date of November 29, 1862, inquiring as to his exchange. Captain Clark and all officers and men, Partisan Rangers of all classes included, who have been delivered at Vicksburg up to this present date have been exchanged. This arrangement will continue until you are notified to the contrary. I will be obliged to you if you will let me hear from you on the receipt of this letter.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

RO. OULD, Agent of Exchange.

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HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF TENNESSEE, Murfreesborough, December 18, 1862.

Brigadier-General WHEELER, Chief of Cavalry.

GENERAL: In reply to your communication* of this date on the subject of the three Federal vedettes captured on the 12th instant the general commanding directs me to say that you will destroy the paroles of these men and discharge them from the obligation.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

GEO. WM. BRENT, Assistant Adjutant-General.

* Not found.

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PROVOST-MARSHAL’S OFFICE, Murfreesborough, Tenn., December 18, 1862.

General JOSEPH WHEELER, La Vergne.

GENERAL: I herewith send under guard the following-named Federal prisoners: Benjamin Leach, private, Company I, Fifth Kentucky Regiment; Thomas Leach, private, Company I, Fifth Kentucky Regiment; John Williams, private, Company I, Fifth Kentucky Regiment.

The prisoners have been paroled and are sent in obedience to your order of the 17th instant.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

CHAS. W. PEDEN, Captain and Provost-Marshal.

{p.790}

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SPECIAL ORDERS, No. 66.}

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT No. 2, Murfreesborough, Tenn., December 18, 1862.

...

II. All paroled prisoners who have been or may hereafter be delivered at Vicksburg are declared by the agent at that place as exchanged. They will therefore promptly report for duty with their respective regiments.

...

By command of General Bragg:

[GEO. WM. BRENT,] Assistant Adjutant-General.

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WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, December 19, 1862.

THOMAS W. WHITE, Esq., White’s Battalion.

SIR: You are respectfully informed in reply to your letter of the 24th ultimo that this Government does not recognize the paroles that were extorted from prisoners who were not engaged in hostilities between the Confederate States and the United States.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAMES A. SEDDON, Secretary of War.

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RICHMOND, VA., December 20, 1862.

Hon. JOHN LETCHER, Governor of Virginia.

SIR: I have the honor to report the results of my mission to Fincastle at your instance for the trial of Dr. William P. Rucker on various charges. The first indictment found against him was for the murder of one Michael Joyce in July, 1861. Before the death of the party he was examined by a justice for feloniously stabbing with intent to kill and was committed to answer to that charge before an examining court. At the regular term next thereafter he appeared and was examined after the death of Joyce for the charge of feloniously stabbing, &c., and was discharged.

The grand jury indicted him after an examination for the murder for that crime at the special term of the circuit court of Alleghany held in November. To that charge the prisoner pleaded autrefois acquit and relied upon his discharge by the examining court upon the charge of feloniously stabbing, &c. To the filing of that plea the Commonwealth objected and moved its rejection for insufficiency. Upon full argument the court overruled the Commonwealth’s motion, and adjudging the discharge to be a bar to the prosecution for murder allowed the plea to be filed. The Commonwealth then tendered a replication to the plea averring the examination and judgment to have been procured by the prisoner’s fraud in the absence of the attorney for the Commonwealth. To this replication the prisoner’s counsel objected for insufficiency and the court adjourned it for argument at the next term.

The prisoner was then arraigned upon a charge of larceny of a horse of Joseph H. Persinger in January, 1862. To this he pleaded not guilty, and the Commonwealth not being ready to try it owing to the absence of a material witness it was continued to the next term.

Then came on the case of treason with those of arson of the Cow-Pasture bridge on the Central Railroad and a number of other cases therewith connected, all of which were committed in the month of May, {p.791} 1862. To these charges the prisoner pleaded to the jurisdiction of the court on the ground that he was at the time of the commission of the several offenses charged a citizen and subject of the United States and in their military service, and that he was while so in their military service taken a prisoner of war by the Confederate States and that as such prisoner of war he is not liable to indictment and prosecution by a State court for any of the said offenses. To this plea the Commonwealth objected and after a very elaborate argument the court rejected the said plea as insufficient. A further plea in abatement was tendered and rejected and then the prisoner pleaded not guilty to all the indictments except in the case of treason. In the case of treason the prisoner, his pleas to jurisdiction and in abatement having been overruled, demurred to the indictment. His demurrer was in some respects to matters of form which were unimportant and of no consequence to the main question. But he demurred principally upon the ground that the war in which we are engaged is a war between the United States and the Confederate States, and that the act of the prisoner in levying war in combination with the Army of the United States and in adhering to the public enemy, giving them aid and comfort, was treason against the Confederate States and not against the State of Virginia. This ground of demurrer goes not to the form of the proceeding but is of the gist of the prosecution.

One count is not liable to the objection. Some of the overt acts of levying war and adhering to the enemy in other counts are not open to the objection but many of them are so liable. I desire to argue the point with due care and after ample preparation.

The cases will continue over until the spring term when I hope to be able to dispose of them.

I have the honor to be, with high respect, your obedient servant,

J. R. TUCKER.

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PETERSBURG, VA., December 22, 1862.

Hon. JAMES A. SEDDON, Secretary of War C. S. A., Richmond, Va.

