privateersmen, had actually been paroled, should yet G. W. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War. Commanding Department of the Appomattox. Accompanying this letter was the following personal explanation of Gen. Huger: for the exchange of prisoners, based upon the cartel of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain, and which was claimed by the Richmond papers to mark an important era in the war, by acknowledging the quasi nationality of the Confederate Government: HAXALL'S LANDING, ON JAMES RIVER, VA. July 22, 1862. The undersigned, having been commissioned by the authorities they respectively represent to make arrangements for a general exchange of prisoners of war, have agreed to the following articles: Prisoners to be exchanged man for man and officer for officer; privates to be placed on the footing of offi cers and men of the navy. HEADQUARTERS HUGER'S DIVISION, June 5, 1862. SIR: I enclose you a copy of a letter I received from the War Department. I have heard from private persons that the privateersmen whom you promised to ARTICLE 1.-It is hereby agreed and stipulated that send for exchange had arrived at City Point, but no letall prisoners of war held by either party, including ter to me has as yet been forwarded. As I had charge those taken on private armed vessels, known as privaof the correspondence with yourself on the subject, I teers, shall be discharged upon the conditions and hasten to send you this communication, which I must terms following: confess I do not clearly understand. The language of one of my letters may not have been the same as another; but I did intend not to give you all the officers once retained as hostages in exchange for all the privateersmen, but to give you such numbers of them in exchange as would be required by the cartel exchanging the equivalent of rank, and the other officers to be exchanged as usual. As you agreed to these terms, and had a sufficient number of our officers, there was no reason why the exchange should not be made at once; and I shall insist, if the privateers have been sent, as I hear, that all the officers referred to above be given in exchange. I think it but fair we should name the officers to be exchanged on our side; and as the most equitable way, propose to exchange those who have been longest prisoners, including navy officers. I am, General, Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Major-Gen. JOHN E. WOOL, or Officer Commanding Department of Virginia. Here the matter rested, and for upward of a month nothing seems to have been done toward a general exchange, notwithstanding in the mean time prisoners had accumulated in large for officers of a higher grade, and men and officers of A general commander-in-chief or an admiral shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or forty-six pri vates or common seamen, A flag 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 be 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 pri vates or common seamen. A lieutenant-colonel, or a commander in the navy, shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or for ten privates or common seamen. A lieutenant commander or a major shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or eight privates or common seamen. A lieutenant or a master in the navy, or a captain in equal rank, or six privates or common seamen. the army or marines, shall be exchanged for officers of Masters' mates in the navy, or lieutenants and ensigns in the army, shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or four privates or common seamen. of merchant vessels, and commanders of privateers, Midshipmen, warrant officers in the navy, masters 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 officers 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 and common seamen shall be exchanged for each other, man for numbers on either side. The Confederates had indeed made certain overtures, by sending to Washington Col. Miller and Major Stone, who had been captured in the battle near Pittsburg Landing, to induce the National Government to adopt some general plan. This the latter declined to do, claiming that certain Confederate officers of rank, as Gen. Buckner, captured at Fort Donelson, had, in consequence of acts done previous to the war, forfeited their right to be considered prisoners of war, and ought to be excepted from any cartel entered into by the belligerents, and to be held amenable for treaART. 2.-Local, State, civil, and militia rank held by The Confederates, on the other hand, in-persons not in actual military service will not be recognized, the basis of exchange being of a grade actusisted that the rule should be general, although ally held in the naval and military service of the refrom the reluctance which they had manifested spective parties. in releasing Col. Corcoran and other prisoners demanded by the people of the Northern States, it was evident that they had been themselves inclined to make exceptions. son. In obedience to a very general popular demand the National Government finally decided to yield its point, and on July 17, Gen. Dix, who had meanwhile succeeded Gen. Wool in command at Fortress Monroe, met the Confederate general D. H. Hill, in conference, at Turkey Island Creek on the James river, where on the 22d was signed the following agreement man. of disloyalty or any alleged civil offence are exchanged, ART. 3.