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COLLECTION 
 
 REPORT 
 
 or THK 
 
 SECRETARY OF WAR. 
 
 Confederate States of America, 1 
 
 War Department, \ 
 
 Richmond, Nov. 26. 1863. > 
 
 To His Excellency Jefferson Davis, President, 7. S, *4. 
 
 Sir : I have the honor to submit the following report : 
 
 During the past year, the war has raged with increased violence, 
 and on more extended arena. From central Pennsylvania to southern. 
 Texas, the shock of arms has been felt in many battles, on a grand 
 scale, and in numberless engagements, varying from the conflic 
 thousands to the skirmishes of a few. 
 
 Such extended warfare, as was almost inevitable, from the superior 
 numbers and more abundant resources of the enemy, has been 
 chequered by some reverses, as well as illustrated by not a few bril- 
 liant victories and,glorious achievemc 
 
 These events are, at the same time, too vivid in remembrance, and 
 too near in occurrence, to make needful or appropriate their full re- 
 cital. To illustrate the sustained glory of our arms, it will fully suffice 
 to retail, in the east, the victory, against all odds of numbers and 
 position, at Chancellorsville, the capture of Winchester, the invasion 
 of Pennsylvania, closing with the grand, but indecisive battle of 
 Gettysburg, where the glorious successes of two days' combat barely 
 failed on the third of being crowned by a crushing defeat to the enemy, 
 and inflicted such heavy loss as enabled our gallant army, with many of 
 the ends of the movement accomplished, to retire unassailed aud de- 
 fiant within our limits. 
 
 In the South, the complete repulse, at Charleston, in the spring, of 
 the grand attack by 6ea, made with the plated ships and guus of un- 
 precedented calibre and range, which the arrogance of the foe 
 
imagined must overpower all resistance, has been followed, in the re- 
 newed attack conducted now by land and Bea, by the bloody repulse 
 it Wagner and Samter, which last, reduced to a pile of crumbling 
 ruins, yet harbors resources and heroic men, that keep in distant awe 
 impotent malignity the enemy, with nil his ingenuity of land and 
 . i aval war. 
 
 In the far west, beyond the Mississippi, the valor and patriotism of 
 
 ir oldiers have been Bignalized by tcbierements, which, thotfgh on 
 
 less grand acale, lose not in glory by comparison with any triumphs 
 
 >f the war. If we have, then, to report the loss of the Arkansas 
 
 and the repulse at Helena, we have to glory in the hard fought 
 
 tattle of Prarie Grove; at the skillful evasion of an overpowering 
 
 "•'orce in lower Louisiana ; the steady resistance and judicious stra- 
 
 that enabled a force wholly inadequate to a direct encounter, yet 
 
 o harass, pursue and finally to expel the hordes of the enemy. Then 
 
 it the brilliant success of Brashear City, Milligan's Bend, and many 
 
 linor affairs that asserted again the supremacy of our arms in western 
 
 Louisiana. 
 
 Texas, meantime, has been preserved intact, feeling the step of the 
 foe only to expel him with shame and blood in the repulses at Galves- 
 ron and Sabine Pass, which, for the results obtained by limited means, 
 .aave been rarely matched in history. 
 
 The gravest reverses of the year have been sustained by us in Missis- 
 ;ppi, and .resulted in the capture of Vicksburg and Port Hudson with 
 ;heir garrisons; in the partial command, I y the enemy, of the Missis- 
 sippi river, and the temporary evacution of Jackson, the capital of 
 rhe State, by our remaining forces. Yet, these were, to the enemy, 
 bloody acquisitions, and to us errors not unredeemed by much of glory 
 ..nd vengeance. Port Hudson and Vicksburg, by the gallantry and 
 constancy of their defence, fully sustained the renown of their pre- 
 vious deeds ; and the repeated efforts of the vastly superior forces of 
 (he enemy to snatch their prizes by violence, ended only in fearful 
 loss and shameful rout. Our brave soldiers succumbed only to priva- 
 tion and exhaustion. And whatever may have been the loss to the 
 ,ountry, they, at least, lost not honor. 
 
 The campaign in Mississippi was certainly disastrous ; and with the 
 forces and resources collected in the State, it is difficult to resist the 
 impression, that the disasters were not enevitable. Their causes, and 
 vhether attributable to any deficiencies in prescience, skill or valor on 
 the part of either commanders or their troops, it is felt to be inappro- 
 ] riate here to discuss, as under a just sense of what is due to all con- 
 cerned, as well as to the Confederacy, a court of inquiry has been in- 
 stituted to make full investigation of the whole campaign. It met; 
 i ut its session has, in consequence of military events occurring in 
 ils vicinity and demanding the presence of witnesses and judges at 
 other points of duty, been temporarily suspended. It is, however, ex- 
 pected soon to resume and complete its enquiries. Justice requires 
 judgement to be suspended by all, until, from such acknowledged au- 
 thority, facts and conclusions can be attained. 
 
 These events caused great exultation and renewed confidence to 
 
Xh.a enemy, who imagined they had sundered the Confederacy, and 
 secured the unlimited command and free navigation of the Mississippi 
 river, the great conduit of western trade, while readily a corres- 
 ponding shock of despondency and foreboding of the consequences to 
 ensue from the capture of so many brave soldiers, and the. loss of 
 command over the river, and the means of ready communication with 
 the west, affected the public mind of the Confederacy. 
 
 As results develop themselves, the exultation and the depression 
 are found to have been alike exaggerated. The gallant soldiers cap- 
 tured, after brief furloughs, having, by exchanges, declared nut of 
 the excess of prisoners before 80 largely made by us, been released 
 from their paroles, are, for the most part, already reorganized and 
 equipped, and now stand ready, with their approved valor and con- 
 stancy, to meet the invader of their country. 
 
 The communication with the trans-Mississippi, while rendered some- 
 what mote precarious and insecure, is found by no means cut off, or 
 even seriously endangered. 
 
 This cannot well be otherwise, when it is recollected how difficult 
 it is to guard, by gunboats or troops, hundreds of miles of river bank, 
 if even securely possessed by the enemy, and how wholly impractica- 
 ble when on both sides, for the greater portion of the distance, the 
 possession is with our own troops or people. Besides, the resources 
 of the trans-Mississippi are such as to make it self-sustaining ; and 
 against any f>rce which the enemy, while engaged in their desperate 
 struggle with the States on this side, can spare for attack on those 
 beyond, it is not extravagant to say, that they have better means of 
 resistance, and greater assurance of final success than the rest of the 
 Confederacy. This department, too, in view of the contingency of 
 fusing com in and of that river, has been endeavoring to aid the self- 
 sustaining capacities of that section, by the. establishment of works 
 for the production of all supplies needful for the maintenance and ef- 
 ficiency of its armies. To these considerations may be added, that a 
 general, among the ablest, the most zealous and judicious tbe Confed- 
 eracy (an boast, is happily entrusted with the command and improve- 
 ment of their resources, and enjoys the full confidence of the go, . n- 
 inent, the people and the army. With circumstances thus favo 
 the people of the trans-Mississippi States hive only to manifest the 
 energy, ■ ■ m 1 devotion to the common cause of the Confederacy 
 
 which have signalized them in the past, to dissipate, as well among 
 as their more eastern brethren, needless apprehensions. 
 
 The hopes of the enemy have proven more illusive than the fore- 
 bodings of our people. The Mississippi liver is not opened to them 
 for the purposes of trade or travel. 
 
 Without a stronghold on the river where heavy guns may be placed 
 or defended, we may not debar passage to their vessels of war. But 
 with the command of long stretches of the river hank, and read 
 Cess to nearly all parts, it would be strange, indeed, if we allowed se- 
 curity or impunity to their boats of trade or passage. The river is 
 nowhere so wide that sharpshooters, even, cannot prove formidable, and- 
 oattcries of light artillery, sustained by small detachments of cavalry, 
 
 H~ZO 9 95 
 
moy almost absolutely command its channel. The frequent bends of 
 • • • pite all side defences, with their 
 
 boilers and machinery, to a raking lire and the wooded coverts that 
 oany miles i f its banks, give facilities and efficiency to such 
 •k._ Above all, except as a mere Outlet to the gulf, for 
 did advantages of trade, which have been :d in the past, 
 
 now as longingly anticipated by Che f the Federal 
 
 i the northern pi, and its tributaries, the river 
 
 roust have, in its tower course, a Friendly peopl i d in the avo- 
 
 and productive industry, and i, ■■dated 
 
 >n, occupied only by men maddened by accumulated 
 r -i'or every means and opportunity of retribution*. 
 The Folly ol these rain ■ tions must Boon be acknowledged, 
 
 and . atribute to dissipate the wilder delusion that the Confede- 
 
 racy can he subjugated, and the ends of unity and peace he obtained 
 by rioh nee and oppression.' 
 
 On the other hand, the people of the Confederacy have been enabled: 
 to realize, how little, v.ith courage and' constancy on their part, their 
 fate is determined by even signal reverses, and by the loss of single 
 strongholds, however relatively important. While material injuries 
 are freely admitted to have resulted to the Confederacy from the disas- 
 ters in Mississippi, yet some real benefits have undoubtedly accrued 
 from the compulsory abandonment of fixed points of defence on the 
 river. In view of the superior numbers of the enemy, and the larger 
 appliances of war enjoyed by them, the necessity of defending special 
 Btrategic points may justly be deprecated, since it retains stationary 
 a largo force, and oifers a wager of battle against' all odds, in which 
 the result is less to be determined by valor and skill, than by accu- 
 mulated numbers and the improved armaments of modern warfare, in 
 which alone, circumstances gives them unquestionable advantage. In 
 the extent of our territory, and the absence of vital centres, the mo- 
 bility of our troops give3 for our defence advantages mora than com- 
 pensatory, and is therefore ever to be preferred. 
 
 The loss of Port 'Hudson and Vicksburg has, on our side, libera' 
 for general operations in the fiel 1, a large army, whilo it requires the 
 enemy to maintain, cooped up> inactive, in positions insalubrious to 
 their soldiers, considerable detachments from their forces. 
 
 Nor, in a country not accessible by inland waters, where their gun- 
 boats can penetrate, are they enabled, from their garrisoned [joints, to 
 establish control or dominion over any extended district. This is il- 
 lustrated in Mississippi, where, after having overrun, amid the dismay 
 inspired by our reverses there, a large proportion of the Stale, they 
 have now been. constrained to release and send off their forces, until 
 they control little more than the ground their garrisons rest on, while 
 the experience of their recent ravages, and the insulting presence of 
 a hated foe on their soil, are rousing to fiercer indignation and resist- 
 ance, the people of the State. 
 
 In Tennessee the campaign has been conducted with more varied 
 fortunes. The deficiency of resources in men and previsions, rather 
 than reverses in battle, during the summer, compelled the withdrawal 
 
of our army from middle Tennessee to the South side of the Tennes- 
 see river, where for a long time, they held at bay the superior forces 
 of the enemy. At length, with large reinforcements and the combi- 
 nation of a formidable army advancing from Kentucky, the enemy 
 moved on the one side to possess east Tennessee, and ©n the other to cut 
 off pur larger army under Gen Bragg. The necessity pf concentrating 
 3 to encounter the main attack, left east Tennessee, with feeble 
 defence, to rely chiefly on the stronghold that guarded the main pass 
 of the mountains. Unaccountably, and under circumstances, which 
 would force suspicion of cowardice or treachery, but for the hope of 
 satisfactory explanation from the commander, now a prison lr to the 
 enemy, this almost impregnable post was surrendered without a strug- 
 gle In consequence, east Tennessee came easily into the possession 
 of the enemy ; but when their invading forces, attempting to press 
 their advantage, advanced towards southwest Virginia, they voe 
 successfully encountered and repelled by our forces in that quarter. 
 Meantime, the grander aim of the enemy to cut off the army of Gen. 
 Bragg had been evaded by a quick withdrawal towards his base, and 
 having received considerable reinforcements from the veteran army of 
 northern Virginia, General Bragg advanced in turn on his pursuers. 
 Once again, the superior prowess of our arms was established on the 
 bloody field of Chickamauga, in what ranks among the grandest vic- 
 tories of the war. Its immediate effects were to relieve all the more 
 southern States from the dread of invasion and ravage, and to hold 
 invested under privation and suffering the dismayed and shattered 
 remnants of the enemy's grand army of the West. Its ulterior 
 results yet await development, and may bring recovery of the soil and 
 deliverance to the people of a most importaut portion of Tennessee. 
 
 From the achievements of our army the transition is natural to its 
 numbers, condition, and prospects 
 
 The labors, perils and sacrifices of the past year could not fail to 
 exact losses from its glorious ranks. Time ami the occasion forbid 
 more than a passing allusion to the heroic dead, whoso deeds and 
 their memory constitute the glory of the present, as they will the 
 lest inheritance of future generations. To the foremost of the 
 illustrious throng, resting in the immortallity of assured fame', more 
 special reference may be demanded by just appreciation of his heroic 
 qualities and eminent services, and by the saddened hearts of the 
 people of the Confederacy, who mourn the death cf their chosen 
 champion, stricken by "an accursed chance," in the" hour when the 
 prowess of a stroke of daring 'and generalship, just accomplished, had 
 opened the way to crowning victory. Without disparagement to 
 Others, it may be safely said, he had become, in the estimation of the 
 . emphatically " the hero of the war." Around him 
 red with peculiar warmth, their gratitude, their aff ci d . and 
 their hopes. His deeds had approved him a warrior of the hi 
 order, as the whole tenor of his life, in peace as in Avar, had Bhown 
 him the very type and model of the Christian and hero. From the 
 first battle of Manassas, when, by his firmness and invincible will, 
 he earned the title now indissolubly connected with his name, down» 
 
to the battle of Chancellorsvillc, -where his dauntless valor struck its 
 final and mot decisive blow, he was identified with almost every 
 important movement and brilliant victory in Virginia. lie had lived 
 long enough to roup a full harvest of fame, and to have become an 
 example to his countrymen and the admiration of the civilized world. 
 But to the Confederacy his loss is felt to be, not only irreparable, 
 the memory of bis deeds, and the spirit he inspired glow 
 the hearts of its armies to animate to noble emulation and 
 kindred deeds of valor, patriotism, and self-devotion. The blood of 
 such a martyr to the cause of southern liberty and independence 
 it to the faith and devotion of all its defenders, and consti- 
 tutes a resistless appeal to the sympathies of mankind as to the justice 
 of God, against the foul aggressions of our invaders. 
 
 Our army may be less in the number of effectives present," but, in 
 every other respect, is believed to be superior to its condition at the 
 close of the last year. The men are more veteran, indurated to all 
 the hardships and exposures of a soldiers' life, familiar with danger, and 
 confident in themselves and their officers. Their discipline is improved, 
 and while their fiery valor is unabated, their firmness and constancy 
 may, under all circumstances, be more confidently relied on. 
 
 The officers, through the tests to which they have been exposed, and 
 the purgation effected by the aid of examining boards, have been 
 rendered more efficient and capable. Altogether, whether t'.ie char- 
 acter, valor, -efficiency, and morale of the men and officers be regarded, 
 it is but simple justice to them to assert, that they have never been 
 surpassed, if ever equalled, by any like number of troops, in the 
 records of modern warfare. It only remains, that their numbers 
 should be increased and kept up to the standards required by their 
 organizations, to give assurance of their invincibility, and the early 
 triumph of our cause. It becomes important to consider the sources 
 whence such increase of numbers may be drawn. 
 
 The first means to be adopted naturally, is to bring back to the 
 army the large and undue proportion of men, who, from the provis- 
 ional character of the army from the vicinity and temptations of their 
 homes, under the trials of early service, and in a more relaxed state 
 of discipline, have deserted, and straggled from their colors. 
 
 The effective force of the army is generally a little more than a half, 
 never two-thirds, of the numbers in the ranks. From the absentees, 
 considerable allpwance is doubtless to be made for those disabled by 
 wounds and sickness, to whom, as the law makes as yet no adequate 
 provision, discharges have not been granted. It may yet be safely 
 assumed that one third of our army, on an average, are absent from 
 their posts, and may, with due efforts, be returned. The best means 
 for the accomplishment of this end, it is believed, will be found in 
 some agencies, to be added to the service for the enrollment and col- 
 lection of conscripts. They will be more naturally suggested in con- 
 nection with the consideration which will be given to that branch of 
 the service. 
 
 The classes liable to conscription constitute the natural aliment for 
 the support and increase of the army. During the most trying period 
 
of the past campaign, whon reverses aid captures so greatly dimin- 
 ished our forces in one important department, it was deemed expedient 
 to subject to the call for conscription those between the ages of forty and 
 forty-five. Thus, the male population between the ages of eighteen 
 and forty-five, with the exception of such, as under existing laws, arc 
 exempt, or have put in substitutes, are liable to military service. I: 
 is difficult to give, with accuracy, the number, who, under the past, 
 action of the conscript, law, have been brought into our armies, and 
 still more, those who yet remain to be called into the Held. The law. 
 it will be recollected, gives to all the privilege, before being enr 
 of volunteering into the companies they may prefer. And as calls 
 have been made, a large prop ution of those, who, under it, have comt , 
 into service, have availed themselves of this privilege, and tnus dk 
 not come under the cognizance of the conscribing officers, or on tlu- 
 lists of enrolment. On the nearest approximate estimate that can he 
 made, -it is believed, that to every one assigned, there have been three 
 volunteers. The number assigned during the past year in Virginia, 
 amounts to some five thousand, and hence, the addition to the army 
 from that State, would be some twenty thousand men, supposing, as 
 there is no reason to doubt, that 'other States have done as well, some 
 eighty to one hundred thousand men should hjvve been added to our 
 forces. Yet, with so serious an addition, our- armies have not fully 
 maintained their strength in numbers. This affords a startling, bur, 
 it is feared, not v an incorrect view of the waste by sickness, casual- 
 ties of battle, captures, desertions and discharges. 
 
 The resources of supply, from collection of deserters, and from 
 conscription, must evidently diminish as the service 'becomes more 
 active, and the numbers are exhausted; and it cannot be confidently 
 expected that they can, during another year, increase, or even main- 
 tain our army in its present numbers. Yet the enemy is making 
 every effort, and scrupling at no means, to raise to overwhelming 
 numbers his already superior forces. One draft for three hundrec 
 thousand men is scarcely finished, with results, indeed, but little sal 
 isfactory to him, before another call for a like number is made. The 
 army of the Confederate States, jt is clear, must be, at leas 
 tained, and, if practicable, even increased. Our final triumph and 
 independence must else be precarious, and consequences worse thai 
 ever visted a conquered people, may be our hateful and enduring lot. 
 All means within our reach to swell our armies should unhes 
 be employed. 
 
 The able-bodied men between eighteen and forty-five years of 
 constitute, naturally, the active force for the field, and would, pi 
 bly, suffice, and be as numerous as the means and products of the 
 country would equip and sustain. ir seems to have been the scheme- 
 of the conscript law, that all such should be so devoted to activ. 
 service; but the provision allowing substitutes, and the exemption 
 law, have exonerated considerable numbers and classes. Both, it is 
 submitted, should be repealed. 
 
 The law allowing substitutes has proved a means for depleting the 
 army, while it has done more than any single* measure to excite dis- 
 
content and impatience under service among the soldiers. The 
 persons received aa substitutes have proved, for the most part, wholly 
 unreliable; have, in many cases, >nly entered to desert, and often, 
 elsewhere, again to make sale of th », with a view to like shame- 
 
 ful evasion ; while the fact tlitt the wealthy cou'd thus indirectly 
 purchase liberation from the toils and dangers necessary for the 
 defence of the very means that gave them the privilege, and of the 
 country itself, naturally | e less fortunate and poorer 
 
 son tent. 
 
 The men t! -rated, ti . from the advantages of posi- 
 
 I learning they I og the most spirited and 
 
 . ?hrunk rather from the hardships 
 
 than The law is deservedly regretted and 
 
 ted by all acquainted with its operation. It is earnestly 
 
 recommended that it be al once repealed, and that'all who have enjoyed 
 
 jain subjected to the sacred duty of defending in 
 
 arms, their property, their liberties, and their country. No objection 
 
 . ! justice precludes this, while every consideration of policy 
 
 equity commands it. 
 
 The liberty to put in i substitute, as it was given by act of Con- 
 
 larli and constitutionally, he abrogated by the same 
 
 instrumentality. There has luen no compact, as has been alleged, 
 
 bctv. loldier or conscript, exempting himself by putting in a 
 
 substitute, and the government. It is nothing more than a privilege, 
 
 which f i ■ or policy, the government has acorded to him ; and 
 
 I complaining brogation, he ought to be grateful for 
 
 lion, which he has been allowed to obtain But 
 
 I, that there is a contract existing, if not 'between 
 
 ;.t and the principal, yet, at least, between the principal 
 
 and the substitute, of which, though made on the faith of an existing 
 
 law, the former loses all benefit when he is reclaimed to service. 
 
 Were this the correct view, it would be better for the government 
 it should return to the principal a fair proportion of the sum ex- 
 • 1 by him, in obtaining his substitute, in all cases in which such 
 . ■ I to his engagement, and not (heated the Gov- 
 ernment of the service to which the contract bound him. than to allow 
 the further exoneration of the principal. 
 
 .- in reality, the just view of the matter, seems to be, that when- 
 a call is mad< rtain prescribed classes for military duty, 
 
 betitution only exempts from that call, and neither 
 ,i to, liberate tho principal from the paramount duty, ever 
 incumbent <ui every citizen, as a patriot soldier, to defend his country. 
 The principal when called, by having bis substitute accepted, is ex- 
 onerated from service under that call only; and if he enjoys that, has 
 ibe full consideration for the contract he has made, whether with the 
 government or his substitute, he falls back into the body of citizens, 
 and becomes one of the militia of the country, liable like all others 
 to be summoned on other exigencies, and upon further calls to mili- 
 tary service. In his exemption from service under the special call 
 which his substitute meets, he has enjoyed his full privilege, or if it 
 
be contract, lias received his stipulated consideration ; a further call 
 may not be made; future exigencies may not demand more levies for 
 the army; peace may be obtianed, and then his exemption will have 
 proved complete, and have been gained by the substitution. He, fall- 
 ing back into the militia, as ever? citizen liable to military duty, takes 
 hia chances of future calls and Future necessities, lie is subject to be 
 again called, whenever, in the judgment of the Congress, having 
 power to determine, the service of himself an I any others is ne 
 ry for the public defence. Such need, it is submitted, now exists, 
 and the class of principals, as well as all others constituting the 
 militia, being trailer the paramount obligation, neither to be evaded 
 or bargained against, of military service to the State, may be sum- 
 moned to the field. A man can no more, by privilege granted or 
 contract made, escape the paramount obligation of defending his coun- 
 try from invasion and ruin, than by promise or purchase of absolu- 
 tion, he can evade the duty of obedience to God. This view of the 
 right of the Government to claim such service is submitted, rather to 
 remove scruples which have been imagined to exist on the part of 
 Congress in authorising .the call, than to obviate difficulties to be an- 
 ticipated from the class of principals. It is confidently believed their 
 courage, zeal and patriotism will disdain all paltry quibbling to evade 
 their country's call, and that by prompt response in that country's 
 need, will they manifest, their appreciation of their own highest duty, 
 and their alarcity to meet whatever of peril or sacrifie it may entail. 
 
 No records exist which will furnish the precise number of principals 
 who may thus be recalled to service. The best conjectural computation 
 places the number throughout the Confederacy, at not less, certainly, 
 than fifty thousand men, of an age and class calculated to make ap- 
 proved soldiers. 
 
 The classes covered by the exemtion law, may also, it is believed, 
 be advantageously abridged. The aim of th A law seems to have been 
 to exonerate only, a suilicient number of experts in various piofes- 
 sions, trades and mechanical pursuits to meeet the requirements of 
 society, but as the mode of effecting this, in various instances, all of 
 il trades or pursuits have been exempted, the consequence has 
 been, that a larger number of persons, more in various localities 
 than are needed by the requirements of the country, have been re- 
 lieved from service. This has caused some natural dissatisfaction 
 among those whose services are exacted in the field, as well as it 
 lias operated to the diminution of the numbers liable to conscription. 
 A wiser course, it is believed, would be to rend r all within the pre- 
 scribed ages, capable of bearing anus, subject to conscription, and 
 allow details to be granted from the professions and mechanical pur- 
 suits to the extent that may be ry for the industrial wants of 
 society. A considerable number might thus be added to the army 
 without unduly impairing the i y supply of skilled labor for 
 the needs of the country. 
 
 Another means of replenishing the army, would be by lessening 
 or withdrawing the details which, from time to time, have been made 
 from the army and from conscripts, for the works and various opera- 
 
10 
 
 tions of the Government. It has been the policy and earnest effort 
 of this department to make them as limited as possible ; but still they 
 have, under the unceai-ing demands of all branches of the service 
 Bwollen to a number that constitutes a serious abstraction from the 
 1 ise of the number thus required, has been tho 
 
 ptional state of the market for labor caused by the enhancement 
 and the paucity of laborers. The comparatively few men 
 who are al command for hire, claim, and can obtain wages that almost 
 lade their employment by the Government, and besides as the 
 publi be carried on by laborers assembled in consid- 
 
 erable numbers, and in many instances, as at mines, salt-petre caves, 
 and the like, at distant points, the men above conscript age having, 
 for the most part, families and settled abodes are reluctant to render 
 their s irvicos, for any rewards. The only remedy that is seen for 
 this, -would be the extension of the claim of service by Government 
 to a greater age, and allow details from those not now subject to mili- 
 tary call. Priority would thus be afforded to the Government in the 
 command of laborers, and when it was thus distinctly recognised by 
 them as their contribution to public defence, and in lieu of the mili- 
 tary service exacted of them, it would be acquiesced in without 
 itisf action. 
 
 To some extent, likewise, the necessity of details might be obviated by 
 organized system of impressingorengaging the labor of free negroes 
 and slaves, where they could be qaade available. The effort to do this, by 
 the temptation of interests of owners, has been generally found to be 
 unavailing. In many of the Government works, where the unskilled 
 of slaves would be most available, exposure to the seductions or 
 attacks of the enemy, arc dreaded by owners, who are averse to having 
 them removed from their personal supervision and influence. To 
 command Blaves, therefore, in anything like the number required for 
 the many works of Government, to which they could be applied, com- 
 pulsion, in some form, would be necessary, 
 
 The use of negroes may. likewise, Bwell the number of men in arms in 
 the held, by substituting teamsters, cooks, and other camp employees, 
 who arc cow largely supplied from the ranks. This policy has, here- 
 tofore, met the approbation of Congress, and been embodied in the 
 act approved April il. 1862. No provision, however, was made to 
 procure the negroes tor these offices, and from the causes mentioned, 
 although their utility has been recognized, they could not be obtained 
 by voluntary engagements of service or hire from their owners. 
 
 There may be difficulties and embarrassments in enforcing the ser- 
 vice of ilaves, but they mi overcome, on the principle of im- 
 pressing them as property, or of requiring contributions from their 
 owners of certain qu< public service, as has been done for 
 woiks of public defence. The wickedness and malignity of our ene- 
 mies have certainly placed considerable numbers of negroes, almost of 
 necessity, at the control of our Government. To favor the pusila- 
 nimity of their people, as well as the better to advance the nefarious 
 ends of their unjust warfare, they have adopted as their deliberate 
 policy the employment of the slaves as soldiers in their army. They 
 
11 
 
 have already formed numerous regiments of the slaves they have 
 seduced or forced from their masters, and the Statement has been 
 boastfully made in their public prints that they have already some 
 thirty thousand negro troops in arms. It is now an ascertained fact, 
 that, as they ovcrun any portion of our territory, they draw off — often 
 by compulsion — the most efficient male slaves, and place them in their 
 negro regiments; and when they ha^? established any where a tem- 
 porary occupation, they practice a regular system of compulsory re- 
 cruiting from the slaves within their reach. Not merely, therefore, 
 for the purpose of preserving to the Confederacy this valuable labor, 
 thus abstracted, but from the plainer necessity of preventing the 
 enemy from recruiting their armies with our own slave?, it becomes a 
 clear obligation, on the military authorities of the Confederacy, to 
 remove from any district exposed to be occupied or overrun by the 
 enemy, the effective male slaves. Were there any white population 
 within our country so affected to the enemy as to afford recruits to 
 their army, there could be neither doubt nor delay in removing them 
 to a secure distance on the approach of hostile forces, and surely the 
 obligation is even more clear in regard to the slaves, whose employ- 
 ment by the eneinv, as soldiers, converts them from valuable laborers 
 into savage instruments of an atrocious war against our people and 
 their institutions. All male slaves capable of arms, in such cases, 
 should, on the approach of the enemy, be at once removed by military 
 authority, to more secure districts, where they may be reclaimed 
 by their masters, or, on their failure to do so, be employed, on reason- 
 able terms of hire, by the Government. In this way, it is probable, a 
 large number of efficient negroes may be obtained to supply the de- 
 tails from the army for all unskilled labor, and also to liberate for 
 arms the soldiers now engaged in unwarlike duties in the trains and 
 camps of our armies. While it may be difficult to ascertain the pre- 
 cise numbers that may, from these various sources, be thrown into our 
 armies, there can be no doubt they would be swelled considerably be- 
 yond their present numbers, and constitute an army larger, as well as 
 more effective, thsn any we have yet mustered. In view of the in- 
 creasing repugnance of the enemy, to furnish recruits to their army, 
 and the failing hopes it indicates, it is almost certain that manifesta- 
 tion of strength and resolution on the part of the people of the Con- 
 federacy would soon be decisive of the struggle. When all the dis- 
 astrous consequences of long, wasting warfare are weighed, and the 
 mighty issues, to ourselves and our posterity, dependent on otfr 8H.C- 
 eess. are realized and it is apparent our people have only, with united 
 wills, and a supreme effort to put forth their entire strength, to assure 
 the prize of peace and independence, should therd be misgiving, or hes- 
 itancy even, in adopting all the means requisite to summon forth 
 the full number of our population of age and ability for arms, and to 
 burl them against the invading foe? The only inquiry, it is hoped, 
 will be for the agencies that can most speedily accomplish the de 
 marshaling. 
 
 The organization already engaged in the execution of the conscript 
 law, may, with some slight modifications, be readily made available. 
 
12 
 
 With its officers, it now extends to all portions of the Confederate 
 States, and by systematized action, it may be rendered as available to 
 collect; stragglers and deserters, to give information of the details 
 that may be Bpared, and of the laborers, whether free or slave, that 
 may be commanded to fill the places of the Boldiers returned to ser- 
 vice, as to enrol conscripts, and the exempts and principals who may 
 be again recalled to military setvioe. One addition may be required 
 • ' it fuller efficiency. As or : ginally designed, the law was 
 expected entirely to enforce itself by its prestige and the sanction 
 of public sentiment. Every man. on being enrolled and summoned 
 to his duty, was expected promptly to respond, and no adequate 
 means of compulsion were incorporated. This, in the main, his been 
 sufficient, as among a free people ready obedience to law — especially 
 a law for the public defence — might be expected ; and the appearance 
 of compulsion, particularly by military authority was to be depre- 
 cated as both unnecessary and revolting. But as the war has been real- 
 ized in all its trials, repugnance and recusancy, have, in some limited 
 portions of country, been manifested occasionally to the call of the 
 conscribing officers; and when desertion and straggling have added in 
 those districts, numbers of lawless and desperate men, there have 
 been combinations and organizations for open resistance to the regu- 
 lar action of the law. It is always best to overcome such evils in 
 their inception, and JJ^prevent such lawless feelings from coming to 
 the head of open violence and insurrection. There has, therefore, 
 been found the necessity, at times, of small supporting forces to aid 
 and enforce the execution of the law, both of conscription and for 
 the arrest of deserters. Such forces could only occasionally, and at 
 intervals, be spared from the armies in the field ; and it. is, therefore, 
 found expedient to organize, of non-conscripts and the least available 
 of the conscripts, local or temporary organizations, which could be 
 more constantly employed in arresting deserters, and collecting the 
 lipts. A regiment or battalion in each State would probably 
 suffice for the full accomplishment of these ends ; and, while under 
 tin general laws already existing, a few companies have been organ- 
 ized and are thus employed, it might be well to have more special 
 authority of law for the constitution and employment of such 
 limited forces by the officers of the conscript service. 
 
 One <>f the subjects demanding early attention is to make provision 
 respecting the troops whoso term of service will expire during the 
 ensuing spring and summer. The number is considerable. Accord- 
 ing to the records of the Adjutant and Inspector General's office, 
 three hundred and fifteen regiments and fifty-eight battalions contain 
 more or less of those whose original term of service having been 
 for twelve months, either re-enlisted for two years, or were em- 
 braced within the operation of the act of April 16th, 1882.. That 
 act authorized the re-organization of the regiments, battalions, squad- 
 rons, and companies within its scope, which was completed — once for 
 all. And though the individual soldiers, composing such organiza- 
 tions in a grca or or less degree, be entitled to their discharge from 
 them, the organization itself is not disturbed or broken up, but 
 
13 
 
 remains the more or less a skeleton according to the numbers of 
 those discharged. 
 
 It is earnestly recommended that these organizations be not broken 
 up by any legislative action. Great injustice would thereby be done 
 to the gailant officers who have been tested in every way ; the inspir- 
 iting associations and prestige of courage and success attached to the 
 existing organizations vould be lost. Should new organizations be au- 
 thorized, much injury would be done to theserviee, by the unsettled feel- 
 ings, discontents, and aspirations, and the demoralization, in order 
 and discipline, which follow general electioneering throughout a com- 
 mand. These evils were so vividly realized in the re-organization of 
 the twelve months men, and operated so harshly on many of the best 
 officersjn the service, that their renewal is most earnestly deprecated. 
 
 The men whose terms of service would thus expire, cannot finally 
 be discharged from the service. The country needs their assistance 
 for defence against our oppressors. Under the present law, they 
 would have the privilege of selecting their compmies. But the exi- 
 gencies of the service may advise a modification of the privilege of se- 
 lecting the existing companies in which to serve, before enrolment, 
 so as to restrict it to a company of the same arm of the service, other- 
 wise, a partiality for certain branches of the service, as, for instance, 
 the artillery, the desire of change, of Irving a new sphere of action, 
 so natural to the individual, may operate to impair seriously, if not 
 destroy, the efficiency of one or more arms of the service, while others 
 might he increased beyond all proper proportion for usefulness. 
 
 The necessary legislation is therefore recommended, to retain in 
 service all those between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, at thp 
 close of their present terms of enlistment, with the privilege of se- 
 lecting beforehand an existing company in the same arm, in which to 
 serve, preserving the present organizations, with their officers, to be 
 filled up by such selections and the assignments of enrolled conscripts. 
 
 From peculiar circumstances or influences, some or" the present 
 organizations will be greatly reduced in numbers ; and to place them 
 ia a propel condition of efficiency will furnish an additional reason 
 for the adoption of the means suggested to increase the numbers of 
 our tr< pecially of recalling to service the principals who have 
 
 furnished substitutes. » 
 
 In some instances, doubtless, the reduction of existing organiza- 
 tions will compel the necessity of consolidating them. This furnishes 
 nn additional reason to some hereafter produced, for the bestowal of 
 this power upon the department. 
 
 The law providing boards to determine the competency of officers, 
 lias operated \ cry favorably, both to Becuro efficiency, and to promote 
 improvements among ail aspiring officers and men. It has done much 
 to obviate the evils anticipated from the system of election and pro- 
 motion in the provisional army, when so few had the benefit of pre- 
 vious Learning or experience. Still, the policy of elections at all 
 may be well questioned, since inseparable from it arises an undue re- 
 gard to popularity, especially among the non-commissioned officers, 
 anil a spirit of electioneering, subversive of subordination and disci- 
 
14 
 
 plinc. Promotions by seniority, too, as the rule, may be judicious, 
 but it might, considering the number of officers who have no military 
 education, be advantageously varied with a large latitude to selection. 
 test competency instead of being casual and at discretion, 
 should, it is thought, examine every officer on his promotion by seni- 
 < ritv. The universality of the test would thus deprive it of that ap- 
 parent iuvidiousness which often prevents its application. In that 
 certainty, too, would lie found a greater incentive to constant prepa- 
 ration on the part of all junior officers. It might be expedient >o ex- 
 tend to those boards a wider power of recommendation, so that they 
 might not bo restricted to determining merely the competency of those 
 before them, but m'ght make recommendations of more efficient offi- 
 cers, whether in or out of the special organization, giving, however, 
 preference, on an approach to equal qualifications, to the former. In 
 determining the competency of officers, the boards have extended 
 their inquiries to physical disabilities. In consequence, many officers, 
 whose gallant services are attested by their wounds, or whose health 
 has been broken down by the privations or exposures of service, are 
 honorably retired, and thus deprived of their commissions. The effi- 
 ciency of the service may be thus promoted, but every feeling of grat- 
 itude and justice revolts at such reward for wounds and sickness re- 
 ceived in the service of the country. From such feelings it often 
 happens th-t there is no call of a board in cases of disability, and 
 then the position of the disabled officer cannot be filled in the field, 
 and the road to promotion is effectually blocked to the junior officers. 
 This state of things is often felt by gallant officers under disability 
 with such honorahle sensibility, that even without adequate provi>ion 
 for their own maintenance, they feel bound to resign. Nor can relief 
 from this painful necessity be given by assigning them to posts or 
 other duties than those of the field. For only by virtue of their com- 
 missions can such assignment be made and held ; and their retention 
 of the commission debars their juniors in the field from advancement, 
 and leaves their command without the necessary complement of offi- 
 cers. All this results from the feiture incident to the organization 
 of the provisional army that the commission is restricted to, and de- 
 pendent upon the special organization. To obviate the serious mis- 
 chiefs resulting, it is recommended that all officers disabled by wounds 
 i r sickness incurred in the service should be honorably retired, and 
 severed from connection with their special organizations, but be al- 
 lowed, during the war, to retain their rank and pay. They would thus 
 be available, as far as their disabilities for field service would permit, 
 for posts and other light duties, and might, without injury to the 
 service in the field, be scarcely less useful to the country in less ex- 
 posed, but still important positions. Some measure of relief in these 
 oases will be promotive of the efficiency of the army in the field, 
 while it is imperatively called for by the simplest justice to the brave 
 officers, who have been shattered in health or maimed in body, in 
 noble discharge of patriotic duty. 
 
 In connection with the subject of these boards, it seems appropriate 
 to invite attention to the number of reports proceeding from them. 
 
15 
 
 and to the onerous duty which is imposed on the Executive to examine 
 and decide on all which retire or dismiss officers. With other arduous 
 labors, of even more importance, it is not physically possible that the 
 proceedings should receive from the Executive a consideration that is 
 desirable for just revision. A like remark applies to the many cases 
 from courts-martial and the military courts, which are sent up or 
 brought by appeal to Executive clemency, to the consideration of 
 this Department and the President. At the same time, a painful 
 responsibility attaches, in all these cases, which will not allow them to 
 be lightly treated. To obviate the difficulty, it is recommended that 
 an officer, in the nature of a judge advocate, be appointed specially to 
 examine all such cases, and to make report on all that require the 
 exercise, finally, of Executive discretion. Some measure of this 
 kind should be adopted, or the approvals of the commanders in the 
 field be made final, except on direct appeal, within reasonable time, to 
 the Executive, 
 
 In reference to the cavalry, under the system of requiring the men 
 to furnish their own horses, it is becoming daily more difficult, and, 
 it is feared, will soon become impracticable, to keep mounted a suffi- 
 cient number for effective service. Under the advance in price, and 
 the increasing scarcity of suitable horses, few have the ability to 
 supply themselves, while the contingencies of active and exhausting 
 service, often on inadequate forage, too frequently imposes the neces- 
 sity. The difficulty is enhanced by the Limited range of casualties 
 for which provision of payment is made — only those "killed in 
 action." 
 
 The difficulty of procuring horses is also becoming almost equally 
 applicable to officers. The law of the provisional Congress, making 
 provision for the payment for horses killed in battle, did not, accord- 
 ing to the received construction, embrace officers. This was probably 
 owing to the liberal rate at which, with existing values, their pay 
 was fixed. In consequence, they would receive no allowance what- 
 ever for horses, even when killed in battle, had not a law of the 
 Qnitcd States, embraced in the general re-enactment of the provi- 
 sional Congress, allowed them compensation, not exceeding in any 
 case the sum of two hundred dollars for the horse. The change which 
 the increase of prices has made, partially in the rate of pay. as also 
 in the price of horses, renders it beyond the ability of many to pro- 
 cure suitable steeds when dismounted. Justice, as well as the interest 
 of the service, urges the correction of these evils, and, it is suggested, 
 uther that the system be changed and horses be furnished by the 
 Government to both officers and men, with a disallowance of the com- 
 pensation granted for the service or loss of the horse, or that provi- 
 sion be made to pay all officers, as well as men, the appraised values 
 of their horses, when lost by any of the actual contingencies of ser- 
 vice, and not through remisness or neglect. 
 