SIR: I represent to you the case of Charles A. J. Collins. He was a citizen of Prince George County, Va., and a constituent of mine as State senator. He was arrested by military orders on or about the 10th of July, 1862. He was put in the jail of this city shortly after his arrest. He was kept in jail until about the 1st instant when he was sent a prisoner to Salisbury, N. C., where he is still confined. I do not know why he was arrested, but have reason to believe that he is not guilty of any act of disloyalty. But this I can knowingly represent, to wit, that he was a civilian at the time of his arrest and so remains of course, in no way attached to the army, and is denied not only a speedy trial but any trial at all, for the authorities are ordered not to subject civilians to trial by courts-martial (see General Cooper’s letter to General French under date November 21,* 1862), and he is not delivered over to the civil authority to be tried. I do therefore most respectfully and with the solemn earnestness which it seems to me every lover of civil liberty should, nay must, participate in and affectionately appreciate apply to you or to the President, if he alone is competent, to order the military commanders in whose custody the said Collins is to deliver him over to the civil magistracy of Prince George County where he was arrested.

{p.792}

I write you this letter at the instance of the wife of Collins, my sense of public duty as a citizen and my opinions as counsel concurring in the application. She has three small children, poor and a refugee from her humble home. She is now with her mother in this city, who is also a poor woman.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

ROBT. R. COLLIER, Senator of Virginia.

[Indorsement.]

Answer that an examination of the political prisoners at Salisbury has been made to a great extent and it was supposed that all had been examined who had been arrested so long ago as July. Directions will be given for the examination of Collins.

J. A. S.

* See Vol. IV, this Series, p. 950.

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Statements of Messrs. Mulford, Florance, Giffin (December 23) and Borland (December 26.)

James H. Mulford, a citizen of New Orleans, having been required by the undersigned, Secretary of State, to make a statement of the facts connected with the gathering of the crops from the plantations in Lower Louisiana by the U. S. forces, declares the following facts to be within his knowledge: Andrew J. Butler, the brother of the commanding general, bought from Mr. Zunts, a planter below the city, his sugar crop as it stood in the field for the sum of $25,000 and informed this witness that he had gotten back his money in the first twelve days of grinding the cane; that he, Butler, took off the crop; that the plantation yielded a crop of about 1,200 hogsheads of sugar; that Butler said he had bought and was taking off the crops from several other plantations. Witness also saw the agent of the commercial house of Brown, Johnstone & Co.; the name of the agent is Tucker, and he was accompanied by 120 white laborers. The said Tucker was then on his way, as he informed witness, to take off the crops from the plantations of said Brown, Johnstone & Co., and Frank Webb, on joint account with the Yankees. This was done after the plantation of Mr. Webb had been stripped of everything, even to his wife’s wardrobe and jewels, and the negroes driven off. It was well understood in New Orleans that no planter was allowed to take off his crop for himself. If he did his sugar was seized by order of General Butler as fast as it reached New Orleans.

JAMES H. MULFORD.

Signed in my presence.

J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State.

DECEMBER 23, 1862.

Henry Florance, a citizen of New Orleans, states that it is to his knowledge that all the slaves were taken away from the plantation of Mr. Zunts, a planter below New Orleans, who being thus left without means to gather his growing crop was applied to by Col. Andrew J. Butler, who offered to buy his crop as it stood for $25,000. The crop under ordinary circumstances is one of the largest in the State, worth perhaps five times that amount if taken off. The witness left New {p.793} Orleans before the season for grinding cane and has no knowledge how the crop was taken off, but it was sold as above to Colonel Butler. An arrangement was also made, as witness was informed by Clement Story, who is a sugar planter below New Orleans, to take off his crop on joint account with some of the U. S. officers in New Orleans. It was a well understood fact in New Orleans that no planter could obtain permission to gather his crop unless he would agree to share it with Colonel Butler or some of the Yankee officers.

HENRY FLORANCE.

Signed in my presence.

J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State.

DECEMBER 23, 1862.

Adam Giffin, a citizen of New Orleans, states that he knows Mr. Zunts, a sugar planter, who lives below New Orleans; that many of the negroes having been abducted from said plantation said Zunts informed witness that Andrew J. Butler, the brother of General Butler, had made him a proposition to buy his crop as it stood in the field; that Zunts being without any means of gathering his crop was forced to accept the offer, and that a bargain was made that Butler should restore the negroes to the plantation, or at least an equal number; that the crop should be taken off under the supervision of Zunts for account of Butler, and that the plantation should be restored to Zunts in the spring in full and complete order with all the slaves, and Zunts received in payment for his crop $25,000. Zunts told witness he had cane enough to make 700 hogsheads of sugar. A hogshead of sugar made by the process used on the plantation of Zunts is worth over $100, in addition to which is the molasses. It was well understood in New Orleans that no planter could take off his crop without some arrangement being made for the profit of the Yankee officials.

ADAM GIFFIN.

Signed in my presence.

J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State.

DECEMBER 26, 1862.