-If citizens held by either party on charge 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. ART. 4.-All prisoners of war to be discharged on parole in ten days after their capture, and the prisoners now held and those hereafter taken to be transported 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 arms again, nor to serve as military police or constabulary force in any fort, garrison, or field work held by either of the respective parties, nor as guards of prisoners, 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. ART. 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, enabling each party to relieve from parole such of their own officers and men as the party may choose. The lists thus mutually furnished will keep both parties advised of the true condition of the exchanges of prisoners. ART. 6.-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 principle involved being: 1. 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 equivalents. 2. That privates and officers and men of different services may be exchanged according to the same rule of equivalents. 3. That all prisoners, of whatsoever arm of service, are to be exchanged or paroled in ten days from the time of their capture, if it be practicable to transfer them to their own lines in that time; if not, as soon thereafter as practicable. 4. That no officer, soldier, or employé in the service of either party is to be considered as exchanged and absolved from his parole until his equivalent has actually reached the line of his friends. 5. 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. Army. Supplementary Articles. terized this agreement, the adjutant-general of the United States a few days afterward issued an order that chaplains should not be held as prisoners of war, and directing the immediate and unconditional release of all chaplains so held. In accordance with the terms of the cartel, an exchange of prisoners commenced forthwith, and by the middle of August most of the officers of rank on either side, who had been for any lengthened period in captivity, were released. So far as the case of prisoners of this class was concerned, matters worked harmoniously enough; but new complications, the result of circumstances happening subsequent to the cartel, soon occurred, which gave rise to an acrimonious correspondence between the belligerent parties, and a series of retaliatory orders from the Confederate authorities. Previous to the adoption of the cartel of July 22, however, the Confederate general, R. E. Lee, had written to the authorities at Washington, under date of July 6, requesting infor mation respecting the alleged execution by the national authorities of John Owens and Wil liam B. Mumford, citizens of the seceded States, and on certain other points, indicated in the following reply of Gen. Halleck, the generalin-chief of the United States army: HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, WASITYOTON, Aug. 1862. Gen. R. E. Lee, Commanding, &c.: GENERAL: Your letter of July 6 was received at the Adjutant-General's office on the 14th, but supposing from the endorsement that it required no further reply, it was filed without being shown to the President or Secretary of War. I learned to day, for the first time, that such letter had been received, and hasten to reply. ART. 7.-All prisoners of war now held on either side, and all prisoners hereafter taken, shall be sent with all reasonable despatch to A. H. Aikens, 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 military relations of the places designated in this article to the contending 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. ART. 8.-For the purpose of carrying into effect the foregoing articles of agreement, each party will appoint two agents, to be 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 list of prisoners, to attend to the delivery of the prisoners at the places agreed on, and to carry out promptly, effectually, and in good faith, all the details and provisions of the said articles of agreement. ART. 9. And in case any misunderstanding shall arise in regard to any clause or stipulation in the foregoing articles, it is mutually agreed that such misunderstanding shall not interrupt the release of prisoners on parole, as herein provided, but shall be made the subject of friendly explanations, in order that the object of this agreement may neither be defeated nor postponed. JOHN A. DIX, Major-General. D. H. HILL, Major-General C. S. Á. Acting in the humane spirit which charac- act, would, if captured, be treated as ordinary prisoners of war. No authentic information has been received in relation to the execution of either John Owens or Mumford, but measures will be immediately taken to ascertain the facts of these alleged executions, of which you will be duly informed. I need hardly assure you, general, that, so far as the United States authorities are concerned, this contest will be carried on in strict accordance with the laws and usages of modern warfare, and that all excesses will be duly punished. In regard to the burning of bridges, &c., within our lines by persons in disguise as peaceful citizens, I refer you to my letter of the 22d of January last to Gen. Price. I think you will find the views there expressed as most materially differing from those stated in your letter. In regard to retaliation, by taking the lives of innocent persons, I know of no modern authority which justifies it except in the extreme case of a war with any uncivilized foe, which has himself first established such a barbarous rule. The United States will never countenance such a proceeding unless forced to do so by the barbarous conduct of an enemy who first spplies such a rule to our own citizens. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, In this letter Gen. Halleck, then commanding the department of Missouri, reiterated his intention to subject persons, other than soldiers, accused of burning or destroying railroads, bridges, and similar property, to trial by courtmartial, notwithstanding such persons had been authorized and instructed by Gen. Price to commit such acts. Armed men, in the garb of soldiers, destroying bridges as a military On July 21, Gen. Lee addressed a communication to Gen. McClellan, then in command at Harrison's Landing, stating that he was informed that many Confederate citizens, engaged in peaceful vocations, had been arrested and imprisoned because they refused to take the oath of allegiance to the United States; while others, by harsh treatment, had been compelled to take an oath not to bear arms against the National Government; adding: This Government refuses to admit the right of the authorities of the United States to arrest our citizens, and extort from them their parole not to render military service to their country under the penalty of incurring punishment in case they fall into the hands of your forces. I am directed by the Secretary of War to inform you that such oaths will not be regarded as obliga. tory, and persons who take them will be required to render military service. Should your Government treat the rendition of such service by these persons as a breach of parole, and punish it accordingly, this Government will resort to retaliatory measures as the only means of compelling the observance of the rules of civilized warfare. The matter was referred by Gen. McClellan to Gen. Halleck, who in reply to that officer, dated August 13, made the following statement of the policy which the Government would pursue: The Government of the United States has never authorized any extortion of oaths of allegiance or military paroles, and has forbidden any measures to be resorted to tending to that end. Instead of extorting oaths of allegiance and paroles, it has refused the applications of several thousand prisoners to be permitted to take them and return to their homes in the rebel States. At the same time this Government claims and will exercise the right to arrest, imprison, or place beyond its military lines any persons suspected of giving aid and information to its enemies, or of any other treasonable act. And if persons so arrested voluntarily take the oath of allegiance, or give their military parole, and afterward violate their plighted faith, they will be punished according to the laws and usages of war. You will assure Gen. Lee that no unseemly threats of retaliation on his part will deter this Government from exercising its lawful rights over both persons and property, of whatsoever name or character. On July 22 an important order was issued by Secretary Stanton, acting under instructions from the President, by which military commanders in Virginia and other parts of the seceded States were empowered "in an orderly manner to seize and use any property, real or personal, which may be necessary or convenient for their several commands, for supplies or for other military purpose;" to employ at reasonable wages persons of African descent when needed; and requiring that "as to both property and persons of African descent, accounts shall be kept sufficiently accurate and in detail, to show quantities and amounts, and from whom both property and such persons shall have come, as a basis upon which compensation can be made in proper cases." In accordance with the terms of this document Gen. Pope, then recently appointed to the command of the army of Virginia, directed his division generals to seize all horses and mules in their vicinity, and all stores not absolutely needed by the inhabitants for their maintenance or subsistence; and his General Order No. 11, dated July 23, required all officers of his army holding independent commands to arrest all disloyal male citizens within their lines or within their reach. "Such as are willing to take the oath of allegiance to the United States," &c., the order continued. (See ARMY OPERATIONS.) These several orders did not fail to create excitement among the Confederate authorities at Richmond, and ultimately led to the retaliatory action suggested by the two following documents, of which the first was addressed by President Davis to Gen. Lee: RICHMOND (VA.), July 31, 1862. SIR: On the 22d of this month a cartel for the general exchange of prisoners of war was signed between Maj.-Gen. D. H. Hill, in behalf of the Confederate States, and Maj.