 The advantages anticipated from the allowance of corps of partizan 
 rangers, with peculiar privileges of prize to stimulate their zeal and 
 activity, have been very partially realized, while from their indepen- 
 dent organization and the facilities and temptations thereby afforded 
 
16 
 
 to license and depredations, grave mischiefs have resulted. They have, 
 indeed, when under inefficient officers, and operating within our own 
 limits come to be regarded as mure formidable and destructive to our 
 own people than to the enemy. The opportunities, too, afforded 
 them of profit by their captures, as well as the lighter bonds of 
 
 line under which they are held, serve to dissatisfy the trained 
 soldiers of the provisional army, who, encountering greater perils and 
 privations, are denied similar indulgences. There are certainly some 
 septions to the gen imite thus held of the partizan 
 
 corps and, in Beveral instances, partizan leaders have distinguished 
 I their corps l>y services as eminent as their achieve- 
 ments have been daring and brilliant. They constitute only notable 
 ptions, and experience of the general inefficiency and even mis- 
 chief of the organizations, would recommend that they either be merged 
 in the troops of the line, or be disbanded and conscribed. To pre- 
 
 the few that are valable coadjutors to the general service, a 
 
 tiou may be entrusted to the Department. 
 military courts have been found to operate beneficially on the 
 moral.- and efficiency of the army. They have dispensed with the 
 
 ity of such frequent details of officers from their regular duties 
 
 uits martial, and from their disconnection with the rivalries and 
 inten sts <»f the line, as well as their larger experience and superior 
 qualifications, have generally secured a larger measure of satisfaction 
 to their judgments. As the courts, under the existing law, are each 
 sepai instituted, the members cannot, under temporary exigen- 
 
 cies, be interchanged or assigned from one court to another. Incon- 
 veiii.it. -•- have sometimes resulted from this, when, from any cause, it 
 some member should not sit in a particular case, or 
 when some members of a particular court were detained by sickness, 
 >ther reason, and from inability to supply their places, the 
 court is rendered inoperative. remedy, it is proposed the Exe- 
 
 cutive he authorized, at any time, t.. assign judges from one court to 
 another, as, in his judgment, the service may require, And a similar 
 authority to detail field officers as members of the court, in temporary 
 exigencies, might be given to the commanders of corps or departments* 
 as is granted them by the law ci ich courts, to detail an officer 
 
 to perform the duties of the judge advocate in case of his absence or 
 disability. 
 
 the due complement of staff officers, the. powers reposed by law 
 ki the Executive seem adequate, with one exception. The appoint- 
 ment of quartermasters and commissiaries, for service in the field, has 
 never hen extended beyond brigades, and consequently, no such offi- 
 ceis can be directly appointed for divisions, corps, or an entire army. 
 The experience of the service indicates, that for every array a chief 
 quartermaster and commissary, in direct communication with the 
 general, through whom the general supplies and movements of the 
 army may be arranged and directed, are essential. So also as corps, 
 and even divisions, have often, in the operations in the field, to 
 operate separately, sometimes at considerable distances apart, almost 
 as separate armies, for like uses, to them a principal quartermaster and 
 
17 
 
 commissary are always important, an 1 at ti.ne3, indispensable. The 
 necessity of the case has, therefore, led the generals, under their dis- 
 cretionary control over all the officers of their commands, to with- 
 draw or assign from their brigades, quartermasters and commissaries 
 to act for the army, the-corps and divisions, and as such assignment 
 proved continuous, their places have not unfrequently been fillel a3 
 vacancies by new appointments to the brigades. Indeed, this has 
 become a practice so recognised, that Congress, in one of its acts, has 
 seemed by its reference to division quartermasters to have given to it 
 an implied sanction. The Department, however, has, in the absence 
 of express lav, felt an embarrassment in either making such appoint- 
 ment, or in giving to the officers- assigned rank appropriate to their 
 ■superior position, and more extended duties. It is suggested that 
 such difficulties had better be removed by direct -authority for the 
 appointment and assignment of such officers, with rank determined by 
 the dignity of the commauds to which they are to be attached. 
 
 For the more effective organization of the army, it will be neces- 
 sary to have the power, when companies or regiments are reduced in 
 'numbers below a certain complement, to consolidate and organize them 
 anew. This is a necessity greatly to be regretted, for many honora- 
 ble associations, as well as the prestige cf courage and success attached 
 to the old organizations, make it alike matter of feeling and policy to 
 retain them. Justice to th^ many gallant officers, who, by such con- 
 solidations, must lose their commissions, likewise increases the repug- 
 nance to the* proceeding. With most of the organizations contributed 
 from the States where the conscript law can be enforced, it is hoped 
 the necessity may be avoided. But no alternative seems to exist in 
 regard to those coming from the States overrun, or in the occupancy 
 of the enemy. Without such measure, the organizations from these 
 States will dwindle to extinction. From them the recruits that can 
 be procured come only in organizatiqns of their choice, and are gen- 
 erally induced to come forth from the enemy's lines by the active 
 exertions of officers interested in forming new commands. Thia 
 power of consolidation has sometimes, from the necessity of the case, 
 been exercised by generals in commands, but unless effected by con- 
 sent, the Department has felt its inability to regard them otherwise 
 than temporary arrangements, and as leaving the old organizations 
 with their officers in legal existence. This leads to the inconvenience 
 of having officers of the line retained in commission, without appro- 
 priate commands) and in every way causes complaint and confusion. 
 In an indirect way, the power is, indeed, possessed, and under the 
 stress of necessity, has sometimes been exercised by the Department, 
 of effecting consolidations. That is, by disbanding one of the organ- 
 izations from the same State, thus dismissing the officers, and leaving 
 the men liable to conscription, and then assigning the latter to the 
 other organization. The effect of this, however, is to retain all the. 
 officers of the one organization, while all of the other lose their com- 
 missions, or if in lieu of this plan, both organizations are disbanded, 
 and the men thrown togeth r in a new one, all tho mischiefs and 
 demoralizations resulting from elections, and a new set of officers, are 
 2 
 
hazarde i It evidently would be far better there should .be the dis- 
 ci '.ron reposed either in the commanding general or the Department 
 t .. consolidate directly, and let the b( st officers from both organiza- 
 tions be selected, either by the Executive, or on the recommendation 
 of impartial examining boards. Power should be given, too, in such 
 cases, to permit such of the officers not needed, who are recommended 
 ■fl deaerring. to retain their commissions, and be subject to assignment 
 to other appropriate duties. Thus, asf;ir as practicable, in the painful 
 necessity of reducing commands, efficiency, in the commands would 
 I reconciled with justice to the officers. 
 
 By the means recommended, all of military capabilities between 
 the age- f eighteen and forty-five, excepting such as the actual 
 i. ils of society or the Government render more serviceable in peace- 
 ful avocations, may be effectively devoted to active service in the 
 field. But there will still remain large numbers, of ages less adapted 
 tn the field but still capable of arms, Avho may be rendered effective 
 «6 a reserve, and for purposes of local defence and internal police. 
 in a struggle such as the Confederacy is engaged in, with all the 
 dearest interests of the present and future dependent on the success- 
 ful resistance to foes superior in numbers and material resources, and 
 animated by the most malignant passions for our complete subjugation 
 or extermination, all of whatever age, capable of striking a blow or 
 mustering for defence, should be unhesitatingly summoned, as they 
 should be prompt to answer, to the sacred duty of repelling the in- 
 vader. The Confederacy may well be regarded as a beleaguered city, 
 where all capable should be placed at the guns, and all priveleged from 
 age or infirmity should yet minister to the common safety. The 
 ruthless policy, recently adopted by the enemy, of cavalry raids- 
 through important districts of country, with the nefarious purposes 
 of destruction and devastation, that by depriving of the means of 
 production and subsistance the helpless and dependent, they may 
 compel to submission the men they have feared to confront or been 
 unable to subdue, render more clear and imperative the duty of thus 
 organizing and preparing our reserve population. These raids, hither- 
 to made with little danger through extensive but sparsely populated 
 districts, and prosecuted rather in the spirit of brigands than of 
 soldiers, might be easily checked and punished by comparatively few 
 I 'rave men. however little adapted to continuous service, if only duly 
 organized and armed. A few instances of merited vengence from the 
 intended victims of their rapacity and cruelty, would effectually stop 
 such malignant marauders. To accomplish such organization, it will 
 only be necessary to enforce as an obligation, the duty on all capable 
 of arms to unite in such companies as are provided for voluntary 
 engagements by the acts of the 21st of August, 1861, and the 1 3th 
 of October, 1862. The former contemplated organizations for local 
 defence and special service within prescribed districts, when the 
 members remained uninterrupted in their ordinary avocations, until 
 on the occurrence of an emergency called by the President into actual 
 service, and when the need had passed, were again returned to their 
 civil pursuits. While in service, they are armed, paid and provided 
 
19 
 
 by the Confederate Government, and constitute a part of the Pro- 
 visional Army, subject to the military authority, and governed by the 
 rules and articles of war. The latter provided far mere defensive bands 
 •of twenty or more, who, on the approach of a hostile incursion, should, 
 with their own arms and means, bravely seek to 'defend thei-r homes 
 and punish the spoilers. It cast around them the «gis of the Govern- 
 ment, and recognized them as among the authorised defenders of 
 their country, 
 
 These two laws may readily he adapted to a division of the reserve 
 population into two classes ; those whose age and health would sustain 
 service throughout the State, or sorje extensive district, and who 
 might be called on for continuous service during an emergency, and 
 those who would only be adapted to defensive or police operations 
 within their counties. By this adaptation, and a compulsory require- 
 ment the whole arms-bearing population not in active service, could, 
 without seriously impairing the productive and industrial resources 
 of the county, be organized as effective aids in our great struggle. 
 They would suffice to ensure defence and internal security to each 
 State and country, while the armies in the field could be employed 
 solely in overthrowing the invading hosts of the enemy. A prouder 
 spectacle would never have been presented in history, than a whole 
 people thus organized and armed prepared, old and young alike, at 
 home and on their frontiers, to meet and repel their rapacious ag- 
 gressors. 
 
 The subject of the exchange of prisoners of war has excited much 
 attention, and has a painful interest to our people and our brave sol- 
 diers, whom the fortune of war has thrown into the hands of our ene- 
 mies. It was the desire of this Government, from an early period of 
 the war, to agree upon a fair and equitable system of exchanges. The 
 large preponderance of pri-oners being on our side, negoti iti ms were 
 opened and had been nearly consummated, the terms having been i 
 agreed upon in accordance with the views of his Government as ex- 
 pressed by the Commissioner of the United States. And under his 
 assurance of satisfactory setttlement, a large number of prisoners 
 held by us were delivered up. Some serious reverses, however, just 
 then befalling us, and large numbers of prisoners being taken by the 
 enemy, they refused to consumate the agreement, and broke off the 
 negotiation. Their loss in prisoners in subsequent military Opera- 
 tions, especially in their disastrous defeats around this city, again 
 giving us the preponderance, a cartel of exchange was agreed on and 
 executed. Various efforts to obtain unfair advantages by quibbling 
 as to its terms and operation were made, and its provisions violated 
 by the enemy, but the cartel was recognized as being in force and ex- 
 changes continued to be made. Our reverses in July again gave 
 them, as they claim, the preponderance in the number of prisoners, 
 .-dace which time they have openly disregarded its obligations, and 
 have. now, upon false and flimsy pretext, declared it to be inoperative 
 All exchanges have now ceased, with little apparent prospect of re- 
 newal. The exchange of prisoners was desired on our part for the- 
 e of humanity, to prevent, in accordance with the usages of wa: 
 
20 
 
 among civilized nations, individual suffering, as far as practicable. 
 And all the obligations imposed on us, as to the treatment of prisoners 
 and exchange bj such usages and the cartel of exchange, have been 
 fulfilled on our part with entire and scrupulous good faith, while the 
 course of our enemies has been marked by perfidy and a disregard of 
 their engagements and the dictates of humanity. 
 
 The report of Mr. Ould, our Commissioner of Exchange, which 
 accompanies this, will fully explain the present position of this 
 interesting subject. 
 
 It i.~ gratifying to be able to report that, during the past year, the 
 ordnance and mining bureau have steadily increased the production and 
 supply of arms and munitions. iN'oth withstanding the serious in- 
 jury, sustained from fire by one of the leading establishments 
 of the Confederacy for the manufacture of ordnance, yet by 
 prompt repairs and the establishment of similar works in other por- 
 tions of the Confederacy, the manufacture has rather increased, and 
 is now believed to be adequate to the regular demands of the service. 
 Arms, too, of approved kinds are being made with more facility, at 
 more places and in larger numbers, than at any previous time. Very 
 valuable additions to our supplies of arms have been made during the 
 year by importations from abroad, and thus have enabled the bureau 
 promptly to repair the very heavy losses which were sustained in the 
 disastrous campaign in Mississippi. But without such aids in the fu- 
 ture, unless unwonted losses occur, confidence is felt in our ability, 
 by internal manufacture, to provide arms adequate to the demands of 
 our armies. In the manufacture of powder, balls, shell, &c., progress 
 has been marked, and with Rome addition in the supplies of nitre 
 from foreign sources, there will be no want of adequate supplies 
 of superior quality. Special attention has been given to the distri- 
 bution of these works in different portions of the Confederacy, so as 
 not to leave our supplies dependent on single disasters. While not 
 yet wholly independent in the supply of nitre, there has been, until 
 very recently, marked increase in its. production. That increase has, 
 during the past year, nearly doubled from production. The tempo- 
 rary occupancy by the enemy of the districts of the country where 
 the richest deposits of nitrous earth were found, has, for the 
 present, diminished the production, but it is encouraging to know, 
 that the artificial sources of supply, in beds of nitrous earth, will soon 
 begin to be available, and much more than supply the deficiencies 
 which have resulted from the operations of the enemy. 
 
 The mining operations in iron, lead and coal have all been pushed 
 with remarkable skill and activity, under the direction of the zealous 
 head of the nitre and minining bureau, in despite of all the embarrass- 
 ments resulting from paucity of laborers and fluctuating prices, and 
 the result has been in each more abundant production, and a better 
 prospect of future sufficiency, than we have yet enjoyed. A more 
 decisive exhibtion of the resources and exhaustless capacities of en- 
 durance possessed by the Confederacy could not well be presented 
 than the decided increase, amid unprecedented efforts and sacrifices 
 in the field and numberless impediments in procuring machinery, labor 
 
21 
 
 and supplies, of all the great manufactures essential for successful 
 defence. 
 
 The quartermaster and commissary generals, in the administration 
 of their respective departments, have had, during the past year, ex- 
 traordinary difficulties and embarrassments to encounter. The man- 
 ufacturing operations of the former, as in the other bureaus, have in- 
 deed been conducted on a large scale, with more economy of material 
 and with greater skill and energy, than at past periods, and have 
 made more nearly the supplies for the army from internal resources, 
 but still for some essential articles, such as shoes, blankets and 
 woolen cloths, partial dependence on importations could not be 
 avoided. In these articles it can scarcely be expected that domestic 
 production can be increased, for, under the wasting consump- 
 tion of war, the production of the raw material is more likely to 
 be diminished than increased. But the difficulties of both the 
 the quartermaster and commissary generals have been most grave in 
 the large necessary purchases and transportation of forage and sub- 
 sistence. The abstraction of so much male labor from culture, and 
 the barbarous ravages of the enemy pursued with a systematic view 
 to curtail our resources by spoliation and destruction, combined with 
 unfavorable seasons, to limit, almost beyond precedent, the production 
 of these essential articles. The scarcity, too, was greatest in one or 
 two of the States nearest to our largest armies, and the necessity for 
 months, of sustaing almost entirely the armies of northern Virginia, 
 from supplies of corn drawn from South Carolina and Georgia, will 
 strikingly illustrate both the'dearth and the difficulty of supplying it. 
 At cme time it was thought necessary to make appeal direct to the 
 feelings and patriotism of the people for the prompt rendition of all 
 surplus of supplies for subsistence, and it is a grateful duty to ac- 
 knowledge, that they who have never failed to recognize as their own 
 the cause of the Confederacy, with zeal and emulation met the exi- 
 gencies of the case, and, in very many instances, stinted themselves 
 and their dependents to .supply the army. It is mosc creditable to 
 these departments that they have been able, amid the real deficiencies 
 existing, and the many hindrances from distance, defective transporta- 
 tion and other causes, to keep the armies at all times moderately sup- 
 plied, and even able to make all the movements in the' field which the 
 exigencies of the campaign demanded. How long their exertion will 
 avail to assure such results, it must be confessed, is now a matter of 
 grave anxiety. The consumption of all animal life in the war has 
 been very great, and, in addition, during the past few months, de- 
 structive and wide-spread disease has prevailed among the swine, 
 which constitute the most serviceable, as well largest resource for meat. 
 Bacon and beef must, in view of the needs of both the array and the 
 people, be scarce during the coming year. It is confidently believed 
 indeed, that there is a sufficiency of meat in the Confederacy to afford 
 a reasonable supply to the army, and yet sustain the people likewise, 
 but to attain such result, it must be husbanded with care, and used 
 with more economy than our people have been accustomed to practice. 
 The supplies of hay and long forage generally are likewise un- 
 
22 
 
 doubtedly scant, for these articles are not habitually produced in su- 
 perabundance in the Confederacy, and the season has been decidedly 
 unfavorable. Many substitutes for the better kind of long forage 
 may be readily found on plantations, and it is hoped the people will 
 recognize the necessity of parting with the best of their stores for 
 the use of the animals exposed to the much harsher toils and labors 
 of the service. This is the more necessary, as another of our imme- 
 diate needs is the doe supply of horses for cavalry and artillery, in- 
 dispensable arms of the service. Our safety demands that we pre- 
 serve our horses during the rigors of the winter, and in a condition 
 to resume efficient service in the spring, as it would then be next to 
 impossible to replace them. 
 
 But the gravest difficulty encountered by the purchasing department 
 is, that the only mode of obtaining supplies available to them is 
 impressment. The inflation of the currency, and the insatiable thirst 
 for gain and speculation induced by it, have caused inordinate 
 enchancement of the prices of all products, and a yet continuing 
 advance, stimulated, in part, by the increasing volume of the cur- 
 rency, and in part b}^ the sordid calculation of large gains from hoard- 
 ing by holders or speculators. To this has likewise contributed some 
 distrust, not of the cause of the Confederacy, but of its future ability, 
 however earnest its desire to preserve its credit and good faith, to 
 redeem the large issues which such enhancements of price rendered 
 inevitable. The consequences have been an almost universal repug- 
 nance on the part of producers and holders to sell at any price, except 
 under'compulsion. This evil had begun to manifest itself before the 
 close of the last Congress, to such a degree, that some legislative 
 remedy was recognized to be indispensable. To buy at current 
 prices was seen to bo suicidal to the credit of the Government, 
 to swell its indebtedness, in a brief period, bejond its utmost capa- 
 cities for redemption, and, at the same time,* to raise, by daily acces- 
 sions, the advancing scale of extravagant prices, until both the fears 
 and interest of the holders would forbid sates at all. Under these 
 circumstances, Congress devised and authorized a system of impress- 
 ment of all property required " for the good of the service," or the 
 accumulation of adequate supplies for the army, at the same time 
 gnizing, that under the exceptional circumstances of the country, 
 and the disturbance of the ordinary laws cf trade regulating supply 
 and demand, current prices constituted no criterion of just compen- 
 sation required by the Constitution to be allowed for the appropria- 
 tion of private property to public uses. Congress provided for the 
 ascertainment of such just compensation by reference, in the first 
 instance, in part to local appraisers, and then to two commissioners to 
 be appointed for each State, one by the Governor and the other by 
 the President of the Confederacy. These officers combining, by their 
 appointment, the sanction of the State and Confederate authorities, 
 v were not only to entertain appeals from local appraisements, but, from 
 time to time, to . ascertain and prescribe fair rates of valuation to 1 
 govern in impressments. As there seems no other alternative, this 
 was, perhaps, as judicious an arrangement on this delicate and difficult 
 
2.3 
 
 subject as was practicable, and on it the Government his been com-' 
 polled to rely aimost exclusively during the past year. This resource. 
 operating with increasing stringency and strain, is, at this time, its 
 only reliance. The evils attending it, are, however, very great, and 
 only less than the failure or deficiency of supplies, which, so far, it. 
 has managed to avert. Impressment is, evidently, a harsh, unequal 
 and odious mode of supply. With the utmost forbearance and con- 
 sideration, even its occasioual exercise is harrassing and irritating ; 
 but when it bus to prevail as a general practice, to be exercised 
 inquisitorially and summarily in almost every private domain, by a 
 multitude of subordinate officers, it becomes beyond measure offensive 
 and repugnant to the sense of justice and prevalent sentiment of our 
 people. It has been, perhaps, the sorest test of their patriotism and 
 salf-sacrificing spirit afforded by the war, and no other people, it is 
 believed, would have endured it. without undue manifestations of dis- 
 content and resistance. It has caused much murmuring and dissatis- 
 faction; but a knowledge of the necessities, which alone justified i:, 
 has caused the outcry to be directed rather to the mode, and as alleged, 
 occasional excesses of its exercise, than against the system itself. 
 Casual irregularities and abuses in the use of such a power, by 
 numerous agents in so many quarters, may not be wholly unavoida- 
 ble, but every effort to obtain information respecting them, and to 
 afford prompt correctives, has been earnestly made by the Depart- 
 ment. As to the mode of action, great misapprehension has pre- 
 vailed. It has been supposed that it was the- system of the Depart- 
 ment to attempt to regulate the prices for the public, according to the 
 schedule rates prescribed by the State appraisers, by impressing the 
 products held by all who sold at higher rates, and in like spirit to 
 keep supplies from bding enhanced in price by the competition of 
 consumers in the large large cities, by the impressment of all supplies 
 in transitu to market, unless the holders would agree to sell at 
 schedule prices. To this supposed policy was ascribed the great 
 enhancement of prices in the markets of the cities, and the gravest 
 apprehensions of want were entertained by many, from the alleged 
 exclusion of free supplies to the cities. The orders and instructions 
 of the Department had been, in fact, against such policy, and the 
 republication and reiteration of the regulations on the subject, which 
 had been made soon after the initiation of the system, have, it is 
 hoped, removed euCD injurious impressions. At the same time, it is 
 found, as throughout it had been feared by the Department, that the 
 scarcity ami high prices of supplies in the markets of the country 
 have not been due to the law of impressment, or to the suppose 
 policy under it. The impressment law applies only to the surplus of 
 producers, and expressly exempts to them and others the reasonable 
 supplies they may have or obtain for the consumption of the rtselves, 
 their families, or dependants. Thus all consumers are privileged 
 freely to supply themselves. All supplies, too, it is now at least fully 
 known, arc exempt in transitu to market, and for a reasonable time 
 afterwards. Yet it is found that all prices have only the more -rapidly 
 advanced, and are still advancing, and that neither are the markets of 
 
24' 
 
 t.he cities adequately supplied, nc«r can consumers, by purchase at 
 current rates, without the utmost difficulty, supply themselves. The 
 truth is, tkat the explanation, as the cause, is to be found outside of 
 the tmpressnfent law, or the action under ir. The real difficulty is, 
 that the price advancing from d»y to day with an accelerated ratio-, 
 ami a steady depreciation of the currency, the holders, unless required 
 by positive necessity, prefer to retain their supplies, and will not sell 
 for any temptation of present price. The impressment law is, in fact, 
 almost the only corrective of this feeling, which would else be well 
 nigh universal. It favors the supply of the markets and of consumers. 
 The apprehension that surplus products, if retained, may be impressed 
 by the Government, at the rates prescribed by the State appraisers, 
 constitutes the strongest, as it is nearly the only, inducement to 
 holders to sell at market rates. Setting aside feelings of humanity 
 and patriotism, which, to a creditable degree, may induce sales, and 
 testing the matter by the general motive of self-interest alone, this is 
 a plain matter of calculation. Who' would sell, unless forced by a 
 present necessity for the money, when constant adv&nce in the price 
 of the product is sure, and the money, if received at once, is no less 
 certain of its depreciation before the occasion of its future use. The 
 difficulty, therefore, with the consumer, as with the Government, is 
 the redundancy of the currency, and the consequent steady inflation 
 of prices. This, in its direct, and even more, in its indirect influences, 
 not merely on the market and on the property of citizens, but on their 
 instincts of selfishness, or their sentiments, tastes and aspirations, is 
 a fearful evil, and more demoralizing to our people than the more dire 
 calamities of war. It pei tail, s to another branch of the Government, 
 and to an abler mind, to portray this subject in its true colors, and to 
 propose correctives; but a3 the mischief weighs as a paralysis on the 
 energies of this Department, I may he excused for saying, that, in 
 rny judgment, the sole effective remedy is prompt reduction of the 
 existing issues to the amount needed for currency by the people of 
 rhe Confederacy, and the inflexible determination and pledge never to 
 exceed it. No mode of utilizing the credit of the Confederacy can 
 be so wasteful, as the enhancement of all prices by a constantly 
 increasing ratio, or so mischievous as the subversion of the standard 
 of values, tempting all into the wild whirl of speculation, and corrod- 
 ing by the vile greed of gaiii all the nobler elements of character. If 
 the present system bo continued, prices, already many hundred per 
 .•cut. above true values, must he indefinitely enhance^, the credit of the 
 Government must be wrecked utterly, and no alternative left for the 
 continuance of our patriotic struggl", and the preservation of our 
 lives and liberties, but grinding taxation, and" the systematized seizure, 
 without present compensation, of all supplies needed for the employees, 
 as well as the armies of the Confederacy. 
 
 The necessity of reliance on impressment, as the ordinary mode of 
 supply, it is trusted will, by judicious legislation, soon be obviated ; 
 but as it may, at all times, be of occasional necessity and employment, 
 it is desirable that the law should be perfected in some of its features. 
 In the coufidence felt, with justice in the main, in the deference of 
 
25 
 
 our people for law, and in their patriotic disposition to comply with 
 the requirements for their defence, Congress has made imperfect pro- 
 vision as to the mode of procedure for its enforcement, especially when 
 evaded or resisted. It is very important that the enforcement of all 
 laws;, even those having direct connection with military affairs, should 
 not look to, or be dependent in the first instance on. the sanction of 
 armed force, but should be attained by civil procedures, and the regu- 
 lar administration of justice. The absence of such provisions in this 
 law has compelled the Department to frame and issue regulations 
 assimilating the proceedings to civR administration, which regulations 
 part ike more the character of legislation than is felt to be appropriate 
 to military orders. They have been acquiesced in with commendable 
 recognition of their aim by the public, but it is preferable they, or more 
 prefect provisions, should have the legislative sanction. 
 
 The tax in kind, which was adopted in some measure to obviate the 
 issue of notes and the resort to impressment, has beeji as yet but mea- 
 surably operative; but "beneficial results have so far followed, and greater 
 are expected to flow from its application. Delays have resulted, it is 
 believed, from inevitable causes for the most part, in the lists of assess- 
 ment to be made by the officers of the Treasury, and handed over to 
 the quartermasters. To obviate these, and realize early supplies, 
 invitations were extended to all producers to deliver spontaneously to 
 the quartermasters and commissaries, what they considered as their 
 tythes, for which receipts would be given, to be allowed in evidence of 
 delivery on the future reception of the assessor's lists. To some 
 extent, this invitation has been responded to, and has relieved, so far, 
 the Department from the necessity of impressing supplies, and had 
 lightened the labor of future deliveries. Owing to reluctance, how- 
 ever, generally felt by producers, either to indicate the extent of their 
 crops, or to prepare them for market, from both the fear of impress- 
 ment, and the indisposition to sell, deliveries before assessment have 
 been less prevalent than was anticipated. It i3 yet too early to form 
 any reliable estimates of the amounts of supplies that may be counted 
 on from this tax, but it is certain that the loss of several productive 
 districts, the wanton ravages of the enemy in others, and an unfavor-* 
 able season for growth in considerable regions of the Confederacy, 
 must materially lesson the supplies that were calculated on from this 
 source. Enough' has been realized to justify the wisdom cf the impo- 
 sition of this tax, and as earnest injunctions have been given to both 
 assessors and collectors to expedite, as far as practicable, their opera- 
 tions, it is hoped sufficient returns may be obtained, at an, early day, 
 to direct the future legislate n of Congress to the attainment of larger 
 supplies by this mode of taxation. Its increase would evidently con- 
 tribute* to the financial relief of the government, while a larger con- 
 tribution in kind, if only equitably apportioned in comparison with 
 the impositions on other classes, would probably prove to the producers 
 the most acceptable mode of taxation. 
 
 The inflation of the currency and inordinate prices of all supplies, 
 have caused to the Department a painful embarrassment from the 
 inadequacy of the salaries and allowances to its clerks and employees, 
 
26 
 
 to maintain them. Single men in such positions are barely able to. 
 sub ist on their official compensation, and those with families, when 
 without other means, have been obliged to yield their places, depend 
 on the charity of friends, or suffer dire privations. Cases of such 
 real suffering have resulted from this cause, that it would be culpable 
 remissness, or unfeeling obduracy, not to urge earnestly a more just 
 provision fc r them. Their whole time and labor are given with a zeal, 
 devotion, and industry, rarely surpassed, to the toilsome and unosten- 
 tatious duties of the bureaus and offices. Means, ac least, of subsis- 
 tence and lodging should be accorded without delay, by the Government, 
 to such faithful laborers. 
 
 The administration of the Department, in all its extensive opera- 
 tions, has been greatly impeded by the deficiency of transportation, 
 especially on the railroads. Shut off from the sea, and with command 
 of very few of its -rivers, the Confederacy is dependent almost wholly 
 on the railroads for communication and transportation. The roads 
 were not constructed with reference to such extensive needs, and even 
 in time of peace, with all facilities of supplies and repairs, would have 
 been inadequate a to such duties. How much less in time of war, with 
 every drawback of deficient labor, insufficient stock, defective machinery 
 and scant supplies, and with exposure often to seizures or spoliations 
 by the enemy, could they be expected to meet such unprecedented 
 requirements. It must be matter of surprise and gratification, 
 that they have sustained themselves so well, and have afforded to the 
 Government and the people the measure of accommodation they have. 
 It is but a just tribute to them to say, that in the main, they have 
 been managed in a patriotic spirit, and have rarely failed to meet the 
 requirements of the government with alacrity and zeal. It has not 
 been necessary during the year to exercise the large discretionary 
 powers of control vested by Congress in the Executive over the rail- 
 roads, for if repugnancy existed to the just demands of the Govern- 
 ment, the known possession of such powers has sufficed to exact com- 
 pliance. But while the .dispositions of the railroad companies have 
 been good, their means have been gradually becoming less. The Gov- 
 ernment has already given to many some aid, but will have hereafter 
 to render fuller and more constant assistance. Some of the minor 
 roads will have to be sacrificed to keep up the tracks of the leading 
 lines. Iron will have to be provided and rolled for machinery, and 
 the construction and repair of locomotives and rolling stock. Skilled 
 mechanics, to some extent, will have to be furnished from the army, 
 and lor some of the more delicate machinery needed by them, importa- 
 tions from abroad may have to be attempted. With these aids, it is 
 hoped they may not only be maintained, but improved in their means 
 of transportation. The lowest point of depression has probably 
 passed. For the first year or more, under the delusive expectation of 
 the early termination'of the war, the companies relied almost wholly 
 on their existing stock, and made few efforts at supply or reparation. 
 They scarcely husbanded their resources, which, under the exhausting 
 demands made on them, became greatly diminished. Of late, with 
 more experience, a wiser prescience guides their management, and, 
 
besides practising economy of means, they are sedulously engaged in 
 endeavoring to increase their stock, and to provide for the contingen- 
 cies of future service or loss. In their best estate, they will not be 
 able to furnish adequate facilities of transportation for both the Gov- 
 ernment and the people. From considerations of public utility and 
 supreme duty, as well as from their dependence on the aid of the gov- 
 ernment, they should be required by law, as nearly all have engaged 
 by contract, to give preference, in all cases, to Government freight, so 
 as to command all their means of transport, when necessary. Beyond 
 that, it is the fixed rule of the Department to make no exaction on 
 them, and to attempt no regulation of their surplus means of transpor- 
 tation, or to award no special privileges to any in their use, but leave 
 such free to the discretion and management of their officers. On this 
 subject misconception has often prevailed, and the charge of favoritism 
 has been alleged against the Department, but on no point has inflexi- 
 bility been moi % 3 steadfastly maintained, and all special privileges 
 denied. » 
 
 It will have been noted, that in nearly all the branches of supply, 
 we are not yet exempt from dependence, to a greater or less extent, 
 on foreign importations. These can only be obtained by the com- 
 mand of sterling funds or exchanges on foreign countries, and be 
 introduced by evasion of the existing blockade. Without credit in 
 foreign countries so established as to enable the Government to borrow 
 without great sacrifice, if at all, and with the difference of exchange 
 appreciating daily to a ruinous rate, it became early apparent to me 
 that recourse must be had to our great staple products, which in the 
 markets of the world were readily exchangeable for coin.* They had 
 only to be placed abroad, and the same means which exported them 
 would serve for the necessary importations. The business of evading 
 the blockade had previously been in private hands alone, and while 
 precarious, had been, under skilful charge, a source of enormous 
 profits. So excessive had become the rates of freight and exchange, 
 that on calculation' it was found, that the mere charge, independent of 
 the cost of the cargo, for the freightage of a steamer of three hundred 
 tons from the West India Islands to one of our ports, were to the 
 Government upwards of two millions of dollars in its currency. Un- 
 d r these circumstances, the Department did not hesitate to inaugurate 
 the plain policy of evading the blockade with steamers purchased and 
 run by its officers. The limited means at the command of the Depart- 
 ment abroad, which could be spared foim the necessity of procuring 
 immediate supplies, were employed in purchasing several steamers. 
 , under competent officers, were at once engaged in exporting 
 cotton and importing supplies. The number which the means of the 
 rtment could command were far too few to meet its requirements, 
 and contracts were made with capitalists to provide and engage in the 
 trade, other steamers, in which the Department took an interest, to 
 be paid for in cotton, either to be delivered here or to be exported in 
 them. In this way, while more vessels were induced to venture in 
 the business of evading the blockade, a controlling influence was 
 secured over the importations made in them for private account. This 
 
28 
 
 ■ 
 
 constituted an important consideration for the public good, as under 
 the temptations merely of private interest, it had been found that to 
 a great extent, articles cf mere luxury or noxious use, as 'iquors, from 
 the superior profits they afforded, rather than goods of real utility to 
 the people, were introduced by the steamers of private traders. The 
 steamers owned by the Department, four in number, were, for a long 
 time, run between Wilmington and the Islands with signal success, 
 and almost the regularity of packets. The profits by the outward 
 and the saving by. the inward trips to the Department were very great, 
 as at each trip, according to the current rates, the value of the vessel 
 was fully reimbursed. It is a moderate calculation to estimate the 
 gain thus effected for the Department, as upwards of twenty millions 
 of dollars in currency. Still the quantity of cotton which could be 
 carried out by the steamers, owned or held in part by the Department, 
 by mo means supplied the sterling which was required abroad for the 
 wants of the Government, and the experiments made, had only served 
 to demonstrate what resources for establishing credit and commanding 
 funds abroad, could be afforded by larger exportations of our staple 
 products, cotton and tobacco. About the same time too, the closing 
 of the port of Charleston by the successful operations of the enemy 
 on Morris Island, caused apprehensions that the business of evading 
 the blockade would soon become more difficult and precarious. This 
 made it more important to place abroad, as rapidly as possible, a stock 
 of cotton, which would afford means of commanding large supplies, 
 while they could be introduced. The Department therefore, in con- 
 junction with the Hon. Secretary of the Navy, who fully appreciated 
 this mode of supplying the demands of his Department for sterling, 
 proposed, and succeeded in effecting arrangements with the companies 
 and merchants engaged in evading the blockade on private account, 
 by which, on fair terms of freight, payable partly in cotton here and 
 partly in drafts on the cotton taken out by them, they undertook on 
 every voyage to take out, some a third, and some one half of their 
 cargoes of cotton for the Government, and likewise placed at the com- 
 mand of the Government a fair proportion of their capacities for 
 freight on the return 'trip, for the importation of its supplies. The 
 Department was aided in effecting this arrangement, not only by the 
 patriotic feelings of the private owners, but also by the facilities it 
 was enabled to afford them in commanding cargoes of cotton without 
 unnecessary delays, through the preference in transportation given by 
 the railroads to cotton ordered by the Government. Hence in view of 
 the importance of continuing these arrangements with private mer- 
 chants, it has become more than ever essential that the priority of 
 transportation on the railroads should be maintained to the Govern- 
 ment, for under present laws, by that preference alone can these 
 arrangements for the exportation, of cotton be continued. 
 
 These arrangements were made in good time, for, as anticipated, 
 the blockade of Wilmington, the port of the Confederacy best adapted 
 for evading the blockade, has been of late more stringent. All the 
 blockading ships of the enemy have been transferred from Charleston, 
 and, within the last two months, a considerable number of steamers, 
 
29 
 
 among thern those belonging to the Department, have been captured, 
 or destroyed to prevent .their falling into the hands- of the enemy. 
 While the risk is now certainly increased, still with the additional 
 steamers which the contracts with the Government or the temptations 
 of private gain has brought into the trade, it is believed the blockade 
 may be evaded, so far as to add greatly to our resources abroad from 
 the exportation of our staple, and to bring in the supplies needed by 
 the Government. Measures, meantime, are being taken to increase 
 the facilities of entrance into the port, by the use of moveable batte- 
 ries of Whitworth guns, of long range, along the coast, and to endan- 
 ger the safety of the blockading vessels. 
 
 So long as our staples can be exported, and supplies introduced with 
 reasonable exemption from capture, there cannot be aijuestion of the 
 policy of pursuing the venture, and v\hen all the advantage to our 
 credit abroad, and to our means of resistance within the Confederacy, 
 are estimated, it may be well questioned whether the vA'de trade 
 should not be subjected by law to equitable regulation, so as to secure 
 to the Government a fair proportion of the profits resulting from all 
 shipments. As the trade could not be carried on at aU except to for- 
 tified cities,* and through the special protection afforded by the arma- 
 ments of the government, the benefits derived by the Government 
 would be only a reasonable return. The regulation of the trade., 
 both to secure a participation in the profits to the Government, and 
 to require the introduction mainly of articles of use or necessity, in- 
 stead of luxuries and noxious liquors, it is believed is demanded by 
 the general sentiment of the countrj% and would be readily acquiesced 
 in by the sense of justice and patriotic feelings of the merchants en- 
 gaged in the trade. 
 
 The business of export and import for the Department became so 
 large and important that it was found necessary to devote officers of 
 the Department and special agents at Wilmington to its management. 
 It has grown almost a separate branch of administration in the depart- 
 ment, and to be nearly assimilated to a separate bureau. While thus 
 it has been conducted with success, some^erious practical inconveni- 
 ences have resulted from not having a separate officer or bureau es- 
 tablished by law, and specially charged with the whole business. All 
 the bureaus depending, in some measure, on foreign supplies, have 
 been interested in the operations thus conducted, and all have had to 
 contribute out of their appropriations, according to their interest, in 
 providing means for the purchase of ships and cargoes, and, as under 
 the Interruptions of the blockade, the exact proportions in which car- 
 goes are furnished are not known for a long time, and when the ves- 
 sels are lost can never be precisely ascertained, great difficulties 
 exist in settling and apportioning the credits and charges to each. 
 Thiek; apt to create dissatisfaction, as well as irregularities in the ac- 
 count*, of each bureau. It would manifestly {.'j simpler and more 
 satisfactory that the business should be made a separate one, under 
 the control of a competent head, that appropriations should be made 
 directly for its operations, all sales and purchases abroad be made un- 
 der his instructions, and that, providing means abroad, he should be 
 
30 
 
 only called ou by the bureaus for their appropriate supplies. When 
 it is considered to what extent cotton and other staples have to be 
 purchased and forwarded in the Confederacy, arrangements for pro- 
 curing and running ships, or contracting with the owners of vessels 
 in the trade to' bo negotiated, shipments and sales in foreign csuntries 
 to be effected, and purchases and importations made from abroad, it 
 will be readily seen that the business requires an able head, and will 
 constitute by no means the least important branch of administration 
 pertaining to the Department. 
 
 A proper officer, as well as judicious regulations, are likewise* desi- 
 rable for the conduct of the trade in cotton and supplies between 
 Texas and Mexico. The law leaves the trade entirely free, but as the 
 •export of cotton affords almost the only means of obtaining supplies 
 for the trans- j\^is«is?ippi department, the generals commanding there 
 have felt themselves under the necessity of prescribing regulations 
 and conditions for the conduct of the trade. This was rendered the 
 more necatsary from the limited means of transport which could be 
 commanded, and which, without some restriction, there was danger 
 would be engrossed by private parties, eager to participate in a most 
 lucrative trade, or to remove beyond the contingencies of war, the 
 funds realized by them from the conversion of their property in the 
 Confederacy. The regulations imposed by military authority were, 
 however, ragarded by many, whose pursuit of gain was hindered, as 
 vexatious and illegal, and produced such complaint and dissatisfac- 
 tion that they were abrogated by the Department. The necessities of 
 that command now, more than ever, require the control of this trade 
 and its direction to the supply of funds and stores for its military 
 needs The trade should either be carried on directly by competent 
 officers of the Department, or conducted on conditions or by permits 
 that would secure to the Government as its results necessary credits 
 and supplies from abroad. 
 
 In o'her points likewise, comprehensive legislation will bo required 
 for the proper administration of the military affairs in the trans- 
 Mississippi Department. Since, by the interuption of command over 
 the Mississippi river by the .enemy, facilities of communication with 
 the more eastern States and the seat of Government, are greatly 
 diminished. In anticipation of such contingency, as already stated, 
 arrangements, months prior to our reverses in Mississippi, had been 
 initiated by this Department to make as far as practicable, the 
 trans-Mississippi department self-sustaining, and capable of separate 
 administration. Foundries, manufactories of arms, powder mills and 
 workshops, as well as exportation^ for mines and nitrous earths had 
 been instituted, and while some have been already in successful opera- 
 tion, others were in progress of early completion. To conduct and 
 further complete these various branches of military administration, 
 it is desirable that separate offices under competent heads, should be 
 established. Indeed, so far is this Department insolated and severed 
 from direct communication with the Department here, that it is deemed 
 judicious, some extraordinary powers of military administration should 
 be entrusted to the general commanding", and that office assimilated 
 
31 
 
 to the Bureau of the Department here, under his immediate super- 
 vision, yet reporting as opportunities offer to the heads of the corres- 
 ponding Bureaus here, so as to preserve harmony and conformity of 
 action, should be constituted by law. A separate office should 
 certainly be established there for the conscript service, and either the 
 conscripts be directed to be appropriated entirely to the organizations 
 west of the Mississippi river, or some ratio of .apportionment, as well 
 as mode of sending recruits to the organizations on this side, be pre- 
 scribed. It may be necessery, too, to give some unusual power of 
 recommending and assigning officers to service, -subject to the future 
 approval and action of the Executive. By these means, it is believed 
 that serious embarrassments and inconveniences from the isolation of 
 that Department will be remedied. 
 
 It is gratifying to know that the severance of the States west of the 
 Mississippi from those of the east, has caused no abatement in their 
 devotion to the Confederacy, their confidence in its cause, or in their 
 spirit or resolution to achieve a common independence. Entire har- 
 mony and co-operation prevail between the Confederate aivi State 
 authorities there, and in the valor of their soldiers, the ability of 
 their generals, the patriotism and hardy, resolute character of their 
 people, the wide expanse and impracticable nature of their territories^ 
 and the great, though only partially developed resources of their 
 Country, all find an assured augury ot ultimate triumph. 
 
 It is gratifying to be able to state that our relations with the 
 Indians, under the protection of this Government, continue to be of 
 a satisfactory character. Though there have been some instances of 
 disturbances among individuals, as was to be expected under the 
 machinations of our enemies and the withdrawal of our troops from 
 the coterminous territory under military operations in adjoining 
 States, yet Mr. Scott, our Indian Agent, who has just returned from 
 a visit to, and a sojourn among them of some months, gives assurance 
 that they continue unshaken in their loyalty to the Government, and 
 in their devotion to our cause and sacred rights. His report accom- 
 panying this, will furnished details of interest. 
 