Dr. Euclid Borland says he is the owner of a plantation on the Mississippi River below New Orleans; that he was on a visit to the plantation of Mr. Zunts when he was introduced to a person by the name of Weed, and was informed by Zunts that he had made a bargain with Colonel Butler and Weed and another person connected with the quartermaster’s or commissary department of General Butler’s army. Witness cannot recollect the name of this last-mentioned person, although it was stated to him. The bargain was that the slaves which had left the plantation were to be brought back and that the crop of Zunts was to be made for account of Colonel Butler and his associates who had paid $25,000 for it; that the purchasers were to pay the overseer’s wages and pay for some hogsheads that Zunts had bought, and were to pay for all expenses of taking off the crop, except such supplies as were then on time plantation. The purchasers agreed to bring back the negroes by aid of U. S. soldiers, and witness learned that a portion of the slaves were brought back to the place under a guard of soldiers. Zunts suggested to witness to make a similar bargain, as {p.794} many of the slaves of witness had left his plantation, and witness then had a conversation with Weed who stated that he was trying to make bargains with numbers of the planters below the city; that he would not make with others the same bargain as he had made with Zunts; that he could not undertake to restore to each planter the identical slaves that he had lost but that he would furnish a number sufficient to take off the crop and share the proceeds with the owner; that if a sufficient number of planters would make this agreement he would station guards above and below the plantations so as to prevent any escape of the negroes. The witness told Weed that his mind was made up to hold on to his own property unless it was taken from him by force; that he would not share his property with the enemies of his country, but that if the Federal authority thought proper to place guards of soldiers to keep the negroes in order witness was willing to pay his share of the expense of so doing. During the conversation Weed said that the negroes would be forced to come down and work the plantations by guards of U. S. soldiers in all cases where the bargain was made with him. When Zunts’ negroes were returned to his plantation under guard, as he understood, there were some negroes of Mr. Baylie, a neighboring planter, mixed with them. Baylie’s negroes escaped from Zunts’ plantation and went back to their owner. Witness was present in the office of Mr. Judson, a broker in New Orleans, when the written contract between Zunts and Colonel Butler was read in presence of witness. The contract had been drawn up by Isaac E. Morse, esq., as attorney for Zunts, and witness heard the contract read and remembers it well. Witness understood that the Saint Anne and the Concession Plantations, in the parish of Plaquemine, were to be worked in the manner above mentioned, in partnership with Weed and his associates, and that a portion of the negroes had been carried back to the Concession place. Weed was in treaty with Mr. E. Lawrence for the same purpose with respect to his plantation, but witness does not know whether Lawrence accepted the offer. Zunts told witness that he, Zunts, had been formerly in partnership with Colonel Butler as negro traders.

EUCLID BORLAND.

Signed in my presence. The erasures* were made on a second reading of the statement, witness requiring the modifications to be made as more accurate.

J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State.

DECEMBER 26, 1862.

* In the original on file.

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EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Raleigh, December 24, 1862.

His Excellency JEFFERSON DAVIS.

DEAR SIR: In accordance with the request of the General Assembly of this State I have the honor to send you herewith by the hands of A. C. Cowles, esq., a joint resolution of that body in relation to the seizure of one R. J. Graves, a citizen of North Carolina, and his transportation beyond the limits of the State. An answer to the demand therein contained at your earliest convenience will oblige,

Most respectfully, your obedient servant,

Z. B. VANCE.

{p.795}

[Inclosure.]

Whereas, the General Assembly of North Carolina is informed that one R. J. Graves, a citizen of the county of Orange, hath been seized at his residence in said county by a person professing to be a police officer from Richmond, in Virginia, and hath been transported to and is now detained as a prisoner in the said city of Richmond; and whereas the said Graves nor any other citizen of this State is liable thus to be seized and transported beyond the limits thereof without the order and approbation of the proper authority of this State, but on the contrary he and they are not liable to arrest except only on the warrant of a proper judicial officer; and if crime be imputed they are by the express provisions of the Confederate and the State constitutions amenable only to the civil tribunals and have a right to a hearing and trial before the courts of the Confederacy or of the State, according to the nature of the offense with which they stand charged, such trial to be had in open court according to due course of law; and whereas it is the duty of the government of North Carolina to protect from unlawful violence as far as possible every one of her citizens and to insure to each a fair trial in a lawful court having jurisdiction of his case: Therefore,

Resolved, That His Excellency the Governor be requested immediately to demand of the authorities at Richmond by whose order the said R. J. Graves was seized and transported and is now detained that he be immediately returned to this State to the end that he may be delivered over to the civil authorities here either of this State or of the Confederate States for examination and if sufficient cause appear for commitment and trial, so that if innocent of the matter laid to his charge he may be acquitted, or if guilty be convicted and punished by due course of law.

R. S. DONNELL, Speaker of the House of Commons.

GILES MEBANE, Speaker of the Senate.

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GENERAL ORDERS, No. 111.}

ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL’S OFFICE, Richmond, December 24, 1862.

I. The following proclamation of the President is published for the information and guidance of all concerned therein:

II. Officers of the Army are charged with the observance and enforcement of the foregoing orders of the President. Where the evidence is hot full or the case is for any reason of a doubtful character it will be referred through this office for the decision of the War Department.

By order:

S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General.

{p.798}

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NEW MARKET, December 26, 1862.

General S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General:

Please retain Major Withers, Tenth [West] Virginia (Federal) Regiment, until I can send you copies of orders recently issued by General Milroy.

W. E. JONES, Brigadier-General, Commanding.

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WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, December 27, 1862.

His Excellency Z. B. VANCE, Governor of North Carolina.

SIR: In the absence of the President now on a visit to the armies of the West and South your letter of the 24th instant communicating a preamble and resolution of the General Assembly of North Carolina relative to the seizure and transportation from the State of R. J. Graves, a citizen of Orange County, and making in conformity with the resolution a demand for the return of the said R. J. Graves to the State and his delivery to the authorities there for examination and if sufficient cause appear for commitment and trial, has been handed by A C. Cowles, esq., to me as Secretary of War for my action thereon. It will doubtless be matter of regret to you and the General Assembly of your State as it certainly is to me that the matter cannot receive the more satisfactory consideration and determination of the President, and as the subject shall on his return be promptly submitted to his revision it is not improbable that he may deem it worthy of further special communication from himself.

Still the imposing source of the application and the gravity of the subject demanding from its nature prompt action in my estimation impose on me the responsibility of exercising my imperfect judgment in rendering a decision. Some brief statement of the connection of the department with the detention of Mr. Graves and of the circumstances of his case will naturally and appropriately precede and explain both the action heretofore taken and the conclusion arrived at in his case.