-Gen. John E. Dix, in behalf of the United States. By the terms of this cartel it is stipulated that all prisoners of war hereafter taken shall be discharged on parole till exchanged. Scarcely had that cartel been signed when the military authorities of the United States commenced a practice changing the whole character of the war from such as becomes civilized nations into a campaign of indiscriminate robbery and murder. The general order issued by the Secretary of War of the United States, in the city of Washington, on the very day the cartel was signed in Virginia, directs the military commanders of the United States to take the private property of our people for the convenience and use of their armies, without compensation. The general order issued by Maj-Gen. Pope on the 23d day of July, the day after the signing of the cartel, directs the murder of our peaceful inhabitants as spies, if found quietly tilling the farms in his rear, even outside of his lines; and one of his brigadier-generals, habitants to be held as hostages, to the end that they Steinwehr, has seized upon innocent and peaceful inmay be murdered in cold blood, if any of his soldiers are killed by some unknown persons whom he designates as "bushwhackers." Under this state of facts, this Government has issued the enclosed general order, recognizing Gen. Pope and his commissioned officers to be in the position which they have chosen for themselves-that of robbers and murderers, and not that of public enemies, entitled, if captured, to be considered as prison ers of war. We find ourselves driven by our enemies by steady progress toward a practice which we abhor and which we are vainly struggling to avoid. Some of the military authorities of the United States age war in which no quarter is to be given, and no age seem to suppose that better success will attend a savor sex to be spared, than has hitherto been secured by such hostilities as are alone recognized to be lawful by civilized men in modern times. For the present we renounce our right of retaliation on the innocent, and shall continue to treat the private enlisted soldiers of Gen. Pope's army as prisoners of war; but if, after the notice to the Government at Washington of our confining repressive measures to the punishment only of the commissioned officers who are tices are continued, we shall be reluctantly forced to willing participants in these crimes, these savage practhe last resort of accepting the war on the terms observed by our foes, until the outraged voice of common humanity forces a respect for the recognized rules of war. While these facts would justify our refusal to execute the generous cartel by which we have consented to liberate an excess of thousands of prisoners held by us beyond the number held by the enemy, a sacred regard to plighted faith, shrinking from the mere semblance of breaking a promise, prevents our resort to this extremity. Nor de we desire to extend to any other forces of the enemy the punishment merited alone by Gen. Pope and the commissioned officers who choose to participate in the execution of his infamous orders. You are hereby instructed to communicate to the commander-in-chief of the United States the contents of this letter, and a copy of the enclosed general order, to the end that he may be notified of our intention not to consider the officers hereafter captured from Gen. Pope's army as prisoners of war. Very respectfully yours, &c., JEFFERSON DAVIS. To Gen. R. E. LEE, Commanding. The substance of this letter was communicated by Gen. Lee, according to President Davis's request, to Gen. Halleck on Aug. 2, with the accompanying General Order No. 54: Confederate General Order No. 54. ADJUTANT AND INSPECTOR, ANGRA 1, OUNCE August 1862. First. The following orders are published for the information and observance of all concerned. Second. Whereas, by a general order dated the 22d of July, 1862, issued by the Secretary of War of the United States, under the order of the President of the United States, the military commanders of that Government within the States of Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, are directed to seize and use any prop erty, real or personal, belonging to the inhabitants of this Confederacy, which may be necessary or convenient for their several commands, and no provision is made for any compensation to the owners of private property thus seized and appropriated by the military commands of the enemy. Third. And whereas, by General Order No. 11, issued by Major-General Pope, commanding the forces of the enemy in Northern Virginia, it is ordered that all commanders of any army corps, divisions, brigades, and detached commands, will proceed immediately to arrest all disloyal male citizens within their lines or within their reach in the rear of their respective commands. Such as are willing to take the oath of allegiance to the United States, and shall furnish sufficient security for its observance, will be permitted to remain in their houses, and pursue in good faith their accustomed avocations; those who refuse shall be conducted south beyond the extreme pickets of the army, and be notified if found again anywhere within our lines, or at any place in the rear, they will be considered spies and subjected to the extreme rigor of mili tary law. If any person, having taken the oath of allegiance as above specified, be found to have violated it, he shall be shot, and his property seized and applied to the public use. Fourth. And whereas, by an order issued on the 13th of July, 1862, by Brigadier-General A. Steinwehr, Major William Steadman, a cavalry officer of his brigade, has been ordered to arrest five of the most prominent citizens of Page county, Virginia, to be held as hostages, and to suffer death in the event of any of the soldiers of said Steinwehr being shot by bushwhackers, by which term are meant the citizens of this Confederacy who have taken up arms to defend their lives and families. Fifth. And whereas it results