 The estimates for the expenditures of this Department, for the six 
 months, from January 1st, to June 3l>th, 1864, are herewith trans- 
 mitted. The amount is large, but, at the existing rate of prices, 
 certainly not greater than is required to maintain the armies cf the 
 Confederacy in a state of efficiency. Indeed, if there be a continu- 
 ance of the constantly accelerating advance in the cost of all supplies 
 that has attended the inflation of the past year, these estimates will 
 scarce prove- adequate to the wants of the Department. Should, 
 however, there be a reduction of the currency to the actual needs of 
 the country and its maintenance on a -stable basis, these estimates 
 may be largely reduced. Such policy is the only mode of correcting 
 this, as the many other resulting evils of our redundant currency. 
 
 Since the foregoing was written, the shifting fortune of war has 
 brought reverse to our army in northern Georgia, near the theatre of its 
 late great triumph. While a large portion of our forces were engaged 
 in improving their victory by the expulsion of the enemy from east 
 
32 
 
 Tennessee, and on the eve, as appeared, of entire success, the enemy 
 accumulated large reinforcements within their beleaguered lines at 
 Chattanooga. With overwhelming numbers thev assailed our army 
 in position before them, and though meeting bloody repulses on 
 either wing, carried the position when weakened in the centre. 
 This unexpected reverse seems to have caused something of panic in 
 a portion of our troops dreading to be cut oif. and Jed to a hasty re- 
 treat of the whole army with considerable loss both in men and matc- 
 rial. The enemy pressed their advantage with alacrity, and were 
 pursuing with exultation and confidence, when they were encountered 
 by one of our unshaken divisions and driven back with fearful loss, 
 in confusion and dismay. This more than checked their advance, for 
 it compelled the rapid retreat of their whole army, with all the at- 
 tendant indications of dreaded pursuit, tjehind the lines of Chica- 
 mauga, where they have since remained. Meantime, deep interest 
 concentrates on the events occurring in east Tennessee, where it is 
 yet uncertain whether our disas'ers in frcmt of Chattanooga may not 
 haw compelled the sudden retreat of our forces, when* on the eve of 
 consummating their work, by the capture of Knoxville with General 
 Burnside and his arm}'. 
 
 Mevementa of the enemy on the Rappahannock have again proven 
 the invicible army of Northern Virginia, under its consummate com- 
 mander, the sure bulwark of tke capital. Emboldened by some par- 
 tial success, the results to us of incaution or over-confidence, the 
 Federal army crossed the Rapidan in full force and with every indica- 
 tion of making, by battlle, an open way to Richmond. General Lee 
 was prompt to offer them the coveted opportunity, but while they ven- 
 tured to confront, they dared not encounter the veterans before whom 
 they had so often recoiled in defeat and humiliation. After their 
 vaunting manifestation, they have ignominiously slunk off under cover 
 of night, and again sought an inglorious shelter in their lines beyond 
 the river. 
 
 A fair review of the varied events of the year should cause no 
 abatement of confidence in the ultimate triumph of our cause. Our 
 very reverses, as already stated, will only demonstrate to our enemies 
 the futility of their aims and the vanity of their hopes. A brave 
 people, commanding a territory of such extent and resources, never 
 have been, and while true to themselves and their liberties, never can 
 • be subjugated. Those reverses, however, admonish our people, as 
 they woull avoid the desolating ravages and costly bloodshed of pro- 
 tracted war, to unite their wills and concentrate their energies and 
 resources to the grand aim of expelling the ivader. We have only to 
 will and to dare as one man, and our work is sure of accomplishment. 
 Every motive and incentive that can fire the soul or nerve the arm of 
 man are urgent upon us. All that is dear to humanity, property, 
 honor, wives, children and homes — nay, the very lives of the present 
 and the hopes of future generations, for us are staked on success. 
 The malignant intents of the foe would exterminate or debase us, 
 through the insolent lordship of our slaves, to the mastery of hi^ 
 brutal despostism. No alternative exists but stern defiance and un- 
 
33 
 
 flinching resistance. Our only, as our certain safety, is in victory. 
 Every impediment should be cast aside. The insatiate spirit of greed 
 must be exercised. Distrust and despondency be displaced by the con- 
 fidence of invincible resolve and the might of a firm faith. Our means 
 without stint, and our men without favor or affection, must be ren- 
 dered to the cause. Etch man should rise to the height of a supreme 
 duty, counting all cost as gain, and exulting in every sacrifice that shall 
 free us forever from loathsome association with a despicable people, 
 and establish the Confederacy of our chioce on the basis of approved 
 strength, in permanent fruition of peace, prosperity and independ- 
 ence. 
 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 
 JAMES A. SEDDON. 
 
 Secretary of War. 
 3 
 
REPO RT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 
 
 Confederate Stvtes of America, War Department, 
 Office of Indian Affairs, December 7, 1863. 
 
 Hon. James A. Seddon, Secretary of War : 
 
 S(R : I have the honor to submit, for your consideration, the cus- 
 tomary annual report on Indian affairs. 
 
 The sum of $233, 56w oo was appropriated at the last session of 
 Congress to comply with treaty obligations, and to meet the legitimate 
 incidental expenses of the Indian service arising therefrom, to June 
 SO, IS63. and the further sum of $117,920 00 for similar purposes 
 to December 31, 1863. No part of the latter appropriation has yet 
 been touched ; of the former, there has been used, as designed by 
 Congress, the sum of $193,925 57. 
 
 The estimates from this office, for the Indian service, to June 3D, 
 1864, amount to $232,660 57. 
 
 Affairs in the Indian Territory are by no means in a satisfactory 
 state. This is mainly attributable to the interruption of its free and 
 easy communication with Richmond, and the occupation of a large 
 part of the country by the enemy. In the face, however, of all these 
 troubles, the Indians generally have lost nono of their faith in the 
 good will and integrity of the Government, and do full justice to its 
 exertions in their behalf. 
 
 Your attention is especially called to the condition of the Chero- 
 kees. By the disloyalty of John Ross, the Principal Chief, the Cher- 
 okee Nation was split in twain ; and about one half, embracing the 
 greater part of the full bloods, went over to the enemy. These 
 hostile In lians — generally called " Pin" Indians, from a secret aboli- 
 tion organization, which existed among thetn prior to tho commence- 
 ment of the present war, the members of which were known to the 
 initiated by a pin displayed in a particular and conspicuous place upon 
 their clothing — by. tho aid of the white and negro forces of the enemy, 
 
36 
 
 are now in complete possession of the Cherokee country. The wives 
 ami children of those, who have kept their plighted faith with thia 
 Government,' and who (or at least all of them capable of bearing 
 arm-) aic in the Confederate service, have been driven from their 
 homes, and are now scattered over the Choctaw and Chickasaw countries, 
 in many instances, without shelter, without clothing, without money, 
 an I depending wholly upon the provisions furnished them b\ he 
 gen- ral in command of the Indian Territory, to keep them f in 
 Starving. Their situation is truly deplorable, and when taken in >- 
 nection with other facts, which will be hereinafter stated, appeals ■ 
 Btrongly to the Government for relief. 
 
 The Cherokeea receive the benefit of no annual payments from ne 
 Confederate States, as is the case with the Choctaws, Chicka irs, 
 Creek at least these payments are so insignificant in am it, 
 
 being less than one thousand dollars, that they maybe regarde ia 
 Both ng. Unlike the other loyal nations, they are entitled I qo 
 annuities, either perpetually, for a term of years, or at the ph-,; ni-e 
 ■of the President; nor have they any large portion of their funds lying 
 in the United States Treasury uninvested, or invested in stocks . ■> be 
 (United States, or in those of any cf the Northern States, the in t 
 
 upOn which this Government, by treaty, has engaged to pay annually 
 to the nation owning the same ; but they have their funds almost wholly 
 invested in the stocks of certain of the States of this Confederal 
 
 By the treaty with the Cherokees, the Confederate Government, 
 after 1864, the year for which the first payment was to be mad to 
 them, only assumed the duty and obligation of collecting and pay ng 
 over, as trustee, the interest upon their funds, which were tiius 
 iri\> ted. It may be well to state in this connection, also that the 
 Government only agreed in its treaties with other Indian Nations to 
 collect and pay over the interest due, or which might thereafter be due 
 them upon stocks of a similar character. 
 
 In article fortjrfivc of the Cherokee Treaty, after a statement of all 
 
 the investments and funds of the Cherokees in the possession of the 
 
 United States, and providing for an advance by the Confederate States 
 
 • of the interest upon these for the year 1861, with the payment of all 
 
 arrearages, &c, appears the following: 
 
 " And the said Confederate States of America do hereby assume the 
 duty and obligation of collecting and paying over, as trustees, to the said 
 Cherokee Nation, all sums of money not hereby agreed to be assumed 
 and paid by them, accruing whether from interest or capital of the bonds 
 of the several States of the Confederacy, now held by the Government 
 of the United States, as trustee for the Cherokee Nation, and the said 
 interest and capital as collected shall be paid over to the Cherokee 
 Nation. And the said Confederate States will request the several 
 States of the Confederacy, whose bonds are so held, to provide by 
 legislation, or otherwise, that the capital or interest of such bonds 
 shall not be paid to the Government of the United States, but to the 
 Government of the Confederate States, in trust, for the said Cherokee 
 Nation." 
 
 The funds of tho Cherokee Nation, including national, school, and 
 
37 
 
 orphan, fund, thus invested in the stocks of certain of the Confederate 
 States, amount in the aggregate to seven hundred and forty-nine thou- 
 sand and five hundred dollars; upon which there is interest for about 
 three years due. This intetest, as shown above, the Confederate 
 States have agreed to collect and pay over to the Cherokee*. With 
 this engagement, however, during the war, it is utterly impossible for 
 the Government to comply. The stocks in question are made up, in 
 the main, not of registered, but of coupon bonds; the interest upon 
 which is payable to bearer. Of course, in the absence of a description 
 of the bonds, their numbers, &c., (information which Cannot be sup- 
 plied by this office,) to enable the proper authorities of a State to stop 
 the payment of the coupons, should they be presented, it would be 
 extremely hazardous for them to pay the interest -pon such State's 
 indebtedness to these funds. 
 
 From these facts it will be perceive 1 that the money due the Cher- 
 okces from parties able and willing to pay, an 1 which, if paid, would 
 supply their most pressing wants, and thus lighten the burden of their 
 compulsory exile, cannot be obtained. 
 
 I would, therefore, most respectfully suggest that Congress be 
 requested to make an appropriation adequate to meet the necess ties 
 of this people, at the earliest practicable moment. It is scarcely 
 necessary to add, after the foregoing remarks, that money they are 
 compelled to have, and that speedily, or the amount of Buffering among 
 them, during the present winter, will be great Indeed, with the 
 utmost promptness in tliis matter on the part of the Government, the 
 winter, for which they are so ill prepared, will be far advanced before 
 any materia] relief can be afforded them. 
 
 Such an appropriation will be no tax — will entail no expense upon 
 the Confederate States. The Cherokees request the -money, but they 
 do not ask it as a gratuity. It will be perceived from the I tar 
 addressed to this office, on the 4th instant, by the delegate to Con 
 from the Cherokee Nation, a copy of which is herewith submitted, 
 that the Cherokees expect the Government, should it advance this 
 money, to replace the amount so advanced, from the funds due them, 
 and which it has agreed to collect. 
 
 The Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles. although 
 almost all the young and and able-bodied men of these nations are in 
 the army, have succeeded in cultivating and raising very good crops 
 of breadstuff's during the past season. From all the information I 
 could gather, while in the Indian country, where, in pursuance of 
 orders from the War Department, it may be well for me to remark, 
 I have been for the greater portion of the last six months, I entertain, 
 no doubt, a sufficiency of provisions has been made by them for 
 family use until the coming in of the next crop. Supplies for the 
 army of the territory are drawn from northern Texas. 
 
 8 nee my last report, no perceptible alteration has been wrought in 
 the loyalty and kindly feelings of these nations' towards the Confede- 
 rate States. Individual instances of disaffection have, of course, 
 occurred, but it is gratifying to be able to state that they bav< 
 extremly rare, and include in them no persons of note or influence. 
 
38 
 
 During the past summer and fall, the harmony of our relations 
 with these Indians, especially with the Creeks, and according to the 
 opinion of some, (in which it is proper for me to say I did not join,) 
 the Choctaws also, appeared to be somewhat threatened with dis- 
 turbance. It is but an act of justice to these two gallant nations, 
 that a brief, but explicit, statement of the facts in each case should be 
 herein submitted : 
 
 1. In regard to the Creeks. It seems that the two regiments, 
 (known as the first and second Creek regiments,) which this nation 
 had placed in the Confederate service, soon after the ratification of its 
 treaty with this Government, refused to obey orders and continue 
 with the army of the Indian Territory, when it fell back before the ad- 
 vancing forces of the enemy, in August last, from its position near the 
 northern border of the Creek country to Middle Boggy in the Choc- 
 taw country. This action on their part, although insubordinate, and 
 calculated to embarrass the operations of the general in command, 
 was no evidence of disloyalty, or a disposition to make terms with the 
 enemy. It was solely the result of a desire to remain in their coun- 
 try for its protection, and that of their families and property. To 
 show that but sheer justice is done the Creeks in the foregoing 
 remarks, I quote an extract from a letter now on file in this office, 
 addressed to General Cooper, on the 30th August, by D N. Mcintosh, 
 Colonel of the 1st Creek regiment, while, with the 2nd, commanded 
 by Colonel Chilly Mcintosh, it was separated, as above indicated, 
 from the main body of our forces, giving an account of the state of 
 feeling at that time existing among the Creeks. After having alluded 
 somewhat gloomily to the retreat of our army, and the dangers which 
 seemed to environ the people of his nation, he stated : "I have no 
 fears of any of my command going over to the enemy, as they 
 have been properly tried. I have heard of none of the Creeks desert- 
 ing, but being, as they are, greatly scattered for the purpose of col- 
 lecting and moving their families, stock, &c, to places of safety, I 
 have had but little opportunity of hearing particularly as to their 
 movements." 
 
 Colonel D. N. Mcintosh also transmitted to General Cooper, at the 
 same time, a letter from the Federal officer commanding the northern 
 troops in the Indian country, to Colonel Chilly Mcintosh, in which 
 vast promises are made the Creeks on one hand, and dire threats on 
 the other, to induce them to lay down their arms. A copy of this 
 letter is hereto appended. 
 
 General Steele has informed me by letter, written October 13, 1863, 
 and recived just before my departure from the Indian country for 
 Richmond, that the Creek regiments had again joined his command. 
 This information was not at all unexpected, as the communication 
 from Colonel Mcintosh, before referred to, had prepared me for it. 
 
 2. In regard to the Choctaws. At a meeting held in the latter part 
 •of September, or early in October last, at Doaksville, in which cer- 
 tain propositions of the most flattering nature, addressed by the 
 Federal General Blount to the Choctaws, soon after the occupation of 
 Fort Smith by his troops, were discussed, one or two members of thr 
 
39 
 
 nation were represented to have given utterance to sentiments that 
 savored of a wish to have the Choetaws ignore their treaty engage- 
 ments with the Confederate States, and assume a position of neu- 
 trality during the remainder of the existing war. Being, at the time, 
 in the vicinity of Armstrong, the capital of the Choctaw country, I 
 proceeded, at once, to that place, for the purpos'e of consulting with 
 the authorities of the nation, and other influential men, whom I 
 expected to meet there in attendance upon the council, which was 
 then in session. My object in making this visit was not that I had 
 the faintest idea of the nation being induced to swerve one hair's 
 breadth from its good faith and loyalty, by the promises, however 
 specious and glittering, of the Federal commander, or any of the 
 statements alleged to have been made in the Doaksville meeting ; for 
 I was well assured of the truth and integrity of the mass of the 
 Choctaw people, and their thorough devotion to the great principles 
 underlying the present struggle, but it was simpler to use my exertions • 
 to allay any excitement or ill-feeling — to prevent the growth of any 
 dissensions or divisions among them — to which the circumstances in 
 question were so well calculated to lead. My interview with the 
 principal chief and council was in the highest degree satisfactory, 
 and I found that in despite of the machinations of enemies, the 
 utmost quiet and harmony prevailed throughout the Choctaw coun- 
 try. With reference to the question of "neutrality" in connection 
 with the action of the nation during the present war, the council had. 
 prior to my arrival, passed unanimously the annexed resolution : 
 
 "■Be it resolved by the General Council of the Choctaw Nation assem- 
 bled, That any person speaking sentiments of a character tending in 
 any wise to destroy the confidence of the Chocktaw people in the 
 ability of the Confederate States to sustain themselves in the present 
 struggle, and advising the people of this nation to take any steps 
 tending in any manner to induce this people to occupy a position. of 
 neutrality or withdraw their united support from the Confederate 
 States, shall be deemed and considered an enemy to this nation of 
 people and a traitor to the liberties of his common country and 
 interest, and deserving of the death of a traitor," &c. 
 
 About one-third of the Reserve Indians, who ran away from their 
 homes, at the time (October 23d, 1862,) of the attack upon the Agency 
 by a band of marauding Indians, have come in, and by the permis- 
 sion of the authorities of the Chicka.saw Nation, have been temporarily 
 settled in their country, near Fort Arbuckle. I chanced to be in 
 the Indian country when they left; and as soon as an opportunity 
 offered, I dispatched Mr. Sti^rm, the issuing commissary for the 
 Reserve, and Mr. Shirley, who had been a merchant at the Agency, 
 in search of them, with instructions to bring them back, if possible. 
 An account of the result of this undertaking is contained in letters 
 written by them to this office, copies of which will be found annexed 
 to this report. 
 
 Those of the Reserve Indians who have come in are the Comanches, 
 
 Caddohadaghcos and Anadaghcos. The Wichitas, Aionais, Huecos 
 
 • and Tahuacarros refused to return, ami are still out upon the prairies. 
 
40 
 
 Many of the former I rganized into military companies, 
 
 Bad aic all doing excellent service, as scouts, upon the frontier, 
 They are anxious, I h. be sent again to the Reserve, 
 
 where they have comfortal -, &c , but it is so far v. est, and so 
 
 much . and the transportation of supplies to them would be so 
 
 difficult and expensive I have thought they had better remain 
 
 where they n< w arc during the winter, nd, perhaps, during the war. 
 
 In my last tated that the small tribes — with the exception 
 
 of an inconsiderable fragment of the Great Osages — occupying the 
 northeastern part of the Indian Territory; (the Great and Little 
 1 Senecas, - v i bands of Senccas and Shawnees 
 
 and Quapaws,) had had all joined the North. Their country, which 
 lera on Kansas, baa long b( en in the possession of the enemy. 
 
 The Osages, who have thus continued true and faithful, numbering 
 in all scarcely more than six hundred souls, under l>lack-Dog, the 
 second Chief of the tril>e, have had, since they were forced to leave 
 their country, no fixed hom< s. For a short time they resided with 
 the Cher )kees ; they next removed to the Cre:k Nation, from which 
 they soon passed into the Seminole country. There they remained 
 until within the last two or three months, when, like the l^eserve 
 Indians, they were located upon lands of th? Chickasaws, in the 
 vicinity of Arbuckle. The y >img men, I should not neglect ~o state, 
 are in the Confederate service, and compose what is known as the 
 Osage battalion. 
 
 The Osages are generally a rude and uncivilized people, fond of 
 the chase, and greatly attached to their old manners and customs. 
 Even before the war, when they were all together in their own 
 country, and well supplied by the United States with the means of 
 earning a livelihood, they were incapable, from habits of unthriftiness 
 and want of industry, of doing so. Of course, therefore, under 
 exi.-ting circumstances, driven fiom their homes, and wanderers in 
 other lands, the familii osing this fraction of the tribe must be 
 
 furnished by Che Government with the necessaries of life, or they will 
 freeze and starve. 
 
 Provision for an annual appropriation of ten thousand dollars to 
 buy clothing for the Osages having been made by treaty, I w y ould 
 respectfu ly recommend the propriety of Congress being asked for an 
 additional appropriation to be applied to the purchase of food for 
 them. A special estimate for this purpose will be prepared and sub- 
 mitted. 
 
 Tn conclusion, permit me to Bay, that in view of all the circum- 
 stances which have surrounded the Indians, during the war, especially 
 the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokee8, Creeks, and Seminoles, tho 
 attachment manifested by them for the Confederate Government, has 
 been remarkable, and ought to be a source of the sincerest gratifica- 
 tion and pride to all our people When, ou the one hand, it is recol- 
 lected that nothing Bcarceh bul n verses have heretofore attended their 
 efforts for the defence of their country ; that a large portion of it has 
 been overrun, and their property carried off, or destroyed ; that their 
 troops, (not, however, be it said, without earnest attempts on the part 
 
4t 
 
 of the Government to rectify these things.) have been indifferently 
 armed and clothed, and irregularly paid ; tr! ile on the other hand, the 
 emissaries of the northern Government, to induce them to abandon our 
 cause, have been lavish of magnificent promises to them ; of gold and 
 silver, without stint; provisions and clothing for the indigent; and the 
 protection of their rights in person and property forever — I repeat, 
 when all these facts are re< i llected, the continued fidelity and loyally 
 of these Indians may well produce in the minds of our people senti- 
 ments of surprise and admiration. And not only have they main- 
 tained their loyalty iu the presence of these trying circumstances; 
 but their confidence, as a general thing, in the justico and integrity 
 of this Government; in its good will and friendship for them; and in 
 the final triumph of the great principles for which it is contending, 
 has ever remained firm and unshaken, 
 
 A talle showing the condition, at the opening of the war, of the 
 funds held by the United Stites in trust for the southern Indians, and 
 the extent of the liability assumed by the Confederate Government on 
 account of the same in the treaties of 1861, is subjoined to this report, 
 and attention to it is respectfully requested. 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 S. 8. SCOTT, 
 Commissioner of Indian Ajfairs. 
 
j'i 
 
LIST OF 1 DOCUMENTS 
 
 ACCOMPANYING REPORT OF THE 
 
 COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS 
 
 No. 1. — Fapers in relation to funds of Southern Indians, &c. 
 « 
 
 No. 2 —Letter 1 of Colonel Stand Watie, Principal Chief of Chero- 
 
 kees, dated August 8, 1863. 
 
 No. 3. — Ordinance of Cherokee Convention. 
 
 No. 4 — Letter of Hon. E. C. Boudinot, delegate to Congress from 
 Cherokee Nation, dated December 4, 1863. 
 
 No. 5 — Letter of Colonel Winchester Colbert, Governor of Chick- 
 asaw Nation, dated August 21st, 1863. 
 
 No. 6. — Letter of Colonel W. R. Judso: - !, commanding Federal 
 troops, to the* Creeks, dated August SO, 1863. 
 
 No. 7.— Letter of Major I. G. Vore, dated August 20, 1S63. 
 
 No. 8. — Letter of John Shirley, in regard to Reserve Indiana, 
 date% December 23, 1863. 
 
 No. 9. — Letter of J. J. Sturm, issuing commissary, dated January 
 5, 1863. 
 
 No. 10. — Letter of C. B. Johnson, contractor for feeding Reserve 
 Indians, dated September 18, 1863. 
 
 ' 
 
44 
 
 [No. I.J 
 PAPERS IX RELATION TO FUM3 OF SOUTHERN INDIANS. 
 
 ABSTRACT A, 
 
 Of amounts payable to Indians of Southern Sup rinteadency, (now called 
 Arkansas and Red river Suprrintehdency,) under Treaties and Ads 
 of Congress of tfu I nited States. 
 
 Amounts 'payable annually forever: 
 
 rTatnreof the Indebtedness. 
 
 Date of Act or 
 Treaty. 
 
 a • Feb 23 ; 179!' 
 
 Article of 
 
 same. 
 
 Amount. 
 
 To the Chickasaw Nation. 
 
 $3,000 
 
 To tiii: Choctaw Nation. 
 
 Permanent annuity 
 
 Permanent annuity for support a g ••men 
 
 ...ion 
 
 " " blacksmith 
 
 " " " iron and steel 
 
 Interest on $500 000 at 6 per cent, for i nd dherbeno 
 
 fi-ial purposes, to be applied under direotton of irener:i 
 cjjncil 
 
 To Tin. Creek Nation. 
 
 Nov 
 
 16, 1805 
 
 II. 
 
 Oct. 
 
 is, 1820 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 20, 1825 
 
 II. 
 
 <>ct. 
 
 18, 1820 
 
 VI 
 
 Jan 
 
 20, 1825. 
 
 IX. 
 
 June 
 
 22, 1855. 
 
 X&XJII. 
 
 Permanent inn tilt j lo money. 
 
 ." >r blackHiniiii and assistant and for *li>|> 
 
 and tools 
 
 Permanent provision for iron and nteel foi Bhop 
 
 " pny of wheelwright 
 
 r 1,000, to be inv. ,'..,1 in some safe 
 m oks, paying an iateresl of at least 5 nor cent per annum 
 fur alios 
 
 Ana. 7 
 June ltf, 
 Jau. :'4. 
 
 it «i 
 
 1790 
 1802. 
 1820 
 
 IV. 
 II. 
 IV. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 A Dg 7, 
 
 1S56 
 
 VI. 
 
 To the Seminole Nation. 
 
 inity by w .y .if Inii real at S per senl per annum I 
 on $600,000 igreed to be invested foi them. ] Aug. 5 
 
 To the Great and Little Osages. 
 
 [uteres! on $8 ,120 at 5 per c.-ni per annum, being the value of i 
 64 sections of land sel apart for educational purposes i • > f 
 treaty add by 8eo Ions, Jan. 10, 1838 ' | 
 
 To THE SeNECAs. 
 
 Permanent annuity in speote 
 
 VI. 
 
 June 2, 1825* 
 
 Bept. 20. I8H 
 II, Isi! 
 
 IV 
 
 To the Senecas and Shawnees. 
 
 miiity in ppocie 
 
 It EC A I'M rjLATIOK. 
 
 f,000 
 
 6(0 
 
 G.0C0 
 
 cro 
 
 320 
 
 2!i,000 
 $."5,520 
 
 $1.5t0 
 3,000 
 
 2'„',0C0 
 
 840 
 
 270 
 COO 
 
 10,'CO 
 
 < ; iy.io 
 
 # 
 $';.-),cco 
 
 J'. I s 
 
 $00 
 500 
 
 1 1,000 
 Jl.'CC 
 
 C'liirkfunw Nation 
 
 Choctaw " 
 
 Crock " 
 
 Hi'ininole '' 
 
 Os tgoa 
 
 Bent uu 
 
 beoeens aril Bli.'iwnecB. 
 
 f 8 000 
 
 Ei.ca 
 et^iio 
 i.'.coo 
 
 Mi-i. 6 
 lu.o 
 
 $104 >6 
 
45 
 
 ABSTRACT B, 
 
 Of amounts payable to Indinns of said Superintendency, under treaties 
 made by the United Stat s. 
 
 Amounts payable for a limited number of years : 
 
 Nat ure of Indebtedness, 
 
 To the Creek Nation. 
 
 For education, stipulated to bo paid 'or iliirty-three 
 
 years I eginning h ill; the year is;;-.' .... 
 
 For education, stipulated to bo paid for twenty 
 years, beginning with ihe. year 184S 
 
 For »'ii nai provision for two blacb-iniths and as- 
 BiBtants shops and tools, continued for seven 
 years, afier June, 1S.">7, l>v treaty of Aug 7. i 556, 
 
 For aunu-tl provisions ior iron ana steel for shops, 
 continued foraeven jours after June, 1867, by 
 treaty, Aug. 7, 1856,.. ". 
 
 To the Seminole Nation. 
 
 Annual provision, for the support of nclioois, stipu- 
 late! lor ten years [ t£ztended by new treaty,].. 
 
 Ann u il pro vis on for agricultural Hsaistai ce, siipu- 
 laud for ten ye m. [ Extended by new treats . ].. 
 
 Ainiii il prov sion for support of smiths and smith 
 shops, stipulated for ten years. [Extend tl by 
 new treaty,] 
 
 Sr't.^d >'■«- « f '>-«■">■ 
 
 Mar. 
 Jan. 
 
 24, 1832 
 and 
 
 4, 1845. 
 
 Mnr. 24, 1882, 
 
 Article of 
 Treaty. 
 
 Amounts. 
 
 XIII. 
 IV. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 $3,000 
 3, 00 
 
 1,680 
 
 540 
 
 48,220 
 
 1865. 
 ii 
 
 Aug. 7, 18S8. 
 .1 ii ii 
 
 VIII 
 
 it 
 
 13,000 
 2,000 
 
 2,200 
 «7 200 
 
 reca]'itt;lation. 
 
 Creek Nation, 88,220 
 
 Beminole Nation 7,.<)o 
 
 $U-,42l) 
 
 Add: 
 
 Annual' provision for ttoodfl, provisions nnd ngri- 
 < n i ural Iraph rthei I aiawaa 
 
 i.nd Ap at bos, of A: kansas riv^r, 
 
46 
 
 ABSTRACT C, 
 
 Of amounts payable to Indians of said Super ntendency, under treaties made 
 by the United States. 
 
 Amounts payable during the pleasure of the President : 
 
 Nature uf IndeUidniss. Date of Treaty. 
 
 Art. of 
 Treaty. 
 
 Amounts. 
 
 To the Creek Nation. 
 
 For annual provision for blacksmith and assistant, and »hop 
 
 Feb. 14, if 33. 
 Feb. 14, 1883. 
 Feb. 14, 1833. 
 Jan. 24, 1526. 
 Feb. 14, 1883. 
 
 V. 
 
 V. 
 
 V. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 V. 
 
 $ 840 CO 
 
 For nuiiii.il brovtaiou for assistance in agricultural operations.. 
 
 270 00 
 
 600 00 
 
 2,000 00 
 
 1,000 00 
 
 
 . $4,710 00 
 
 To THE QuAfAWS. 
 
 For annual provision for education 
 
 For annual provision for blacksmith and iiasistant, shop, took. 
 
 iron and nteel 
 
 For annual provision for farmer „ 
 
 To THE SeNECAS. 
 
 For annua) provision for blacksmith and assistant, shop, tools. 
 
 iron and steel - 
 
 For annual provision for millers 
 
 May 13, 1833. 
 
 May 13, 1833 
 May 13, 1S33. 
 
 Feb. 28, 1831. 
 Feb. 28, lKt. 
 
 III. 
 
 III. 
 III. 
 
 IV. 
 IV. 
 
 To the Senecas and Shawnees. 
 
 For annual provision for blacksmith and ass stant, ahop, tools, I | 
 
 iron and steel [ July 20, 1831. J IV. 
 
 *1,0C0 o 
 
 1,160 60 
 600 00 
 
 $2,660 03 
 
 $1,060 00 
 600 00 
 
 $1,660 00 
 
 $1,060 00 
 
 RECAPITULATION. 
 
 Creek Nation .$4,710 00 
 
 Daapawi 2,660(0 
 
 BenecHH 1.6K0 00 
 
 tieueca* and Bliawnees 1,060 00 
 
 $10,090 00 
 
47 
 
 ABSTRACT D. 
 
 Arrearages of annuities, annual interest and payments overdue to Indians 
 of said Superintendent^. 
 
 Nature of indebtedness. 
 
 Under what 
 treaty. 
 
 Artiole of 
 Treaty. 
 
 Amount*. 
 
 To the Creek Nation. 
 
 Of monejB payable tor wagon-makers, blaokamitbs, shops, Iron, 
 
 Aug. 7, 1856. 
 
 VIII 
 VI 
 
 $3,780 
 
 Of intereston the sum of $200,000 h.v should have bee'j invested 
 
 
 
 
 $12,780 
 
 To THE SEMINOLES. 
 
 Of moneys f^r support of schools, due up to, and including Dec 
 
 30.1880 , 
 
 Of mouejs for agricultural assistance for the year 1860 
 
 Of moneys for smiths and smith shops for the year 1860 
 
 To THE CHICKA8AW3. 
 
 Of interest on the sum of $376 781 67, moneys of the Chlcka- 
 eaws in the Treasury of the United .States, and Invested in U. 
 8 stocks, for 1861 only 
 
 Of it terest on the sum <>f $376,781 57, npd othe- moneys of the 
 Ch ckasaws due l-y the United States, or collected i>y them 
 prior to the year 1861 
 
 To THE CHEROKEES. 
 
 Of interest on the permanent general fund of the ration, as the 
 same is invested, for last half of 1860, and all of 1861. Fund 
 $517.26139 
 
 Of interest on permanent orphan fund of the nation, :.a the same 
 is invested, for last half of 1860, and all of 1861. Fund $50 000. 
 
 Of interest on permanent school fund, aa the same is invested 
 for the last half of I860, nnd all of 1861. Fund $197,800 
 
 To the Creek Orphans, of 1832. 
 
 Of interest collected and due *dv the United 8tat<e, on State and 
 U. 8. stocks, to 1st January, 1861, and ant p«M over, belong 
 ing to t' ose persons and the descendant* of those persons, 
 who were orphans in 1832, described aa * orphan ohildren of 
 the Creeks." 
 
 Aug. 7, 1856. 
 
 VIII 
 
 13,000 
 2,000 
 2,200 
 
 $17,200 
 
 May 24, 1834 
 
 XI 
 
 $22,006 89 
 
 u •« «< 
 
 « 
 
 $ 
 
 Dec. 29, 1835 
 
 $43,372 30 
 
 4,500 00 
 
 17,772 00 
 
 $65,644 36 
 
 March 24, 1«3?. 
 
 II $ 
 
 RKCAPETULATION. 
 
 Oreek Nation $12,780 00 
 
 Seminolea 17,200 00 
 
 Chickaaaws 22,606 89 and $ 
 
 Cherokee* 65,644 38 
 
 Creek Orphans $ 
 
 $118,231 25 $ 
 
48 
 
 ABSTRACT E, 
 
 Of moneys in the Treasury of the UniUd States not invested, and in- 
 vestments in United States stocks, for tie Indians of said superintcn- 
 dt ney. 
 
 Belonging io tii*e Chickasaw Nation. 
 
 int. i the Treasury on the 'Jili of January, 1S57, princlia! of so much Ohio 
 
 6 per cent. stork, held in trust for Chickasaws $100,000 00 
 
 Amount ti Chickasaw funds invested in 6 per cent. United States loans of 
 
 1812 104,039 77 
 
 Amount of Chickasaw funds invested in (i per cent. United Stales loans of 
 
 1847 135.2 iO 00 
 
 Amount of Chickasaw funds invested in ti per cent United States loans of 
 
 1*18 37 491 80 
 
 $376,781 57 
 
 Belonging to the Chicasaw Orphans. 
 
 Amount of Chickasaw orphan funds iuvc-ted in the United States 6 per cent 
 
 loans of 1^42 $433 68 
 
 Amount of Chickasaw orphan funds invested in United States 6 per cent, loans 
 
 of 1847 770 03 
 
 __$1_,203 71 
 
 Belonging to the Choctaw Nation. 
 
 Bo much of Choctaw general fund invested in United States loans of 1842, 6 
 
 per cent 1,734 71 
 
 So much of Choctaw school fund invested in United States loan of 1842, 6 
 
 per cent G0.8U3 62 
 
 So much of ChoUa.v school fund imestcd in Uuited Stales loans of 1847, 6 
 
 percent is.. 198 17 
 
 $81,126 50 
 
 Belonging to Certain Persons and their Descend- 
 ants, Creek Orphans of .1833. 
 
 So much of Creek orphan fund invested in United States 6 per cent, loans of 
 
 , ]Hi - $49,900 90 
 
 Bo much of Creek orphan fund invested in United stales per cent loans of 
 1847 41 7G 
 
 $49,942 GG 
 
 Belonging to Cherokee Nation. 
 
 So much of pe maneut orphan fund of Cherokecsin tho United States Troasury 
 
 , uninvested .' $5,000 90 
 
 So much of permanent school fund of Cherokecs invested In Uuited Mates 6 per 
 
 cent, loans of 1847 5,800 00 
 
 $lo,800 00 
 
 Belonging to Great and Little Osages. 
 
 So much of moneys belonging to the Osages invested in United States 6 per cent. 
 
 loans of 1842 $24,679 56 
 
 So much of moneys belonging to the Osages invested in United States 6 per cent. 
 
 of loans of 1847 , 44 4$ 
 
 $24,724 02 
 
49 
 ABSTRACT E — Continued 
 
 BELONGING TO THE Gr.NECAS AND SlJAWNEES. 
 
 f>o nnch rf mone}-s belorgin^ to the f^nera* and Shawnee", invented in Unite! 
 
 Slates percent !oun of 1817 ?. $J fift _*• 
 
 Rf.v.apitulation. 
 
 Chiohasaw Nation $371,781 67 
 
 L'b ekasaw Orphans ' 2 >3 71 
 
 Choctaw Nation 81,126 50 
 
 Creek Orphans 49.942 fi6 
 
 Cheralcee Nation '«. 00 "" 
 
 Croat and T.itilo O.-a.es 24.721 02 
 
 ■fonoOM and Shuwnees '. 466 10 
 
 $545,044 5(1 
 
50 
 
 ABSTRACT F, 
 
 Of r.xoneys due Indians of said Superinttndency and unliquidated under 
 provisions of fumer Treaties. 
 
 Naturn of indebtedness. 
 
 To TFtR Cherokees. 
 
 I much !ue Hi • ("her >ke-< Nation, as recited in the treaty 
 Of 1861 
 
 Foi Hiimi'h due He tr 'y party of the Cherokee at on, ne 
 recited in the tieatj of 1J-G1, — 
 
 ' i what 
 
 Aug, G, 1848 
 
 Art of 
 Treaty. 
 
 Amounts. 
 
 ?12 0ro 00 
 10.300 00 
 
 $ 22,3l0 00 
 
 To the Choctaws, 
 
 Amo"nt i"ue and ]• \ a' le\o the Chootaw Fat 'on, for ret pro 
 c-'s "f'lier In. t- re led bv tb-m by treaty of Sepieml>ei 
 S7 1830 ""•!• -r a im nl the S*nate of the United Hiates, 1 ss 
 
 1« $251,000 mid the t of $'> f 0,00:> appropria'ed m March 
 
 1861 « i cvir m- ii mi nftei deduction of all just aud prupe 
 t peuditu in ami < Ii "-uib, uuder the treaty of 1830, 
 
 To 'J ME ClIICKASAWS. 
 
 The rpgiriue un nvest»d and unaccounted for, of the net pro- 
 c . is ..f iheirluxl, r-ei'od y tie ty of Qctolx r 20th, 1"32 un 
 d i that tre ty, n mi o trevty of May 24th, 1834 asihes^me 
 would app ai by llie aeuotiut provided for bj treaty of 
 
 Aug. 7, 1856. 
 
 To THE ApaL\CHICOLA InOI VNS. 
 
 '; mount due the A p»lachicola Indians for looses sustained 
 
 
 
 
 1 v it. em ' v then r tth val west of (lie Miss''s-»ipp , under trc i- 
 
 i»ct. 11.1*32. 
 
 
 
 t ...... ,t o tober 11, 1832, apdjene 18, 1833, with the ApnlaJii 
 
 cola.-4.aixl May 9, !;; 2 with ilio Bccoinoles ; such amount :« 
 
 Tune IS, 1833. 
 
 
 
 day a, 1832. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 RECAPITULATION. 
 
 Cherofeeea,... *??,.':90 00 
 
 ( Miariavrn, , 
 
 Cltkkseitwp 
 
 /.p.h.chicr !.m,, 
 
 $2 j«-9: C; 
 
51 
 
 ABSTRACT G. 
 
 Of Stocks and Bonds of Slates not of the Confederacy, in which moneys 
 of Indians in said Sup'erintendencv are invested, assumed by the Confed- 
 erate States, interest payable annually, and capital at the nslcration of 
 
 peace. 
 
 on, npj w*»i ato i a 
 
 .V, if M: rylv.a,. 
 
 School 1< nd, Sti te cf P< oneyl vania, . 
 
 CnlCrifiW rKCOVITTF kts : 
 
 Btnti i 
 
 Chu k ■ B > n " i • i' : 
 
 State of li ilii ii n dein 
 it 
 
 " Maryland, " aftw 
 
 K t*9* 
 
 I • n bat 
 Treaty. 
 
 Dec. ! ' 
 
 7 1819, 
 
 Dec. 9 
 
 :! 
 
 May 21, 1834. 
 
 <Vt. 21 
 
 : 
 
 ► 
 
 f 761 39 
 
 : 
 
 141 <«• 
 
 17,0' i) 00 
 
 Net .-mini. 
 
 $ 45 68 
 
 200 00 
 
 $ 245 6S 
 
 $ ICO 00 
 7 050 00 
 
 .1)1 00 
 1,020 00 
 
 
 KKCAPITDL \TION. 
 
 ee Funds 
 <";hick:is:iw " 
 
 Pr'noipnl. Ii I 
 $ 4 7 '1 59 $ 
 
 f 210,261 13 $ 12,33 J 65 
 
52 
 
 ABSTRACT H, 
 
 Of funds of No them Indian Tribes, invested in storks of States of the 
 Confederacy, and held in trust by the Unittd States. 
 
 :t icks of what Sia'es and held in irust for what tribes. 
 
 Liissuuri. 
 
 -For the rhi. pew s of Swan Cnek 
 
 F< r the 1>^i ware general land 
 
 rur >li L'"as 
 
 For he Kansas 
 
 F rt e Kaui-as 
 
 Fur tlio Kaskaskias, Peorias, &e 
 
 Fur die Menojnink-s 
 
 For the 'awa.ts ot Blanoturn's Fork. 
 Fort e Oftaways of Ro.-he de Boeuf. ... 
 
 Fur the Oltaways and Chippewa? 
 
 lor ibe I'utiawatainies 
 
 Florida. — For The Delaware general fund.. 
 
 For the Iowus 
 
 For the Kaskashias, Peorias, <fce. 
 
 Georgia. — For the Delaware general fund 
 
 Louisiana. — For the Delaware general fund..., 
 
 For the Iowas 
 
 For the Kaskaskias and Peorias. 
 
 North Carolina. — For the Delaw re general find... 
 
 For the low. is 
 
 For the Kaskaskias, Peoria.-, <fcc. 
 
 Kentucky. — For the Menominies 
 
 South Carolina. — For the Delaware general fund... 
 
 F r ihe I was 
 
 For the Kaskaskias, Peorias, &o. 
 
 Per 
 cent 
 
 Amounts. 
 