Only some few days since was I informed as head of this Department of the detention of Mr. Graves in one of the military prisons of the city to which he had been consigned by the order of Brigadier-General Winder, military commandant of the district and acting provost-marshal of the city. When apprised of the fact I inquired briefly as to the ground of charge and was assured by General Winder that he was charged and held as a spy and that he did not consider it safe that he should be dismissed. I then directed that he should be examined by the commissioner. Mr. Sydney S. Baxter, a lawyer of high repute, charged with the duty of inquiring into the cases of prisoners in the military prison and of either discharging them or handing them over to their proper tribunals for trial. A day or two afterwards on the application of the Reverend Mr. Brown, of North Carolina, learning that the examination had not been had I reiterated the order, and being informed that the cause of delay had been the absence of a soldier and officer in the army who were wanted as witnesses I immediately directed that they should be ordered from the field here. Thus the matter stood to-day on the delivery of your letter.

On the fuller investigation immediately made of the circumstances of the arrest and of the grounds on which it was based I learn from General Winder that on the 6th of November last there appeared in the Richmond Enquirer a long letter written by the Rev. R. J. Graves proffered {p.799} as giving to our people just views of the purposes of our enemies. A number of the paper containing the letter will be submitted to you with this. Without pretending to judge the real intent or probable effect of this letter it is sufficient to say it seemed to many well calculated to cause distrust and discouragement among our people as to the result of the war and that the loyalty of the writer was greatly doubted.

Not very long after the publication of this article two letters addressed to the editor of the Enquirer elicited by the distrust which this letter had aroused as to the character and purposes of the writer were submitted by that editor to General Winder. Copies* of these two letters are transmitted herewith. One was from Capt. T. E. Upshaw, a gallant officer of the army, giving the intelligence derived from one of his soldiers, a returned prisoner vouched as entirely truthful, that this reverend gentleman (Mr. Graves) who had come down with the flag of truce to Harrison’s Landing while there was heard by him giving information to the enemy of all he knew “about our matters at Richmond and especially about the gun-boat Richmond,” in respect to which “so elaborate were the discussion and explanation that the drawings and plans of the Monitor were brought and shown to him.” Other particulars tending to strengthen suspicion and identify the Reverend Mr. Graves are given on which as you will have the letter it is needless to dwell.

In this connection it may be added that subsequently it has been ascertained that after his return from the North the Reverend Mr. Graves voluntarily stated to a leading clergyman of this city (Mr. Norwood) that finding difficulty interposed to his going North he had obtained his permit to proceed by affecting to give information which he believed would be of no avail to the enemy and had among other topics made statements respecting the gun-boat Richmond. This attitude, confessed by himself, of a minister of the gospel for an end of private advantage affecting to act the spy is certainly not calculated to diminish the suspicion of his conduct while it identifies him with the person charged by the soldier and confirms the general accuracy of his statement.

The other letter laid before General Winder signed “An old citizen,” but submitted by Mr. George B. Miles, appears to have been written by a zealous citizen of North Carolina fully acquainted with the origin and antecedents of the Reverend Mr. Graves and characterizes him as a Northern man, a Yankee undeserving of trust and more than doubtful loyalty having neither home nor people in North Carolina. On applying to General Winder for a passport at the time of his trip to Harrison’s Landing Mr. Graves had represented himself as a New Yorker desirous of returning to the North. Other oral suggestions General Winder informs me were made from various sources against this man, but the letters constituted the main grounds for his actions. He sent an officer under his command to North Carolina, had him arrested and brought to this city.

You will observe his information was that the reverend gentleman had acted the spy and might naturally be expected to continue the same line of conduct. He did not know him to be a North Carolinian, but believed him an alien enemy (being described as a Yankee without home in the State), and as such being charged with giving information to the enemy he considered him as a spy, to be arrested anywhere in the Confederacy and brought for examination and trial to the military district within Which his alleged offense had been committed. General Winder in the judgment of the Department acted with over-zeal in not {p.800} first fully satisfying himself that the party charged was not a citizen of North Carolina. As such while amenable to arrest on sufficient grounds as a spy or even as a traitor he could with no propriety or legality be removed from the State but should have been handed over to the appropriate authorities, military or civil, in that State to be dealt with according to the law. While doubt on the subject of the citizenship of this party may have been on the information possessed pardonable heretofore, now that the assurance of this citizenship is afforded by the deliberate act of the General Assembly of North Carolina, there can be neither pretense nor justification for not promptly admitting the error committed by his removal and rectifying it by his immediate return and delivery under Your Excellency’s demand. He will accordingly be cheerfully and at once placed at the disposition of Mr. Cowles or at his option sent under the escort of an officer to be delivered in Raleigh to such authority as you may direct. Should any proceedings be instituted against him requiring the presence of witnesses I need not add that all facilities will be afforded by the Department here to secure their due attendance.

While regretting the mistake committed in this case I find compensative satisfaction in evincing the sincere respect entertained by the Department for the rights of citizenship and sovereignty of the States, and avail myself of the opportunity to assure Your Excellency and through you the General Assembly of North Carolina that the Department so far from countenancing infringement on either regards it as its highest privilege as well as plainest duty by the utmost effort of its powers to preserve them both inviolate against all enemies.

I have the honor to be, with high consideration and esteem, most respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAMES A. SEDDON, Secretary of War.

* Not found.

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WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, December 27, 1862.

Brig. Gen. J. H. WINDER, Richmond, Va.

SIR: I have concluded to surrender the Rev. R. J. Graves to the authorities of the State of North Carolina. You will therefore hold the prisoner in readiness to be delivered to the agent of the Governor or to be sent to that State in charge of your officers as may be preferred by the agent.

Respectfully,

JAMES A. SEDDON, Secretary of War.

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INSPECTOR-GENERAL’S OFFICE, Murfreesborough, December 27, 1862.

Col. B. S. EWELL, Assistant Adjutant-General, Chattanooga.