from the above orders that some of the military authorities of the United States, not content with the unjust and aggressive warfare hitherto waged with savage cruelty against an unoffending people, and exasperated by the failure of their efforts to subjugate them, have now determined to violate all the rules and usages of war, and to convert the hostilities, hitherto waged against armed forces, into a campaign of robbery and murder against innocent citizens and peaceful tillers of the soil. Sixth. And whereas this Government, bound by the highest obligations of duty to its citizens, is thus driven to the necessity of adopting such just measures of retribution and retaliation as shall seem adequate to repress and punish these barbarities. And whereas the orders above recited have only been published and made known to this Government since the signa ture of a cartel for the exchange of prisoners of war, which cartel, in so far as it provides for an exchange of prisoners hereafter captured, would never have been signed or agreed to by this Government, if the intention to change the war into a system of indiscriminate murder and robbery had been made known to it. And whereas a just regard to humanity forbids that the repression of crime, which this Government is thus compelled to enforce, should be unnecessarily extended to retaliation on the enlisted men of the army of the United States who may be unwilling instruments of the savage cruelty of their com manders, so long as there is hope that the excesses of the enemy may be checked or prevented by retribution on the commissioned officers, who have the power to avoid guilty action by refusing service under a Govern ment which seeks their aid in the perpetration of such infamous barbarities. Seventh. Therefore it is ordered that Major-General Pope, Brigadier-General Steinwehr, and all commissioned officers serving under their respective commands, be and they are hereby expressly and espe cially declared to be not entitled to be considered as soldiers, and therefore not entitled to the benefit of the cartel for the parole of future prisoners of war. Ordered, further, That in the event of the capture of Major-General Pope or Brigadier-General Steinwehr, or of any commissioned officers serving under them, the captive so taken shall be held in close confinement, so long as the orders herein expressed shall continue in force, and until repealed by the competent military authorities of the United States, and that in the event of the murder of any unarmed citizen or inhabitant of this Confederacy, by virtue or under the pretext of any of the orders hereinbefore recited, whether with or without trial, whether under the pretence of such citizen being a spy or hostage, or any other pretence, it shall be the duty of the commanding General of the forces of this Confederacy to cause immediately to be hung, out of the commissioned officers prisoners as aforesaid, a number equal to the number of our own citizens thus murdered by the enemy. By order. S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector-General. On the same day, August 2, Gen. Lee addressed the following communication on a different subject, but one involving similar principles, to Gen. Halleck: HEADQUARTERS OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES, NEAR RICHMOND, VA., Aug. 2, 1862. To the General Commanding Army of the United Stata, Washington: GENERAL: On the 29th of June last I was instructed by the Secretary of War to inquire of Maj.-Gen. McClellan as to the truth of alleged murders committed on our citizens by officers of the United States army. The case of Wm. B. Mumford, reported to have been murdered at New Orleans by order of Maj.-Gen. B. F. Butler, and of Col. John Owens, reported to have been murdered in Missouri by order of Maj.-Gen. Pope, were those referred to. I had the honor to be informed by Maj. Gen. McClellan that he had referred these inquiries to his Government for a reply. No answer has as yet been received. The President of the Confederate States has since been credibly informed that numerous other officers of the army of the United States within the Confederacy have been guilty of felonies and capital offences which are punishable by all laws, human and divine. I am PRISONERS, EXCHANGE OF. directed by him to bring to your notice a few of those best authenticated. Newspapers received from the United States announce as a fact that Maj.-Gen. Hunter has armed slaves for the murder of their masters, and has thus done all in his power to inaugurate a servile war, which is worse than that of the savage, inasmuch as it superadds other horrors to the indiscriminate slaughter of all ages, sexes, and conditions. Brig. Gen. Phelps is reported to have initiated at New Orleans the example set by Maj. Gen. Hunter on the coast of South Carolina. Brig. Gen. G. N. Fitch is stated in the same journals to have murdered in cold blood two peaceful citizens, because one of his men, while invading our country, was killed by some unknown person while defending his home. I am instructed by the President of the Confederate States to repeat the inquiry relative to the cases of Mumford and Owens, and to ask whether the statements in relation to the action of Gens. Hunter, Phelps, and Fitch are admitted to be true, and whether the conduct of these generals is sanctioned by their Gov ernment. I am further directed by his Excellency the President to give