 $6 
 290 
 
 16 
 
 18 
 2 
 
 25 
 9 
 8 
 1 
 
 10 
 ;"> 
 
 (00 00 
 ,000 00 
 
 iitio oo 
 ooo oo 
 
 ,000 00 
 000 00 
 109 00 
 000 00 
 000 00 
 000 00 
 000 00 
 
 $3.-8,1 (10 00 
 
 ~ $50.11011 00 
 
 •2 000 00 
 
 37 000 00 
 
 Tennessee. — For the Delaware general fund ' 6 
 
 For toe low as 6 
 
 For the KaaKsskias, i eoria-, &c ! (5 
 
 For the Mem minies J 5 
 
 For the <>ttowas and Cbippewas ,,„ [ 5 
 
 For the Wyjmdots 1 5 
 
 $118,0: 00 
 
 $2 000 00 
 
 ~$i.uo6~oo 
 
 9,0 00 
 
 15 00O 00 
 $28,000 00 
 
 $34U000 00 
 63.000 00 
 
 117 000 00 
 
 $521,000 00 
 
 $ 7, lilt) 00 
 
 $1.0110 00 
 3 000 00 
 3, 00 00 
 
 $7,000 00 
 
 $14,000 00 
 
 20.* 1)0 00 
 
 97. 00 00 
 
 19,' 00 00 
 
 1,000 1 
 
 5:1 ' no no 
 
 Virginia. — For the Ot.'owas and Chippewa? , ' „ 
 
 :L'0i,,.uU 00 
 
 — $V'fi0 00 
 
 RECAPITULATION. 
 
 Missouri $388. 000 00 
 
 Florid 118,001) 00 
 
 Georgia 2,000 00 
 
 Louisiana 28,000 00 
 
 North Carolina 521,000 00 
 
 Aggregate 
 
 Kentucky $77,000 00 
 
 South Carolina*,. 7,000 n0 
 
 Tenne-see 204,000 00 
 
 Virginia 3,C00 00 
 
 .3H.O00 00 
 
 Note.— Maryland — For the Pottawatomies, six per cent., $130,850 43. 
 
,53 
 
 SUMMARY 
 
 "Of am writs due Indian? of said Arkviwi and Red Riv?r Su^erint ndency , 
 and assumed by Confederate States. 
 
 Abstract 
 
 B. 
 C. 
 1) 
 
 E. 
 F 
 O. 
 
 Amoiyits i\; gumeil — on what account. 
 
 \ nnul' lee and annual payments, payible p -rpel dally 
 
 Vnnu ties and annn .! payments, payable for limitid 
 
 ari'i flXHd terms 
 
 Payable on 
 rat fl 'at Ion 
 of treaty. 
 
 k unu'ties and annn 1 payment-, payable dori ig the 
 
 pleasure of i it 
 
 Arrearages of iinunlt e*, btinunl payments and inter-l 
 
 eel overdue ... 
 
 In Preilsury ■ > t" t h n (Jni'.e ' Slates uninvested, 
 
 a id moneys Invested in United S ates stocks 
 
 tfoueys due ny Ihc U. 8 uu-'er form* r treaties, but 
 
 unliquidated by those treaties 
 
 \l >neys invested 1 iu stocks of the States not of the 
 
 Confederacy 
 
 $104, ISO 00 
 
 33,420 00 
 
 10,090 00 
 
 118,231 25 
 
 Payable a 4 
 
 lur ehise of 
 w.tr. 
 
 .a m t una«- 
 Oei tamed & 
 payable a» 
 close of war 
 
 $ 54 SO 4 4 50 
 
 210 261 13 
 
 $288,227 25 $785 305 6y 
 
 IT. - Amount of funds of Northern Indian tribes Invested in ntocks of States of the 
 -Confederacy :. $1,348,002 CI 
 
 Office of I.npiav Affairs, ) 
 JJcccmbrr 7, 1S63. \ 
 
 Respectfully subml'.lol, 
 
 8. 8 HCOTT. 
 Cominisri-.ma •/" 1'id-un jljfatrt. 
 
 Co lion Jamks A 8fi nim, Sccrrt.ir'/ of II • ir. 
 
5-1 
 
 (No : . 
 
 Executive Office, > 
 Clan lac Nation, Aug. 8, 1863. \ 
 
 ITon. S. S. Scott, Commissioner of India?) Affairs : ■ 
 
 Sir: In compliance with your request, I herewith submit n state- 
 ment of i tte a relating to the Cherokee people. The i tory of 
 militai tions in this country, and in tlie State of Arkansas,, 
 
 ting the interests of our \ eoj le, give just cause foreom- 
 
 Qt. 
 
 The Endian troops who have been true to the South from the very 
 i tn Lted, in many instances, as though it were immate- 
 rial whether or not they were paid as prompily, ami equipped as 
 tohorou other soldiers; money, especially obtained for them, has 
 
 more than once been appropriated to the use of other commands; 
 cloth 1 ' at great trouble and expense to cover the nakedness 
 
 of Indian troops, has, on several occasions, been distributed srniong 
 less i us sol tiers. 
 
 itwithstandmg, the treatment has been such as to test to the 
 utmost theii fidelity, they have remained true as steel. lean point 
 to my command and show less desertions than in any of like size in 
 the service. 1 am glad to be able to say, that of late, my command 
 has been better provided for than formerly. * * ■ 
 
 Nearly every able-bodied man among the Cherokees is doing service 
 in the army; in a majority of instances, their fai - e been 
 
 robbed of everything, leaving them utterly destitute, and only too 
 glad to escape with their lives; they arc scattered over the Creek and 
 !taw Nations, and in the State of Texas; a census will soon be 
 ■ out of their number; I think it will not fall short of six thou- 
 sand. Lt is proposed to colonize these families at some point conve- 
 nient to l ision market of Texas. Some arrangement will have 
 to be made to provide them with shelter and clothing. The Cherokees 
 have, by an ordinance recently adopted by their convention, under- 
 taken to i rovide fortheir own destitute people; their agents appointed 
 for this purpose can accomplish but little good withoul money. I 
 annuities due the Cherokees be turned over as soon 
 as possibi can be no question that such annui due from 
 s of this Confederacy; the difficulty of collecting them is 
 another matter. The Confederate States have promised us full pro- 
 tection against our enemies; i have ever made due all iwance for the 
 xnanv embarrassments and difficulties the Government has experienced 
 in maintaining her own rights, and fulfilling her engagements with 
 the Indians; I ut I have always encouraged those who complain of 
 neglect, a::d lave done all in my power to maintain confidence in the 
 ability and certainty in the intentions of the Government. Shall I 
 continue to encourage them; or thall Iat once unveil to them the 
 
55 
 
 dread truth that our country is to be hopelessly abandoned, and thai 
 they are to receive the reward of poverty *nd rain for thoir unswerving 
 fidelity to the southern cause ? 
 Very respeci fully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 STAND WATIE, 
 Principal Chi-*/ <f Cierokeesi 
 
 [No. ' 
 
 An Ordiri i << '• 'y provisions to the poor ' 'at: of the ( ' 
 
 kit Nation. 
 
 Be it ordained, by the people of the Cherokee Nation, in conj 
 tiou assembled, That the principal chief be, and he ia hereby, aui :■- 
 ized immediately to appoint some competent person to act as 
 missioner for the Cherokee Nation, whose duty it shall be to co I 
 as many d is, in his judgment, may be no i 
 
 I rstte of Texas or the Choctaw Nation, or elsewhere, at convei 
 distance- from those, places where provisions can beobtained; and !i 
 commissioner is hereby authorized and instructed to supply 
 tation to those women and children, and men unfit for ser-vi 
 army, with their baggage, to the vicinity of Baid depot, who shall i ' 8 
 j sentation to him of their inability to supply the le- 
 
 • transportation. 
 
 lained. Tint such commissioner be, ' ■*, 
 
 authorized to obtain from the "Confederate States I 
 through its proper agent, such supplies of provisions | 
 
 -.- for the use of all , r in 
 
 this "I'll mli supplies of provisions to be 'i 
 
 ■ and [dices as may be agreed upon by the commissi !' the 
 
 (Jh . tion and the agent of the Confederal 
 
 ii further ordained, That in ease the ne< 
 \ • be obtained from the Confedi 
 
 then the commissioner of the Cherokee Nation is hen land 
 
 empowered to obtain ft onfe«ieral 3l r 
 
 amount of m< i his judgment, be m 
 
 pro\ i-ions. 
 it further ordained, That such commissiorers shall 
 tionary power to purchase provisions from p . or 
 
 my, on the faith of ; ion, which i 
 
 i ed lor the | >\ men' of al k 
 
 . I 
 our delegate in * longi ess is 
 for all Buch expenses undo ovision o 
 
 it. further ordained. That the aul 
 
 n pro. LSI on - illy to tfa 
 
 i and to the i i nt of la 
 
5G 
 
 Be it further ordained, That all Cherokee refugees except such 
 as are herein mentioned, whether removed by provisions of this 
 O'dinance, or already residing in Texas or the Choctaw Nation, shall 
 fee entitled to rations upon their representations that they have no 
 money with which to purchase the same; but no person fit for mili- 
 tary service shall be entitled to rations. 
 
 Be it further ordanied That those families residing at such distance 
 from the depots as to make it inconvenient for them to draw rations 
 tlijere, shall be permitted to draw at some point in their own neighbor- 
 hood by arrangements of the commissioner, if such arrangement be 
 practicable, if not practicable, and in case the commissioner shall ob- 
 tain money for the purchase of provisions, then he will issue the cost 
 of such rations, exclusive the cost of transportation to such families 
 in money 
 
 Be it further ordained, That such commissioner shall enter into bond 
 with sufficient security to the satisfaction of the principal chief to the 
 Bum of seventy-five thousand dollars for the faithful performance of 
 his trust, and also be subject to removal by the principal chief for 
 neglect of duty. Said commissioner shall keep a record of the num- 
 ber of persons removed to the several depots with the name and age 
 of each, also the number of persons drawing rations by name ; and 
 also shall keep a correct account of all the expenses incurred in the 
 necessary performance of his duty. Said commisioner shall also file 
 a quarterly account with the president of the "national convention," 
 Or with the president of the " national committee," who shall appoint 
 a committee of three to examine such account with the vouchers ac- 
 company ing it. and report to said convention or committee, which 
 body, by a majority of votes, may approve or disapprove said ac- 
 count. 
 
 Be it further ordained, That such commissioner shall receive as com- 
 pensation for his services the sum of two hundred dollars per month, 
 and rations, and be entitled to not exceeding four assistants ; each 
 assistant to. receive one hundred and twenty-five dollars per month 
 and rations, such sums to be paid out of the treasury of the Cherokee 
 Nation upon warrant of the principal chief 
 
 Be it further ordained. That such commissioner is hereby instructed 
 to provide for the comfort of such refugees, both as regards comfort- 
 able winter quarters and other matters as may be essential to their 
 comfort. 
 
 ALECK FORM AN, 
 President Convention. 
 War. P. Boudinot, 
 
 Seen tart/ Convention 
 
 I hereby certify that the a^ove is a true copy from the original. 
 
 STAND WAT IE, 
 Principal Chief Cherokee Nation 
 Prarie Springs, C. W., ) 
 August 1st, 18GS i 
 
[No. 4.] 
 
 KlCHMOM), V\., I 
 
 Dec. I. 1863. S 
 Hon. S. S. Scbrr, Cornmissioner of ' Indian A airs: 
 
 Sir . On the 1st Jay of August, 186$, the Convention of the Cher- 
 okee Nation adopted an ordinance to provide for'the destitute refugees 
 from tint country. The coin raissfon erg appointed to carry out its 
 provisions nave applied t> the Confederate Government for funds. 
 Any moneys they may receive from the General Government will bo 
 replaced after the war, out of funds which are now, or may hereafter 
 be, due the Cherokees. Of course, no obligations in the treaty ".'ill bo 
 effected by such arrangements. % 
 
 Very respectfully. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 E. C. BOUDINOT, 
 ]) I gate from the Cherokees* 
 
 [.No. 5.] 
 
 Executive Office, Chickasaw Nation, ) 
 August, 21, 1863. J 
 
 Hon. S. S. Scott: 
 
 Sir: Your letter of the 14th inst nt was received to-day, and in 
 answer, I have to say that the condition of the Chickasaw-; is 'as good 
 as the circumstances and the times will admit. We have mad; lino 
 crops, and there is no Hanger of the people starving, unless the Feds. 
 get in amongst us. We are much in need of ammunition and arms. 
 Many of the soliiers in the Chickasaw battalion are without guns. 
 This deficiency should be supplied by the Confederate State--. • The 
 Indian Department is deficient in the right kind of arras for effective 
 service. Some of the Chickasaw soldiers have received no pay for ser 
 vice for the last twelve months. 1 should like to see you much, and 
 converse with you. I could give you more information than could bo 
 rtuted in the short limits of a letter. 
 Most respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 WINCHESTER COLBERT, 
 Governor Chickasaw Action 
 
53 
 
 ♦ [No. 6.1 
 
 Headquarters. 1st Brigade, Army of the Frontier, > 
 In the Field, August 3D, 1863. ) 
 To Col. Chilly McTntosfi, Commanding Creeks : 
 
 Colo? kl: I am now occupying your country, and intend, as far as 
 ible, to prevent the unnecessary destruction of the property of 
 the Creek Nation. I know that you have been deceived by tho so- 
 called Confederate States leaders, in relation to sustaining themselves 
 as an independent nation; That time has already passed. The break- 
 ing up of the Confederate armies in the Valley of the -Mississippi, the 
 defeat of John: ton, the defeat of Let 1 , and the flight ofyourown army, 
 is sufficient proof that they have no power to sustain their Govern- 
 ment. 1 now call upon you and your people to return to their alle- 
 giance, and save their property and homes ; otherwise, your country 
 will be perm men ly occupied — their interest-, divided among the loyal* 
 portion of the nation. Those that come in now, without fit t her hesi- 
 u, will be protected in all their rights as citizens of the Creek 
 Nation. If you choose, you can select such men as you think proper 
 to negotiate upon the subject, and I shall be -happy to meet them in 
 council. 
 
 W. It. J'UDSON, Colonel Commanding 
 
 1st Brigade, Army (f Frontier. 
 
 [No. 7.] 
 
 cjarters 1st Brigade, Department I. T., ) 
 Broy km g Creek V. N. , A u g 2 1 ), .1 86 3 . \ 
 
 Colonel: E . I send you the communication promised by 
 
 the C ■ while you were here. Nothing new here. No 
 
 movement since we left the neighborhood of Elk cieek ; 
 
 no em n this side the Arkansas, except small robbing parries of 
 
 Pin C v go f/om house to house with impunity. Fede- 
 
 rals still scattered on account of .sickness ; none of our commands 
 permitted to annoy or attack them. Indians all quiet, but determined 
 not to fall back until whipped back. It is said General Steele is hav- 
 ing B as a precautionary measure. Kiawas have 
 been into the Seminole country an i killed some of Colonel Jumper's 
 people. The Chickasaw battalion is ordered to their assistance. 
 I hav-:> the honor to be, 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 I. O. VORE, 
 Major and Q. M , Indian Territory, 
 Colond S. S. Scott, Commissioner Indian Affairs, Headquarters Ihpl , 
 Trails -M 
 
59 
 
 [No. 8.] 
 
 Fort Ar buckle, 0. N., > 
 December 23, 1862. 5 
 Sir : Agreeably to the wishes of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 
 on my arrival at the Wichita Agency, in November last. I sent an 
 express to the camps of the Reserve Indians, camped at or near the 
 Antelope Hills, but in consequence of the total absence of grass they 
 were unable to proceed, and rel i ird day, bringing with 
 
 them six families of Indians found in the Witchita mountains, who 
 were absent on a buffalo bunt at the time of the stampede. s f w days 
 afterward , I met with a, par'y of Indians direct from the camps on 
 the Canadian, who reported that the Indians th in a destitute 
 
 condition, and anxiously waiting t<> • n some person, authorized 
 
 to instruct them what to do. The chiefs had all assembled in Coun- 
 cil and instructed their young men to remain in camps until they 
 could ascertain the intention of die Government — that it was their 
 wish to carry out the treaty and return to their homes in peace, if 
 permitted. The chiefsof the Prairie Indian,: had also replied to some 
 men from Fort Wise, that they bad m ■ with Texas and the 
 
 Indian nations east of them — that they would take no part in this 
 Avar unlest they were first attacked by one side or the other, and that 
 they did nor expect to be disturbed by the southern troops who pro- 
 
 to b • th 'ir friends. After waiting three weeks for a 
 communication, sent by express on the 24th ultimo, I determined to 
 return to this place with the Indians found in the mountains, and 
 arrived here this afternoon ; but, previous to leaving the Reserve, I 
 sent my brother ami two men to the camps of the Reserve Indians 
 with instructions to invite them in. v ith the hope that suitable provi- 
 sion woul 1 he trade for them. I will leave here in the morning for 
 Sherman, Texas, where I reside at pre: snt, ami should ra :es be 
 
 required any further, you can command me. End h you 
 
 will finl instructions from the Commissioner Indian Aff.iirs, to take 
 charge of the property found at the Agency. You will | I struct 
 
 me what disposition to make of it. 
 
 I have the honor to remain, 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant^, 
 
 JOllfl SHIRLEY, 
 D. II. Cooper, Brigadier ( . ' '. Y. 
 
 [No. !).] 
 
 k, C. N , ) 
 January 5th, 1 863. > 
 
 To Gen. Cooper, Scullyville, < ' V 
 
 Sin: The Commissioner of Indian Affairs, while at Arbucklc, 
 
 wrote a letter to the reserve Indians, and tent it by mo to Foit Cobb, 
 
60 
 
 requesting them to come near Arbuckle and stay during the winter. 
 I went *o Fort Gobh but Baw none of the Indians. On my return to 
 Arbuckle, Mr. Shirley and several other men, who were acquainted 
 with the Indians, started out in search of them. He saw several 
 Comanches and Caddos, but saw none of the chiefs of the diiferent 
 bands. lie passed this place, on his return to Texts, twelve days 
 since. Mr. Bunger and two other white men went on towards 
 Antelope Hills, where the reserve Indians, and the Comanches, 
 Kiawu 8 and several other bands were encamped. When, within, forty 
 miles of Antelope Hills, they meet a portion of the.Caddoi, Anadah- 
 kos, and Ionies on their way to Arbuckle, (21)0.) The chiefs, on 
 hearing the talk sent to them,immedi itely dispatched some men to biing 
 in the rest of the Caddos and Comanches. Mr. Bunger left the 
 Caddos at Fort Cobb, collecting their stock; they will be at Arbuc- 
 kle in ten or twelve days. The Kiowas are hostile; a party came to 
 the Caddo camp, while Mr. Bunger and the two other white men were 
 there, and demanded them, and said they would kill them before they 
 left the camp Jose Marie told chem that the Shawnees bad come 
 and killed several of his white friends, when all of ids young men 
 were from home, but now they could not kill these men, who were his 
 friends, until after they had killed him and bis men. The Kiowas 
 Staid near bis camp all night; next morning the3'. desisted from 
 demanding the lives of the white men, but told the Caddos they were 
 fools, for that in the spring a powerful combination of red men, who 
 are now encamped on the north Canadian, would kill all the red men 
 who are friendly to Tex;is, and would drive the Texiansinto the seat 
 I think there will be a"bout eight hundred Indians, who will come 
 to Arbuckle, and if the reserve Comanches come, it will increase the 
 number to twelve hundred. There are now, at this place, one 
 hundred and sixty-six Tonks and sixteen Comanches, to whom I am 
 issuing rations vegularly. I think the Tonkaways, and other reserve 
 Indians, should be in a few miles of each other, so that the commis- 
 sary could issue the rations all at one place. I would be glad to hear 
 from you soon. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 J. J. STURM, 
 Issuing Commissary, Reserve Indians. 
 
 [No. 10.] 
 
 Sherman, Grayson County, ) 
 September 18, 18G3. > 
 
 To Col. 3. S. Scott, Commissioner of Indian A/fairs, Shreveport, 
 
 Louisiana : 
 
 Sir : I have just received the information from the Indian Reserve 
 camps that the Caddos that went off with "Jim Pock Mark" last fall, 
 
Gl 
 
 have been in the Reserve with a message from the disaffected Indians 
 to this effect, viz. : That all the bands that left the Reserve last year 
 would return this fall, and would be accompanied I y a strong escort 
 of Federals, to occupy and hob! the Reserve country ; to start fiora 
 Fort But, on the Aikansas ant] that they would all be fed and pro- 
 tected by the northern Government-. The seas-en having been unu- 
 sually dry, has ant will delay their time of starring, and should hey 
 cotr.e this fall ihey must start before the lst<>f November. Think- 
 ing it very important that you should know this immediately, I have 
 not lo-t it inotU' nr, in sending you this communication, i his in i 
 mere rumor. »n l your department, should have the tiling attended to 
 most promptly, »r th« whole northern frontier of Texas .viiT be s in- 
 ject to in va ion. :,nd a large portion of the InM n count y be overrun 
 and lost You are aware I am not easily alarmed bj Indi in run >rs, 
 but this is worthy of your earnest attention, and some action should 
 be takfii >u on :e. 1 have als'^ to-day addressed General S:cel>> on 
 this suljeet. 
 
 Yours, Respectfully, 
 
 C. B. JOHNSOK. 
 
REPORT 
 
 or 
 
 COMMISSIONER OF EXCHANGE. 
 
 Confederate States n v Amerti ) 
 
 n uT i '</.■■ i 'mi »/, \ 
 
 Richmond, Vu., Dec. 5th, 1863. ) 
 IIon> Jap. A. Sepdon, Secretary of War: 
 
 Fit:: I have the honor to submit the :resprndcnce 
 
 between the Federal Agent of Exchange and myself: 
 
 I have selected fiowi th<- ma* ior dence", such letters as 
 
 relate 10 matters <f »encral interest, and (Specially to t! its of 
 
 controversy betwei n us. 
 
 I. Papers from one to twelve, inclusi i the arrest and deten- 
 
 tion of non-combatants. The Federal authoii ies have persistently 
 refused t iprocal rule as to such parties. Their mili- 
 
 tary commanders seem to h n permitted to m il 
 
 comb it i it ts without regard to their ags, sex or situation. > 
 
 have been thrown into prison arid there indefinitely 
 retained, in moat cage's, without charges. 1 have persi 
 tended that the whole subject of their capture of non-combatants, 
 should Iw defer, ined t > v rule, and not by aibitrary practice. This 
 reasonable proposal, nor receiving tl at of the enemy, I 
 
 federate authorities have been forced, in some instances, to retain 
 Federal non combatant* as a measure of retal ati in. 
 
 I'ap 'i s fiom thirteen to sixteen, inclusive, relat -ctention 
 
 of exchanged and uuexc ans d officers and men There are officers 
 
 el rj 
 
 and men now in Federal prisons, who have been thei aince the 
 
 ad( ]> ion of the cartel I have br< ught to the at of the Tinted 
 
 States authorities ngnin and again the names of some of the parties 
 who were confined in violation of* the exchange agreements. In 
 
 -. alter long delay, the part ■• released. Other-, howi 
 
 are still 1 mguUhing in c mhn< mi at. 
 
 .5. I'..|eis from seventeen to forty, inclusive, relate to the general 
 
 Orders ol tl • enemy and then with di of ex- 
 
 ehanjE inxious has the ' Jon ■ G 
 
 all obstacles to a general exchange of prh th*t when the 
 
64 
 
 f ci i olai i( 11 and adjustment of paroles was made a subject of difficulty 
 by the enemy, vc pr<mpily agreed to determined the whole matter in 
 accordance with the general orders, issued at Washington. This very 
 liberal proposition has not been accepted by the Federal authorities, 
 J have, liowevi r, by virtue of the provisions of the cartel, proceeded 
 to make declarations of exchange, upon the basis of those general 
 orders. In those declarations of exchange, 1 have not exceeded the 
 valid paroles, which are on tile in my office. The reply of the 
 Federal agent to my letter of October 31st, 1863, was so personally 
 offensive that I was compelled to return it to him without any an- 
 swer 
 
 4. Papers from forty one to forty seven, inclusive, relate to the 
 confinement of" Gen. John II. Morgan and his officers in the peniten- 
 tiary, at Columbus, Ohio. Though the Federal agent on the 3 Uh of 
 July. 1*63, notified me that Gen. John II. Morgan and his officers 
 would be placed in close confinement, he informed me two months af- 
 terwards, that "the United States authorities had nothing to do with 
 the treatment that General Morgan and his command received when 
 imprisoned at Columbus." 
 
 5 Papers from forty eight to fifty-seven, inclusive, relate tof the 
 detention of surgeons Before the date of the cartel, surgeons were 
 unconditionally released after capture. That rule was first adopted 
 by the Confederate commanders and was subsequently followed by the 
 Federals. Some time ago, one Ruek^r was indicted by a grand jury 
 in Virginia, for several felonies. Although Rucker was never a sur- 
 geon in she Federal service, the enemy t-. eld surgeon Green of the 
 Confederate navy, in retaliation. This caused retaliation on our 
 part, in return, and surgeons weie afterwards held in captivity on 
 both siihs. In this instance the Federal authorities proved that they 
 were ready to sacrifice tiieir own medical officers in an endeavour to 
 secure the release of a felon in no way connected with their medical 
 service. Rucker having recently escaped from .jail, the surgeons on 
 both sides have been released. 
 
 6. Papers from fifty- eight to sixty-thrde, inclusive, relate to persons 
 captured upon our rivers and the high, seas. By agreement made 
 with the Federal agent of exchange, all such who were captured be- 
 fore December Kith, 1SC2, were declared exchanged. In spite of that 
 agreement. Gome of our pilots and sea captains were kepr. in confine- 
 ment. The correspondence will fully show the refusal of the Federal 
 authorities to adopt any fair and reciprocal lule, as to the f,urtier 
 exchange of such persons. 
 
 7. Papers numbered sixty* four> and sixty-five, show the preten- 
 sions of the enemy as to such persons as have been tried under 
 the laws of a sovereign State for offences against the same. 
 
 8. Papers from sixty-six to seventy-two, inclusive, embrace all the 
 correspondence in which Gen. E A. Hitchcock has borne a part. It 
 seems there are two commissioners of exchange, on the part of the 
 Federal government. How far the authority of each extends, or how 
 far one is suboidmate to the other, has not as yet clearly appeared. 
 The future may perhaps, explain that they may be put to separate 
 
65 
 
 uses. The last letter of Gen. Hitchcock, bearing date Noveiiw t 
 23, 1863, I returned, with the following indorsement, to wit : 
 "Protesting that the statement of facts contained in this paper is in- 
 correct, I return it to its author as unfit to be either written or re 
 ceived." 
 
 With this brief notice of the correspondence, I respectfully suUnat 
 it as my report. 
 
 Respectfullly, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 RO. OULD, .7- U of ExcheML'. 
 
GORUKSrONDENCK 
 r ■■ to thk Arrest and Detention of Non- Combatants. 
 
 [No. I.] 
 MR. OULD TO LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW. 
 
 Confederate States of America, War Department, ) 
 
 Richmond, Ya., Oct. 4, 1862. J 
 
 Lieut, Col. Wm. H. Ludlow, 
 
 Agent of Exchange : 
 
 .-• 
 
 ****** 
 
 I also bring to your attention the case of peaceable, non-coaa- 
 \ [ tizens of the Confederate States, taken, in some instances, 
 
 with almost every possible indignity, from their homes and thrown 
 into military prisons. I do not utter it in the way of a threat, but 
 c dor demands that I should say, that if this course is persisted in, 
 the Confederate Government will be compelled, by a sense of duty to 
 i 4 . own citizens, to resort to retaliatory measures. In no one in- 
 stance have the Confederate authorities sanctioned the arrest of any 
 citizen of .my cne of the United States found in the exercise of a law- 
 ful and peaceful business. If such a case can be found, the wrong 
 will be speedily righted. Such cases not being within the rules of 
 military capture, are not, therefore, the proper subjects of exchange 
 under a cartel. Hundreds of cases have been brought to the atten- 
 dee of the Confederate authorities, where parties in pursuit of their 
 c. linarj occupations, and not bearing arms, and not being in any 
 i "'• i gairsalion, have been arrested, dragged from their homes, 
 
 ?" ■ thrown into prisons, where they remain to this day, even though 
 the United States forcos, which made the arrest, have been withdrawn 
 firom the neighborhood where it was made. The Confederate Govern- 
 I : can in no vay, whether by a system of exchanges or otherwise, 
 i gnize the light of the United States to invade its territory, arrest, 
 carry off, and detain indefinitely its peaceable citizens. In any case 
 n! ere an excuango i;} proposed, if the situation of the parties is the 
 samo t it -ill be cheerfully made, The Confederate Government, 
 however, has not arrested your peaceable citizens, and has none 
 of that class to offer in exchange for such of the Confederacy as have 
 >,. To exchange such as we have the right to capture, ac- 
 
 cording 1 . the usages of war, for our own peaceable citizens, unlaw- 
 ft&3 ■■ ' ' njustfy taken, as we think, would be a quasi recognition of 
 
67 
 
 your ri^ht to make such captures. I trust, therefore, that the United 
 States Government will unconditionally release all citizens of the Con- 
 federate States belonging to the class to which I have referred. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Your ohedient servant, 
 
 RO. OtTLD, Agent of Eatchmgi 
 
 [No. 8.] 
 
 LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW TO ME,. OULD. 
 
 Headquarters 7th Armv Corp-*, ^ 
 Fcrt Monroe, Va ., Dec. 3, 1862. S 
 $Ion, Robert Ould, 
 
 Agent for Exchange of Prisoners : 
 Sir: Since I wro'e to you this morning, information has been- 
 given me that some thirty or forty citizens of Pennsylvania, non- 
 combatants, were seised by order of General Stewart, in his late 
 incursion into Pennsylvania and Maryland, and were conveyed to 
 Richmond. This is so clearly in contravention of the portions you 
 'have laid down, tliat I need only mention the fact to you to insure 
 their immediate delivery to Capt. Mulford, in charge of the 'flag of 
 truce. 
 
 I am, very renpectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 WM. II. LUDLOW, 
 Lieut. Col , and Agent for Exchange of Prisonen, 
 
 [No. 3.] 
 MR. OULD TO LIEUT. €OL. LUDLOW. 
 
 Richmond, Va., Dec, I!, 1862. 
 Eifa ut. Co1.»Wm. H. Ludlow, 
 
 Agent of Exchange : 
 
 Sir : With reference to the Pennsylvania non-combatants captured 
 by General Stewart, and whose release you ask in your letter of the 
 3d inst., I beg leave respectfully to state that th^y were captured, and arc- 
 now held only in retaliation for captures of non-combatant citizens of 
 the Confederate States. As eoon as your Government releases the 
 non-combatants of the Confederate States, now held by you, arid 
 agrees to abandon the policy of making such captures in the future. 
 in other words, as soon as your G01 tially 
 
 I the proposition relating ta such can to you ai 
 
68 
 
 our last interview, these citizens of Pennsylvania will be uncondition- 
 ally released. You have in your military prisons at this time a far 
 larger number of persons who were arrested on Confederate soil, while 
 engaged in no acts of hostility to your Government, than we have in 
 ours. How can you claim the release of your non-combatants when 
 you retain ours ? How can you ask us to release your non-combat- 
 ants when you refuse to agree that ours shall not be captured ? la 
 retaining these Pennsylvanians, the Confederate Government does not 
 abandon its position so often reiterated, that the capture of non-com- 
 batants is illegal, and contrary to the usages of civilized warfare. 
 The Confederate Government is anxious to put an end to any such 
 practice. It has protested earnestly and persistently against it. 
 When those protests failed to accomplish the desired end, a sense of 
 duty to its own citizens demanded that the Confederate Government 
 should resort to other means. May I not hope that the United States 
 Government will promptly settle this whole matter by a release of 
 such Confederate citizens as are now in prison, and who, when cap- 
 tured, were connected with no military organization, and by a dis- 
 avowal of any purpose to make any such arrests in the future '? 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 RO. OULD, Agent of Exchange. 
 
 [No. 4.] 
 LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW TO MR. OULD. 
 
 Headquarters Department of Virginia; 7th Arm? Corps, ) 
 
 Fort Monroe, June 2, 1863. S 
 Hon. Robert Ould, 
 
 Agent for Exchange of Prisoners : 
 Sir : A. D. Richardson and Junius II. Browne, correspondents of 
 'the New York Tribune, captured about the 4th of May last, near 
 Vicksbur^, are said to be confined in the Libby Prison. Mr. Col- 
 burn, the correspondent of the New York World, who was captured 
 with them, has been released. It has been the practice to treat at- 
 taches of the press as non-combatants, and not to retain them. The 
 release of Mr. Colburn is a partial recognition of this practice. Will 
 you please inform me if you will release Richardson and Browne, and 
 if not, why not. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 WII. IT. LUDLOW, 
 Lieut. Col., and Agent for Exchange of Prisoners. 
 
69 
 
 [No. 5.] 
 
 MR. OULD TO LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW. 
 
 Richmond, Ya . . June 5. 1 803. 
 Lieut. Col. Wm. H. Ludlow, 
 
 Agent of Exchange. 
 
 Sir : In one of your communications of the 2d, you refer to the 
 correspondents of the press, and say it has been the practice "to treat 
 them as non-combatants, and not to retain them." I have been 
 struggling for nearly twelve months to establish just such a rule as to 
 non-combatants, without success. The only difficulty I met. was in 
 your consent. When an as the rule established that non-combatants 
 were not to be retained ? What was the date of its adoption by Burn- 
 side, or Rosencrans, or Milroy ? What peculiar immunity should the 
 correspondents of the Tribune have over an old grey-headed grand- 
 father, who never shouldered a musket, or followed in the wake of an 
 army ? Wherein are they privileged over delicate and noble-souled 
 women, who are cither languishing in your prisons or " released" to 
 the rigors and daugers of the wilderness ? 
 
 It seems to me that if any exception be made as to any non-com- 
 batants, it should ho against such men as Tribune correspondents, 
 who have had more share even than your soldiery in bringing rapine, 
 pillage, and desolation to our homes. "I have no compassion for any 
 such, even if their miseries were ten-fold greater. You ask mo why 
 I will not release them. 'Tis because they are the worst and most 
 obnoxious of all non-combatants. Yet, bad as they are, deeply as 
 *:hey have wronged and outraged us, they will be released if you will 
 only discharge from imprisonment men and women " the latchets of 
 whose shoes they are unworthy to unloose." 
 
 Mr. Colburn was released because Mr. Barr, a correspondent of the 
 Grenada Appeal, was held by your authorities for one of the three 
 correspondents, and it came within the rule of our " sovereign will 
 and pleasure" to release him. Moreover, if I had been disposed to 
 ignore Mr. Colburn, it would have given me a great deal of trouble to 
 make a selection between the Tribune's correspondents. 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 RO. OULD, Agent of Excha 
 
 [No. 6.] 
 
 MR OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 Biciimono, Y.\., August I, ..Mi.;. 
 Brig. Gen. S. A. Meredith, 
 
 Agent of Exchange : 
 Sir : 
 
 # « # # * . * 
 
 For the purpose of showing to you the position of the Confederate 
 Government in relation to the imprisonment of non-combatants, I now 
 
renew to jou the proposal which- 1 have frequently tendered to your 
 predecessor. J propose that all the non-combatants now held in prison^ 
 on either side, be immediately and unconditionally released ; and that 
 no captures 01' non-combatants shall hereafter be made. If the- 
 latter branch of this proposition is too broad, I will thank you to sug- 
 gest any proper modification. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 HO. OULD, Agent of Exchange. 
 
 [No. 7 ] 
 
 BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH TO MR. OULD. 
 
 Headquarters Department of Virginia, 7th Armv Corps, } 
 
 Fort Monroe, August 27, 1863. S 
 Hon. Robert Ould, 
 
 Agent of Exchange, Richmond, Va.l 
 
 Sir : I would again earnestly call your attention to the case of 
 Messrs. Richardson and Brown, correspondents of the New York Tri- 
 bune. In yours of August L 2W, you state "that there is no fair and 
 reciprocal rule which may be proposed for mitigating the horrors of 
 this war, that will not be cheerfully adopted by the Confederate au- 
 thorities." Now, sir, I think that the Confederate authorities could 
 not have a better opportunity for reciprocating, than in the case of 
 the two gentlemen above named ; for, when Vicksburg was captured, 
 the editors of the Whig and Citizen fell into our hands, and were im- 
 mediately paroled and sent away. If you are sincere, then, in your 
 offers, I call upon you to give me evidence thereof, by immediately 
 releasing Messrs. Richardson and. Brown. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 S. A. MEREDITH, 
 Brig. Gen., and Commissioner for Exchange. 
 
 [No. 8.] % 
 
 MR. OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 Richmond, August 28, 1863. 
 Brig Gen. 8. A. Meredith, 
 
 Agent of Exchange : 
 
 Sir : I still adhere to my declaration of the 20th instant, in respect 
 to the release of non-combatants. To that, and almost every other 
 communication involving a principle, you have not replied. Fairness 
 requires that you should answer it, in some form, before you critici;*.' 
 
71 
 
 it. Will you agree to the unconditional release of all tltori-com' itanta ! 
 Your reference to the parole of the editors of the Whig -and Citlidtl, 
 at Vieksburg, has no sort of force. They wer.3 parol"'! by th< tot fts 
 of surrender, and not by any special grace of your authoiiti v n 
 
 could not have retained thein without a breach of the terms of capitu- 
 lation. Their cases are in no respect analagous to those of Rich- 
 ardson and Brown, except in their avocation of driving the ( ...1. 
 Richardson and Brown will be released just as scon as yoo , '» 
 discharge non-combatants. I still say, there is no fair and n . 1 
 
 rule which may be proposed for mitigating the horrors of thia "/ .r, 
 that will not be cheerfully adopted by the Confederate authorities. 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 RO. OULD, Agent of Exthang* 
 
 [Wo. 9. j 
 
 BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH TO MR. OULD. 
 
 Headquarters Department of Virginia, 7th Army Corps, ) 
 
 Fort Afo* roe, Aug. 1 i, IS6S ] 
 Hon. Robert Ould, 
 
 Commissioner for Exchange , Richmond, Va.: 
 
 Sir: Mr. Daniel Gerhart, an old and wealthy citizen of vt 
 
 taken prisoner at Winchester, Va., while attending a son dangerously 
 ill, and is now confined at Richmond. Can nothing be done to cx\ : i 
 dite the release of this gentleman? 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 S. A. MEREDITH, 
 Brig. Gen., and Commissioner for Exchange 
 
 [No. Id.") 
 
 MR. OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 Ricn.voo, V,\., A J. 
 
 Brig. Gen. 8. A. Meredith, 
 
 \ent of Exchange : 
 
 Sir: Your communication of the ! 4th instant, res, ' 1 
 
 Gerhart, has been received. You say ho iras takei r at 
 
 Winchester, while attonding a son dangerously ill. ;uire 
 whether anything can be done to expedite his release. Undoubtedly, 
 
 something can be done. Release our non-comb r. y i 
 have in prison, and Mr. Gerhart is instantly free. I hop 
 enough strength in Mr. Gerhart's case, he be'.ng a **w< 
 
72 
 
 of Ohio," to accomplish what justice and mercy have asked in vain, for 
 than a year. 
 
 Resnectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 RO. OULD, Agent of Exchange . 
 
 iS .l 
 
 [No. 11.] 
 
 BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH TO MR. OULD'. 
 
 Office Commissioner for Exchange. 
 Fortress Monroe y Fa., Oct. 23, 186 
 
 ) "on. Robert Ould, 
 
 Agent of Exchange, Richmond, Va.: 
 
 &r: I enclose to you herewith, a letter lrom W.. P. Wood, Super 
 i .tendent of the Old Capitol Prison, addressed to Maj. Gen. E. A. 
 1 itchcock, to which I specially call your attention. 
 
 Will you release our citizens, whom you hold confined in your 
 rvisons, against whom there arc no charges? There is no disposition 
 on the part of the United States authorities to harrasa or annoy citi- 
 •/ v.?-. In all cases heretofore, so far as I know, whenever southern 
 c'tizens have been arrested, it has been for special reasons, marking 
 the individuals as seperated from the mass of a community. I know 
 • citizen of the South who is held by the United States authori- 
 ty merely because he belongs to the South. If you know of any 
 Buck, name there, and they shall be sent home. Some time since, the 
 United States authorities arrested two citizens in Virginia, for special 
 c use. The Richmond authorities arrested two supposed Union men, 
 I » answer for those mentioned above, without any charges against 
 t^em. Why are not these men released? Within twenty-four hours 
 j-fter any given time, the United Statos authorities can arrest double 
 or treble the number of citizens of the South, that you hold of citizens 
 the North ; and, though they have hitherto refrained from the arrest 
 of citizens, as such, the detention of citizens in the Richmond prisons, 
 c>- elsewhere in the South, as Union men, may necessitate a recourse 
 t< similar proceedings on the part of the authorities of the United 
 [■vates. 
 
 [Should the infliction of such misery on the citizens of the South be 
 ii augurated, on their own authorities will rest the onus. 
 Res-i'-ctfullv. your obedient servant, 
 
 S. A. MEREDITH, 
 Brig. Gsn.,and Commissioner for Exchange. 
 
7.S 
 
 [No. 12.1 
 
 MR. GULP TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH 
 
 Confederate States of America, War Department, ) 
 
 Richmond, Va. f Oct. 31, 1863. i 
 Brig. Gen. S. A. Meredith, 
 
 Agent of Exchav 
 
 Sir: In relation to your communication of the 23d instant, en. 
 ing a letter from "\\". P. Wood to Gen. Hitchcock, 1 submit the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 More than a year ago, recognizing the injustice of the arrest of 
 non-combatants, T submitted the following proposition to the Federal 
 authorities, to wit : "That peaceable, non-combatant citizens, of both 
 the United States and the Confederate States, who are not connected 
 with any military organization, shall not be arrested by either the 
 United States or Confederate armies within the territory of the ad- 
 verse party. If this proposition is too broad, let the only exception 
 be the case of a temporary arrest of parties within army lines, where 
 the arresting party has good reason to believe that their presence is 
 dangerous to the safety of the army, from the opportunity afforded of 
 giving intelligence to the enemy. It is to be understood, however, in 
 the latter case, the arrest is to cease as soon as the reason for making 
 it ceases, in the withdrawal of the army, or for any other cause. This 
 proposal is understood to include such arrests and imprisonments as 
 are already in force." 
 
 Although this proposition, so reasonable and humane in its terms, 
 has been before your Government for more than a year, it has never 
 been accepted. I now, again, invite your attention to it. If it does 
 not suit 3'ou, I will thank you to suggest any modification. I am will- 
 ing to adopt any fair and reciprocal rule that will settle this matter 
 on principle. It must, however, be settled by rule. It carjnot, with 
 any safety, bo determined by " special cases." 
 