COLONEL: In the absence of General Bragg who has gone to the front and the matter not admitting of delay I send you some Federal prisoners for your disposal, General Rosecrans having declined to receive them through his lines. The officer in charge, Captain Cunningham, is instructed to report the enlisted men to you and to convey the officers to Atlanta to be held as hostages until farther orders. Colonel Moore and his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Dewald, having been {p.801} paroled and receipted for by General Rosecrans I respectfully ask that they be sent to Richmond to be forwarded through our lines.

I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. K. BEARD, Inspector-General.

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BRITISH CONSULATE, Charleston, December 28, 1862.

Hon. J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State, Richmond.

SIR: It is now nearly a month since you were so good as to promise to procure from the War Department some information respecting the reasons which may have led to the imprisonment at Salisbury, N. C., of John Carfoot, a subject of Her Majesty. As this person is still so far as I know held in confinement I beg leave to again direct your attention to the matter in order that he may be either brought at once to trial or speedily released.

I have the honor to be, sir, your very faithful and obedient servant,

ROBERT BUNCH.

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WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, December 30, 1862.

Hon. R. R. COLLIER, Petersburg, Va.

SIR In the absence of the President your letter to him of the 23d instant has been referred to this Department for answer and you are respectfully informed that an additional person has been appointed to examine all prisoners and has instructions to discharge all those who are illegally detained.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAMES A. SEDDON, Secretary of War.

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WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, December 30, 1862.

BEVERLY R. WELLFORD, Jr., Esq.

SIR: You have been selected by this Department to proceed to Petersburg, Va., and Salisbury, N. C., for the purpose of making an examination of the entire body of prisoners who are detained in prison in either of those places under the military authority of the Confederate States and where the persons do not belong to the army of the Confederacy. You are authorized to call upon the provost-marshals and the officers having charge of the prisons in either of those places for the books and papers kept by them and for all the information they have respecting the cause of arrest and detention of any person held in confinement. You may examine any witnesses they have or can produce against them and may hear the statement of the prisoners themselves. You will make a record of all your proceedings under this commission and a report of your judgment in each particular case.

You are authorized to set at liberty all those against whom no well-grounded cause of suspicion exists of having violated any law or done any act hostile or injurious to the Confederate States. And as to those against whom suspicion is found properly to exist you will make a report of the facts and of your opinion and recommendation concerning them. You will notify the commanding officers of this commission and of the time you will commence your investigation and they will {p.802} be ordered to grant you every facility and to carry into effect all your recommendations.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAMES A. SEDDON, Secretary of War.

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WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, Va., December 31, 1862.

Lieut. Gen. J. C. PEMBERTON, General Commanding, &c.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge your letter of the 14th instant which has just reached me through the Adjutant-General. Your determination to retain the U. S. prisoners under your control until General Clark and the fourteen other officers held by General Butler contrary to good faith and the obligation of the cartel for the exchange of prisoners between the United States and the Confederate Government are returned is fully approved. The pretense on which General Clark and the other officers are withheld is wholly unjustifiable and untenable. In the first place the evidence which is offered of the alleged ground of action, being the mutilated fragment of the supposed proceedings of a court-martial, is too imperfect and unsatisfactory to be the basis of such action, but giving full credence to it and viewing it as conclusive it would still only show the action of an officer of the State of Louisiana and of a court-martial held under his authority upon a man subject to the militia service of the State.

Now, the Government of the United States has explicitly refused to recognize the applicability of the cartel to officers or soldiers merely in State service and it is consequently precluded from avoiding the obligation of that cartel by reference to the action of such State officers, but the most conclusive reason against their pretense is that the exchange of General Clark and his companions in confinement seems to have been actually arranged and on our part carried out by the delivery of the Federal officers agreed on. A grosser breach of faith than the retention of those officers and the refusal to deliver these for whom they were returned could not well be exhibited. You will therefore continue the course you have adopted until adequate redress is obtained.

With high consideration and esteem, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAMES A. SEDDON, Secretary of War.

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HEADQUARTERS WESTERN SUB-DISTRICT OF TEXAS, San Antonio, January 2, 1863.

Maj. A. G. DICKINSON, Assistant Adjutant-General, Houston, Tex.

SIR: I have the honor to report that the U. S. prisoners of war under the escort of Capt. F. V. D. Stucken’s company of cavalry, Taylor’s battalion, have taken up the line of march for Vicksburg via Shreveport, and would request that the necessary orders may be sent on to meet them.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. P. BEE, Brigadier-General, Provisional Army.

{p.803}

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DEER CREEK, January 2, 1863.

GENERAL COMMANDING, Grenada, Miss.

GENERAL: I have the honor to hand inclosed list* of prisoners, C. S. Army, left at Greenville, Miss., this county, by the steamer Minnehaha on the 31st ultimo. These prisoners were sick and were put off without any provision being made for their well-being and comfort. Without bedding, rations or medicines, these disabled soldiers are roughly thrown into a deserted hotel in a small village on the river, whose inhabitants may be numbered by the half dozen, beyond the reach of everything like material comfort. The citizens in the neighborhood have already given away all their surplus bedding, have no medicines and can barely supply the poor soldiers with enough to eat; and besides the recent raids and destruction of property along the river-bank will deter the people from sending that aid which they otherwise would.

These soldiers are a portion of the prisoners brought down for exchange and ordered back by the Federal commander at Vicksburg. Eight hundred and fifty remained on the boat and were to be carried to Memphis or Helena. I understand the Minnehaha put off a case of smallpox below Greenville. The obvious effect if not intent of this policy will be to scatter a violent plague throughout the whole country. Escaped prisoners report that Grant’s army from above and Banks’ army from below are ordered to co-operate in the attack upon Vicksburg. Whether this be true or not I cannot say.

I cannot close without calling the attention of the general commanding to the iniquity of the course thus pursued by the Yankees in attempting to scatter through this whole country and that too without warning the most violent epidemic disease known.