notice that, in the event of not receiving a reply to these inquiries within fifteen days from the delivery of this letter, it will be assumed that the alleged facts are true, and are sanctioned by the Government of the United States. In such an event, on that Government will rest the responsibility of the retribution or retaliatory measures which shall be adopted to put an end to the merciless atrocities which now characterize the war against the Confederate States. I am, most respectfully, your obedient servant, R. E. LEE, General Commanding. To both communications but one answer was returned, and that was given in the following brief note, with which, for the time, all correspondence on the subject between the parties ended: HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 1862. Gen. R. E. Lee, Commanding, &c.: GENERAL: Your two communications of the 2d instant, with enclosure, are received. As these papers are couched in language insulting to the Government of the United States, I most respectfully decline to receive them. They are returned herewith. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, The Confederates, however, not receiving what they considered a satisfactory answer to the allegations contained in the last quoted letter of Gen. Lee, of August 2, proceeded to issue two vindictive orders in the nature of retaliatory measures against officers of the United States army. The first, dated August 20, threatened retaliation for the lives of peaceable citizens said to have been taken by Gen. (Colonel) Fitch in Arkansas, and the second, dated on the succeeding day, and known as General Order No. 60, was to the following effect: Whereas Maj.-Gen. Hunter, recently in command of the enemy's forces on the coast of South Carolina, and Brig. Gen. Phelps, a military commander of the enemy in the State of Louisiana, have organized and armed negro slaves for military service against their masters, citizens of this Confederacy: And whereas the Government of the United States has refused to answer an inquiry whether said conduct of its officers meets its sanction, and has thus left to this Government no other means of repressing said PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 717 crimes and outrages than by the adoption of such measures of retaliation as shall serve to prevent their repetition: Ordered that Maj.-Gen. Hunter and Brig.-Gen. Phelps be no longer held and treated as public enemies of the Confederate States, but as outlaws; and that in the event of the capture of either of them, or that of any other commissioned officer employed in drilling, organizing or instructing slaves, with a view to their armed service in this war, he shall not be regarded as a prisoner of war, but held in close confinement for execution as a felon, at such time and place as the President may order. The retaliatory orders against Gen. Pope's command were for several weeks enforced with a considerable degree of strictness; but when he retired from command, they were rescinded. An event occurring in Missouri in October gave occasion for further retaliatory action on the part of the Confederate authorities. Andrew Allsman, a loyal citizen of Palmyra, in the northeastern part of the State, and a noncombatant, having been forcibly abducted by a band of guerillas under the command of one Porter, the latter was notified by Gen. McNeil, commanding a portion of the Missouri State militia, that unless Allsman was returned unharmed to his family by the 18th of October, ten of the captured guerillas would be summarily shot. Allsman not appearing on the day specified, the death penalty was inflicted on ten men selected from Porter's band, in the presence of a large concourse of citizens. Intelligence of this event reached the Confederate capital in due season, and produced the following order from President Davis: EXECUTIVE OFFICE, RICHMOND, Nov. 17, 1862. Lieut. Gen. T. J. Holmes, Commanding Trans-Mississippi Department: GENERAL: Enclosed you will find a slip from the Memphis "Daily Appeal" of the 3d instant, containing an account, purporting to be derived from the Palmyra (Missouri) "Courier," a federal journal, of the murder of ten Confederate citizens of Missouri by order of Gen. McNeil of the United States army. You will communicate by flag of truce with the Federal officer commanding that department, and ascertain if the facts are as stated. If they be so, you will demand the immediate surrender of Gen. McNeil to the Confederate authorities, and, if this demand is not complied with, you will inform said commanding officer that you are ordered to execute the first ten United States officers who may be captured and fall into your hands. Very respectfully, yours, JEFFERSON DAVIS. Whether from inability, on the part of Gen. Holmes, to capture the requisite number of United States officers, or in consequence of subsequent instructions received by him, he seems never to have fulfilled the requirements of the order. The retaliatory order of President Davis, of Dec. 23, elicited by the execution of Mumford in New Orleans, and by various administrative acts of Gen. Butler, and directed against that general, and the officers and negro slaves under his command, will be found among the Public Documents published in this volume. PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH. This church is one of the few religious denominations of the United States which maintained |