 You ask me if I will release your citizens, against whom there are 
 no charges. Would it not be more liberal to make that offer on your 
 part, as far as our citizens are concerned, before you ask our consent ? 
 You have kept Confederate citizens in prison for many mouths, with- 
 out charges. Most of them have never had any charges preferred 
 against them, although, in the opinion of your authorities, there were 
 " special reasons" for their arrest. How easy is it to give or invent 
 a special reason? In all probability, there has never been an arrest 
 and imprisonment, on either side, since this war began, for which 
 there was not a "special cause." An arrest for retaliatory 
 even, is special. 
 
 As far as the arrest of citizens of the Confederate State*, by our 
 authorities, is concerned, we will submit to no interference, in any 
 way, by the Federal Government. It is a matter with which you 
 have nothing to do. The Confederate authorities do not interfere with 
 
74 
 
 your arrests, of your own people, no matter what injustice has beer, 
 done to them. Any attempt, on the part of the Federal Government. 
 to interpose in cases which only concern our authorities, and the 
 people of these Confederate States, may be juatiy styled impertinent 
 and meddlesome. As far, however, as the arrests of citizens of the 
 advere • is concerned, we are, at all times, ready to adopt any 
 
 fair ami reciprocal rule. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 RO. OULB, Agent of Exchange. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 Relative to the Retention of Exchanged oral Unexchanged Officer* 
 
 and Men. 
 
 [No. 13.1 
 
 LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW TO MR OULD. 
 
 Headquarters Df.p't of V,\., 7th Army Corps, 
 Fort Monioe, Va., April 8, 1863. 
 
 Hon. Robert Ould, 
 
 . Agent for Exchange of Prisoners : 
 
 Sir : The best Diode of Arranging all questions relating to exchange 
 of officers, is to revoke, formally or informally, the offensive procla- 
 mation relating to our officers. 
 
 I simply ask that you say, by authority, that such proclamation is 
 revoked. The spirit of that proclamation was the infliction of per- 
 sonal indignities upon our officers, and as long as it remains unre- 
 pealed, it can be at any moment put in force by your authorities 
 What assurance have we that it will not be? 
 
 I earnestly desire a return to the cartel in all matters pertaining 
 to officers, and until such be the case, and uniformity of rule be 
 thereby estabished, our exchanges of officer; must be special. Sonu 
 of our officers, paroled at Vicksburg, were subsequently placed in close 
 confinement, and are now so held. If, hereafter, we parole any of 
 your officers, such paroles will be offset against any which you may 
 possess. At pit sent the exchanges will be confined to such equiva- 
 lents as are held in confinement on either side 
 
 I hope you will soon be able to remove all difficulties about officers, 
 by the revocation I have mentioned. 
 
 By reference to the map, you will sec that Fort Delaware i 
 •route to Fort Monroe. It is used as a depot for collecting of prisoners, 
 sent from other places for shipment here, and is. from its peculiar 
 position, "well adapted for convenience for ezchan 
 
 If any mistake be found in the account of men paroled by Lieut. 
 Col. Richards, at Oxford, Miss., on the E2d of December, 1868, h 
 can be rectified when we meet. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 WM. 11. LUDDOW, 
 Lieut. Col. ond l ' •■ Exchcuige <>J Prisoners, 
 
 I have wri;t< to .Mr. Hoffman to send T. J. Punn. \v E 
 
 ISth Mississippi regiment, and now said to tx at Locust 
 
76 
 
 0. 14. J 
 
 MR. OULD TO LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW 
 
 Richmond. April 11th. 1863. 
 
 Lieut. Col. Wm. H. Ludlow, 
 
 Agent of Exchange : 
 
 Sut : Your letters of the 8th instant have been received. 
 
 I am very much surprised at your refusal to deliver officers for 
 those of your own who have been captured, paroled, and released by 
 us, since the date of the proclamation and message of President 
 Davis. That refusal is not only a flagrant breach of the cartel, but 
 can be supported by no rule of reciprocity or equity. It is utterly 
 useless to argue any such matter. I assure you that not one officer 
 of any grade will be delivered to you, until you change your purpose 
 in that respect. » 
 
 You have charged us with breaking the cartel. With what sort of 
 justice can that allegation be supported, when you delivered only a 
 few days ago over ninety officers, most of whom had been forced to 
 Janguish and suffer in prisons for months before we were compelled 
 by that and other reasons to issue the retaliatory order of which you 
 complain ? Those ninety-odd are not one-half of those whom you 
 unjustly hold in prison. On the other hand, I defy you to name the 
 case of cne who is confined by us, Avhom our agreement has declared 
 exchanged. Is it your idea that we are to be bound by every strict- 
 ness of the cartel, while you are at liberty to violate it for months, 
 and that, too, not only in a few instances, but in hundreds? You 
 know that our refusal to parole officers, was a matter exclusively of 
 retaliation. It was based only upon your refusal to observe the require- 
 ments of the cartel. All that you had to do to remove the obnoxious 
 measure of retaliation, was to observe the provisions of the cartel 
 :nd redress the wrongs which had been perpetrated. 
 
 Your last resolution, if persisted in, settles the matter. You need 
 not send any officers to City Foint, with the expectation of getting 
 in equivalent in officers, so long as you refuse to deliver any for 
 those whom we have released on parole in Tennessee and Kentucky^. 
 Tf captivity, privation, and misery are to be the fate of officers on 
 both sides hereafter, let God judge between us. I have struggled in 
 this matter, as if it had been a matter of life and death to me. I am 
 heartsick at the termination, but I have no self reproaches. 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 ROBERT OULD, 
 
 Agent of Exchange 
 
[No. 15. 
 MR. OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 Richmond, Oct. 2d, 186.3 
 
 Brigadier General S. A. Meredith, 
 
 Agent for Exchange : 
 
 S[R : I am very glad that Lieuts. Baker, Pumphrey, Cruteher, 
 and Thorpe have at last been released. There are many other 
 officers yet behind, precisely in their situation. I have frequently 
 given a list of them to your predecessor. I will furnish you one if 
 vou desire it You say the above-named have been detained by "some 
 unaccountable mistake." Each of their names, with the places of 
 confinement, has been more than once presented to the Federal agent. 
 Lieut. Baker was at Fortress Monroe, the headquarters of the Agent 
 of Exchange, for months. It is, indeed, "unaccountable." 
 
 I will make inquiry as to John W. Woolsey. Brengle did not 
 belong to the ranitary commission. He was arrested upon his return 
 from a difficult and hazardous military enterprise for which he was 
 specially employed and paid. If you can bring him within the rule 
 established as to members of the sanitary commission, I will release 
 him. 
 
 Charles W. Webster is at Castle Thunder. He is a citizen, abiding 
 in captivity until you release the non-combatants arrested on our 
 soil and carried off to your prisons. I will make inquiry into the 
 case of Henry D. Barnett. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 ROBERT OULD, 
 
 nt for Exchange. 
 
 [No. 16.] 
 MR. OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 C. ?. A., War Depaetment, 
 
 Ric/nyiond, Vc, Oct. 23. 1*63. 
 
 Brig. Gen. S. A. Mkkkmth, 
 
 Agi~nt of Exchange : 
 
 Sia : Capt. Frank Battle. 20th regiment lee volunteer 
 
 S. A., is now and has been for some time past in irons at Nashville. 
 It is alleged that he is ironed in retaliation for similar treatment 
 inflicted by the Confederate authorities, upon Capt. £h:nie II 
 company 1>. 3d East Tei nessee cavalry, who was captured on or 
 the 26th of I'ecembcr, I88t. 1 h -1 order. No. 61, 
 
78 
 
 tolled by Brig. Gen. K. S. Granger, dated August 3d, 1863, in which 
 It is directed that Capt. Battle shall be so treated and held. 
 
 Capt. Shade Harris, before he joined the Federal army, was a 
 Confederate soldier. He deserted, and was subsequently captured in 
 arms. For the crime of desertion, he was tried before a court martial, 
 found guilty, and sentenced to death. Before conviction, he was 
 neither closely confined or ironed. His father had access to him both 
 both before and after his trial. The President, in mercy, commuted 
 '.he sentence to imprisonment For that imprisonment your authori- 
 ties have seen fit to put in irons and close imprisonment an officer 
 captured in open warfare and against whom no personal charges have 
 , preferred. I am very sure this statement is in entire conformity 
 with the facts. If so, you deny our authority to try and punish a 
 deserter from our army, even when the desertion is inflamed iindmade 
 more heinous by direct support and succor to the enemy. I am 
 strongly in hope that the mere statement of this case is sufficient to 
 ■show the manifest wrong of the proceedings against Capt. Battle. I 
 ♦fill thank you to inform me, if, upon the foregoing facts, your Gov- 
 ernment justifies its treatment of Capt. Battle, and whether you 
 intend, by any form of retaliation upon our soldiers, to contest our 
 right 'to punish desertion from our service, where the offending party 
 has subsequently joined your army and been captured by our forces. 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 ROBERT OULD, 
 
 Agent of Exchange. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 Relative to the General Orders of the United States, and their connection 
 vnth declarations of Exchange. 
 
 [No. I?.] 
 Mil. OULD TO LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW. 
 
 Richmond, Juno 10, 1863. 
 
 L v .eut. Col. Wm. H, Ludlow, 
 
 Agent of Exchange : ' ■ 
 
 Sir : On the 5th day of June, 1863, I requested you to inform me 
 when general order, No, 100, was to be considered as going into effect. 
 To that you have returned no answer. Its date is April 24, 1863. 
 You delivered it to me on the 23d May, 1863. 
 
 1 1 perceive by a general order, No. 15, March 9th, 1363, issued by 
 General Schenck, that all officers and men, who had been captured in 
 his department, and particularly in the Shenandoah Valley, and 
 released on parole, and not regularly exchanged, snould return to 
 duty and service, on penalty of being considered deserters. \\ T \\*iu 
 you delivered general order, No. 100, to me, I inquired of you as to 
 the date when it went into effect. I understood you to say, the date 
 of its dejivery. You may, therefore, well imagine my surprise, when 
 I perceive that by the general order of one of* your departmental com- 
 manders, the new provisions as to paroles, are not only to have effect 
 from and after March 9th, 1863, but are made to apply to all cases 
 previous to that date, without any limitation as to time. This is not 
 >nly contrary to your own declarations to me, but to our common 
 practice up to May 23d, 1863. You have^charged against m 
 received credit for several captures made by General Stoneman , s com- 
 mand, in his recent raid. Is it pretended that you are to have credit 
 for captures made by your commands, while none is to be given to us 
 under precisely the same circumstances ? Is this fair, or just, or ; 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 BO. OULD, 
 
 Agent nf Exchange. 
 
80 
 
 [No. 18.] 
 
 LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW TO MR. OULD. 
 
 Headquarters, Department of Virginia, ^ 
 
 Seventh Army Corps, > 
 
 Fort Monroe, July 7, 1863. ) 
 
 Hon. Robert Oild, 
 
 Agent for Exchange of Prisoners : 
 
 Sir. : I herewith enclose to you a copy of general order No. 207, 
 which contains some additional provisions to those mentioned in my 
 communication to you of the 82d May last. It is understood that 
 officers of the United States, and Confederate officers have at various 
 times and places paroled and released prisoners of war, not in accord- 
 ance Avith the cartel. 
 
 The Government of the United States will not recognize, and will 
 not expect the Confederate authorities to recognize, such unauthorized 
 paroles. Prisoners released on parole, not authorized by the cartel, 
 after my notice to you of the 22d May, will not be regarded as prison- 
 ers of war, and will not be exchsftiged. 
 
 When prisoners of war have been released without the delivery 
 
 specified in the cartel, since the 22d May last, such release will^e 
 
 regarded as unconditional, and the prisoners released, as subject to 
 
 orders without exchange, the same as if they had never been captured. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 WM. II. LUDLOW, 
 Lieut. p ol. und A^ent for Exchange of Prisoners, 
 
 [No. 19.] 
 
 War Department, ; 
 
 Adjutant General's Office. i 
 
 Washington, D. C, July 3, 1863. ) 
 
 General Orders, 
 No. 207. 
 
 I. The attention of all persons in the military service of the Uni- 
 ted States, is called to article seven of the cartel, agreed upon on the 
 22d of July, 1S62, and published in general orders No. 142, Septem- 
 ber 25th, 1862. According to the terms of this cartel, all captures 
 must be reduced to actual possession, and all prisoners of war must 
 be delivered at the places designated, there to be exchanged, or 
 paroled until exchange can be effected. The only exception allowed 
 is the case of commanders of two opposing armies, who are authorized 
 
81 
 
 to exchange prisoners, or to release them on parole at other points 
 mutually agreed upon by said commanders. 
 
 II. It is understood that captured officers and men have 
 paroled and released in the field by others than commanders of op| 
 ing armies, and that the sick and wounded in hospitals have been s< 
 paroled and released, in order to avoid guarding and removing tl 
 which, in many cases, would have been impossible. Such pai 
 
 in violation of general orders and the stipulation? of the cartel, and 
 are null and void. They are not regarded by the enemy, and will not 
 be respected in the armies of the United States. Any offte- 
 soldier who gives such parole will be returned to duty without 
 exchange, and, moreover, will be punished for disobedience of orders. 
 It is the duty of the captor to guard his prisoners, and if, th; 
 necessity or choice he fail to do this, it is the duty of the prisoner to 
 return to the service of his Government, lie cannot avoid this duty 
 by giving an unauthorized military parole. 
 
 III. A military parole not to serve till exchanged, must not be con- 
 founded with a pnrok of honor to do or not to do a particular thing 
 not inconsistent with the duty of a soldier. Thus, a prisoner of war, 
 actually held by the enemy, may, in order to obtain exemption from a 
 close guard or confinement, pledge his parole of honor that he will 
 make no attempt to escape. Such pledges are binding upon the 
 individuals giving them, but they should seldom be given or ree< 
 
 for it is the duty of the prisoner to escape, if able to do BO. Ai 3 
 pledge or. parole of honor extorted from a prisoner by ilLifBuge 01 
 cruelty is not binding. 
 
 IV. The obligations imposed by the general laws and usages of 
 war upon the non-combatant inhabitants of a section of country pa 
 over by an invading army, cease \thcn the military occupation c< 
 
 and any pledge or parole given by such persons in regard to future 
 service, is null and of no effect. 
 
 Bv order of the Secretary of War. 
 
 E. D. TOWNSgEND, 
 . Assistant Adjutant (Imeral. 
 
 (Official copy,) J. C. KELTOff, 
 
 Headquarters Army, July 8, 1S63. 
 
 tant Adjx '< fteral. 
 
 [No. 20.] 
 
 MB. OULD TO LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW. 
 
 Confederate States or America, War Departm* t. / 
 
 Richmond, Va., July 13, 186 
 
 Lieutenant Colonel Wm. IT. Ludlow, 
 Agent of E 
 
 Sir: I have declared exchanged Lieutenant ton. 
 
 Majors General Stevenson, Forney, II. L. Smith, and Kowcn ; B 
 G 
 
82 
 
 adier Generals Barton, Lee, dimming, Moore, Hebert, Baldwin, 
 Vaughan, and Shoup ; Colonels Reynolds, Waul, and Cockerill ; and 
 Brigadier General Harris, of the Missouri militia; all of whom were 
 recently captured and paroled at Vicksburg. 
 
 You can take the equivalents out of the officers captured and 
 paroled by us at Chancellorsville, or from privates, as you prefer. 
 Respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant 
 
 RO. OULD, 
 Agent of Exchange, 
 
 [No. 21.] 
 LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW TO MR. OULD. 
 
 Headquarters Dep't of Virginia, 7th Army Corps, } 
 
 Fort Monroe, July 14, 1863. \ 
 
 Hon. Robert Ould, / 
 
 Agent for Exchange of Prisoners : 
 
 Sir : I decline to unite with you in your declaration of the exchange- 
 of the officers named by you in your communication of the 13th 
 instant, just received, and who form a part of those captured at 
 Vicksburg. 
 
 In violation of the cartel, you rrow hold, in close confinement, many 
 of our officers, though their release was long ago demanded, and their 
 equivalents tendered to you. You even permitted these equivalents 
 to be sent back to Fort Monroe from City Point. In this position of 
 affairs, and being in entire ignorance of what you propose to do with 
 our officers now in your hands, I must decline any special arrange- 
 ments until we meet. This meeting, with your consent, will take 
 place as soon as I shall have received the parole3 of the Vicksburg 
 captures. 
 
 Please, therefore, notify the officers named by you, that their 
 exchange cannot be recognized by our authorities, until the declara- 
 tions be united in by me. 
 
 In making arrangements with you for exchanges of paroles of 
 officers, I shall expect to exhaust equivalents of equal rank, before 
 we take up those of higher rank. 
 
 To settle all difficulties connected with exchanges of officers. I 
 again invite you to a return to the cartel, and, if you refuse, I again 
 r.sk you, why such refusal. 
 
 I am, very respectfully. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 WM. II. LUDLOW, 
 Lieutenant Colonel, and Agent for Exchange of Prisoners. 
 
83 
 
 The declaration of exchange made by you on the 2d instant, leave 
 you in debt to me between eight and nine hundred men. Pleaso make 
 no more declarations until we meet. 
 
 [No. 22.] 
 
 MR. OULD TO LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW. 
 
 Richmond, July 17, 1863. 
 
 Lieutenant Colonel Wm. H. Ludlow, 
 
 Agen' of Exchange : 
 
 Sir : In my communication to you of the 13th instant, declaring 
 the exchange of certain officers who had been captured and paroled at 
 Vicksburg, I only did what you yourself have frequently done. On 
 at least one occasion, you went farther than I presumed to go You 
 declared your men exchanged, when you had no equivalents to offer 
 You say in your letter of the 14th instant, that you decline to unite 
 with me in my declaration, and request me to notify the officers that 
 their exchange cannot be recognized. I call your attention to the 
 fifth article of the cartel, which provides that " each party upon the 
 discharge of prisoners of the other party, is authorized to discharge 
 an equal number of their own officers or men from parole." I have 
 exercised a clear right under the cartel — one that you have exercised 
 over and over again. I have already delivered to you the equivalents 
 of these officers, which equivalents you may declare exchanged. My 
 right to declare these officers exchanged does not depend upon your 
 assent. After I have given you equivalents, their exchange is per- 
 fected by my declaration, whether you "decline to unite" with me 
 or not. I shall not, therefore, give the notice which you request 
 The officers referred to are already rightfully and properly exchanged. 
 The right to declare officers and men exchanged where equivalents 
 have been delivered, is one that I cannot yield, and I am unwilling 
 to bind myself by an agreement not to exercise that right " until we 
 meet." 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 RO. OULD, 
 Agent of Exchange. 
 
84 
 
 * 
 
 jNo. 23.] 
 
 LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW TO MR. OULD. 
 
 New York. July 22, 186S. 
 Hon. Robert Ould, 
 
 Agent for Exchange of Prisoners : 
 
 Sin : Your communication of the 17th instant has been forwarded 
 to me here. 
 
 There is no authority in the cartel for your proposed declaration of 
 exchange of your officers captured at Vicksburg, in the manner you 
 indicate. The cartel provides for exchanges of equal rank, until such 
 are exhausted, and then for equivalents. 
 
 In consequence of the very much larger number of officers and 
 'men we hold on parole and in confinement, you can give no equiva- 
 lents for the general officers you desire to have exchanged. You 
 cannot, for a moment, assume that you can select a general officer, 
 and declare his equivalents in those of inferior rank, when Ave hold 
 the paroles of your officers of the same rank as the latter. But even 
 supposing this arrangement >vas permitted by the cartel, I do not sec 
 how you could avail yourself of it at this time. You will recollect 
 that since the pioclamation of the Hon. Jefferson Davis, of December 
 last, and more especially since the passage of the act of your Con- 
 gress in reference to our captured officers, both of which were in vio- 
 lation of the cartel, and have caused in the one case aternporary, and 
 in the other a continued suspension of exchanges of officers under the 
 cartel that all such exchanges have been subjects of special agreement 
 between us. To avoid the complication and annoyance of these 
 special agreements, I have again and again urged you to a return to 
 the cartel, but up to the present moment in vain. On the contrary, 
 you retain in close confinement large numbers of our officers for whom 
 I have made a demand and tendered equivalents. Until you consent 
 to a return to the terms prescribed by the cartel for exchanges of 
 officers, I shall not consent to any exchanges of them, except on 
 special agreements. 
 
 1 repeat that I decline to unite in your proposed declaration of 
 exchange of officers captured at Vicksburg, and if recaptured they 
 will be dealt with as violators of their parole. 
 
 Ought you not, in justice to them, to notify them of the exact 
 condition of their cases, and thus enable them to avoid being placed 
 in a false position. 
 
 If you are authorized to deliver our officers now held in close con- 
 finement, and to a return to the cartel in exchanges of all officers, all 
 the complicated questions which foave arisen within the last few months 
 ■can be promptly disposed of. To such a return, in the name of hu- 
 manity, I again invite you. I am now only waiting the receipt of 
 
85 
 
 papers, connected with the Vicksburg captures, before going to City 
 Point. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 • WM. II. LUDLOW, 
 Lieutenant Colonel, and Agent of Exchange of Prisoners. 
 
 [No. 24.] 
 MR. OULD TO LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW. 
 
 Confederate States of America., War Departmet, ) 
 Richmond, Va., July 26th, 1-863. \ 
 Col. Wm. II. Ludlov 
 
 Agent of Exchange : 
 
 Sir: Your communication of the 22nd contests my declaration of 
 exchanges of officers made on the 17th instant. You say " the cartel 
 provides for the exchange of equal ranks, until such are exhausted, 
 and then for equivalents."' If you had been at Fortress Monroe, 
 where you could have seen the cartel, instead of New York, from 
 which your letter is dated, you would have written no such paragraph. 
 There is nothing in the cartel which contains any such doctrine', or 
 which favors it. Every provision is against it. Your 1 my 
 
 practice have been opposed to it. I again say to you what I have al- 
 ready stated in my communication of the 1 7th. instant, that your as- 
 Hiit is not needed to the declared exchange, and I shall not notify the 
 officers, whom I have declared exchanged, as you request. I have al- 
 lowed you to declare exchanges when the number of prisoners in 
 our hands has been the greater. This has been the case from the day 
 when we first met in the fall of last year, to the capture at Vicksburg. 
 Now, when you havC scarcely received official advices of yo 
 riority in prisoners, you boast of the fact, and declare that I cannot 
 give an equivalent for the general officers I have declared exchanged. 
 The point you mal \orth nothing, even as you ha 1 it. 
 
 5 know we have no Lieutenant Generals or Major Generals of youra 
 in our hands. For that reason I have declared them exchanged in 
 privates or inferior officers at your election. I had the right, under 
 the cartel, to make the choice myself, but I preferred that you should 
 do it, and) therefore, I gave you the notification w^ich I did. If, at 
 any time, you present officers for exchange who lrave been 
 and we have no officers of similar rai , you can declare 
 
 their exchange in privates. If, it at thi> time, you have any officers 
 of the rank I have declared exchanged, or of any other rank, or if 
 you have any particular organization of private or non-commissioned 
 officers whom you wish exchanged, you have only to State sucl 
 and your selection will be approved. If you hold the paroh ! of our 
 rs of any rank as you state, you have only to present I 
 
86 
 
 and whatever is in our hands, whether on parole or in captivity, will 
 be freely given in exchange for them. You say you have again and 
 again invited me to a return to the cartel. Now that our official con- 
 nection is being terminated, I Bay to you in the fear of God — and I 
 appeal to Him for the truth of tha declaration — that there has been 
 no single moment, from the time when we were first brought together 
 in connectoin with the matter of exchange to the present hour, during 
 ■which there has not been an open and notorious violation of the car- 
 tel, by your authorities Officers and men, numbering over hundreds, 
 have been, during your whole connection with the cartel, kept in cruel 
 confinement, sometimes in irons, or doomed to cells, without charges 
 or trial. They are in prison now, unless God, in His mercy, has 
 released them. In our parting moments, let me do you the justice 
 to say that I do not believe it is so much your fault as that of your 
 authorities. Nay more, I believe your removal from your position 
 has been owing to the personal efforts you have made for a faithful 
 observance, not only of the cartel, but of humanity in the conduct of 
 the war. 
 
 Again and again have I importuned you to tell me if one officer or 
 man now hell in confinement by us, who was declared exchanged. 
 You have, to those appeals, furnished one, Spencer Kellog. For him 
 I have searched in vain. On the other hand, I appeal to your own 
 records for the cases where your reports have shown that our officers 
 and men have been held for long months and even years in violation 
 of the cartel and our agreements. The last phase of the enormity, 
 however, exceeds all others. Although you have many thousands of 
 our soldiers now in confinement in your prisoners, and especially in 
 that horrible hold of death, Fort Deleware, you have not, for several 
 weeks, sent us any prisoners. During those weeks you have dis- 
 patched Captain Mulford with the steamer New York to City Point, 
 three or four times without any prisoners. For the first two or three 
 times some sort of an excuse was attempted. None is given at this 
 present arrival. I do not mean to be offensive when I say that ef- 
 frontery could not give one. I ask you with no purpose of disrespect, 
 what can you think of this covert attempt to secure the delivery of 
 all your prisoners in our hands, without the release of those of ours 
 who are languishing in hopeless misery in your prisons and dun- 
 geons ? 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 Your obd't serv't, 
 
 ROB'T. OULD, 
 Agent of Exchange, 
 
87 
 
 X • 25.] 
 EXCHANGE NOTICE, No. 6, 
 
 RjchAomd, September 12. \> 
 
 The following confederate officers and men, captured ;it Yi 
 Miss., July 4, 1S63, and subsequently paroled have been 
 changed, and are hereby so declared: 
 
 1. The officers and men of Gen. C. L. Stevenson's division. 
 
 2. The officers and men of Gen. Bowen's division. 
 
 3. The officers and men of Brig. Gen. Moore's brigade. 
 
 4. The officers and men of the 2d Texas regiment. 
 
 5. The officers and men of Waul's legion. 
 
 6. Also, all confederate officers and men -who have been deliver 
 City Point at any time previous to July 2oth, 1863, have been duly 
 exchanged, and are hereby so declared. 
 
 RO. OULD, Agent of Excha 
 
 - No. 26.] 
 
 BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH TO MR. GUM). 
 
 Hd. Qits. Pfpt. of Va., Skvknth Army Corps. ) 
 Fortress Monroe, September 24th, 186 
 
 . Robt. Ould, Agent, &>'c : 
 
 Sir: To your* declaration of exchange of the 12th instant, I 
 
 brm you that 1 hive this day announced the following : 
 "A declaration of exchange having been annouo 
 Esq., agent i at Richmond, Va.,dati dber 1 J, 
 
 o moot the Bame in part, as equivalents, it is hereh 
 officers and men of the United States army captured a 
 time previou Jet Septemb< r, 1863, 
 
 S. A. MEREDITH, 
 
 Hi- / 
 
 ' The number i f officer I by the first rive 
 
 tions of yv a r declaration 
 The number of enlisted men is - - II. 
 
 The number of officei 7 2 
 
 The number of enlisted men - - B,UH 
 
 Making a total of officers, 
 
 And total of enlisted in< 
 
88 
 
 ite, .... 24,159 
 
 luced to enlisted men, - 29, 
 
 Of the Federal troops on parole there are 
 
 rs, - - - 7ti 
 
 Enlisted men, - 19,083 
 
 regate, - - - - 19,159 
 
 Ueduced to enlisted men, - 19,4»*9 
 
 Which gives a balance in oar favor, of - - 10,02-1 
 
 1 now claim this balance which is due us, and 1 demand that ; 
 
 n to their paroles all officers and men for whom you have pai 
 [uivalents, or that you release an equal nui!#ter from the prig 
 hmond. 
 
 ir declaration was wholly unwarranted underithe cartel, and it 
 
 priety be set aside. In it you failed to announce 
 
 ■ the 6th section, as published in the Richmond Enquirer of the 
 
 instant, which covers, 72 officers and 8, i >!4 enlisted men. You* 
 
 wi<i nut, according to the terms of the cartel, furnish ine with any 
 
 ." or even give me the number of men, by which I could declare 
 
 alents, nor did you give rue any time to prepare my announce- 
 
 J here deem it incumbent upon me to state that I consider 
 
 your course in this matter a deliberate breach of good faith on the 
 
 part of the authorities under whom you act. The 5th article of the 
 
 cartel (General Order*, No. 142, )8b'2.) would have authorized you til 
 
 discharge prisoners of the Federal forces, furnishing a "list' of them, 
 
 • r.d then you could have discharged an equal number of your own 
 
 officers and men "from parole." The cartel not only contemplates a 
 
 '•mutual" exchange of "lists" (article 5), but expressly declares (ar- 
 
 d« 4) that no exchange is to be considered complete until the officer 
 
 idier exchanged for lias been actually restored to the lines to 
 
 hte pai <;les gi^eu at Gettysburg and elsewhere, you made, an 
 
 agreement with my predecessor, Lieut. Col. Ludlow, to take effect frota 
 
 May 22d, 1863, that all paroles given not in accordance with the 
 
 artel, should be considered null and void II. • can you claim 
 
 did the Gettysburg paroles ? 
 
 If you have any rolls or lists of any men whom you have paroled 
 
 I have not given yon credit for, or if there should be any errors 
 
 account, i will be happy to rectify the sa 
 
 \ ou declared exchanged, before my predecessor was relieved, oer- 
 
 tain i aptured at Vioksburg, in which declaration he refused to 
 
 unite. There are but two officers, I believe (Generals Stevenson and 
 
 Bowen), who are covered by your declaration of the 1 2th instant. If 
 
 the other officers named have not been returned to their paroles, as 
 
 (requested by Lieut. Col. Ludlow, you arc indebted to us for their 
 
 equivalents. The chief ground of the objection to that declaration , 
 
 chat at that time there were no equivalents of the same grade in our 
 
 « 
 
possession (the only condition which w mid have warranted your 
 making the declaration) ; and if we consented to it we would he obliged 
 to offset them by officers of inferior rank. 
 
 In miking up the number of Federal troops to be exchanged, 1 I 
 included all those mustered out of the service, all dischai 
 and deceased. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 V. MEREDITH, 
 />, f Exchan 
 
 [No. 2 ' 
 MR. OULD TO BRIG. GEN. 3VlEUEDl*H. 
 
 Richmond. Oct. 2, 1863. 
 
 \ 
 
 Brig. Gen. S. A. Meredith, 
 
 Agent of Exchange : 
 
 Sik : Your communication of the 24th ultimo, declaring that all 
 officers and men of the United States army, captured and paroled at 
 any time previous to the 1st of September, 1863, are duly exchanged. 
 has been received. 
 
 You are aware that when I met you on the 24th of August last, at 
 City Point, 1 made to you the following proposal, to wit: " I propose 
 that all paroles, on both sides, heretofore given, shall be determined 
 by the General Orders issued by the War Department of the United 
 States, to wit: No. 49, ]S T o. 100, and No. 207, of this year, according 
 ro their respective dates, and in conformity with paragraph 131 of 
 ral Order No. 100, so long as said paragraph was in force. If 
 this proposition is not acceptable, I propose that the practice hereto- 
 fore adopt, d respecting paroles and exchanges, be continued. In 
 other wordsj I propose that the whole question of paroles be d 
 mined by the General Orders of the United States, according to dates, 
 or that it be decided by former practice." You have neither accepted 
 or declined cither branch of that proposal, although J have, both in 
 person:'! interview and by letter, solicited you to do one or the other. 
 On th< lay you submitted to me your proposition, which, unlike 
 
 ■ nine. \ r%l prepared before hand, and which i- as follow-: "I pro- 
 behalf of cut of the United State-, thai all pa- 
 
 roles given by officers and men between the 23d day of May, 1863, 
 and tlie 3d day of July* 1863, not in conformity with the Stipulations 
 >f the cartel, i-hall be regarded as null and void. A declaration tO 
 this efFec ublished to both armiea• ,, That proposition I ini- 
 
 iediately declined. I then and there gave you my In the 
 
 first place, 1 informed you that the I authorities bad never, 
 
 •'.! any time, and did noi then ask that pa M not in conformity 
 
 with the stipulations of the cartel," should be regarded as valid. I 
 \urther told you that an agreement to regard "as null and void*' pa- 
 
90 
 
 roles between certain dates, which were " not in conformity with the 
 stipulations of the cartel," was an implication that paroles liable to 
 the same objection before the first named date and after the last, should 
 be regarded as valid, and was, therefore, necessarily vicious on its very 
 face. I also told you that another reason for declining your proposi- 
 tion, was the one which caused you to make it, to wit : that the paroles 
 which had been given to us were between the dates embraced in your 
 proposition, while those given to you were before and after. When I 
 made the objection to ybur proposal, that it intimated that paroles 
 " not in conformity with the stipulations of the carpel" before the 23d 
 of May, and after the 3d of July, of this year, were to be regarded as 
 valid, I asked you to state, in writing, that no such intimation was con- 
 veyed. This you declined to do, saying, somewhat brusquely, that you 
 did not wish to have any discussion about the matter. Upon my press- 
 ing the subject, however you put a memorandum at the foot of the 
 proposition, saying that the proposal was in reply to my letter of 
 August 5, (863, and in lieu of the proposition therein made by me. 
 You would not, did not disclaim the implication which your proposi- 
 tion contained, nor have you done so since. My letter of the 5th of 
 August only demanded, in compliance with your own General Order, 
 No. 100, that if you rejected the paroles, the parties should be deliv- 
 ered to us. 
 
 You informed me that you would transmit my proposition to Wash- 
 ington, and give me a speedy answer in person or by letter. 
 
 On the 7th of September I complained that no reply had been re- 
 turned, although two weeks had elapsed, and two boats had been dis- 
 patched to City Point since the date of our interview. At the same 
 time I informed you that the Confederate authorities would consider 
 themselves entirely at liberty to pursue any course with reference to 
 my proposition which they might deem right and proper under all the 
 circumstances of the case. 
 
 Accordingly, on the 1 1th of September, in pursuance of this plain 
 intimation, I notified you that on the following day (that being the 
 time when the notice would reach you) I would declare exchanged a - 
 portion of the Vicksburg captures. I gave you the divisions, brig- 
 ades, regiments and batteries. I also informed you that I had in my 
 possession more valid paroles of your officers and men than would be 
 an equivalent for the exchange I then declared ; that, in addition, I 
 had delivered at City Point some ten or twelve thousand men since the 
 last declaration of exchange ; that, as it had been .the practice, liow- 
 ever, of the agents of exchange, whenever one of them declared a spe- 
 cial exchange, to allow the other to select the equivalents, I gave 
 you that privilege, and if you did not avail yourself of it, I would 
 name the Federal officers and men who were discharged from their 
 parole by reason of the declaration of exchange then made. This 
 notification to you was not only in accordance with former practice, 
 but was sanctioned if not demanded by the fifth article of the cartel, 
 which, after providing for the manner in which " each party" may 
 discharge "their" officers and men from parole, says, " thus enabling 
 each party to relieve from parole such of their ovm officers and men as 
 

 9! 
 
 the party may choose." I have said this course was in accordance 
 with former practice, and for proof, refer you to the letters of Lieut. 
 Col. Ludlow, former agent of exchange, of the following dates of this 
 year, to wit: April 6th, 8th, 13th, 19th and 27th; May 12th, 26th 
 and 30th; June 5th, 9th and 13th, wherein he declared the exchange 
 of Federal officers and men. 
 
 In one of Lieut. Col. Ludlow's communications of May 30, 13G3, 
 he says : "I have declared exchanged the Holly Springs capture, the 
 9 1st regiment Illinois volunteers, captured at Elizabethtown, Ky., 
 December 27, 1862. and the captures at Mt. Sterling, on the 22d and 
 23d of March, 1SG3; also, the officers and men of the Indianola. The 
 exact numbers I have not on hand, but they foot up some hundreds 
 less than the balance due. I will furnish you with the exact numbers 
 as soon as received." The same boat that conveyed that communication 
 brought another written subsequently, but dated the same day, as fol- 
 lows: " I have declared exchanged the 51st regiment Indiana volun- 
 teers. Todxcgiment Indiana volunteers, and 3d regiment Ohio volun- 
 teers. These number each less than three hundred men, and compose 
 a part of Streight's brigade. I will add to the above declaration the 
 SOth Illinois volunteers, and fifty-eight members of the 1st Ten- 
 nessee cavalry." 
 
 The enlisted men alone, designated in either one of the communica- 
 tions, exceeded the "balance" due to Lieut. Col. Ludlow. The excess 
 in both communication Avas two thousand two hundred and nil 
 without taking into account ** the captures at Mt. Sterling on the 22 \ 
 and 23d of March, 1863." 
 
 You will observe that Lieut Col. Ludlow, in these two communica- 
 tions, "did not furnish me with any list, or even give me the number 
 of men, by which I could declare equivalents ; nor did he give m< 
 time to prepare my announcement." I quote from your letter of the 
 24th of September to mo. 
 
 Not only was that the case, but he made a wholesale exchange of 
 the Mt. Sterling captures, by a simple reference to it a being made 
 " on the 22d and 23d day of March. 1863," w ithoutany designation of 
 corps, division, brigade, regiment or company. Further than that. 1 
 have never, to this day, been furnished with a list of tbose cap 
 at Mt. Sterling, or even with the aggregate number." 
 
 Such, then, were the circumstances, and such the precedents, under 
 which 1 declared the exchanges of September 12, 1863. I have pur- 
 
 iy gone into minute and faithful detail in a nee of tl: 
 
 traordinary character of your letter of of September. You 
 
 state that you consider my course to be a del each of good 
 
 faith on the part of the authorities under whom I act. In a bung 
 sort of way you have used language which casts an i ffensive aspersion 
 both upon myself and the Government J represent. If there ha 
 been subjects of very grave import to both people referred to in other 
 portions of your communication, I would have treated it with the silent- 
 contempt it deserved, and returned it to you without comment. For 
 the first time in the correspondence of the agents of exchange has any 
 such discourtesy occurred. I regret it very much. Heretofore I 
 
9$ 
 
 have Lad occasion to complain of the action of your Government, but 
 it has always been done with decorum. I have never written a word 
 personally offensive to the Federal agent of .exchange, or insulted his 
 Government with a charge of " deliberate breach of good faith." It is 
 
 a matter of very little moment to me what may be your opinion of 
 " my course." There are some people connected with this war who, 
 either from ignorance or passion, seem to have no clear ideas on any 
 subject. The opinion of such, even if uttered in the language of 
 courtesy, is but of little avail, but, if expressed with intemperance, 
 ■ >nly " exalts their folly." There has been no breach of faith on the 
 part of the Confederate States, "-deliberate" or otherwise. You were 
 importuned to agree to some fair principle by which paroles could be 
 adjusted and computed. Aftef patient waiting — after failure on your 
 part to respond affirmatively or negatively — the Confederate Govern- 
 ment, through its agent of exchange, did what was demanded by 
 courtesy, and justified both by former practice and the provisions of 
 the cartel. 
 
 I now proceed to notice the misstatements of your letter. I will 
 not call them " deliberate," although you had the means of correcting 
 them at your hand ; for such phraseology, so open to the imputation 
 of discourtesy and coarseness, finds in such •communications as the 
 present only the precedent of your example. 
 
 1. Your computation of paroles is incorrect on both sides. As to 
 your item of 1,20.6 officers and 14,865 men, embraced by the first five 
 ructions of my exchange notice, I have no exception to make. Some 
 of our Vicksburg rolls were lost, and I have not the means of making 
 an accurate computation as to them. 
 
 Your second item, however, of 72 officers and 8,014 men, embracing 
 the sixth section of my exchange notice, is incorrect. In the first 
 place, all the officers on both sides, who have been delivered at City 
 Point, are exchanged. They were specially exchanged. Major Mul- 
 ford knows that fact. All Confederate soldiers who were delivered at 
 City Point up to May 23, 1863, including said date, were declared 
 exchanged by Lieut. Col. Ludlow, while the Federal troops were only 
 exchanged up to May 6, 1863. The number of Confederate soldiers, 
 reduced to privates, delivered at City Point from May 23 to July 25, 
 (the date named in my notice;) is 5,831, instead of 8,014. The rolls 
 show this very clearly. Of the Federal troops on parole, you say there 
 are 76 officers and f 9,083 men. If these officers are those delivered 
 at City Point, you make an error against yourself. They have been 
 exchanged. From the 6th of May, 1863, (the time of the last ex- 
 change of Federal troops.) to the 1st of September, 1863, (the time 
 named in your notice,) I have delivered at City Point alone, in pri- 
 vates, 18,610. All of these are on parole. I have other valid paroles 
 in my possession, amounting to at least 16,000 more. Allowing, 
 therefore, that your Vicksburg computation is correct, you owe me, 
 upon the last notice which }ou have published, more than 7,000, in- 
 stead of my owing you 10,024, as you claim. Many of the 16,000 
 paroles to which' I have referred, have been acknowledged by Lieut. 
 
93 
 
 Col. Ludlow in Lis correspondence. So much as to yonr computation, 
 and your exchange notice based upon it. 
 
 2. You say I failed to announce to you " the sixth section of 
 exchange notice, as published in the Richmond Enquirer of the 10th 
 instant, which covers 72 officers and 8.014 enlisted men." This is 
 not so. On the 1st of August last I informed you in writing tl 
 had declared exchanged all Confederate soldiers who had been deliv- 
 ered at City Point up to July 20, 1863. No deliveries were made at 
 City Point between duly 2(1 and July 25, and therefore one announce- 
 ment was the same as the other. I did not inform you of tueexcbaiij, 
 of the City Point men in my letter of the 1 Ith September, because I 
 
 iln any notified you on the 1st of August. 
 