I have the honor, general, to be, your obedient servant,

W. L. NUGENT, Lieutenant, &c.

[Indorsements.]

Respectfully referred to Doctor Moses for his consideration. I should like to see him to converse with him on the subject. Return this. I wish to reply and send it to General Pemberton.

W. W. LORING, Major-General.

I have ordered Doctor Moses to send a surgeon with medicines and comforts for the sick.

Respectfully forwarded.

W. W. LORING, Major-General, Commanding.

* Omitted.

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OFFICE PROVOST-MARSHAL, Knoxville, Tenn., January 3, 1863.

Maj. H. L. CLAY, Assist ant Adjutant-General.

SIR: Below you will please find a list of free negroes confined in jail: Moses Sliger, Knoxville, confined by order of Brigadier-General Davis, commanding post, December 8, 1862; Jesse Malone, Campbell County, Tenn., committed December 5, 1862; Simon Malone, Campbell County, Tenn., committed December 5, 1862; Manuel Cox, Campbell County, Tenn., committed December 5, 1862.

{p.804}

The first-named negro was arrested by order of Brigadier-General Davis, commanding post, on account of a riot at his house. The other three, from Campbell County, Tenn., ran away to Powell’s Valley some time since and perhaps have been to Kentucky. They were captured by a scouting party from Big Creek Gap and sent to this place by Colonel Palmer, Fifty-eighth North Carolina Regiment.

I respectfully recommend that the first-named negro be turned over to Messrs. McGee & Co. What disposition shall be made of the others?

Respectfully,

JOHN E. TOOLE, Colonel and Provost-Marshal.

[Indorsement.]

Turn them all over to McGee & Co.

By command of Lieut. Gen. E. Kirby Smith:

H. L. CLAY, Assistant Adjutant-General.

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HEADQUARTERS SECOND CORPS, Grenada, January 4, 1863.

Hon. G. G. VEST, Member of Congress.

SIR: General Price directs me to acknowledge the reception of your communication* of the 30th ultimo in relation to the murder of Col. Frisby H. McCullough by the Federal authorities in Northern Missouri, and to state in reply that the general is under the impression that Colonel McCullough obtained recruiting authority from him at Springfield last winter. He does not know whether Colonel McCullough organized troops under this authority or not. Your communication has been referred to Adjutant-General Hough, to whom all the books, &c., pertaining to the Missouri State Guard were delivered with the request that he will furnish to you a copy of the recruiting authority given to Colonel McCullough.

The general further directs me to say that he will cordially co-operate with you in any endeavor that you may make to prevent the murder of citizens and soldiers of Missouri.

I am, sir, &c.,

JAMES M. LOUGHBOROUGH.

* Not found.

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WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, January 6, 1863.

Hon. JOHN B. BALDWIN, Staunton, Va.

SIR: I have the honor to inclose to you a copy* of the report of S. S. Baxter, esq., who was charged with the investigation anew of the case of Samuel Simmons. It appears from this report and the accompanying certificates that Simmons was received at the C. S. Military Prison in this city on the evening of the 7th of September last, was transferred to the hospital on the 12th and died there on the 18th or 19th of the same month. The seeming loss of all trace of this unfortunate man while in the custody of the military authorities presented a case sufficiently startling to arouse the anxious attention of the Department. The illness of Mr. Simmons unhappily occurring so speedily after he was brought to Richmond issuing in his death in the brief space of six days doubtless prevented his case being the subject of examination {p.805} while fresh in the memory of those in whose custody he had been placed. Changes in the officers at the prisons, the large number of prisoners of war as well as others in confinement there and the clerical error in the name as explained by Mr. Baxter account for the difficulty which has existed in tracing him. While sparing no effort to guard the interests of the Confederacy in the life struggle in which we are engaged it is my earnest desire and purpose that the personal rights of the citizen shall be as jealousy observed as in time of peace so far as is consistent with the safety of the State.

Respectfully, yours,

JAMES A. SEDDON, Secretary of War.

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JASPER, TENN., January 6, 1863.

His Excellency JEFFERSON DAVIS, President of the Confederate States of America.

SIR: I take the liberty to inform you how I have been treated by the Federal forces for my opinions’ sake. On the 1st of last May eighty-three men belonging to General O. M. Mitchel’s division came from Bridgeport, Ala., and pillaged my store of every article of any worth, and on the 5th of June last General Negley sent ten soldiers (Federal) piloted by one of our tories and demanded $500 in cash and my person. The captain said he was directed by General Negley if I did not pay the $500 to take property to that amount. Not getting the cash they took $900 or $1,000 of property, some the relics of my deceased wife to her little son. They took me from a sick bed and made me march with troops trained without anything to eat except crackers and bacon; no tents to lie in or blankets to cover with, but was compelled to lie on the cold ground without any covering whatever. From our homes we were marched near Chattanooga, Tenn., and put in a filthy stable; from thence to Shelbyville, Tenn., and put in a slaughter-house, 140 feet deep without ventilation and a hospital abovehead with large cracks in the floor and nothing to eat but crackers and hot water which they termed coffee. General Negley issued an order prohibiting the ladies or citizens of Shelbyville from furnishing us with any article of diet whatever saying we were furnished with the same rations that the Federal soldiers were, which was false. From thence we were taken to the State Penitentiary and incarcerated with thieves, murderers and assassins and such men as do God and man’s laws at defiance set (for no crime save my love and devotion to my home and native South and her constitutional rights), where I remained near four months, while my little children were robbed of everything they had to eat and scared and insulted by a brutal soldiery, they having come twelve miles to do it. I never lived in their lines. General Negley sent his cavalry six miles from his road of travel to rob and arrest me. He killed one of our citizens by marching him while sick for no cause except his opinions’ sake, and other citizens of our county have been sent to Camp Chase, and are there now, if alive. Their names are William H. Ballard and Claiborn Gott. Neither of us was ever connected with politics or the army. I understand that General Negley was taken prisoner at Murfreesborough. If so, please give orders concerning his case.