 3. You Pay 1 did not furnish you with any list, or even give the 
 numbt r o[' men, by which you could declare equivalents, nor did 1 
 give you any time to prepare your announcement. You were fur- 
 nished with the lists of all paroled men delivered at City Point, num- 
 bering uj> to September 1, 18.610 men. As to other paroles held by 
 me, you failed to accept or decline the terms upon which they were tc 
 be computed and adjusted, and therefore it was useless to send them. 
 You oad, or ought to have had, duplicates of many of them in your 
 possession" If there was any particular capture on parole, or any 
 special class of paroled men whom you wished to declare exchanged, 
 you had only to announce that fact, and the lists would be furnished 
 if I had them and you had not. With what propriety could I send 
 you lists which I believed to be in accordance with the cartel, but 
 which you intimated you would decline to acknowledge ? Moreover, 
 according to my interpretation of the cartel, that instrument very 
 clearly gives the right to you to select what Federal officers and men 
 shall be relieved from their parole, whenever I discharge our officers 
 and men from their parole. I claim the same right when you dech.r 
 an exchange of your paroled men. If I had sent you lists of such of 
 your officers and men as were relieved from their parole by my declar- 
 ation of exchange, I would, in effect, have violated that provision of 
 the cartel which gives the right to " each party to relieve from parole 
 such of their own officers and men as the party may choose." It was 
 entirely unnecessary for me to give you the number of men whom my 
 notice declared exchanged. They were all Vicksburg captures or 
 City Point deliveries. You had the rolls of both. You had in your 
 possession as much information as 1 could communicate, even if I had 
 held the Vicksburg rolls, which I did not. 1 have already proved t i 
 you h\ the record that the former Federal agent, when he declared ex- 
 changes, gave neither lists nor the number of men. There is, how- 
 ever, a more recent case. You yourself have just declared a sweeping 
 exchange. You have not furnished me v. ith any lists or designation 
 of corps, division, brigade, regiment, or company, notwithstanding 
 the clamor you have raised about my omission in those particulars. 
 Your i ejection as to want of time for the preparation of your an- 
 nouncement, is a small one at best. The cartel does not make it 
 incumbent upon me to give you time. Your predecessor did not give 
 it, to me; The correspondence, however, between us, before the 12th 
 
04 
 
 of September, was of such a nature as must have prevented a sur- 
 prise. 
 
 4. I did not make any such agreement with your predecessor, Lieut. 
 Col. Ludlow, as you state, nor did I ever make any agreement with 
 any one, by which I renounced the right to claim the paroles given 
 t Gettysburg. The first official letter which I ever addressed to you 
 was in relation to this very subject. It bears date August 1, 1883, 
 and is as follows : 
 
 " Brig. Gen. S. A. Meredith, 
 
 " Agent of Exchange : 
 
 "Sir : In the Army and Navy Official Gazette of the date of July 
 Nth, 1863, I find a letter from Lieut. Col. Wm. H. Ludlow, of the 
 date of July 7th, IS63, addressed to Col. J. C. Kelton. In it is the 
 following paragraph, to wit : 
 
 " ' I have the honor also to state that since the 22d of May last, it 
 has been distinctly understood between Mr. Ould and myself, that all 
 captures must be reduced to possession, and that all paroles are to be 
 disregarded unless taken under the special arrangement of command- 
 ing officers of armies in the field, as prescribed in section seven of 
 the cartel.' 
 
 " If Lieut Col._Jjudlow mean3 that he had declared to me that such 
 was the rule which had been adopted by the United States in relation to 
 captures and paroles, to go into eifect from and after May 23d, 1863, 
 he is entirely right. If he means that I at any time consented to 
 adopt or acquiesce in any such rule, he is entirely wrong. All that 
 passed between us on that subject is in writing. The correspondence 
 will interpret itself. 
 
 " Respectfully, your ob't. serv't., 
 
 "Rob't. Ould, 
 " Agent of Exchange" 
 
 The [general order, No. JOG, issued at- Washington, which Lieut. 
 Col. Ludlow communicated to me on the 23d May, 1863, in its 131st 
 paragraph provides, that " if the Government does not approve of the 
 parole, the paroled officer must return into captivity ; and should the 
 enemy refuse to receive him, he is free of his parole." In no com- 
 munication, in no interview with either Lieut. Col. Ludlow or your- 
 self, where the subject was under consideration, did I ever fail to de- 
 mand that, if your Government rejected the paroles, the parties should 
 return into captivity. I had the warrant of your own general order 
 for that demand, but pleaded it in vain. So far from carrying out its 
 own general order, your Government, on the 30th June last, while 
 the order was in force, and before the publication s of general order, 
 No. 207, convened a court of enquiry, and required the court to give 
 its opinion on the following point, to wit: whether Major Duane and 
 Captain Michler, captured and paroled on the 28th June, 1863, should 
 be placed on duty without exchange, or be required to return to the 
 enemy as prisoners of war. The general order required the latter, 
 but the court found that the Government was free to place those offi- 
 
95 
 
 cers on duty without exchange. The reason given by the court was. 
 not that the Federal agent and myself had agreed to regard such pa- 
 roles as invalid, but that I had been notifled they would not be recog- 
 nized. It is true that I was informed that certain paroles would not 
 be considered as valid, but I was also notified at the same time, by the 
 same hand, and through the same instrument, that the " paroled 
 officer" must return into captivity if his parole was not approved. 
 In other words, on that day (May 23d, 1863,) Lieut. Col. Ludlow, 
 with little or no comment, delivered to me general order. No. 100, 
 as the rules adopted for the government of the Federal army. I never 
 had any intimation that all the provisions of general order, No. 100, 
 did not continue in force, until I received, on the 8th of July, 1863, 
 the following letter from Lieut. Col. Ludlow : 
 
 •« Fort Monroe, July 7th, 1863. 
 
 " Sir : I herewith enclose to you a copy of general order, No. 207, 
 which contains some additional provisions to those mentioned in my 
 communication to you of the 22d May last. It is understood that 
 officers of the United States and Confederate officers have, at various 
 times and places, paroled and released prisoners of war, not in accor- 
 dance with the cartel. 
 
 " The Government of the United States will not recognize, and will not 
 expect the Confederate uthorities to recognize such unauthorized pa- 
 roles. Prisoners released on parole not authorized by the cartel, after 
 my notice to you of the 22d May, will not be regarded as prisoners 
 of war, and will not be exchanged. 
 
 " Where prisoners of war have been released without the delivery 
 
 specified in the cartel, since the 22d of May last, such release will be 
 
 regarded as unconditional, and the prisoners released as subject to 
 
 orders without exchange, the same as if they had never been captured. 
 
 '• I am, very respectfully, 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 "Wm. II. Ludlow. 
 " Lieut. Col. and Agent for Exchange of Prisoners. 
 
 i; Hon. Rob't. Ould, Agent, fyc." 
 
 The " notice " referred to in Lieut. Col. Ludlow's leiter was the 
 delivery of general order, No. 100, with its 131st paragraph. That 
 paragraph was sot aside by the provisions of general order, No. 207, 
 which bears date July 3, 1863, three days after the submission of the 
 question of the paroles of Duane and Michler to the court of inquiry, 
 two days after its finding, and several days after our captures in the 
 Gettysburg campaign. On the 7th of July,- 1863, Lieut. Col. Lud- 
 low substantially informs me that although he notified me on the 22d 
 of May, that paragraph 131 of general order, No. 100, was to be 
 •continued in foree ; yet, under the circumstances of the case, and in 
 view of what had taken place in Maryland and Pennsylvania, said 
 paragraph was not to be considered as being in force at any time after 
 the 22d of May, and general order, No. 207, although it was issued 
 July 3, 1863, should be construed as bearing date the 22d of May, 
 preceding ! 
 
9G 
 
 It will be observed that Lieut. Col. Ludlow, in his letter to me of 
 ihc 7th of July, no .where saya I had made any agreement Avith him, 
 and yet it. bears the same date as bis latter to Col. Kelton. It is ap- 
 parent on the face of the paper that he is conveying to me certain 
 information for the first time, and that this information is the " addi- 
 tional provisions " of general order. No. 207, one of which set aside 
 paragraph 131 of general order, No. UK). The court of enquiry, in 
 its finding, (see Army and Navy Official Gazette, July 14, 1863,) 
 says I was •' hotijuid" £c. Lieut. Col. Ludlow, in his letter to*Col. 
 Kelton, says it was distinctly " understood " between Mr Ould and 
 himself, etc. You, in your letter of the 24th of September, say 1 
 made an ''-agreement" with your predecessor. - The notification first 
 rises to an understanding, and is then elevated into an agreement. 
 What further promotion it will receive remains to be seen. 
 
 You have charged a deliberate breach of good faith upon the part 
 of the Confederate States. Let. me bring to your attention an inci- 
 dent connected with this matter of release from paroles. On March 
 9, 1863, General Schenck, of immortal memory, issued a general 
 order, No/' 15, requiring all officers and men who had been captured 
 and paroled in his department, and particularly in the Shenandoah 
 Valley, but who had not been exchanged, to return to duty on penalty 
 of being considered deserters. Your general order in force at. that 
 time — No. 49, February 28, 1863— in section 8, provided that if the 
 engagement which a prisoner made was not approved by his Govern- 
 ment, ho was bound to return and surrender himself as a prisoner of 
 war. The same general order, No. 49, in the same section 8, uses these 
 memorable words, which I now set up against your present extraordinary 
 claims, to wit : ' ; His own Government cannot, at the same time, dis- 
 own his engagement and refuse his return as a prisoner." In spite 
 of those honest words, General Schenck issued his order, which to this 
 day has not been countermanded, in effect directing not only that such 
 as were captured and paroled after March 9th, 1863, should 
 return to duty, but also all who had been captured and paroled, 
 under the circumstances named, since the beginning of hosilities, 
 on penalty of being considered deserters. At that very time 
 and afterwards, even to as late as Stoneman's raid, the former agent 
 of exchange was charging against me, and receiving credit for captures 
 and paroles simlar to those repudiated by Schenck's order. It is due to 
 Lieut. Col. Ludlow that I should say that, when thematter was brought 
 to his attention, he declared that Schenck's action was without proper 
 authority, and that I would have credit for such as reported for duty 
 under the order. Still the order was not countermanded, but, on the 
 contrary, has been followed and sustained by general order, No. 207. 
 I have received no returns of such as have reported under Schenck's 
 order, and never will. 
 
 In your letter of the 24th of September, and others, you refer, in 
 connection with our Gettysburg captures, to " paroles not in accor- 
 dance with the cartel." The phrase figures not only in your corres^ 
 pondence, but in the findings of your courts and in some of your 
 
ft 
 
 general orders. Let me here, in the most formal manner, assure yoi 
 that the Confederate Government considers the cartel to be bindin 
 and imperative to the fullest extent of any and all of its provisions 
 I have never asked you to respect a parole which is inconsistent witii 
 that instrument. You say the Gettysburg paroles are in contra 
 tiw,, of the cartel. 1 et me give ydu some of them — all, or near!;, 
 of them belong to one or the other class : 
 
 " T, the subscriber, a prisoner of war, captured near Gettysburg 
 Pa., do give my parole of honor not to take up anus against the Con- 
 federate States, «»r to do any military duty whatevw, or to give ani 
 information that may be prejudicial to the interest of the same, until 
 regularly exchanged. In the event this parole is not recognized by 
 the Federal authorities, I give my parole of honor to report to Rich 
 mond, Va., as a prisoner of war within thirty days. 
 
 " John E. Parsons, 
 " 1st Lieut, and Adft. 1 49 th Pa. Vols" 
 
 ber, a prisoner of war, captured near Gettysburg. 
 Pa., do give my parole of honor not to take up arms against the Con- 
 fedsrate States, or to do any military duty whatever, or to giye an/ 
 information that may be prejudicial to the interests of the same, until 
 regularly exchanged. This parole is unconditional, and extended t 
 a wounded officer for the sake of humanity, to save a painful and te 
 dious iourney to the i 
 
 ''Roy Stone, Col. 149$ P. 17' 
 
 " We, the undersigned, of the company and regiment opposite our 
 
 names, do solemnly sweat that we will not take up arms against tl. v 
 Confederate States o: America until i , exchanged in a 
 
 with (artel, even if required to du so by our Governm, 
 
 " The following named prisoners, captured near Gettysburg, 
 are paroled on the following conditions, namely, not to take up a 
 against the Confederate States, or to do any military duty what 
 or to give any information that may be prejudicial to the same, ttht I 
 regularly exchanged; this parole is unconditional, and if not r< 
 nized by the authorities of the United States Government, all ph 
 themselves to repair to Itichmond, as prisoners of war, at the expii 
 tion of twenty days from this date." 
 
 Does the cartel contemplate that these officers and men should 
 returned to duty without exchange ? It no where say6 so upon it- 
 When we were without any cartel, all such paroles, and, in fact, all i 
 tary paroles, were respected. The very first act of the og< ata i 
 change was to adjust mutual accounts as to the officers am! men wh- 
 been captured and paroled before the oartel • ed. If it had be< n 
 
 intended by the cartel to repudiate such paroles as • 
 tysburg, or upon any battle field, a provision to that effect, in 
 tinct terms, would have been incorporated in it. That instrument * • 
 intended to apply to "all prisoners of azt held by aithcr party " — ,. 
 such as' were in military depots Or | isons, to such a- d r • 
 
 moved i'rem the battle field or place - 'are, and reduced in 
 
98 
 
 actual possession. It left the force and effect of military paroles, and 
 tbe respect which should be paid to their., to be determined by the 
 usages of civilized nations of modern times. It certainly did not 
 purpose to prevent a wounded officer or man from entering into a stip- 
 ulation not to take up arms until exchanged, as the condition of his 
 release, when his life would be at the serious risk of forfeit if be did 
 cot make the contract. Nor does it anywhere deny the right of any 
 ier, wounded or not, to bind his Government, by his military obli- 
 gation, when he is in the hands of the enemy. The latter part of 
 article seven does not really controvert this view. That clause intended 
 Lve " tbe commanders of two opposing armies' 5 the power of de- 
 claring an exchange of prisoners, with the further right of paroling 
 whatever surplus there might be after the exchange was arranged. 
 V ithout such clause, the two commanders would have no right to de- 
 rm exchange. It was, therefore, inserted. Until recently, no- 
 1 • ever pretended that the cartel forbid the giving and receiving of 
 b 'inary military paroles. Tbe uniform practice under the cartel for 
 r rly a year sanctioned them. Whatever, however, may be the de- 
 termination as to this matter, it is entirely clear that at the time 
 t: 3 |Gettysburg paroles were given, your own military law^ required 
 t: at if the parole was not approved the party should return to our 
 111 es. Many of the paroles indicate on their face that the persons 
 giving them were aware of that fact. I have, therefore, demanded 
 that if you reject these parole?, the parties who gave them should be 
 returned to u.3. The question between us is not so much whether you 
 will regard these paroles as valid, as whether you will comply with a 
 r:;le of your own making, and which was advertised to us as being 
 t\ : controlling law of the case. 
 
 I know not what you mean by your reference, on your third page, 
 to article four, of the cartel. All the officers and men whom I declared 
 •?> -hanged, were " actually restored to our lines." All the officers 
 an 3 men whom I requested you to select as equivalents for them in 
 t) • exchange. " had been restored to your lines." 
 
 The parties whom I have declared exchanged, have not been " re- 
 ti ined to their paroles, as requested by Lieut. Col. Ludlow." I do 
 i. t understand by what sort of reading of the exchange notice of the 
 of September you make out that only '•' two ^officers (Generals 
 Stevenson, and Bowen) " were exchanged. My letters of July 13, 
 September I :, and September 26, will inform you of all the "Vicks- 
 \ org prisoners, officers and men, whom I have declared exchanged. 
 
 Your objection to the declaration of the exchange of the general 
 officers paroled at Vickfchurg, because there were no equivalents of the 
 &--r>e grade*, is exploded by the provision of the cartel which declares 
 that " men and officers of lower grades may be exchanged for officers 
 of a higher grade." 
 
 I have, iiiufr answeicd all the iten 3 of your letter of the 24th Sept. 
 I regret the extreme length of the reply. I have, however, confined 
 i: -;-e)f to the matter of that letter, and to such subjects as were di- 
 rectly connected with its contents. In a future communication I will 
 ca!J to your attention the instances of the violation of the cartel by 
 
99 
 
 the Federal authorities. Notwithstanding the expression of their 
 sudden regard for that instrument, I will show they have continued 
 those violations from its date to the present moment. 
 
 I now inform you, in view of the recent declaration of exchange 
 made by you, coupled with your failure either to agree to or decline 
 the proposition made to you on the 2 4th. of August last, in rela- 
 tion to paroles, that the Confederate authorities will consider them- 
 selves entirely at liberty to pursue any course as to e:vc. or pa» 
 roles which they may deem right and proper under all the circum- 
 stances of the case. At the same time, I am directed to e ■■ • 
 entire willingness to adopt any fair, just and reciprocal rule in rela- 
 tion to those subjects, without any delay. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant. 
 
 ROBT. OULD, 
 
 Agent of J' 
 
 [No. 28.] 
 BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH TO MR. OULD. 
 
 Headquarters Dep't of Va., 7th Aumv Corps, ) 
 For> Monro* , J>.. Sept. 14, 1863. S 
 
 Hon. Robert Ould, 
 
 Agent of Exchange : 
 
 Sir : In your letter of Sep'. 7th, declining to exchange General 
 Graham for Gener.il Smith, you state ''that I appear I boring 
 
 under some strange mistake; that General Smith has already been 
 exchanged, and, that I have received the equivalent.'' On i ily 14th, 
 1863, my predecessor, Lieut! Col. Ludlow, wrote to ^u, positively 
 declining to unite with you in your 1 iclaration of exchange of July 
 13th, and requesting you to notify the officers therein n.nned, that 
 their exchange would not be recognized by the authorities of the 
 United States. May T ask, who w;is the "equivalent" delivered for 
 General Smith? I now repeat to you the notification of L 
 Ludlow, and state that the authorities of the United States v ill not 
 recognize the exchange of the above officers until united in by me. 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 S. A MEREDITH, 
 Brig. Gen. and Corfffw Fxrfrr 
 
1U0 
 
 [No. 2!).] 
 
 MR. OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 C. S. A., War Department, } 
 
 Richmond, Va. t Sept. 14. 186".. <, 
 Brig. Gen. S. A. Mkuedith, 
 
 Agent of Exchange : 
 
 Sir : : :: vour letter of the 1 4th instant, you inquire "who was the 
 equivalent delivered for General Smith.'' If you Will refer to 
 my letters of the 13th and 17th of July, you will find out who wa*s 
 the ij'iivalent. It had been our practice, whenever a special 
 exchange' v. as declared by one party, to allow the other to select the 
 equivalent from prisoners already paroied or delivered. I pursued 
 that course in the case of the Vicksburg general officers. The equiv- 
 alent could be found in officers and men paroled at Fredericksburg, 
 in pursuance of an agreement between Generals Lee and Hooker. 
 If that was not satisfactory, the equivalent could easily be found in 
 the ten thousand prisoners whom I had released from captivity and 
 sent to City Point. In that ten thousand there was an ex^oss of more 
 than six thousand, at least, over the number you had delivered at the 
 same place since the last general declaration of exchange. My letter 
 of the 17th of July contains a fair statement, not only of the practice 
 of the gents of exchange, but of the grounds of my authority to 
 declare the exchange of the Vicksburg general officers, including 
 Gen. M. L. Smith. The effort to cast discredit upon the regular and 
 honorable exchange of thelle officers, is, to use a phrase of your own, 
 m>one of jour letters of the 14th instant, "simply ridiculous." 
 Respectfully, vour obedient servant. 
 
 ROBERT OULD, 
 
 Agent of Exchange. 
 
 [No. #().] 
 EXCHANGE NOTICE No. ?. 
 
 Richmond, Oct. 16th, 1863. 
 
 The following Confederate officers and men are hereby declared 
 (luly exchanged : 
 
 •1. MY officers and men captured and paroled at any time previous 
 to the urst of September, 1863. This section, however, is nor 
 intended to include.any officers or men captured at Vicksburg, July 
 4th, I8b3, except such as were declared exchanged by exchange 
 notice No. 6, Sept. 12th, 1863, or are specifically named in this 
 notice. But it does embrace all deliveries made at City* Point or 
 
101 
 
 other place before Sept. 1st, 1863, and with the limitation above- 
 named, all captures at Port Hudson or any other place, whore the 
 parties were released on parole. 
 
 2. The staff of Generals Pemberton, Stevenson, Bowen, Moore, 
 Barton, S. I>. Leo, Oummings, Harris, and Baldwin, and of Colonels 
 Reynolds, Oockrell, and Dockerey, the officers and men belonging to 
 the engineer corps and sappers and miners, and the fourth and forty- 
 sixth Mississippi regiments, all captured at Yicksburg. July 4th. 
 1863. 
 
 3. The general officers captured at Vieksburg, July 4th, 1863, 
 were declared exchange! July 13th, 18 
 
 ROBERT OULD, 
 
 Agent of Exchange. 
 
 [No. 31.] 
 \l. OTXLD To BRIG. GKN r . MEREDITH. 
 
 Richmond, Oct. 16th, 1363. 
 Brig. Gren. S. A. Meredith, 
 
 Agent of Exchmze : 
 Sir: I herewith cnelose to you a declaration of exchange, wh. 
 shall publish in a day or two. You will perceive it is based upon the 
 declaration uf exchaugc communicated to me in your letter of the 
 24th of September last. In my notice I have followed your pi, 
 ology. I would have preferred another form of declaration more in 
 accordance with the circumstances of the ease. Inasmuch, however, 
 as my declaration to a considerable extent h retaliatory of you 
 have deemed it more appropriate to follow your own form of c::nres- 
 8i< n 
 
 I li: .lined from d< QgeAhe large residue of 
 
 burg capture. The only addition I have made to the notifica- 
 tiwts already given you as far as that capture is concerned, is Ihe 
 fourth and forty- sixth aents. According I ocjin- 
 
 are considerably in debl upon your exch 
 
 notice, even if 1 take, into consideration only such paroles as those to 
 which no* objection has been made. I have adopted the principl 
 your general orders in the computation of the paroles in in 
 Bion, and will continue to do so. until some other agreement i> made 
 between us. 1 r myself the right to make furthe ' I clara- 
 
 tions of exchange from time to ti; n my 
 
 office, until i have d< v <-iare 1 exchanged a number of Confederate sol- 
 diers equal to that of Federal troops declared exchanged by .• »ur last 
 notice. At the same time, 1 expree ijlingness 
 
 any fair, just, and reciprocal rule of (imputation and apply 
 both to bhe past and the future. 
 
 pectfully, your ol »nt, 
 
 ROBERT OULD, 
 
 nt of Exchcn 
 
102 
 
 [No, 32.] 
 
 BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH TO MR. OULD. 
 
 Head Quarters, Depart.memt of Va. and N C. ) 
 Fort Monroe, Oct. 17, 1862. j 
 lion. Robt. Oui.n, 
 
 Agent of Exchange, Richmond, Va : 
 
 Sir : On the 22d Bay of May, 1863, Lieut. Col. Ludlow, then agent 
 of exchange for the United States, enclosed you copies of general 
 orders, No. 49 and No. 100, of War Department, announcing regu- 
 lations and instructions for the government of United State i forces in 
 the 6eld, in the matter of paroles, stating that these orders and the 
 cartel are to govern our forces; when the cartel conflicts with the 
 orders they must be :-et aside. The cartel requires that prisoners of 
 war shall he delivered at certain named places, and if they are not so 
 delivered, the paroles cannot be valid. la consequence of the usage 
 which h 1 1 governed both parties up to that time, instructions were sub- 
 sequently issued that paroles given before the 22d of May should be 
 considered valid, though deliveries had not been made as required by 
 Che .cartel. In order to the putting in force these instructions, it wag 
 not necessary to ask your corisent. We were only bound to- notify 
 you that from that time the cartel would 1 e ridgidly adhered to by us, 
 and the same course would he exacted of the Confederate authorities. 
 
 If you wish paroles recognized when the parties were not delivered 
 at the places named in the cartel, you "ask that paroles not in con- 
 formity with the stipulations of the cartel should be regarded as valid." 
 
 I will now proceed to show that your declaration of September 12th 
 was not in accordance with the parte!. Your reference to acts of 
 Lieut. Col. Ludlow doe#not sustain you; for, according to your own 
 letter, Lieut. Col. L. was declaring an exchange to cover a "balance 
 due" on deelarations previously made by you. The troops thus de- 
 clared exchanged by Lieut. Col. Ludlow are as folloxvs: 
 
 51st Reg't Ind. Vol. - - - 371 
 
 75th " • - ' ,- 268 
 
 '« Ohio " - 311 
 
 nn, Cavalry, - 58 
 
 1,01)8 
 ted at Mt. Sterling, ... 463 
 
 1,471 
 
 You state that the "excess," without taking into account the Mount 
 Sterling captures, was 2,290, whereas the whole number, including 
 said captures, amount only to* 1,47 I. 
 
 If, in making up this balance, Lieutencnt Colonel Ludlow failed to 
 give rolls and numbers, it does not justify you in anticipating a decla 
 
103 
 
 ration by me, without famishing me either rolls or numbers, 
 me time to consult the records to make them up for myself. V\ 
 the paroling is properly done, b:>th parties have rolls, and then I 
 can be little difficulty in arranging an exchange, to be simultaneously 
 declared. You state that when the Federal troops were declared ex- 
 changed to the 6th of May, the Confederates were declared exchai I 
 to the 22d of May, inclusive • I have nothing to show that the i c- 
 es on both sides were not alike. The Confederate 
 >d between the two dates amount to 5,083 privates, and, if we 
 have already received equivalents for them, they should be dedu 1 
 from my form. ■ ion. Without counting those, tbe number 
 
 covered by your declaratio Member 12, and the Bub equent e< 
 
 planatory declaration of September 26, amounts to 29-,45 ! . 
 The number of Federal troops on parole to September 1st, and 
 
 to 23,91 i. included are those 
 
 paroled at Getty I id, a! 
 
 Point. 
 
 These number- differ from those given to you before, because, in 
 making ^up that calculation, nil jmlisted me« were counted aliko> 
 whereas non-c officers should h . i counted aa 6 
 
 privates. 
 
 Giving you, then, credit for the .">,083 enli i, which j 
 
 were delivered at City Point between the Gth and the 53d of 
 
 red exchanged by Colonel Ludlow, you are now irdebtS 
 
 enlisted men. 
 
 state that you have in your possession vali 
 to 16,<)0i) men. For all the prisoners that we claim • s 
 
 at the pi aed in I i 
 
 and if \ ou 
 the 16,001) men you speak fill, of course, be lecogniz 
 
 valid, and you will be credited with them. 
 
 t fully, your o int, » 
 
 Rrig. Gen. and Com. for Exch. 
 
 [No. 33.] 
 MR. : I DITR 
 
 ITU, 
 
 : In reply to your communication of the 17th instant. I 
 that general ordei nd 100 were to meat the 
 
 time. I received general order.-. No. 49 long befo 
 delivered to me. Their respective date- will anew that to be the 
 
104 
 
 I [y own personal recollection is that general orders. No. IQI 
 :.ever communicated in a letter. It is my habit faithfully to keep all 
 letters written by the Federal Agent of Exchange. A careful search 
 
 < f the records of ray office does not disclose any letter from Lieut. 
 Col. Ludlow communicating general orders. No. 100. Lieutenant 
 Colonel Ludlow met me at City Point on the 23d of M '■. and 
 be then and there delivered to da orders, i bating 
 I tat the principles therein announced would, in the future, control the 
 
 ations of the forces of the United States. No written communis 
 
 ition accompanied it. If any one was ever, written to accompany it. 
 
 i never received it. You are in error, therefore, when you say that 
 
 Lieutenant Colonel Ludlow, on the 22d May, 1863, enclosed copies 
 
 of general orders. No. 49 and No. 100, announcing regulations and 
 
 actions for the government of the United States forces in the 
 
 . in the natter of paroles, Btating that these orders and the cartel 
 > ere to govern your forces, and that when the cartel conflicted with 
 the orders, they were to be set aside. Independent of the facts of the 
 ase, I am justified in saying that any such communication would 
 1 ive been very extraordinary. It would not only have admitted that 
 Lie general ^orders were in violation of the cartel, but would have 
 
 red that the later general order, which, on its face, was announced 
 to be the controlling law, should be set aside by the provisions con- 
 tained in an. earlier paper. 
 
 I again assert that the only notification I ever received as to y> ur 
 successiv< ? purpose in the matter of paroles, w as | from 
 
 your own general orders, according to their respective dates, dcliv- 
 
 < red to me without any further comment than I have already commu- 
 i. icated to you. 
 
 You say my "reference to the acts of Lieutenant ColoneJ Ludlow" 
 d-jes not sustain me. Y r ou further say«"the thus declared 
 
 exchanged by lieutenant Colonel Ludlow are as follows-/' 
 
 5 1st Regiment Indiana Volunteers , - - - - - 71 
 
 73th " " " 268 
 
 3d " Ohio " 311 
 
 Tennessee -'. _..___ 
 
 1,008 
 Paroled at Mtfunt' Sterling, ------ 
 
 1,471 
 
 Permit me to say that I read this paragraph of your letter with 
 very great surprise. In my letter of the 2d instant, which you were 
 iting, I gave, at length, the communication of Lieutenant Colo- 
 ] .el Ludlow, and by reference to it, you will. find that not only are the 
 j egiments which you have named therein mentioned, but also the 
 i lolly Springs capture, numbering 1 ,383 privates, the 91st Illinois 
 i egiment, numbering - 6 40 privates, the officers and men of the 
 an'eda, numbering (>d privates, and the 80th regiment Illinois vol- 
 unteer^ numbering 400 privates. Not only is that the case, but 
 
}05 
 
 your enumeration of 1,471 privates in the specified regiments is 
 incorrect. The true aggegate is 1 ,670 privates. You misname one 
 of the regiments also. The regiment declared exchanged was not the 
 75th Indiana, but the 73d. 
 
 In an interview -with me at City Point, in the presence of Major 
 Mulford, you admitted that all Confederate ofiicers*nd Boldiers deliv- 
 ered at City Point before the i!.id of May, 1863. were declared 
 exchanged, while the Federal soldiers were only declared exchai 
 up to May 6th, 1863, \ et, in your letter wrii; . quent to this 
 
 admission, you say you " have nothing to show that exchang 
 both sides were not alike." Since your letter of the llt.h, in our last 
 interview you made the same admission. If the fact I ' any 
 
 time, I stand pnjpared to prove it. 
 
 As to your computation based upon my declaration 
 T refer you to my letter of the 2d of October. 1863. K\- ' state- 
 ment therein contained i • strictly and accurately correct. I again 
 assert what I am ready to prove, that J have in my possession more 
 valid paroles of your office en than would be an equivalent for 
 
 the exchauges I have declared up to this date. 
 
 Respectfully, yoi Uent servant. 
 
 ROBERT OULD, 
 Ag&U / Exchange. 
 
 [No. 34.J 
 
 MR. OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 Richmond, Oct. 20, 1863. 
 Brig. Gen. S. A. Meredith, 
 ./-'/■/ <>f Exchen 
 
 Sir : More than a month ago I asked your acquiescence in a pro- 
 position, that all officers and soldiers on both sides should be rel 
 in conformity with the provisions of the cartel. In order to obviate 
 the difficulties between us, I suggested that all officers and men on 
 aid be released, unless they were subject to charges . in 
 which event, the opposite Government should have the righj of holding 
 one or more hi if the retention was not justified. You stated 
 
 to me, in conversation, that this proposition wa f:yi\ and that 
 
 you woald ask the consent of your Government to it. As u 3 ual, you 
 have as yet made no response. I tell you frankly, I do not expect 
 any. Perhaps you may disappoint m#, and tell me that you rej 
 accept the proposition. I write this letter for the purpose of bringing 
 lur recollection my proposition, and of dissipating th< idea that 
 been purposely encouraged by your pubri . that 
 
 the Confederate Government efused or objected lea 
 
 exchanges. 
 
106 
 
 i 
 To order to avoid any mistake in that direction, I now propose that 
 all officers and men on both sides be released in conformity with the 
 provi :' the cartel, the excess on one side or the other to be on 
 
 parole. Will )ou accept this ? I have no expectation of an answer, 
 "but perhaps you m;iy give one. If it does come, I hope it will be, 
 ■ 
 
 Cully, your obedient servant. 
 
 ROBERT OULD, 
 rent of Exchange. 
 
 [No. 35.] 
 
 MR. OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 Richmond, Oct. 27th, 1363. 
 Brig. Gen. S. A. Meredith, 
 
 Agent of Exchange: 
 
 Sir: I enclose, to you a memorandum of the paroles to which I 
 have referred in several recent communications Moat of these 
 paroles, you will observe, are antecedent to May 23d, 1S63. : The 
 reascn why these paroles have not been heretofore discharged, is that 
 up to' July, 1863, we had the advantage of prisoners and paroles. 
 Not one of these paroles is covered by any declaration of exchange, 
 except the one lately made by you. For no one of them have I 
 receive! any equivalent. All of them since the date r»f 
 orders. No. 2U7, were given in pursuanc isi.noc agreement 
 
 •n the commanders of two ■ . mies. I have many other 
 
 paroles in uiy pofcsiefcsiun, Lui i nave only -presented those which are 
 within the terms of your general orders, according to their respective 
 dates. 
 
 I understand there are other paroles coming within the same gene- 
 ral orders, which were given by your officers and men on the other 
 side of the Mississippi river. They have not as yet reaehed me. 
 When they do, and when I show they are within the scope of your 
 general orders, I will claim them — otherwise I will discard them. 
 
 I have also received other informal paroles, which I have sent back 
 for correction, ^hese are also within the provisions of your general 
 orders. When they arc returned, I will claim them also. 
 • Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 ROBERT OULD, 
 Agent of Exchange. 
 
1(17 
 
 < 
 
 [No. 36.] 
 BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH TO MB. OULD. 
 
 OpFtcE Commissioner for Exchange. ) 
 For;, rs 1/ • ■ . Fa., Oct. 29, 1863. ) 
 Hon. Rour.KT Oulb, 
 
 dgent of Exchange, Richmond, Va. : 
 
 Sir: I am in receipt of your communicati m of the 2(>th instant. 
 the tenor of which induces me to make some explanatory statements 
 of Pacts, with which, it would seem, you need to be reminded. 
 
 The system of exchanges, of prisoners of war, determined in the 
 existing cartel, was first interrupted by the declared purpose of the 
 Confederate Government to make certain distinctions in the I 
 of a. particular class of troops, officers and men, in violation of the 
 provisions of the cartel. This appears to have been the first step 
 towards the irregularities which have culminated in your unequr 
 declaration, reported by me to my government on the 8ih i n - tint. 
 that "you will proceed to declare exchanges whenever you Conscien- 
 tiously feel that you have the right to do so. for the purpose of 
 ting men into the fiel 
 
 There c » objections to your acting conscientious! 
 
 given case, so long as your conscience is enlightened and guided by 
 
 ■ laws of war which require obedience between bellig 
 solemn agreements, entered into by authorized commissione - 
 
 ! " their respective ors. But, if you mean by the 
 
 expression, **your conscientii I ■ of right," to subs< ; - 
 
 ■ of right for the requirement* of an existing . 1 can by no 
 means concede to you that right; and if not mean ll 
 cannot understand what yon I 
 
 proceed ii ■ems thai 
 
 a -'dull Confederate officers and soldierson parole 
 within what you claim as your lines, up to a very recent date, with 
 out having any proper right so to do, either under the cartel of un lei 
 the I iws of war. 
 
 The history of this matter, :i s 1 understand it. is briefly this: 
 While my predecessor; on duty at this place, n 
 of th • uow committed to me, you at one tiro 
 
 tion of exchange, embracing no great number of prisoners of 
 not in citcordance with the requirements of the cart< 1, and yon in 
 Col Ludlow, my predecessor, to make a < ■ 
 equivalents. Such a declaration was made by Col. Ludlow, doul 
 
 »ating the magnitude of the evil which appi is the 
 
 result, of that departure from the cartel, first inaugurated by yourself 
 
 equently to my coming on duty here, tin events of the war I 
 up m your hands a large body of paroled officers and n 
 3(1,00(1,) captured by General Grant at \ nd not lo 
 
 ward- some 6, Oi H? or more captured by General 1 I Port 11 i 
 
 Suddenly, and without any proper eonfi iding 
 
108 
 
 with me, and but a few days prior to the important events at Chicka- 
 fflauga, as if for the express purpose of increasing the force of General 
 Bragg against General Rosencrans, you gave me notice that, on the 
 next day after the date of that notie •. you would declare exchanged a 
 large portion of the troops which had been captured by Gen'l Grant. 
 
 V\ }\en your declaration was made, it covered an indeterminate num- 
 ber of troops, designated by commands, brigades, divisions and corps, 
 no definite number either of officers or men being designated. Up to 
 that time, you had delivered at City Point a certain number of pris- 
 oners of war, for which you had receipts, by which you must have 
 known the number you might claim the right to discharge from their 
 parole. You did not think proper to limit yourself to this number, 
 nor. in any proper manner did you refer to it, but made your decla- 
 ration of exchange in such indefinite terms as made it next to certain 
 that you "did not intend to be governed by the cartel. 
 
 On referring to the data furnished by the reports of General Grant, 
 and now in the hands of the Commissary General of prison- 
 Washington, it was ascertained that you had discharged from parole, 
 by your declaration, a very considerable number of your men over 
 and above any claim you might pretend to, founded on receipts for 
 prisoners of war delivered from the South according to the cartel. 
 
 Without referring to. fractions, it appeared, from the best data in 
 our hands, that you had discharged three for two, or one-third more 
 than you were entitled to. 
 
 You suggested that I should make a corresponding declaration of 
 exchange, when, as I suppose, you must have known you had not 
 delivered to me, nor had you valid paroles of our men sufficient to 
 cover the number declared exchanged by yourself; and. when I pro- 
 ceeded to make the' declaration extending to those men you had 
 delivered, and stated to you my objection to your proceedings, you 
 insisted that you had valid paroles For more than the number that you 
 had declared exchanged, though you failed to produce those paroles, 
 or togivc any account or history of them ; and you then proceeded to 
 make a further declaration of exchange, ignoring the cartel altogether — 
 basing your action upon no data communicated to me, the whole proceed- 
 ing resting, as I suppose you will say, upon your sense of right, as if 
 you were the only party having a right to an opinion on the subject — 
 acting evidently in anticipation of the formal declaration referred to 
 at the commencement of this communication, " that you will proceed 
 to make declarations of exchange foT the purpose of putting troops 
 into the field, whenever you think proper;" and, having now 
 exhausted, by a declaration of exchange, the paroled prisoners in your 
 hands, you propose to me 'the delivery of prisoners of war in our. 
 hands, for whom you have no equivalents — or, comparatively, but 
 very few — in order, as it were, that you may obtain possession of 
 many thousand more men of your own, delivered or on parole, for the 
 purpose of declaring them also exchanged, and putting them into the 
 field, not in conformity with the existing cartel, nor .in accordance 
 with the usages of war, but whenever, in your individual judgment, 
 you may think it- proper to do so. 
 
109 
 
 I ha.ve only to add, that an easy inference from this statement is 
 the answer I have to make to your proposal of the 20th instant, which 
 is not accepted. 
 
 Respectfullv. your obedient servant, 
 
 S. A. MEREDITH, 
 Brig. Gen, and Commission?/- for Seech 
 
 [No. 37] 
 
 :. OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 Con kh! rati: States oa America, War iDepajitment, ) 
 
 Richmond, October 31, 1SG3. \ 
 Brig. Gen. S. A. Meredith, 
 
 Agent of Exch inge : 
 
 Sir : Your communication of the 29th instant, has been received, 
 and i iry :md groundless statements read with surprise. 
 
 To: Tit mc as having informed you that 1 would proceed 
 
 to declare ;es whenever 1 conscientiously felt that I had the 
 
 right to ' the purpose of putting men into the Geld. In :in- 
 
 r letter 1 am charged with having stated that I would 
 proceed t declarations of exchange for the purpose of putting 
 
 troops inl Id, whenever 1 thought proper. Doth of th 
 
 grapl tween quotation marks, to indicate tjuit I had communi- 
 
 cated them. M >ret>ver, they are mentioned as beingmy "unequivocal 
 ion a faithful examination of my correspondence 
 with you and .1 ean find no ii in which 
 
 used by me. Will you inform me of the date of 
 any such communication, or furnish me "with a copy of it ? If you 
 cannot you will certainly deem me justified in denouncing your state- 
 ment as utterly without foundation in truth. 
 
 Upon tl ruses you have proceeded to throw off sundry sen- 
 
 Tit than worthy of notice. As usual, however, yon 
 tinisl; h which contains them with n misstatement, in a-- 
 
 sorting tl Lve declared exchanged all Confederate officers and 
 
 men on parole," within our lines, " up to a very recent date." I have 
 done g. 1 specially excepted the larger part of the Vicks- 
 
 •d to give what you call " a his! this matter." 
 
 That history, like-many others, turns out to i Lance. Lieut. 
 
 Col. I declarations of exchange, to which I referred in my 
 
 \ 16 were not made in response to any invita- 
 tion fi u consequence of any previous itiona which 1 
 ' dii not "inaugurate'' what you term *"* departure 
 ffon '" . cry clearly show- 
 that f 
 
 . also, in it the Vicksburg capture 
 
\ 1 
 
 was subsequent to your " coming to duty " at Fortress Monro 1 
 received official communications from Lieut. Col. Ludlow as late as 
 July 22, 186S, weeks after the Vicksburg surrender, and none from 
 you until the 25th of the same month. 
 
 Your charge that the declaration of exchange, hearing date Sep- 
 tember \2. 1863, was. made "as if for lac express purpose of inci 
 yog the force of General Bragg against General Rosencrans." This, 
 ■ is untrue. The declaration was not published until several days 
 after the 12th, although it bore that date. Not one of the officers or 
 men named in that .'ion of exchange was on the battle-field of 
 
 Chick am auga. 
 
 You further say I \. ■ known that I had not delivered to you, 
 
 nor hal I valid paroles of your men. sufficient to cover the number 
 declared exchanged by me. I knew exactly thv. contrary, and eo in- 
 formed you. On the 1 2th of September. 1863, in announcing the 
 declaration of exchange 1 would make on the following day. 1 wrote 
 to you that I had " in my possession marc valid paroles of your officers 
 and men than would be an equivalent for the officers and men" enu- 
 merated in the exchange notice. I have made the same statement to 
 you more than once since. I a in prepared to prove that it was true 
 each time it was uttered. 
 
 You say your declaration of exchange extended to those whom I 
 had delivered. If you mean that it was limited to such, you are incor- 
 rect ; for it declared exchanged all officers and men of the United 
 States army captured and paroled at any time previous to the 1st of 
 September, 1863, and included many thousands of prisoners taken 
 and paroled by our cavalry and other forces, in many States of the 
 Confederacy, never' delivered by me. I have already furnished you a 
 memorandum of at least sixteen thousand of these paroled prisoners. 
 
 You say I failed to produce the paroles, or to give any account or 
 history of them. If you mean that I refused to do so, it is not true. 
 1 offered to produce them at any time, and importuned you to agree 
 to some principle by which they could be computed and adjusted. 
 When I last met you at City Point, you requested me for the first 
 time to send to you a memorandum of the paroles claimed as valid by 
 me. I furnished you with the list on the 27th instant, that beiijg the 
 first day, after your request, on which a flag of truce boat appeared 
 at City Point. 
 
 You say I then proceeded to make a further declaration of exchange, 
 ignoring the cartel altogether, and resting the whole proceeding, as 
 you suppose, on my sense of right. There, again, you are mistaken. 
 I did not rest the proceeding entirely upon my sense of right ; I re- 
 lied, in some measure, upon yours, and to that extent, its propriety 
 maybe doubtful. In communicating to you Exchange Notice, No. 7, 
 which is the one to which you refer, I wrote to you as follows: " I 
 herewith enclose to you a declaration of exchange, which I shall pub- 
 lish in a day or two. You will perceive it is based upon the declara- 
 tion of exchange •ommunieated to me in your letter of the 24th of 
 September last. In my notice I have followed your phraseology. 1 
 would have preferred another form of declaration, more in accordance 
 
111 
 
 with the circumstances of the case. Inasmuch, however, as my dec- 
 laration, to a considerable extent, is retaliatory of yours, J have 
 deemed it more appropriate to follow your own form of expression." 
 Your letter of the 24th of September declared that " all officers and 
 men of the United States ainiy, captured and paroled at any time pre- 
 vious to the 1st of September, 1863, are duly exchanged.*' On the 
 16th of October following, I declared exchanged "nil [Confederate] 
 •dicers and men captured find paroled at any time previous to the 1st 
 at September, 1863."' If that was "ignoring the car el," as you 
 charge, I only followed your example. Our declarations of exchange 
 were precisely similar, except that in another part of my notice I re- 
 i rved from its operation the larger part of the Vicksburg paroles. !f 
 I had followed your " sense of right," as I then had and still claim 
 the right to do, I would have included all. 
 
 The Confederate authorities take it unto themselves as a proud and 
 honorable boast, that they have determined all these matters of parole: 
 and exchanges according to their "sense of right,*' and not by any 
 views of temporary expediency. In following that guide, they have 
 at least shunned some examples furnished by your Government. They 
 have never, in violation of their general orders, and without notico 
 to the adverse party, ordered their paroled officers and men lo break 
 their solemn covenaut, and, without, exchange, lift their arm- against 
 their captors. They have, therefore, esceped the pango of that re- 
 tributive justice which madc^onr general order of Jul) 3, IS63, 
 though so well suited to the meridian of Gettysburg, invalidate the 
 vroles given at Port Hudson, on the 9th of the same month* Upon 
 further reflection, I am sure you will be satisfied that it dot^s not be- 
 come your authorities, who have chosen, whenever they felt so dis- 
 posed, without notice or consent from us, to repudiate the established 
 usages of exchange, and put new constructions upon the cartel, to 
 •omplain that others have acted according to their suise of right. 
 
 Not content with all the*tnissratements of fact which I have cited, 
 
 u have, in your letter of the 29th instant, descended to a malignant 
 and wanton aspersion of the motives of the Confederate authorities i i 
 making the proposal contained in my letter of the 2dth instant. You 
 were asked to agree " that all officers and men on both sides should be 
 released, the excess on one side or the other to be on paiuio." It 
 would have been injustice enough to the many thousands >d* your 
 prisoners in our hands, and to those of ours in your custody, -imply 
 to have declined the .proposal. But you have thought pi add 
 
 • your refusal the gratuitous insult to the Confederate States, <>f inti- 
 mating that their fair and honest offer was made for the purpose of 
 putting into the field officers and men fraudulently exchanged. This 
 'alumny i« as destitute of foundation in fact, a^ it is iespicabLe :n 
 spirit. 
 
 In conclusion, let me tell you that the purpose of your letter is ap- 
 parent. It has been well known for a long time that your n : i ties 
 ire oppose*! to a fair and regular exchange of prisoners under the 
 •artel. In rejecting my proposition you have endeavored to pone 
 under % cloud of vague charges and unfounded statement tor- 
 
112 
 
 mination at v. hich your Government long since arrived. Why not be 
 frank knee ? Why not say, without any further subterfuges, that 
 you have readied the conclusion that our officer? and soldiers aremore 
 valuable, man for man, than yours ? 
 
 Respectfully,, your obedient servant. 
 
 RO. OULI), Agent of Exchange. 
 
 [No. 38.] 
 
 BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH TO MR. Ob'LD. 
 
 Office of Commissioner for Exchange, } 
 Fortress Monroe, Va., Nov. ?th, 1863. \ 
 
 Hon. Robert Ofld, 
 
 ■nt of Exchange, Richmond, Va. : 
 
 Sir : In your communication of Oct. 27th, you state, "that general 
 orders Nos. 49 and 1 00 were not sent to you at the same time." I 
 forward you herewith. a copy of Lieut. Col. Ludlow's letter, inclosing 
 to you the two orders above-mentioned, and bearing date May 22d, 
 1853. 
 
 These two orders announced general rules, based on the usages of 
 war. which, in the absence of any specific agreement between belli-, 
 gercnts. should govern in paroling prisoners of war, but in this case, 
 a carte] had already been agreed upon, and no order of either party 
 could set aside any of its provisions. For instance : A commander, 
 on being captured, might, under some circumstances, give a parole 
 for himself and his command, without violating general order No. 
 li!i>, (which includes general ordcrNo. #9,) but unless the paroling 
 was done at City Point or other named place, it would be in violation 
 of the cartel, and the paroles must therefore be set aside as invalid. 
 No exception could be taken to this course by the party granting 
 the parole, because the validity of the parole depends on a strict com- 
 pliance with the provisions of the cartel, and Avhen any other course, 
 is followed, than that pointed out by that instrument, any claim based 
 upon it must fail. Paragraph 131), of order 101), which prescribes 
 the duties which a paroled soldier may perform, is also, to some 
 extent, set aside by the cartel, which restricts these duties to a much 
 more limited field than the order. Paragraph 131 is also made inope- 
 rative by the cartel, because it could only apply to paroles not given 
 at the points designated for delivery ; all such paroles are, by the 
 cartel, made invalid, and the paroling party could therefore have no 
 pretext for claiming their recognition. If such a claim could be 
 admitted, the effect at Gettysburg. would have been to give to Gen. 
 Lee, the privilege of placing his prisoners in our hands, to be deliv- 
 ered to. him, at our own charge, at City Point, which is so manifestly 
 absurd, that even you cannot claim it. General order No. 207, vratf 
 
113 . 
 
 intended simply to announce to the army, that the irregular practice 
 of paroling small squads of men and individuals, without, roll-; o; 
 other reliable evidence of any kind, which had Very generally pre- 
 vailed, must be discontinued, and that thereafter, the cartel should 1" 
 rigidly adhered to. This announcement bad been made to the 
 federate authorities through you. 
 
 There have been rid --successive- changes of purpose in the matter 
 of paroles," as yon assert, nor changes of any kind, except so far as 
 to return to a strict ob»ervance of the cartel; and this is a ch 
 the propriety of which, I do not think yon can question. 
 
 The figures which I gave you in my letter of October 17th, 
 not given as embracing all declare'! exchanged in general -rder 167, 
 of dune 8th, but only those which Lieut. Col. Ludlow used, to i 
 up the balm cr due him after arranging that declaration with you. It 
 was the declaration which Lieut. Col. Ludlow made to cover this 
 balance, that you cite, as the precedent which authorized you to 
 announce so unexpectedly your declaration of September 12th. The. 
 80th Illinois. 31 1 men, not 400, as you say, was accidentally omitted 
 from my letter, and, by a clerical error, the 73d Indiana wis written 
 7oth Indiana. Paragraphs 5 and 6, of General Order 167, cover the 
 troops referred to, and other paragraphs cover the captures mentioned 
 by you. Any discrepancy in numbers declared exchanged at that 
 time, on either side, is of little consequence, as up to the date of that 
 order, it is assumed that the exchange account was satisfacf 
 balanced. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 S. A. MEREDITH, 
 Brig. Gen. and Com'r for .Exchange. 
 
 [No. 39.] 
 LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW TO MR. OCXD. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS Dep't OF Va., 7tH ArMV CoRFS, / 
 
 Fort Monroi, Va., May 22, 1863. j 
 
 Hon. Robert Ould, 
 
 Agent for Exchange of Prisoners : 
 
 Sik : I have the honor to enclose to you copies of General O 
 No. 4$ and No. 100, of War Department, announcing regulations 
 and instructions for the government of the United States fore 
 the field, in the matter of paroles. These, together with the stipula- 
 tions of the cartel, will govern our army. I would invite your special 
 attention to article 7 of the cartel, which provides that all prisoners 
 of war shall be sent to places of delivery therein specified. The 
 execution of this article will obviate murh discussion and difficulty 
 growing out of the mode, time, and place of giving paroles. N- 
 8 
 
114 
 
 paroles or exchanges will be considered binding, except those under 
 the stipulations of said article, permitting commanders of two 
 opposing armies to #xchange or release on parole at other points 
 mutually agreed on by said commanders. 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 Your obyuient servant, 
 
 WM. H. LUDLOW, 
 Lieut. Col. and Agent for Exchange of Prisoners. 
 
 [No. 40.] 
 
 MR. OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 C. S. A., War Department, > 
 
 Richmond, Va., Nov. 18th, 1863. $ 
 
 !>rig. Gen. S. A. Meredith, 
 
 Agent of Exchange : 
 
 Sir : In your communication of Nov. 7th, 1863, you enclose a copy 
 of a letter bearing date May 22d, 1863, purporting to have been 
 written by Lieut. Col. Ludlow and addressed to me. 
 
 I reiterate what I have before said, that general order No. 100, 
 wlenitwas delivered to me, was not accompanied by any written 
 communication. You are aware that Lieut. Col. Ludlow was at City 
 Point on the 23d of May. It is unquestionably true that he wrote 
 the aforesaid letter on the 22d, at Fortress Monroe. It is just as true 
 that he brought it with him to City Point. My own personal recol- 
 lection is perfectly distinct that, at the conclusion of our interview at 
 ( Jity Point, he took the pamphlet containing general order No. 100 
 irom a package, the seal of which he broke at the time, and delivered 
 said order into my hands, with the remark that its provisions in the 
 future would govern the operations of the United States forces. Why he 
 retained the letter I do not know. The fact, however, is exactly as I 
 >.ave stated it, and fully explains why a copy of the letter was on 
 i.ieut. Col. Ludlow's letter book. I do not want to be understood for 
 one moment as imputing any fraud or improper conduct in what Lieut. 
 Col. Ludlow did in the premises. He undoubtedly thought the 
 remark he made at the time of the delivery dispensed with the neces- 
 sity of giving me the letter. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 ROBERT OULD, 
 
 Agent of Exchange. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 Relative to General Morgan and his men. 
 
 [No. 41.] 
 
 BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH TO MR, OULD. 
 
 Office Commissioner for Exchange, > 
 Fortress Monroe, July 30, 1863. \ 
 
 Hon. Robert Ould > 
 
 Commissioner for Exchange, Sfc, Richmond, Va. : 
 
 Sir : This will inform you, and, through you, the authorities tinder 
 whom you act, that General John H. Morgan and his officers will be 
 placed in close confinement and held as hostages for the members of 
 Colonel Streight's command, who have not been delivered in compliance 
 with the conditions of the cartel agreed to by'Major General Dix and 
 Major General Hill. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 S. A. MEREIHT1I, 
 Brig. Gen. U S. Vols, and CovCr for Exckangr. 
 
 [No. 42.] 
 
 MR, OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 War Department, > 
 Richmond, Va., August I, 1863, ) 
 
 Brigadier General S. A. Meredith, 
 
 Agent of Exchange : 
 
 Sir: I am in receipt of your communication of the 80th ultimo, 
 informing me that "General John II. Morgan and hit officers will b< 
 placed in close confinement and hold as hostages for the members of 
 Colonel Strcight's command." I beg leave respectfully to ask what 
 you mean by " close confinement?" In what respect will that " close 
 confinement" differ from the confinement of other prisoners, officers 
 and men. 
 
116 . 
 
 Colonel Streight'a command is treated exactly as are the other 
 officers held in captivity by up. What that treatment is you c;m find 
 from any conscientious officer who has lately -been confined in the 
 Libby. You will hear no complaint from me or from the Confederate 
 authorities so long as our officers receive the •treatment which yours 
 do here. 
 
 You further say that "Colonel Streight?s command have not 
 delivered in compliance with the conditions of the cartel agreed to by 
 Major General Dix and Mnjor Gent ral Hill. 
 
 In retaining Colonel Streight and Ins 'command the Confederate 
 authorities have not gone as fir as those of the United States have 
 claimed f r themselves the right to" go ever since the establishment of 
 that carte) You have claimed and exercised the right to retain officers 
 and men indefinitely, not' only upon charges actually preferred, but 
 upon mire suspicions. Y T ou have now in custody officers wlro were in 
 confinement when the cartel was framed, and who have since >>een 
 declared exchanged. Some ot t'lern have been tried, but most of them 
 have languished in prison all the weary time without trial or charges. 
 I stand prepared to prove these assertions. This course ".as pursued, 
 too, in the face not only of notice but protest. Do you deny us the 
 
 right to detain officers and men for trial 
 
 upon grave chaijj.es. 
 
 while 
 
 yoa claim the right to keep in confinement any who may be thcotjects 
 of your suspicion or special enmity ? 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 * ROBERT GULP, 1 
 Ageixt of Exchange, 
 
 [No: 43.] 
 MM. OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 Richmo.no, August 28, 18G3. 
 Brig. Gen. S. A. Meredith, 
 
 Agent of Exchange: 
 
 Sir : Some time ago I addressed a communication to you, asking 
 why you held General Morgan in close confinement, and what was its 
 nature? To that I have received no reply. In that I am net disap- 
 pointed, as it is not the habit" of the Federal agent of exchange to 
 answer enquiries. Since then I have seen in your papers detailed 
 accounts of the treatment General Morgan and his brother officers 
 have received. What does this mean ? It is alleged that this course 
 is pursued in retaliation for the confinement of Colonel Streight and 
 r hi8 officers. I have already assured you that those officers are treated 
 exactly as all others held in confinement at the Libby. Colonel 
 Streight has expressed to me, in person, his satisfaction as to the 
 manner in which he was treated. Do you wish him ahayed and put 
 
 
117 
 
 in a felon's cell? If you do, you are pursuing exactly trio course to 
 effect it. May I again ask, -why have you put General Morgan arid 
 his brother officer- in a penitentiary?- I have but faint hopes of get- 
 ting any reply, but under the circumstances I have ventured the 
 question. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 ROBERT OUL'D, 
 Agent of Exchange. 
 
 [No. -14.] 
 
 BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH TO MR. OULD. 
 
 Headquarters Department of Va., 7th Army Corps, } 
 Fortress Monroe, Sept. 30, 1863". j 
 
 lion. Rorf.rt Ould, 
 
 Agent of Exchange, Richmond, Va.: 
 
 Sir : Had I succeeded — after waiting thirty hours — in obtaining an 
 interview with you when I was last at City Point — I had intended to 
 explain to you that the U.nited States authorities -had nothing what- 
 ever to do with. the treatment that General Morgan and his command 
 received when imprisoned at Columbus. Such treatment was wholly 
 unauthorized. 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 S. A. MEREDITH, 
 Brig. Gen. and Coirtr for Exchange, 
 
 [No.. 4o.] 
 
 MR. OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MI- MED1TIT. 
 
 Richmond. ' ' I, 1863. 
 
 Brig. Gen. S. A. Mervoitm. 
 
 Agent of Exchai 
 
 Sir : As you did not have the opportunity to explain to mo at City 
 Point how "the United States authorities h d nothing * ■ do with the 
 treatment that General Mor.an and his command received when im- 
 prisoned at'Columbus," will you be si kind astodoTtnow ? 1 thought 
 Morgan and his command were p of war, captured by the 
 
 tJpi'H'l States forces, and therefore in their custody. You and I 
 talked twice about General Moi 1 no hint was thrown oat that 
 
 no>uas not a prisoner of the United S it, on the 
 
118 
 
 30th of July last, you informed me by letter that " General John H. 
 Morgan and his officers will be placed in close confinement and held 
 as hostages for the members of Colonel Streight's command." Will 
 you please explain to me what you meant by this notice of the 30th 
 of July, if " the United States authorities had nothing to do with the 
 treatment that General Morgan and his command received." Nay, 
 more, will you enlighten me as to the point, why the United States 
 authorities have allowed their prisoners and "hostages" to receive 
 such " unauthorized treatment" for two months ? 1 hope the reason 
 is not of such a nature that it can only be communicated in a whisper. 
 Let me have it on paper. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 ROBERT OULD, 
 Agent of Exchange. 
 
 [No. 46.] 
 
 MR. OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 Richmond, October 13, 1S63. 
 Brig. Ge.n. S. A. Meredith, 
 
 Agent of Exchange : 
 
 Sir : Accompanying this communication you will find the copy of 
 a letter from Lieutenant Colonel Alston, of General Morgan's com- 
 mand. Lieutenant Colonel Alston is the officer who was delivered at 
 City Point by the last flag of true boat. On the 30th of September 
 last, you informed me that " the United States authorities had nothing 
 whatever to do with the treatment that General Morgan and his com- 
 mand received when imprisoned at Columbus." In my interview 
 with you, about one week ago, you informed me that General Morgan 
 and his officers were held for others than " the members of Colonel 
 Streight's command." You showed me a letter from General Hitch- 
 cock, in which the fact was announced. . It seems that your authori- 
 ties, having been assured, either from my representations or from 
 those of your own people in confinement at Richmond, that Colonel 
 Stricght and his officers were receiving precisely the same treatment 
 as that of other prisoners, they have adopted some other excuse for 
 the continued confinement of General Morgan and his officers in a 
 penitentiary. I ask if this does not show a determination to keep 
 these officers in a confinement intended to be ignominious ? When 
 one excuse fails another is set up. 
 
 Your Secretary of War has himself borne testimony of the " honor" 
 of Lieutenant Colonel ""Alston. I therefore call your attention to his 
 communication, and again ask you how can General Morgan's original 
 incarceration in the Ohio penitentiary, his continued confinement 
 therein, the indignities received by him and his brother officers, and 
 your announcement at our last interview be explained, if " the United 
 
119 
 
 States authorities had nothing to do with the treatment General Mor- 
 gan and his command received when imprisoned at Columbus?" 
 Will you also inform me whether the ''United States authorities" 
 intend to treat these officers as felons in the future ? And, if not. 
 whether those authorities will allow others bo to treat them ? 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, . 
 
 RO. OULD, 
 Agent of Exchange. 
 
 [No. 47.] 
 LIEUT. COL. ALSTON TO MR. SEDDOX. 
 
 Richmond, October 10, IS63. 
 
 Hon. James A. Seddon, 
 
 Secretary of War : 
 
 In compliance with your request. I beg leave to submit the follow- 
 ing statement : 
 
 On the 5th day of July last, Brigadier General John IE. Morgan. 
 in command of a foree of Confederate cavalry, attacked the Federal 
 garrison at Lebanon, Kentucky, which consisted of the twentieth 
 regiurent Kentucky volunteer infantry, about five hundred men, and a 
 section of artillery, about forty men, all under the command of Lieut. 
 Colonel Charles L. Hanson. After a severe engagement of about 
 seven hours. Colonel Hanson surrendered the entire force that had 
 not been killed fie requested General Morgan to parole him and'his 
 command, to which General Morgan objected, "that his (Colonel 
 Hanson's) Government had published a general order, that no more 
 such paroles would be respected." Colonel Hanson replied, "that he 
 was aware of this order, but this was a case which he believed, on 
 proper representation to higher authority, would be permitted as an 
 exception to this order; and, at any rate, if General Morgan would 
 grant the parole to himself ami the officers and men of his regiment, 
 he would pledge bia | ersonal honor that he not only would observe it, 
 but would see that every other one to whom the privilege was extei 
 should observe it. If. after making a proper >f all the facta 
 
 to higher authority, he should be ordered back into . he would 
 
 pledge himself to report to General M tint within the 
 
 Confederate Lil 
 
 This interview took place in the presence *a1 officers, among 
 
 whom were Captain Dai itant Adjutant G of Duke's 
 
 brigade, who \n.:- an official witness of ;» i i « 1 . and who 
 
 immediately r< me, and brought th< from General 
 
 Morgan for me to parole Colonel Hanson and his men and officers. 
 
 Acting under the-' instructions, 1 paroled them on the evening of the 
 
 . r >th of July, and on the 8th of duly. Campbell, of 
 
 our command, and a small detachn lured by a 
 
 portion of this very regiment, and were treated, on their arrival at 
 
120 
 
 iNieholasville, with the greatest indignity by Capt. Frank E. Walcotfc, 
 >f company F, of the same regiment. He not only abused the men 
 is a parcel of horse thieves and scoundrels, but took their boots and 
 bats from them and threw them away in their presence. Lieutenant 
 Oolonel Hanson also came up a short time afterwards, and took from 
 one of the parties some crackers and cheese, which he had been allowed 
 by the sergeant to purchase. 
 
 In a few days afterwards Lieutenant Colonel Hanson was ordered 
 to Louisville to do provost duty, relieving Lieutenant Colonel Stcrritt, 
 of the twenty-fifth Michigan volunteer infantry, who was ordered to 
 the field. He and his regiment are still on duty there* 
 
 On the 26th July, Brigadier General Morgan and most of his 
 officers were captured. They were carried to Cincinnati, and from 
 ''.hence he and twenty-eight of his officers were selected and carried to 
 Jolumbus, Ohio, where they were shaved and their haircut very 
 by a negro convict. They were then marched to the bath room and 
 scrubbed, and from there to their cells, where they were locked up. 
 'Che Federal papers published, with great delight, a minute account of 
 the whole proceedings. Seven days afterwards, forty-two more of 
 General Morgan's officers were conveyed from Johnson's Island tothe 
 penitentiary, and subjected to the same indignities. I have seen 
 Oolonei D. Harrard Smith, one of the officers who was conveyed there 
 •t.inong the second lot. and he told me that Mr. .Merrion, the warden, 
 £.pjolo<nzed for such treatment; but he had distinctly informed General 
 E ide that he would receive them on no other terms, and he had 
 
 I them. 
 
 Very respectfully submiUed by vour obedient servant, 
 
 11. ALSTON, 
 Lieutenant Colonel P. A. C. S. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 Relative to the Uetenli >n of Surgeons. 
 
 [No. 48.] 
 .MR. OUI.D TO LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW. 
 
 Richmom), Vi , Miry $9, 1868. 
 
 Lieut. Col. Wm. li. Ludlow, 
 
 n( of Exchange : 
 
 Sir: The nam' al Confederate officers, including tfiat of 
 
 Col. Morehead, who were long since declared exchanged under our 
 agreements, appear upon one of your recent rolls. These officers 
 ■ ,iv not delivered to us. I understand they are detained rt or near 
 Old Point. Are these officers to be delivered to us or not? One of 
 ihem is a Confederate surgeon — Dr. Read. Do you intend to retain 
 surgeons ?• 
 
 There is not a single Federal officer in our custody who has been 
 declared exchanged, unless ifrnay be Rucker; and for him you hold 
 Dr. Green. On what pretence are these officers held? I will be 
 obliged to you, if you will inform me what course you intend to 
 pursue in reference to such cases. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 RO. OULD, Agent of Exchange. 
 
 [No 49 ] 
 
 L1UT. COL. LUDLOW tO MR, OULD. 
 
 ixH'ARTtns Dkpartmk.nt ok ViBClNIA, 7th Army Corps. t 
 
 Fvrt Monroe., June 9, 1663. $ 
 lion. Robert ' 'i u>. 
 
 it for Exchange of Prisoners : 
 
 Sir: Please have ready for delivery, nil our officers in your hands 
 
 who have been declared exchanged— Spencer Kellogg among the 
 
 number. Deliveries <>f yeur officers dec! ir< 1 exchanged can t) 
 
 effected. I woul 1 suggest :.<> you that Dr. Uucker be included. I 
 
 much ilcsire thai all eurgcons shoul i be treated as non-com- 
 
122 
 
 batants, and unconditionally released. As I have before remarked to 
 you, the cause of humanity'demands it. 
 
 I saw Dr. Green at Fort Norfolk. He is most anxious to know 
 what is to be his fate. Can you inform him ? 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 WM. H. LUDLOW, 
 Lieut. Col., and Agent for Exchange of Prisoners. 
 
 [No. 50.] 
 MR. OULD TO LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW. 
 
 Confederate States of America, War Department, ) 
 
 Richmond, Va., June 12, 1863. \ 
 
 Lieut. Col Wm. H. Ludlow, 
 
 Agent of Exchange : 
 
 Sir : Dr. Rucker is prosecuted by the State of Virginia, for offences 
 against her laws, for which he ha'd no warrant in your own military 
 law to commit. . If you have any such officer of the Confederate States 
 in any such position, even though he may have been declared ex- 
 changed by our general agreements. T cannot complain of his retention. 
 
 With this proper limitation, extending to only one case, I am ready 
 at any moment, to deliver you every officer or man whom we have 
 declared exchanged. I do not believe there are any such in our prisons. 
 I have, however, caused diligent search to be made, and if any such 
 are discovered, they will be promptly delivered to you. 
 
 I hope, therefore, you will have all our exchanged officers and men 
 sent to City Point immediately. You will find there any of the same 
 class whom I can discover. I will be thankful to you for any names 
 which you may be able to furnish. Spencer Kellogg's case is already 
 under inquiry. 
 
 With the limitation as to Dr. Rucker, I am entirely agreed to re- 
 lease unconditionally all surgeons. I agree with you, that the cause 
 of humanity demands it, unless, indeed, it is shown that the surgeon 
 has committed offences which prove him to be a savage and a beast. 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 RO. OULD, Agent of Exchange. 
 
123 
 
 t 
 
 [No. 51..] 
 
 LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW TO MR. OULD. 
 
 Headquarters Department of Virginia, 7th Army Corps, ) 
 
 Fort Monroe, June 14, 1863. j 
 Hon. Robert Ould, 
 
 Agent for Exchange : 
 Sir : Dr. Green will be retained as a hostage for Dr. Rucker. All 
 other surgeons in our custody (three or four now being here) will be 
 released and delivered to you, on the release and delivery to me of all 
 you hold, except Dr. Rucker. 
 
 Do you agree to this, with the additional understanding that the 
 detentions of surgeons shall be confined to these two ? 
 
 Please inform me when Spencer Kellogg, and other of our officers 
 declared exchanged, will be delivered at City Point, in order that ar- 
 rangements may be made for sending up such of your exchanged 
 officers as are at Fort Norfolk awaiting delivery. 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 WM.H. LUDLOW, 
 Lieut. Col., ano\ Agent for Exchange of Prisoner*. 
 
 [No. 52.] + 
 
 LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW TO MR. OULD. 
 
 Hrc.vnqu ,:ui:rs Dep't of Va., 7th Army Corps, ) 
 Fort Monroe, June 18th, 1863. \ 
 
 lion. Robert Ould', 
 
 Agent for Exchange, of Prisoners : 
 
 Sir: I send to you Col. Moorhcad and Captain Flint, who have 
 been declared exchanged. Also, all the Surgeons we have here, ex- 
 cepting Dr. Green. 
 
 Capt. Mulford is instructed to bring back Col Moorhcad, unless 
 Spencer Kellogg, declared exchanged, be delivered, if in Richmond, 
 or if he be not, unless you give an agreement that Kellogg shall be 
 delivered at City Point within two weeks. 
 
 Capt. Mulford i.> also instructed to bring back the Surgeons, uuless 
 he receives all our Surgeons now confined in Richmond, except Dr. 
 Rucker; whom you retain under charges, and for whom Dr. Green is 
 held as a hostage. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 WM. II. LUDLOW, 
 Lieut. Col., and Agent fur Exchange of Prisoners. 
 
124 
 
 Among the Surgeons retainer! by you, are Dr. Spencer,, assistant 
 surgeon of the ?3d Indiana; also, Dr. Myers, U. S. N. 
 
 W. II. L. 
 
 [No. 53.] . 
 ME. OULD TO LIEUT. COL. LUDLOW. 
 
 Confederate States of America, } 
 
 War Department. > 
 Richmond, Va., June 23d, 1863. 5 
 Lieut. Col. Wm. II. -Ludlow, 
 
 Agent of Exchange : 
 
 Sin : The grounds upon which Dr. Rucker has been retained have 
 already been very fully communicated to you. He has been indicted 
 by the Commonwealth of Virginia for offences committed within her 
 limits, which are not sanctioned by any civilized military code. He 
 was not under the protection of a soldier when he committed the 
 felonies charged against him. The State is now prosecuting him for 
 these crimes* and his trial has been delayed for two terms of the 
 Court, at his own instance, as I a to informed. 
 
 You have said to me that the principles announced, in general 
 order No. 100, are tp apply against. you as well as for you. In that 
 order you distinctly recognize the right of an invaded State to punish 
 all wanton violence committed ag i.inst its citizens, as well as all des- 
 truction of property not, -commanded by the authorized officer. I refer 
 you to paragraphs 44-, 47 and especially 59. If I had the framing of 
 a, provision- to meet Dr. Rucker\s case and to justify his detention, I 
 could not use apter terms than those employed in paragraph 53. 
 
 Moreover, yQU have claimed and exercised the right of holding 
 many of our officers and soldiers on mere suspicion, for months, with- 
 out trial or proceedings of any sort against them. You have such in 
 confinement now. For them, we have selected none of your officers 
 or soldiers in retaliation. Y r ct, when we retain the" first of yours, 
 under indictment .preferred by a grand jury, you immediately select 
 one of ours in retaliation. If we had applied any such rule to you 
 since the beginning of the war, how many of your officers and soldiers 
 would be now in our prisons ? 
 
 I lament with you the detention of surgeons. I am willing to do 
 anything consistent with honor and justice to promote their discharge. 
 But we cannot surrender n clear right. Dr. Bueker's detention is 
 justified by your own principles and practice. I have already admit- 
 ted your right to detain any one of our officers under similar circum- 
 stances. 
 
 If we are justified by the rules of war in detaining for trial Dr. 
 Rucker, what right have you to hold Dr. Green in retaliation I 
 
 Your request for the discharge of all surgeons, except Drs. Raker 
 
125 
 
 and Green, is simply asking me to admit that the former is unjustly 
 detained, and ike. latter rightly held in retaliation. I deny both, and 
 appeal to your own military laws. As Dr. Rucker has asked to have 
 his trial posponed, let his case remain as it is, and let us uncondi. 
 tiona] ^ all other surgeons on b ides. If any grand jury 
 
 of yours indicts any surgeon, or other officer of ours for suoh offences 
 .as-are charged iigainst Dr. Ruck''-, ubd he is detainer! For trial, I am 
 sure I v. j] omplain. 
 
 spectrally, your obedi atit, 
 
 fcOBERT OULD; Agent of Exchange. 
 
 • t LILLY. COL. LUDLOW TO MR OULD. 
 
 . 
 
 Headquarters, Df.p't. o^ Va., 7th Armi Corps, t 
 Fot . 863. $ 
 
 Hon. Robi rt < hi,n, 
 
 nt for Exchange of ".• ho \ers : 
 
 Sir: As understood by me, Dr Rucker's alleged offences were 
 committed in west Virginia, -within the territory militarily occupied 
 at the time by the troops of the United States. If so, by the lawn 
 and usages of war, your authorities have no jurisdiction in Ms case 
 
 Tf you will release all our medical officers, except Dr. Rucker, I 
 will send to you all we hold, except one, to be retained as a hostage 
 for Dr. Ruckef. who will be released when Dr. Rucker is released. 
 
 'If it should be found that Dr. Rucker is properly retained under 
 the cartel, <:; imd guilty and punished according to the laws and 
 usages of war, the hostages will be given up. But, if improperly re- 
 tained and punished, retaliation will be resorted to 
 
 You have some Chaplains in your hands. Will you deliver them! 
 
 Please send r< plies to the above by this i!ag of truce. 
 I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant. 
 
 wm. u. turn OW, 
 
 JAeut. Col.) and Agent for Exchange of Prisoners, 
 
 [No. 5 
 
 Ml;. QULD TO BRIG. 0EN, MKREDJTB 
 
 Confederate States of America, Wit Dctai 
 
 Richmond, Va., August 16, 1865. S 
 Brig. (mi. S. A. Meredith, 
 
 Agent of Kxchangr : 
 
 gm 1 illy e\ll your a tten tion to the correspondence be- 
 
 tween Lieut. Cbl. Ludlow and myH\ in relation tO Dr. Rucker and 
 
126 
 
 ihe detention of surgeons, and especially to my communication of the 
 23d of June last. Lieut. Col. Ludlow, in his reply, bearing date July 
 12, 1863, says : " As understood by me, Dr. Rucker's alleged offence3 
 were committed in west Virginia, within the territory militarily occu- 
 rred at the time by the troops of the United States. If so, by the laws 
 and usages of war, your authorities have no jurisdiction in the case." 
 
 Paragragh 59, of your general order No. I Oil, does not make the 
 distinction of military occupation suggested by Lieut. Col. Ludlow. 
 It says, " a prisoner of war remains answerable for his crimes com- 
 mitted against the captor's army or people, committed before he was 
 •■"aptured. and for which Jie has not been punished by his own authori- 
 ties." Any construction which would not include such " crimes*' as 
 are committed within the territory militarily occupied by the army to 
 which the offender belongs, would leave the provision almost without 
 any meaning. In- Dr. Rucker's case, however, the distinction is with- 
 out avail. I have delayed thus long in answering Lieut. Col. Lud- 
 low's communication of the 12th ultimo, in order that I might obtain 
 accurate information as to the faots in the case. 
 
 He is indicted for murder, committed on the 23d July, 1S61, upon 
 i citizen of Virginia, in Covington, Alleghany county, Va. At that 
 time no Federal force was there, or ever had been. The United States 
 forces did not invade that county, or region of country , until May, 1 862. 
 
 He is also indicted for stealing a horse in January, 1862. 
 
 He is moreover charged with other offences, committed while the 
 Federal forces were in the county. 
 
 Whatever, therefore, may be the construction placed upon thegene- 
 eral order, so far as military occupation is concerned, Dr Rucker's case 
 is certainly embraced within the provisions of paragraph 59. 
 
 I am also reliably informed that, at the time of at least some of the 
 offences charged against him, Dr. Rucker had no connection with your 
 army. It will hardly be contended, I suppose, that immunity for 
 crimes already committed, can be purchased by joining the forces of 
 an invading army. 
 
 The correspondence between Lieut. Col. Ludlow and myself seems 
 to indicate that the only hindrance to the immediate and unconditional 
 release of all surgeons, is to be found in the detention of Dr. Rucker; 
 and further, if such detention could find its justification in your gene- 
 ral orders, even that hindrance would be removed. I therefore, bring 
 to your attention the foregoing facts-, drawn from the indictments 
 against Dr. Rucker, by which it very clearly appears that he is right- 
 fully held, and, therefore, Dr. Green wrongfully detained in retaliation. 
 
 I accordingly renew to you the proposition heretofore made by me, 
 that all surgeons now held on both sides, with the exception of Dr.* 
 Rucker, be released without delay. I have no objection to extend the 
 proposition to nurse3 and members of sanitary commissions. I would, 
 however, much prefer that it should embrace all non-combatants. 
 
 I will be much obliged to you if you give me an early specific re i ly 
 to the propositions herein contained. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 RO. OULD, Agent df Exchange. 
 
127 
 
 [No. 56.] 
 
 BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH TO MR. OULD. ' 
 
 Headquarters Department of Virginia, 7th Army Corps, ) 
 
 Fort Morroe, Sep- 30, 1863. j 
 
 Hon. Robert Ould, 
 
 Agent of Exchange, Richmond, Va.: 
 
 Sir : In the hope that the officers of the medical department, on 
 both sides, may be mutually released, -who are now held as prisoners, 
 t offer to you th.e following proposition: "That all persons of the 
 medical departments, distinctly known as such, held as prisoners on 
 either side, shall be discharged, irrespective of numbers." 
 
 If you will not agree to the above, I propose that " all shall be dis- 
 charged, except one or more designated persons, for whom equivalents 
 may be retained by the opposite party. We designate no one for ex- 
 ception." 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 S. A. MEREDITH, 
 Brig. Grn., and Commissioner for Exchange, 
 
 [No. 5?.] 
 
 MR. OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 C. S. A., War Department, ? 
 Richmond, Va., Oct. 2, 1863. \ • 
 Brig. Gen. S. A. Meredith, 
 
 Agent of Exchange .' 
 
 Sir : Your proposition of the 3<Uh ultimo, to wit, " that all persons 
 of the medical departments, distinctly known as such, held as prison- 
 ers on either side, shall be discharged, irrespective of numbers," is 
 substantially a proposition that the Confederate authorities shall de- 
 liver to you Dr. Wm. Rucker, who is now in the custody of the State 
 of Virginia, for crimes committed before he had any connection with 
 the Federal army. If it does- not mean that. I- will 3gree to it most 
 cheerfully. If it does, I cannot. 
 
 Your alternative proposition, that " all shall be discharged, except 
 one or more designated persons, for whom equivalents may be retained 
 by the opposite party," is the old demand that we should consent to 
 the retention of Dr. Green, or some other surgeon, in retaliation for 
 Dr. Wm. Rucker. To that I cannot agree. We are either right or 
 wrong in the retention of Rucker. If right, you ought not to hold 
 in equivalent. If wrong. Rucker should be delivered up. ^n no 
 aspect of the case should Dr. Green, or any other equivalent, be 
 retained. 
 
128 
 
 In my communication to you of August to, last, I went very fully 
 into the casji of Dr. Backer*. Can a single statement therein con- 
 tained, be successfully controverted ? If not, upon what grounds can 
 you deny our right to hold and try him ? I will really be obliged to 
 you if you will show wherein I am wrong in any of the positions as- 
 sumed in my communication of the 30th of August. 
 
 When you deny our right to hold Dr. Rueker, or contend for your 
 right to detain a hostage for him, am I to understand you as contend- 
 ing that no officer on cither side is to. be held on charges preferred 
 against him ? 
 
 If you have any surgeon in confinement, "under charges, let him be 
 retained and tried under them. 'I will not complain, especially if they 
 are preferred by a grand jury, as is the case with Dr. Rueker. I, 
 'however, can never agree that any surgoon shall be held as an equiv- 
 alent or hostage for Dr. Rueker. 
 
 Some doubt has been expressed as to whether Rueker was ever 
 a surgeon, regularly in your service. How is it as to that ? 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 RO. OUJiD, Agent of Exchange. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 Relative to the Detention <>f Persons captured on rivers nkd 
 
 the high seas. 
 
 [No. 58.1 
 BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH TO MR. OUI,D. 
 
 Office Commissioner for Exchange, ) 
 
 Fait Mtm oe i Va t% July 81, 1863. j 
 Hon. Robert Ould, 
 
 C rrt'r for Exchange, &'c , Richmond, Va. : 
 
 Si:;: On June I Oth, 1863, the barque' Texana, bound from New 
 York lo New Orleans, was captured and burned by c ne James Duke 
 and some fifteen others, who were on board the steamer Boston, which 
 Steamer they had taken possession of the night before. The pilot of 
 the Texana was permitted to land, but the captain and crew w sra 
 taken to Mobile and from thence to Richmond, where, ever tince, th?y 
 •have been confined in the Libby prison. 
 
 The case of these men appears to me hard in all its bearings, and I 
 cannot believe that the authorities at Richmond would sanction I 
 irregular procedures, or establish such an inhuman precei 
 were they fully cognizant of the facts in the case. With t is i= a 
 list of those prisoners, and I hope you will use your best endeavora 
 for their immediate release. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 S. A. MEREDITH, 
 Brig. Gen. , and Commissioner for Exchange, 
 
 [No. 59.] 
 MR. OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 Confederate States of America, War DEPARTMENT, t 
 Richmond, Va., Aug. 1, 1863. \ 
 
 Brig. Gen. S. A. Meredith, 
 
 Agent of Exchange : 
 
 Sir: I have received your communication in reference to tba 
 •'captain and crew of the barque Texana/' In it, jou sp«?. I 
 9 
 
130 
 
 "irregular procedures" and "inhuman precedents." If you had been 
 acquainted with the action of your own authorities in similar cases, 
 y ti would hardly have used such language. 
 
 I refer you to the several communications of mine to Lieut. Col. 
 Ludlow in refernce to the detention of the masters and pilots of Con- 
 federate steamers, and especially to my endorsement, dated June 
 fc^ih, upon his application for the release of the officers and crew of 
 the steamer Emily. The "irregular procedures" and "inhuman pre- 
 C< ients" are not to be found in the action of the Coi. federate authori- 
 t The slightest search will disclose them elsewhere, however. 
 
 You have new in your prisons the following : 
 
 Cajit. Floyd and the other officers and crew of the ferry boat De Soto. 
 They are in prison in St. Louis, Missouri, and have been since Janu- 
 ary last. 
 
 The officers and crew oi the schooner Belle, captured last February 
 off Charleston. Some ot- the officers arc now at Fort Lafayette. 
 
 The officers and crew of the steamer Cuba, captured off Mobile, 
 1. May. The captain is at Key West in prison. 
 
 The officers and crew of the steamer Emma Bett, captured in June 
 I... . in the Sunflower river. Mississippi. They are said to be in Camp 
 Chase. They are certainly in captivity. 
 
 The officers and crew of the steamer Brittania, captured off Charles- 
 ti in July, 1 863. 
 
 The officers and crew of the schooner Glide. The captain (Perry) 
 us at Fort Lafayette. 
 
 To convince you more fully that the Confederate authorities havo 
 I sire io initiate "irregular procedures" or establish "inhuman 
 
 precdents," in the i irection you indicate, I propose that the 
 ofl ;rs and crews of all vessels who are now held in confinement by 
 eit] :r the United States or the Confederate States, be immediately 
 r; leased, equivalents from the army to be given to the party which 
 has the e:.cess. This proposition practically tests who favors the 
 "inegular procedures" and "inhuman precedents." 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 110. OULD, Agent of Exchange. 
 
 [No. 6*).] 
 
 BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH TO MR. OULD 
 
 Office Commissioner for Exch vnge, > 
 Fort Monroe, Va., Sept. 27, 1863. $ 
 
 Bon. Roesrt Ould, 
 
 Agent of Exchange, Richmond, Va.: 
 
 8:?. : I have written to you twice in relation to the captain and 
 crew of the barque Texana. You say that you will release them if 
 
131 
 
 we will release prisoners of yours in like circumstances. We do not 
 know of any p isoners held by us v under similar circumstances ng the 
 crew of the Texana. If you will refer specifically to any such in our 
 hari'is they shall be released. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 S. A. MEREDITH. 
 Brig. Gin., and Commissioner for Exchange. 
 