With sentiments of high regard, I am, President, yours, devotedly,

WASHINGTON TURNER.

P. S.-For my veracity I refer you to Generals John B. Floyd and John B. Gordon; Col. P. Turney, First Tennessee Regiment; Dr. J. G. {p.806} Barksdale, Shelbyville, Tenn.; Revs. E. W. Sehon, Atlanta, Ga., and William T. Smithson, formerly of Washington, D. C.

W. T.

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WAR DEPARTMENT, Richmond, Va., January 8, 1863.

Hon. J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State.

SIR: Instructions have been again addressed to Brigadier-General Winder to procure the testimony you have asked for in your letter of yesterday relative to John Carfoot, a prisoner lately confined at Salisbury, N. C. As soon as he makes his report of the cause of the arrest of Carfoot and the proof that was produced against him it will be communicated to you.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAMES A. SEDDON, Secretary of War.

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C. S. MILITARY PRISON, Richmond, January 8, 1863.

Hon. ROBERT OULD, Agent of Exchange.

SIR: Although you desired that no citizens be sent by flag of truce to-morrow yet General Winder wishes that exceptions be made in the cases of three men, viz: D. C. Bull, citizen of New York; William Bull, his son, and Wm. J. Peters, citizen of Delaware. Mr. John O. E. Sowers, citizen of Virginia, arrived yesterday on parole to obtain the release of Mr. Bull and his son. The Secretary of War is only willing that D. C. Bull be returned for Mr. Sowers.

William Bull is on parole for thirty days to obtain permission for the release of Charles Henry Smith, son of Col. Larkin Smith. The other, Wm. J. Peters, paroled for thirty days to effect exchange of any citizen of the Confederate States who may be confined in prison at the North.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

THOS. P. TURNER, Captain, Commanding Prison.

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C. S. MILITARY PRISON, Richmond, January 8, 1863.

Captain MULFORD.

SIR: I send by Lieutenant Bossieux, C. S. Army, seven rolls of money belonging to the above-named* persons, late prisoners here. Owing to some haste and confusion at the time of the departure of the prisoners last Tuesday we unavoidably failed to remit to them all their dues. Please receipt to Lieutenant Bossieux for the same.

Respectfully,

THOS. P. TURNER, Captain, Commanding Prison.

* Omitted.

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HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, January 10, 1863.

Hon. JAMES A. SEDDON, Secretary of War.

SIR: In view of the atrocious orders issued by the Federal General Milroy with regard to citizens of the Valley District I would respectfully {p.807} recommend that prisoners from his command captured by our forces be not exchanged but that they be held as hostages for the protection of our people against the outrages which he is reported to be committing.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

R. E. LEE, General.

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VICKSBURG, January 10, 1863.

Colonel WADDY:

Under date of 6th instant I was informed by Assistant Adjutant-General B. S. Ewell, from Chattanooga, that 3,500 Federal prisoners are on their way here. Instructions regarding them are asked for.

M. L. SMITH, Major-General.

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JACKSON, MISS., January 10, 1863.

General J. C. PEMBERTON:

Thirty-five hundred Federal prisoners are on their way here from Bragg’s army. What shall I do with them?

J. R. WADDY, Assistant Adjutant-General.

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SPECIAL ORDERS, No. 2.}

HEADQUARTERS FIRST DISTRICT, DEPT. OF MISS. AND EAST LA., Jackson, Miss., January 11, 1863.

...

II. The command of that portion of the district recently embraced within and now separated from the First Military District, as well as the city of Jackson, is hereby relinquished to Brigadier-General Adams, who has been appointed to the command.

III. The office of commissioner of exchanged and paroled prisoners is also turned over to Brigadier-General Adams.

By order of Brigadier-General Ruggles:

R. M. HOOE, Assistant Adjutant-General.

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Extract from President’s Message, January 12, 1863.

To the SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES:

...

The public journals of the North have been received containing a proclamation dated on the first day of the present month signed by the President of the United States in which he orders and declares all slaves within ten States of the Confederacy to be free, except such as are found in certain districts now occupied in part by the armed forces of the enemy.

We may well leave it to the instincts of that common humanity which a beneficent Creator has implanted in the breasts of our fellowmen of all countries to pass judgment on a measure by which several millions of human beings of an inferior race, peaceful and contented {p.808} laborers in their sphere, are doomed to extermination, while at the same time they are encouraged to a general assassination of their masters by the insidious recommendation “to abstain from violence unless in necessary self-defense.” Our own detestation of those who have attempted the most execrable measure recorded in the history of guilty man is tempered by profound contempt for the impotent rage which it discloses. So far as regards the action of this Government on such criminals as may attempt its execution I confine myself to informing you that I shall unless in your wisdom you deem some other course more expedient deliver to the several State authorities all commissioned officers of the United States that may hereafter be captured by our forces in any of the States embraced in the proclamation that they may be dealt with in accordance with the laws of those States providing for the punishment of criminals engaged in exciting servile insurrection. The enlisted soldiers I shall continue to treat as unwilling instruments in the commission of these crimes and shall direct their discharge and return to their homes on the proper and usual parole.

...

JEFF’N DAVIS.

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HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF HENRICO, Richmond, January 12, 1863.

Hon. GEORGE MOORE, Her British Majesty’s Consul.

SIR: ... John Carfoot has been released. The charges against him are at Salisbury, N. C., and have been telegraphed for. They will be communicated to you upon their arrival.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOHN H. WINDER, Brigadier-General.

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VICKSBURG, January 13, 1863.

Colonel WADDY:

If prisoners arrive locate them in most convenient place for encampment, and employ the whole of Taylor’s brigade to guard them.

J. C. PEMBERTON, Lieutenant-General.

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HDQRS. C. S. FORCES ON SHENANDOAH MOUNTAIN, January 13, 1863.

Hon. JAMES A. SEDDON, Secretary of War.

SIR: In reply to a letter from Robert Ould, esq., agent of exchange, to H. B. Davidson, of date January 2, 1863, which was referred to me, I have the honor to transmit herewith proof of the authenticity of certain orders of Brig. Gen. R. H. Milroy, U. S. Army, which were forwarded by me to the President some weeks ago. In addition to the deposition of Job Parsons and myself I furnish you as cumulative evidence a copy of The Crisis, of date December 24, 1862, a newspaper published at Columbus, Ohio, in which the orders of Milroy are published as part of the history of the times. I have not seen Adam Harper, who is the subject of this published order, but two of his sons, one of whom is my scout, have stated to me that their father was compelled to pay the assessment of $285 to save his life. The whole amount {p.809} of money raised by these illegal assessments in the small county of Tucker as near as I can ascertain it is about $6,000. Were I to report every case of outrage of this character which has come to my knowledge it would astound all Christian people who read it. Permit me, sir, to express the opinion that we have an effectual remedy for these crimes by the adoption of an inexorable rule of retaliation. The oppressions of our people cannot be increased but I believe will be mitigated by the enforcement of the fullest measure of retaliation on these bloodthirsty savages.*

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. D. IMBODEN, Colonel, Commanding.

* For other correspondence, etc., relating to Milroy’s orders, see Series III.

[Inclosure No. 1.]

VIRGINIA, Augusta County, to wit:

This day Job Parsons (son of Abraham Parsons), a citizen of Tucker County, Va., personally appeared before the undersigned justice of the peace in and for the county aforesaid and being by me duly sworn deposes and says that on the 27th day of November, 1862, being at his father’s house on Cheat River, in Tucker County, eight miles above Saint George, the county seat of said county, a Federal lieutenant with five men came there and handed to deponent a paper of which Exhibit A hereto attached is a literal and exact copy. That at the same time and place a similar paper was handed to Abraham Parsons, deponent’s father, and on the same day similar notices were served on from thirty to forty citizens of Tucker County by the same authority. On the next day, November 28, 1862, deponent repaired to Saint George where he found a company of the One hundred and twenty-third Ohio Regiment stationed in the court-house under command of Capt. Horace Kellogg. As soon as deponent arrived Captain Kellogg in person handed him a paper of which Exhibit B, herewith filed, is an exact and literal copy. On reading this paper deponent remarked to Captain Kellogg that it was a very rigid and unreasonable order and he thought it very unjust to hold private citizens responsible for the acts of the military authorities, to which Captain Kellogg replied that he thought not, that the old man (General Milroy) was in earnest. Deponent further says that on the same day (November 28) he saw a similar order, exactly, served upon his father, Abraham Parsons, who was assessed with the sum of $340 and that fifteen or twenty other citizens received the same orders at the same time who were assessed with various sums. Deponent did not pay his assessment but made his escape from the county and came through the mountains to the camp of Col. John D. Imboden at Shenandoah Mountain and delivered to him the papers of which Exhibits A and B are true copies. And further saith not.

JOB PARSONS.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 10th day of January, 1863.

WM. W. MONTGOMERY, Justice of the Peace.

[First indorsement.]

VIRGINIA, Augusta County Court, Clerk’s Office:

I, William A. Burnett, deputy clerk of said court, certify that on this the 12th of January, 1863, Col. John D. Imboden personally appeared before me in my office aforesaid, and being by me duly sworn deposes and says that he is personally acquainted with Job Parsons, whose deposition {p.810} is above taken, and that he knows the general reputation and character of said Job Parsons and does not hesitate to say that said Parsons is a man of excellent moral character and worthy of full credit as a truthful man and witness. Deponent further states that he forwarded to Richmond the originals of Exhibits A and B, which were furnished to him early in December last by said Parsons, and that he has no doubt of the genuineness of said orders nor of the fact that a large number of the loyal citizens of Tucker County have had similar orders served upon them by Captain Kellogg and that large sums of money have by this means been extorted from them. And further saith not.

JOHN D. IMBODEN.

[Second indorsement.]

I further certify that William W. Montgomery, whose name is signed to the foregoing deposition of Job Parsons, was at the date of said deposition and now is a justice of the peace in and for the county aforesaid. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the seal of my court the day and year above written.

WM. A. BURNETT, Deputy Clerk.

[Exhibit A.]

SAINT GEORGE, TUCKER COUNTY, VA., November 27, 1862.

Mr. JOB PARSONS: (Son of Abraham Parsons.)

You are hereby ordered to report in person or by your representative at my headquarters in Saint George Court-House on the 28th of November, 1862, to attend to business of vital importance to yourself, and in case of your failure to comply with the above order you must suffer the penalty.

By order of Brig. Gen. R. H. Milroy:

HORACE KELLOGG, Captain and Post Commandant.

[Exhibit B.]

SAINT GEORGE, TUCKER COUNTY, VA., November 28, 1862.

Mr. JOE PARSONS: (Son of Abraham Parsons.)

SIR: In consequence of certain robberies which have been perpetrated upon Union citizens of Tucker County, Va., by bands of guerrillas you are hereby assessed to the amount of $14.25 to make good their losses, and upon your failure to comply with the above assessment by paying the money over to me by the 1st day of December, 1862, the following order will be executed, viz:

By order of Brig. Gen. R. H. Milroy:

HORACE KELLOGG, Captain, Commanding Post.

{p.811}