 [No Gl] 
 
 MR. OUL1) TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 Confederate States of America, War Department, ) 
 
 Richmond, Va , Sept. 23, 1 81) 3. \ 
 
 Brig. Gen. S. A. Meredith, 
 
 Agent of Exchange : 
 
 Sir : On the 1st. of August last, in reply to your first communica- 
 tion respecting the captain and crew of the barque Texana, I gave 
 you a list of mx captor s made by the Federal forc.es some or all of 
 which corresponded with that of the Texana. I refer you to the letter 
 of August 1st. The captures wore either made at sea, or in our 
 western i ivers. The parties were engaged in either exterior ot interior 
 commerce. How they differ from the officers and crew of' the Texana 
 I cannot conceive. 1 then made you a proposition in reference to the 
 release of the officers and crews of all vessels, who are now held in 
 confinement by either the United States or Confederate States. You 
 have not seen fit to accept it I now make another proposal, to wit: 
 that the officers and crews of all merchant vessels, who are now con- 
 fined on either side, be immediately and unconditionally released'. 
 Either the proposal made in my letter of the 21st ult., or in this pre- 
 sent one, will be acceptable to me. 
 
 Respectfullv, your obedient servant, 
 
 RO. OULD, Agent of Exchange. 
 
 [No. 62.] 
 BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH TO MR. OULD. 
 
 Office Commissioner for Ex-chance, ) 
 
 Fortress Monroe , Va., Oct. 28, 18G3. \ 
 
 lion. Robert Ould, 
 
 Agent of Erchangf, Richmond, Va. : 
 
 Sir: Allow me to call your attention to the fact, that the ofTors 
 and crews of the following named vessels are still detained in southern 
 
132 
 
 prisons. These captures were made in January last, and the officers 
 have been paroled and exchanged. Will you let me know by the next 
 flag of truce, why they are not released ? 
 U. S. ship " Morning Light." 
 U. S. schooner "Velocity." 
 U. S. steamer " Harrit Lane." 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 1 S. A. MEREDITH, 
 
 Bri . Gffl,, and Commissioner for Exchange. 
 
 [No. 63.1 
 MR. OULD TO BRIO. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 Richmond, Oct. 3!, 1863. 
 
 Brigadier General S. A. Meri imth, 
 
 1 , nt of Exchange : 
 
 Sir • I have just received your letter of the 28th instant, making 
 inquiry respecting "the officers and crews" of the Morning Light, 
 Velocity and Harriet Lane You first say they 'are Ftill detained 
 in southern prisons." You next say « the officers have been paroled 
 and exchanged." I really cannot see how paroled and exchanged 
 officers can "still be detained =in southern prisons." Jf they have 
 been paroled and exchanged, when was it done and by whom ? If I 
 have made any agreement as to these parties, I will fulfill it to the 
 
 11 Pt,t PIP 
 
 If the officers and crews of those vessels are in confinement, they 
 are there because you refuse to release the officers and crews of Con- 
 federate vessels. The former are very likely to remain in confine- 
 ment until you release the latter, unless I have made pome agreement 
 which entitles them to a discharge. I am not aware of having done so. 
 Respectfullly, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 RO. OULD, Agent of Exchange. 
 
CdllRESPONDENGE 
 
 Re'ative to persons held in confnum-ni at the South under con- 
 viction by a a,urt. 
 
 [No. 64 ] 
 
 BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH TO MR. OULD. 
 
 Fcrt Monroe, November 15, 1863. 
 
 Hon. Robert Oui.n, 
 
 Agent of Exchange, Richmond, Va.: 
 
 Sir: I have information which will be relied and acted upon a3 
 authentic, unless formally and without lesetve, denied. that Jopeph 
 Sherman and Edward Ludwich, of the 4 < li Maine infantry, were sent 
 to the penitentiary fiom Botetourt county, in October. l86 u 2,for a 
 term of years, and that Andeison Crawford, of a Maryland regiment, 
 has been sent to the penitentiary also, in all three cases upon accusa- 
 tions uot recognized as criminal according to the laws of war. A 
 reasonable time for receiving information from the South will be 
 allowed, before giving any sptcial order- in these cases. 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 S. A. MEREDITH.* 
 
 There is no such man as Crawford in the penitentiary, nor has ihere 
 been such a man during my official teim The other persons named 
 are in the penitentiary, under judgments of the circuit court of Bote- 
 tourt, and there they will remain during my term of Bervico. 
 
 JOHN LETCHER. 
 
 November 17, 1863. 
 
 [No. Go.] 
 
 MR. OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 C. S. A., W»« Department, ) 
 Richmond, Va., Nov. 18, I8G3. j 
 
 Brig. Gen. S. A. Meredith, 
 
 tt of Exchange : 
 
 Sia : I herewith return to you the indorsement of Governor Letcher 
 upon your communication of the loth in -tint, relating to Sherman, 
 
134 
 
 Ludwiek,ar.d Crawford. I also enclose to you a copy of the record of 
 the trial and conviction of the two first named, and a letter from the 
 superintendent of the penitentiary. If you will inform me in what 
 State Anderson Crawford was convicted, I will send you a similar copy 
 of the proceedings had in his case. 
 
 So many recent and novel interpretations of the ''laws of war" 
 have been delivered, that I am at a loss to know, from the ten; r of 
 your letter, whether it is intended by your authorities to contest the 
 right of the Comr0mweahh of Virginia to punish persons within her 
 jurisdiction for felonies. If. however, your own general orders are to 
 have any effect, I suppose paragraph oi), of general order, No l»)0, 
 settles the question. 
 
 I have very frankly, and at an early day, responded to your 
 inquiries. I hope 1 am not asking too much, when I request that any 
 " special orders" which may be issued in these cases, may be promptly 
 communicated to me. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 ROBERT OULD, 
 
 Agent of Exchange. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE WITH GENERAL HITCHCOCK 
 
 [No. 60. J 
 
 MR. OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH-. 
 
 Richmond, Va., Od. 27, 18G3. 
 Brig. Gen. S. A. Mf.kf.dith, 
 
 Agent of "Exchange : 
 
 Sir : I enclose to you a memorandum of the paroles to which I I 
 referred iu several fescnt communications Most of these paroles, 
 you will observe, are antecedent to May 2o, IS 11. The reason , 
 these paroles have not been heretofore charged, is, that up to July, 
 1863, we had the advantage of prisoners ami parole. Not one of 
 these paroles is covered by any declaration of exchange, except J 
 one lately made by you. Fcr no one of them have I jj 
 
 equivalent. All of them, since the date of your general order No. 
 207, were given in pursuance of a distinct agreement between the 
 commanders of two opposing armies. I have meny other paro.h 
 my possession, but I have only presented those which are within the 
 terms of your general orders, according to their respective d I I 
 
 understand there are other paroles coming within the s<»me gen I 
 orders, which were given by your officers and men on the other si !j 
 of the Mississippi river. They, as yet, have not reached me. W i 
 they do, and when I show they are within the s :";■> of your gen I 
 orders, I will claim, them. Otherwise, I will -discard th<>m. 
 
 I have also received other informal paroles, which I have sent back 
 for corroction. These are also within the provisions of youi I 
 
 orders. When they are returned, 1 will claim them also. 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 RO. OULD, Agent of Exchange. 
 
 .[No. 67.] 
 M \-T. GEN. Ill BRIG* GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 Washington Omr, D. C, /Vhy. 1863. 
 
 Brig. Gen. S. \. Mrm iutii, 
 
 xhange of Prisoners : 
 
 Sir: Your communication of the JHrh ult. baa been received, for- 
 warding what "p ,f the ;. i 
 
136 
 
 valid paroles," claimed by Mr. Ould, with a copy of his letter accom- 
 panying it to yourself, of the 2*tli ulr. 
 
 This tabular statement covers a claim to iS 5 Mf;7 paroles of Federal 
 Iroops, without distinctions of grade, no officers; or non-commist-ioned 
 c B :rs being noticed as among the prisoners. The statement professes 
 to enumerate forty-four places where captures were made, with the 
 carnes of captors, and d ites of captures — the number said to have 
 been captured being Carrie I out in figures. 
 
 This statement may include tome prisoners captured and paroled 
 according to the laws of war, but if so. it is impossible to distinguish 
 ll i by any evidence in he statement itself. A. few are said tc have 
 Ik i '• receipted for" at Baton Rouge, January 11, 1863, and Feb* 
 rua y 14, 1863, which may be verified, and some evidences may come 
 to light confirming the alleged capture* by Generals Lee, Bragg, and, 
 possibly, some others; but, ou the whole, the statement is unsatis- 
 factory, and ia its present form, is regarded a- without credit, and 
 nol entitled to conei leration. 
 
 The statement does not show, in any one instance, by whom the 
 pr : mers were received, or to whom, or even where, they were de- 
 li ed, leaving it to be presumed that they were, for the turst part, 
 |> led on the instant of capture, without authority under the cartel, 
 in not being "reduced to actual possession," -contrary to bo t h the 
 1 ' of war. as set forth in order No. l!>0, of 18* 3, and the provisions 
 
 ' the cartel. Order No. 100 merely publishes the laws of war, and 
 the cartel is entirely in harmony with it. 
 
 The orders on this subject subsequently issued, and to which Mr. 
 Opl I appeals, were expressly designed to invc effect to those laws and 
 to the cartel, and were in no manner intended to abrogate, and neither 
 do they abrogate or modify the one or the other. 
 
 If the enemy wishes, in good faith, to carry out the orders he refers 
 to, the proper course would be to issue simitar orders, and for a like 
 | >se, in which case there might be some hope of a compliance 
 v i. ' both the cartel and the laws of War. 
 
 Mr. Ould's effort to have recognized certain paroles as valid, which 
 
 1 been informally and improperly made, embracing, so far as wo 
 Can know from his statements, many citizen* in Kentucky, Tennessee, 
 and elsewhere, (no particular placed being named in some instances,) 
 by ppeaiing to northern orders, is a mere perversion of the clear and 
 manifest design of those orders, that design being, as already stated, 
 to enforce, and not to nullify the laws of war. We appeal to those 
 frrders, and intend to be guided by the,m, and if the enemy would 
 assume them, and be governed by them al-o. all difficulties on t he 
 Subject of paroles would cease. By Mr. Quid's mo ie of application 
 Or misapplication of those orders, he would use them to destroy, and 
 not enforce the laws of war. 
 
 The laws of war are first iu order, imposing obligations upon bel- 
 ligerents, and they continue to be obligatory upm both parties, unless 
 modified by a special agreement under a cartel, which, when agreed 
 upon, becomes the highest authority in all specified cases included in 
 the cartel, leaving the l«ws of war in full operation in all cases not 
 
137 
 
 provided for in such cartel — a cartel being analogous to a treaty of 
 commerce between nations, which ma v mn lify the natural lawn of 
 trade or commerce, binding both parties 'o the treaty. 
 
 T ie orders of a general in the field, or »f n general in-chiel of one 
 of the belligerents, is onl}' operative within the field of the general^ 
 command, and can have n<> effect 10 modify either the law* of wir or 
 the provisions of a particular cartel. Such orders are puitdy discip- 
 linary in the army where issued, and can neither hind an enemy, nor 
 can an enemy appeal to them to justify hi< deptrturt front, or viola- 
 tion of, either a particular-cartel or the lawtfef war. A departure 
 from such an order within the army subject bo the an* issuing 
 
 the order, migh' Mihjeet the offender to punishment within ins o va< 
 army, but could not be appealed to to make a parole valid, wiinth. by 
 the laws of war. or by the provisions of a particular cartel, w<i 
 disowned as not valid. 
 
 While we set forth these principles as binding, we deny, emphati- 
 cally. tlii 1 - the orders appealed to by Mr. Ould sanction his departure 
 from the laws of war or the cartel — the express purpose of order No. 
 2'»T (lf6'J) bein ^ to enforce the provisions of the existing earr< 1 It 
 sets out by an appeal, in paragraph 1. to the cartel, by its date »nd 
 tin- date el' the older by which it was published, the p of 
 
 which are to he enforced, and this is again Bet forward in pun rraph 
 II. Order No. 2n? publishes a Very impoitant law of war in piiiagr.iph 
 II. in announcing that " th • obligations imposed by tfa gen r»d liws 
 and usages of war upon the non-combatant inhabitants of a section of 
 country passed overlay an invading army, cease when the in Hilary oc- 
 cupation <easc>; and anv pledge or parole given by sin ii persons, in 
 regard to future service, is null arid of no effect " This paragraph of 
 order No. 2)?. docs not, originate, it merely announces the law id war 
 on the suV.rt to which it refers, hut it is particularly signifh art in 
 View of the probable char cter of many of the paroles claimed »* valid 
 in the tabular statement furnished by M«*. Ould, in which, und -r the 
 head of •* where captured," the statement uses generalities which ran 
 in no sense be received. Thus, captures are §W\(\ to have r»c«*n made 
 in •• Kentucky and Tennessee ;" in 'Teim in " Kentucky and 
 
 Teune-ise ■." [-again ;) in " Tennessee," (again;) in "Kentu-ky and 
 Tenue*3i«r," (a third time;) in (t Barbour coanty, Kentucky. '' (-wither 
 soldiers or citizens we eann >t tell ) in u Westeni Yirg'ni i ;" in "Xk wttwn 
 Virginia." (again;) in " Hinds county. Mi.- .--is lippi ;" in •* Ivisu-hi \ ir- 
 gmia;" in , ,'" in " Kentucky and Tenni I »r the 
 
 fourth time,) &c. 
 
 Ju fin"!, tho statement s wholly informal and without authori y. 
 
 You will pie i a furnish Mr. Ould a lertitied copy of this coiuiuuni- 
 tation. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 e. a. nn 
 
 Mnj Cen. Voli, and ' loner for ' I . ••» n is. 
 
 i 
 
 FoItT M ' . " 
 
 A true c 8. A. MEREDI ill. 
 
 ' e. '* 
 
133 
 
 [No. 68.] 
 
 MR, OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 C. S A., War Department, > 
 
 Richmond, V,,, Nov. 21, 1863. \ 
 Brig. Gen. S. A. Meredith, 
 
 Agent of Exchange : 
 
 Sir : I have received the letter or' General Hitchcock relating to 
 the memorandum of paroles which I forwarded to you. 
 
 General Hitchcock seems to have misapprehended my purpose 
 somewhat in sending you tint memorandum. You requested a list 
 of the paroles whl h I claimed, and the paper which I sent to you was 
 only intended to be understood as a memorandum in the way of notice 
 to^ou. I did not expect you to agree to recognize the p troles therein 
 referred to in s-uch a general way, upon the mere presentation of the 
 paper. The evidence which supports that memorandum <{ paroles is 
 on file in my office. If we could only have agreed upon the principle 
 by which they should be computed and adjusted, all the rest would 
 have been easy work. I would have presented the paroles then selves 
 or authenticated lists of them. The- fact that the\ Ave re given, the 
 circumstances under Avhich they Avere given, the parties giving them, 
 would all appear upon the fnce of the papers in proper form. As 
 General Hitchcock seems to indicate a Avillingness to re-open this 
 matter, I will state for his benefit frankly, the principles by which I 
 propose to be governed. 
 
 1 I will not chum the paroles of citizens. All the paroles Avhich 
 I will produce will be those of Federal soldiers in actual service at the 
 time of captrre. 
 
 2. I will show the particular locality where the parties Avere cap- 
 tured, the command to which they belong, the command which 
 captured them, and the precise date of each transact h n. 
 
 3. 1 Avill accompany the presentation with such full and particular 
 evidence as Avill enable you to verily the truth of the case by your 
 own records and ihe statements of your own officers and soldiers. 
 
 4. *loie than thirty of the forty- four Uems in my memorandum are 
 cases of captures made previous to the 22d Ma}', 1863. It has never, 
 at any time, been alleged tha'i I hud any notice before that time 'hat 
 paroling upon the battle field was not to be permitted. The Federal 
 authorities have charged again>t me parole^ taken upon the bat tie 
 field up to that date, and have received credit for them. I would have 
 received credit for these items many months ago if you had have had 
 paroles or prisoners of ours to have offsetted against them. I mill 
 thank General Hitchcock to inform me, upon what principle he can 
 reject those thirty-odd items. If he wants evidence that I have 
 allowed precisely similar paroles, I will furnish it. 
 
 o. As to such of the paioles as Avere given between the 22d May, 
 1S63, and the 3d of July, (the date of general order, No. 2)7,) I shall 
 
139 
 
 contend that they shall be allowed under the provisions of paragraph 
 13 1, of general order, No. KKl. I will allow any similar paroles 
 given to you during the same period. 
 
 6. As to all paroles given af"tor the 3d of July, l c 63, I will allow 
 general order, No. 207. to hive full force. No paroles from and after 
 thai date are to be valid unless the paroling is in pursuance of the 
 agreement of the commanders of two opposing armies. 
 
 7. In my memorandum the officers ami non-commissioned officers 
 are reduced to privates There are but very few, if any, commissioned 
 officer? on the lists. They have alreoly been exchanged and checked 
 off. This is of itself proof* that your authorities have heretofore 
 recognized these paroles. The lists and par. <Ls will show the grade 
 01 all the patties. 
 
 • ; . I have been greatly misunderstood by General Hitchcock, if he 
 thinks I have refused to be governed by your general orders. Gen. 
 Hitchcock says: "we appeal to those orders, and intend to be gov- 
 erned by them, and if the enemy would assum • them, and be governed 
 by them also, all difficulties on the subject of paroles would cease." 
 I ha\'e ill ready expressed my willingness to bo* governed by your gen- 
 eral orders'" on the subject of paroles." It was my original proposi- 
 tion I adhere to it still. Let, then, "all difficulties cease." 
 
 !•. If our present difficulties are to cease, let me for the sike of 
 future harmony suggest lhat there be some definitive meaning attached 
 to the phrase "commanders of two opposing armies." Whoaro such 
 c.omin*nders? We can readily understand that General Lee and Gen- 
 eral Meade are such. But is General Thonvts the eommmder • l" one 
 of the • pposing armies at Chattanooga, or is it General Grant? Was 
 General IVmberton the commander of an opposing army, when be 
 was puhp'd to the orders of General Johnston who was in his imme- 
 diate neighborhood? Was General Gardiner tho comm inder of an 
 opposing army at Port Hudson ? if so, is not every one who holds a 
 b para ftf command, sUch >i commander? Does size constitute an array ? 
 If a Capt.'iin or Lieutenant is on detached service, is he the commander 
 of an opp >>ing army, an I ran he be released on parole by an a 
 ment made with the officer wlio captured him. if he also is on 
 service? 1 make these inquiries of General Hitchcock in no captious 
 spirit. They do present dilfi ulties to my mind, and I should like to 
 know what is to be considered as the true interpretation of the phrase. 
 All the captures after the 3d of duly, l-ui;>, which 1 ask you to 
 recognize, were in pursuance of "an agreement between the com- 
 manders (if two opposing armies." I cannot, see how any difficulty 
 can arise between General Hi'chcock and myself afres* Ins letter, 
 
 pt as to capures between May JM, 1463, and July 3d, I 
 They are but very few in iniin'icr. 
 
 I will thank jou to send this letter or a copy of it to General 
 Hitchcock. 
 
 Respectfully, vour obedient servant, 
 
 RO, OULD. 
 Agent of Exchange. 
 
140 
 
 \ T o. 69.] 
 
 MAJ. GEN HITCHCOCK TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 Washington City, Dec. 2Sth, 1863. 
 
 Brig Gen. S. A. Meredith. 
 
 y oinr for Exchange of Prisonrrs : 
 
 Sir : I have read the copy you forwarded of Mr. OuM's communica- 
 tion (if the ■_> 1st inst.„in which, 1 perceive, Mr. Ould thinks I misappre- 
 hended Ins purpose in forwa.dmg the "tubular statement'' of alleged 
 valid paioles madechiefly in th.- West and South. I supposed that the 
 lobular sttUrrwnt was sent to yon in explanation of the large number 
 of prisom-r* declared exchanged by Mr. Ould, the propriery of which 
 had been veiy pi opei ly questioned by you. If that was nut the pur- 
 pose of tii.' statement, 1 regret that it fell under my notice. If Mr. 
 Ould wishes either to present another "statement-," or to furnish 
 detailed explanations of that already before us, it will be time enough 
 to consi lei fiie points he may raise when he presents them. In the 
 meantime. 1 think itnecessary to observe that neither Mr. Ould, your- 
 self, nor in-self, have poweis outside of the cartel, except those plainly 
 iiceessa»v f the execution of iis provisions; but, in this connection, 
 I Diifst affinn that the first shock given to the free and continued exe- 
 cution ot ri ■ provisions of t h<- cartel, came from Mr. Davis in his 
 "uu s-age of rhe 12th of January, of the present year, in which he 
 declares his purpose of delivery to the several State authorities South, 
 all commissioned officers of the Federal army who might be captured, 
 to he tiied. under State laws, for the crime of exciting servile insur- 
 reciou. This stands yet s the avowed purpose of th" chief execu- 
 tive of the M;it«-s engaged in the lehellion. It 1ms not been annulled 
 in any fun whatever., nor has the act of the southern Congress, in 
 support <>t \!c. Davis' views, been in any manner replied or disa- 
 \owed. Without looking any further, I appeal to this as a full justi- 
 fication of the Federal commander in-chief in suspending the opera- 
 tion of that portion of article four, of the cartel, wh ch iei|uires "all 
 ] risoiit -rs of «ar to be discharged on parole in ten <!a\s after their 
 capture." it, being manifest, that the authorities South could not parole 
 prisoners according to the cartel, and carry out their declared pur- 
 pose of delivering the office- over to State authorities to be tried as 
 criminals under State laws. Whatever may have been the reason why 
 the declare I jiurpo.se of Mr. Davis has not been extensively carried 
 into effect, the fact of the existence of that purpose, sanctioned a3 we 
 know it t>> have been, is a suffi ient reason on our part for not deliver- 
 ing pi isoneis on 'parole, particularly as there is every rea-on to believe 
 that the purpose of Mr. Davis has only been arrested by the fact, 
 that, b\ the fortune of wat, we had in our hands more prisoners than 
 were held in the South. In addition to the above, the treatment of 
 colored troops, which make an integral portion of the Federal army, 
 when captured in the South, is too well known to permit us for a 
 
141 
 
 moment to suppose, in the present state of things, that there is any 
 design in the S<»uth to treat that class of troops according to the laws 
 of war, applicable to other troops of the Federal army ; and until 
 the southern authorities ma*ke some distinct declaration oi ;i purpose 
 to treat colored troops and their office s, in the employment of the 
 United States Government, in all reap i-ts, according to the Uw< oi 
 •war, as applicable to other troops, wc i ann >t recede from th- position 
 taken by the commander-in-chief above ref'e red to. The wi-domu-nd 
 the neces.-ity of e\i>t in » orders on tlii^ <oi ject, will sufficiently defend 
 the measure, m view of the threats an I practices of the South, which 
 only need to be known to justify tlii in -asure. 
 
 It is verv well known that Gol »nel Ludlow made these subjects the 
 frequent topic <>:' conversation with Mi Ould, without ptoluciug any 
 impression on Mr O ild, tending to i ie .mint, of inducing ;t declara- 
 tion, by authu iiy, from the South, ihat all officers of ih- Federal 
 army, as well a-i ; ;i!;s - el men, shall receive, when capture I. 'lie' 
 moot due to prisoners of war, W'th >lir <[>i".:s declaration that colored 
 troops, both officers and men, shall re eive similar treat m 
 
 You will plunse communicate these views to Mr. Ould, with a 
 request that he will lay them bef>rc hi rovernment. 
 Very : -spectfully, your oh lit nt servant, 
 
 E. A. HITCHCOCK, 
 Major Gen. Vols, ami Co-.missioner foi Exchange. 
 
 A true copy. 
 
 S. A. MEREDITH, 
 
 Brigadier General and Commissioner of Exchange. 
 
 [No. 70.] 
 M U. GEN HITCHCOCK TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 Washington Citv, D. C, 
 
 shington City, I). 0., > 
 November 1;), 1863. \ 
 
 Brig. Gen. S. A Mi. reditu, 
 
 i m knottier for Exchange of Prisoners : 
 
 Si ; : I am not yet informed whether any, or how far, relief may 
 have reached our unfortunate prisoners of war in Richmond and its 
 vicinity, under the orders of the Secretary of War, to sen I supplies 
 to thera of both food and clothing. 
 
 Meantime, it is proper and necessary that Mr. Ould should be 
 notified, for the information of his Government, that whatever sUps 
 may Inn' 1 been, or may be taken thus t-o extend relief, must, on no 
 oonsiderati n, be appealed to by the enemy to relieve him from the 
 obligation to treat prisoners of war according to the laws of civilized 
 warfare, 
 
 If, in other words, our prisoners in Richmond fail to receive sueh 
 
142 
 
 supplies as the laws alike of humanity and war require, the authori- 
 ties o Richmond must he informed, that it will not be considered a 
 valid explanation or excuse for them to appeal to the fact, should it 
 exist, that supplies from us have not reached them. 
 
 The action of our Government in this matter i ; dictated purely hy 
 humanity, and is only an effort to relieve our prisoners from suffering 
 inflicted upon them contrary to the claims of both humanity and ihe 
 laws of war, and must not be understood as relieving the authorities 
 at Rtehmondifrora responsibility to the Christian world in the premises. 
 1\' the authorities in Richmond will semi us these prisoners we will 
 not only feed and clothe them, but will c -ntinue to supply food and 
 clothing as heretofore to such prisoners as may be in our possession} 
 and you will propose to Mr. Ouid, tint, in this case, we will agree 
 without any reserve, to respect the parole they may give according to 
 the laws of war, from which they shall u<>t be relieved in view of p ist 
 differences or pending questions on the subject of exchange, without 
 the previously obtained consent of the authorities represented by Mr. 
 Ould, as-a.ent for exchanges, under the cartel. 
 
 You will please lose no tune in communicating a copy of this note, 
 certified by yourself to Mr. Ould. and will urge upon him its accept- 
 ance, as due to the most solemn considerations in the -face of the 
 civilized world. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 B. A. HITCHCOCK, 
 Maj. Gen. Vols., a?id Commissioner for Exchange of Prisoners. 
 Fort Mo.mioe, Va., Nov. 15, 1863. 
 A true copy. 
 S. A. Meredith, Brig. Gen. anf Commissioner for Exchung". 
 
 [No. 71.] 
 
 MR. OULD TO BRIG. GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 Confederate States of America, War Department. ) 
 
 Richmond, Va., Nov. 18, 1863. \ 
 
 Brig. Gen. S. A. Meredith, 
 
 Agent of Exchange : 
 
 Sir : The letter of General Hitchcock has been received. 
 
 Until the Confederate authorities appeal to be released " from the 
 obligation to treat prisoners of war according to the laws of civilized 
 warfare," or offer as "an explaration or excuse" for insufficient food 
 that supplies have not been forwarded by your Government, it is 
 entirely unnecessary to discuss what will be the views of your 
 authorities in either contingency. 
 
 Statements, most infamously false, have recently been made and 
 circulated at the North, by persons whose calling should have imposed 
 
143 
 
 a respect for truth, which their own personal honor seems to have 
 failed to secure. Our regulations require tint prisoners shall receive 
 the same rations as soldiers in the field. Such your prisoners have 
 received and will continue to receive. Do you ask more? IT so, 
 what do you demand ? We recognise, in the fullest form, our obliga- 
 tion to treat your prisoners with humanity, and to serve them with 
 the same food, in quantity and quality, as is given to our o«n sol- 
 diers. If the supply is scanty, you have only to blame the system of 
 warfare you have waged against us. There is nothing in the action 
 of the Confederate Government which gives any sort of couu euanco 
 to the charge of cruelty or inhumanity to your prison :rs. hi the 
 first place, we have importuned you to agree to a, fair and honest 
 proposition which would secure the release of all of them When 
 .that was rejected, you have been permitted to send, without sunt or 
 limitation, all kinds of supplies to them. 
 
 General Hitchcock requests that the prisoners now in our hands be 
 returned to your lines. This is not accompanied with any proposition 
 to release our prisoners now in your hands. So far from that being the 
 case, he promises to " contii ue to supply food and clothing as hereto- 
 fore'' to such. General Hitchcock need not have urged you to " lose 
 no time in communicating " his letter. No degree of haste would have 
 secured the assent of the Confederate authorities to a proposition so 
 flagrantly unequal. We are ready to relieve your Government from 
 the burthen of supplying "food and clothing as heretof ire," to our 
 people in your hands, and if they are sent to us, yours shall be 
 returned to you — the excess on one side or the other to be on parole. 
 I hope you will "urge" upon General Hitchcock the acceptance of 
 this proposition " as due to the most solemn considerations in the face 
 of the civilized world." We are content that the "civilized world" 
 should draw its own conclusions when it contrasts the two oilers. I 
 will thank you to forward this communication to General Hitchcock, 
 or inform him that the Confederate authorities decline to accept his 
 proposition. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 RO. OULD, 
 Agent of Exchange. 
 
 [No. 72.] 
 GEN. HITCHCOCK TO GEN. MEREDITH. 
 
 Washington Citv, D.^., Nov. 23d, 1863. 
 
 Brig. Gen. S. A. Meredith, 
 
 Commissioner for Exchange of Prisoners : 
 
 Sir : Your note forwarding a copy of Mr. Ould's letter of the 18th 
 
144 
 
 instant, addressed to yourself, as an answer to my letter of the 13th, 
 has been received. Mr. Ould, I perceive, states that our prisoners in 
 Richmond receive "the same rations as solliers in the field," accord- 
 ing to the regulations." 
 
 The • regulations " may he such ns Mr. Ould states them to be, hut 
 th it our prisoners receive ''rations" as state I, is contradicted by 
 alt of ihe ■ vidence that has reached me outside of Mr. Quid's state- 
 ment; and, the evidence rests upon the statements of eye witnesses 
 and of actual suftVrers under the treatment received in Richmond and 
 at Belle I-k\ besides the testimony of facts disclose by the visible 
 condition of t, delivery of some one hundred and eighty prisoners 
 Hiadf at Gity Point, many of whom died, before reaching Fort Mon- 
 roe, from starmtion, according to the judgnu-nt of a competent medi- 
 cal officer. 
 
 Up'*n the evidence above stated, the Secretary of War ordered 
 plies to be sent for the distribution to the remaining prisoners ; and 
 this <;.ite of things induced the letter of the I3ih instant, proposing 
 to receive on parole the prisoners, and to hold them off duty until ex- 
 changed, independently of all existing difficulties on the subject of 
 excti.: 
 
 Mr. Duld lecline3 this offer and proposes Unit, if we will send to 
 the South t!v prisoners in oar hands, they will sen! ou<\s to u% "the 
 exc( iC side or the other to he on parole " 
 
 Wh :. vcr appearance of verbal fairness there may b? in this, the 
 condu nf Mr. Ould, in fonnecrion with recent declarations of ex- 
 change ''ill not permit us to regard this proposal as made in good 
 faith and v e cannot rely upon its being carried out by the enemy. 
 
 In tl •• first place, the proclamation of Mr. Davis, and other public 
 act« of those in power in the South, remain in full force, so far as we 
 know, and are actually being enforced in the South, by which distinction 
 is ma'" 1 * between classes of troops employed by the United Stated and 
 officer, serving with colored troops, if taken prisoners, do not receive 
 and are not to receive the treatment due to prisoners of war, whilst 
 the enlisted men of colored troops, when taken prisoners, it has been 
 publicly declared, shall be Bold into slavery. 
 
 That his distinction is m ide actual, in the treatment of prisoners 
 of war, we know in some ctses, and have much reason to apprehend 
 it in others, which have not teen permitted to see the light. YVehavc 
 positive information of the fact, that two colored seamen of the United 
 States marine were captured near Charleston, and were not treated as 
 prisoners of war. 
 
 Two free colored young men, with a Massachusetts regiment, were 
 captuted near Galveston and publicly sold into slavery. 
 
 In a recent case I made a proposal to release, mutually, all chap- 
 lains ; and the proposal was " cheerfully accepted ;" but, : lthough 
 we delivered about or more than twice the number we reoeived, the 
 enemy held back the chaplain of a Massachusetts colored regiment who 
 was confined and in irons at Columbia, S. C. 
 
 In addition to these facts, Mr. Ould, not long since, declared that he 
 would proceed to make declarations of exchange whenever he con- 
 
145 
 
 scientiously felt that he had the right to do so, for the purpose of 
 putting men into the field. 
 
 If this announcement means anything at all, it means that the 
 usages of war, and the express provisions of the cartel, arc subordi- 
 nate to the individual determination and purposes of Mr. Ould on the 
 subject of* declarations of exchange ; and, as a consequence, wo must 
 suppose that if Mr. Ould can obtain possession of the " excess " of 
 prisoners, now in our possession, he wil! " proceed " to declare them 
 exchanged, and put them into the field, upon what he might allege as 
 his sense of right. When called upon for an explanation he would 
 prepare what he might call a ; ' tabular statement of paroles," as he 
 recently did, made up from guerilla captures of citizens in remote 
 parts of the country, set down as captured places as Kentucky, 
 
 as Tennessee, as Mississippi, or at such a place as Ken tucky and Tennes- 
 see, not in any instance properly reporting to whom delivered. Mr. 
 Ould has shown the latitudinarian construction he puts upon his pow- 
 ers, and the nature of his sense of right, by writing a letter on the I Oth 
 of Oct. which he has not thought it necessary to communicate to us, 
 but which has been published in a Richmond paper, by which he took 
 upon himself the power to declare that the whole number of men de- 
 livered by General Banks, at Mobile, embracing several thousand men, 
 captured at Port Hudson, were under no obligation to preserve their 
 parole. 
 
 Mr. Ould has been a mere agent under the cartel, and when a. 
 question comes up as to the import of the cartel, its meaning, &c, 
 Mr. Ould has no power to decide the question, for that belongs to the_ 
 parties by whose authority the cartel was made. 
 
 The cartel provided two places for the delivery of prisoners of war, 
 Ci^y Point and Vicksburg; but it provided, also, that when these 
 places, or either of them, should become unavailable by the exigencies 
 of war, some other point might be agreed upon. 
 
 Vicksburg, having fallen into our hands, became unavailable, as 
 contemplated by the cartel, and Gen. Banks nth the rebel 
 
 commander in the field rhat Gen. Banks would deliver the Port 
 Hudson prisoners on parole, and they were delivered accordingly. 
 
 Mr. Ould knew that those men were unconditionally in the hands 
 of Gen. Banks. I been "reduced to po ," and had been 
 
 taken to IS been sent north, il mks, 
 
 had pleased. Instead em to the North to swell the 
 
 number of prit .' war, in our haj : North, (Jen. Banks 
 
 confided in the honor o ed" to ] 
 
 those men ie, Vickj v the exigencies of war, no 
 
 longer availal ; delivery. 
 
 In that state of r. Ould takes upon himself to decide that 
 
 the delivery at Mobile was invalid, that place not being named in tho 
 cartel for the delivery iers. 
 
 With a - t so obtuse, as this act indicates, it is doing no 
 
 injustice to Mr. Ould to say that we cannot confi Ie in any pledge ho 
 
 would make to carry out a special agreement, and we mu ingly 
 
 decline to acquiesce in any measure which would throw into his hands 
 
 10 
 
146 
 
 a large body of prisoners of war under parole, to be by him released 
 from its obligations according to his sense of right, 
 
 You will understand from the above statements that Mr. Ould'e 
 decision touching the prisoners delivered by Gen. Banks, is not 
 recognized as justifiable or valid, and that wo claim that they are still 
 prisoners of war on parole. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 E. A. HITCHCOCK, 
 \l«j. Gen. of Vol.. and GonCr for Exchange of V 
 
THE A RTF, I. 
 
 EIaxall's Landing, on James River, >' 
 July 22, 1863. 
 
 The under; igned having been commissioned by the authorities- they 
 
 ctivcly represent, to make arrangements for a general exchange 
 of prisoners _of war, have agreed to the following articles : 
 
 Article 1. It is hereby agreed and stipulated, that all prisoners of 
 war held by cither party, including those taken on private armed 
 vessels, known as privateers, shall be exchanged upon the conditions 
 and terms following : 
 
 Prisoners to be exchanged man for man ami officer for officer ; 
 privateers to be placed upon the footing of officers and men of the 
 navy. 
 
 i and officers of lower grades, may be exchanged for officers of 
 men and officers of different services, may be ex- 
 o irdin allowing scale of equivalents. 
 
 ral commanding in chief, or an admiral, shall be exchu: 
 for officers of equal rank or for sixty privates or common seamen. 
 
 A Hag officer or major general shall be exchanged for officers of 
 equal rank or for forty privates or common seamen. 
 
 A commodore, carrying a broad pennant, or a brigadier general shall 
 bo exchanged for officers of equal rank or twenty privates or common 
 seamen. 
 
 A captain in the navy or a colonel, shall be exchanged for officers 
 of equal rank or for fifteen privates or common seamen. 
 
 A lieutenant colonel or a commander in the navy, shall be ex- 
 _'ed for officers of equal rank or for ten privates or common sea- 
 men. 
 
 A lieutenant commander or a major, shall bo exchange for officers 
 
 ual rank or eight privates or common seamen. 
 A lieutenant or a master in the navy or a captain in the army or 
 marines, shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank or six privates 
 or common teamen. 
 
148 
 
 Master's mates in the navy, or lieutenants and ensigns in the army, 
 shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank or four privates or com- 
 mon seamen. 
 
 Midshipmen, warrant officers in the navy, masters of merchant ves- 
 sels and commanders of privateers, shall be exchanged for officers of 
 equal rank or three privates or common seamen ; second captains, 
 lieutenants or mates of merchant vessels or privateers and all petty 
 officer? in the navy and all non-commissioned officers in the army or 
 marines, shall be severally exchanged for persons of equal rank or for 
 two privates or common seamen ; and private soldiers or common sea 
 men, shall be exchanged for each other, man for man. 
 
 Article 2. Local, sta,tc, civil and militia rank held by persons not 
 in actual military service, will not be recognized ; the basis of exchange 
 being the grade actually held 'in the naval and military service of the 
 respective parties. 
 
 Article 3. If citizens held by either party on charges of disloy- 
 alty or any alleged civil offence are exchanged, it shall only be for 
 citizens. Captured sutlers, teamsters, and all civilians in the actual 
 service of either party to be exchanged for persons in similar position. 
 
 Article 4. All prisoners of war to be discharged on parole in ten 
 days after their capture, and the prisoners now held and those here- 
 after taken to be tiansported to the points mutually agreed upon, at 
 the expense of the capturing party. The surplus prisoners, not 
 exchanged, shall not be permitted to take up arras again, nor to serve 
 as military police, or constabulary force in any fort, garrison, or fields 
 work, held by either of the respective parties, nor as guards of 
 prisons, depots, or stores, nor to discharge any duty usually performed 
 by soldiers, until exchanged under the provisions of this cartel. The 
 exchange is not to be considered complete until the officer or soldier 
 exchanged for has been actually restored to the lines to which he 
 belongs. 
 
 Article 5. Each party, upon the discharge of prisoners of the 
 other party, is authorized to discharge an equal number of their own 
 officers or men from parole, furnishing at the same time to the other 
 party a list of their prisoners discharged, and of their own officers 
 and men relieved from parole; thus enabling each party to relieve 
 from parole such of their own officers and men as the party may 
 ch( ose. The lists thus mutually furnished will keep both parties* 
 advised of the true condition of the exchange of prisoners. 
 
 ArticLe G. The stipulations and provisions above mentioned to be 
 of binding obligation during the continuance of the war, it matters 
 not which party may have the surplus of prisoners, the great princi- 
 ples involved being: 1st. An equitable exchange of prisoners, man 
 for man, officer for officer, or officers of higher grade, exchanged for 
 officers of lower grade, or for privates, according to the scale of equiv- 
 alents. 2d. That privates and officers and men of different services 
 may be exchanged according to the same scale of equivalents. 3d. 
 That all prisoners, of whatever arm of senvice, are to be exchanged 
 or paroled in ten days from the time of their capture, if it be practi- 
 cable to transfer them to their own lines in that time ; if not, as soon 
 
149 
 
 thereafter as practicable. 4th. That no officer, soldier, or employee 
 in service of either party is to be considered as exchanged and 
 absolved from his parole until his equivalent has actually reached the 
 lines of his friends, oth. That the parole forbids the performance of 
 field, garrison, police, or guard, or constabulary duty. 
 
 JOHN A. DIX, 
 
 Major General. 
 D. H. HILL, 
 Major General, C. S. A. 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY ARTICLES. 
 
 Article 7. All prisoners of war now bold on cither side, and all 
 prisoners hereafter taken, shall be sent, with all reasonable dispatch, 
 to A. M. Aiken's, below Dutch Gap, on the James river, in Virginia, 
 or to Vicksburg, on the Mississippi river, in the State of Mississippi, 
 and there exchanged, or paroled until such exchange can be effected, 
 notice being previously given by each party of the number of prisoners 
 it will send, and the time when they will be delivered at those points 
 respectively ; and in case the vicissitudes of war shall change the mil- 
 itary relations of the places designated in this article to the contend- 
 ing parties, so as to render the same inconvenient for the delivery and 
 exchange of prisoners, other places, bearing as nearly as may be the 
 present local relations of said places to the lines of said parties, shall 
 be, by mutual agreement, substituted. But nothing in this article 
 contained shall prevent the commanders of two opposing armies from 
 exchanging prisoners, or releasing them on parole, at other points 
 mutually agreed on by said commanders. 
 
 Articles. For the purpose' of carrying into effect the foregoing 
 articles of agreement, each party will appoint two agents, to bo called 
 agents for the exchange of prisoners of war, whose duty it shall be to 
 communicate with each other, by correspondence and otherwise ; to 
 prepare the lists of prisoners ; to attend to the delivery of the prisoners 
 at the place-- agreed on, and to carry out promptly, effectually, and in 
 good faith, all the details and provisions of the said articles of agree- 
 ment. 
 
 Article. 9. And in case understanding shall arise in regard 
 
 to any clause or stipulation in the foregoing articles, it is mutually 
 
 I thai such misundei - shall n rupt the release of 
 
 nera on parole, as herein ; . but shall be made the subject 
 
 of friendly explanation, in order that the object of this agreement may 
 
 neither be defeated or postponed. 
 
 \ DIX, 
 \£ajor General. 
 D. II. HILL, 
 Major General C. S. A.