was caused mostly by want of suitable provisions. There was nothing for them, when they were sick, that was fitted for them. I think the most of them died from want of proper food. We had a surgeon there, but he had not much medicine to give us. And when a father was taken out to be buried, it was seldom that the son, if he had one there, was allowed to go to the funeral.

TESTIMONY OF JAMES M. SEEDS, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

I was arrested on the 6th of November, 1861, at Columbia, South Carolina. When I was first arrested, they took, of the money I had on my person, six hundred and thirty-five dollars. A few minutes after I was searched, we started on the cars for Richmond. I was arrested on suspicion of being General Rosecrans going through the country, and I was searched for important papers which it was supposed I had upon me. The next morning after we started, and had passed Salisbury, North Carolina, I jumped off the train and made my escape, and took what is called the Western Extension train, and went as far as that went, seventy-four miles, and then took the stage. I took the stage at Morgantown, Buncombe county, North Carolina. An extra train followed right on after me, and I was again arrested just on the other side of the Blue Ridge. I was taken out of the stage by a mob, and it was with great difficulty that some men, who were friendly towards me, saved my life. I was then tied with my hands behind me, and made to walk seventeen miles to a town called Marion. There I again came very near being hung. I was there searched very closely and thoroughly, by the pulling off of my clothes and boots, and the searching of them all, and six hundred and twenty dollars more were taken from me, partly paper and partly golḍ. I was

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then put into the county jail, in an iron cage, and locked up there that night with three thieves and two negroes. The next morning I was taken out, again tied with a rope, and put into a two-horse barouche and taken back to Morgantown. There three dollars of stage fare was paid back to me, and then they took that from me. That night I was made to walk six miles with my hands tied behind me, down to what is called the head of the road. I was treated very well there. The men working on the road there, took the rope off me and gave me a comfortable bed. I found them all Union men. My arrest and re-arrest had been made by Georgia men-some men of a Georgia regiment. I was then taken to Salisbury, North Carolina, where for the. third time, I came near being hung. At Salisbury I was put in irons, and taken to Richmond. On the way above Raleigh, a mob wanted to take me out of the cars and hang me, but they did not do it. I arrived in Richmond on the night of the 12th of November, 1861, and was put into a building, called by them "No. 7," with some Federal prisoners of war. The next morning, still handcuffed, I was taken out of that building, and put into the Henrico county jail. A few days afterwards, I had an examination before James Lyons, and there they swore that, from all the evidence they could get, they believed me to be General Rosecrans. Lyons himself told me that I ought to have been hung; that they never ought to have brought me there. After that examination, I was taken back to the county jail. Lyons reported to their Secretary of War that they believed me to be a spy, and recommended the government to hold me as such, until he could get evidence enough to hang me. Some time in February, I sued out a writ of habeas corpus, employing as my lawyers, Messrs. Nance and Williams, a legal

firm there. The suit was brought before Judge Meredith, I think. He said that, according to the evidence, he would have to discharge me from prison. A man named Patrick Henry Elliott was the lawyer for the government, and put in the plea that the government should hold me as a spy. When the judge made this remark, and he found that I was about to be discharged, Elliott said he thought the Secretary of War would dis, charge me, if my attorneys would go before him. My attorneys were to meet Mr. Elliott, and did go before the Secretary of War. Mr. Nance came to the county jail afterwards, and told me that the Secretary of War did make out my discharge for release from prison, and that General Winder put in objections to my being discharged upon the ground of my being a Union man; and stated that when I was arrested, there was a letter found on me, written to a clergyman in Columbia, South Carolina, recommending me as a good and reliable Union man. That is what Mr. Nance told me was done at the war office. The Secretary of War then said that he would hold me three or four days longer, and give General Winder a chance to produce that letter. Mr. Nance came to see me about it, and I told him that there was no such paper about me, and never had been. On the 18th of March, I, with others, broke out of the county jail and tried to make our escape. But I was recaptured on the Pamunkey river, and taken back and put into the county jail again, and there heavily ironed. They did not iron me quite as heavily as they did some, but more heavily than they did others. We were confined in the jail with negroes, thieves, and all kinds of criminals. We were fed pretty well, but there were from time to time eighteen or twenty negroes there, and

never less than four or five. On the morning of the

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15th of May, we were hurried off to Salisbury, North Carolina, on the cars, as Mr. Pancoast has described, without the privilege of getting up from the seat, under the penalty of being shot, and without anything to eat, until along in the afternoon of the 16th of May. While we were at Raleigh, I got a man named Kaschmier, one of the police, to allow me to send out and get some cakes. That evening, they gave each of us half a loaf of bread, and a slice of meat, both raw and fat. That is all they gave us from the time we left Richmond, until we got to Salisbury. And as near as I can recollect, we were fifty-three hours on the road.

INHUMANITY TOWARDS NEGROES ON THE GOVERNMENT PLANTATIONS IN MISSISSIPPI.

REPORT OF BRIGADIER-GENERAL A. W. ELLET.

HEAD-QUARTERS, MISSISSIPPI, MARINE BRIGADE,

Flag Ship Autocrat, above Vicksburg, July 3d, 1863. ADMIRAL: I have the honor to report that, in accordance with your instructions, I proceeded without delay, on the evening of the 29th of June, to Goodrich's Landing, with my whole available command. I found the troops at that point all under arms, and could plainly see the evidence of the enemy's operations in the burning mansions, cotton-gins, and negro quarters, as far as the eye could reach. It was two o'clock, on the morning of the 30th of June, when I reached the scene of operations. I at once ordered the entire force to disembark, infantry, artillery, and cavalry, and at daylight started in search of the enemy, Colonel Wood, commanding the negro troops, accompanying me with his whole force.

About five miles out, we reached Colonel Wood's outposts, where, the night before, two companies of negro troops with their officers had been surrounded and captured, after a spirited resistance and considerable loss to the enemy. From this point I started the cavalry in advance to push the retreating enemy, and, if possible, hold them until the main body could be brought forward. They overtook the enemy resting on the opposite side of the Bayou Tensas, and immediately engaged him, and held him in check till I arrived with the main body. The enemy had shown a large force of cavalry and several pieces of artillery. He endeavored to cross the bayou with one regiment of cavalry and turn my right flank, which movement was promptly met by our advance line of skirmishers, who repulsed the enemy handsomely. At the same time my artillery opened upon him with effect, and he retreated precipitately, having piled all the bridge flooring together, and burned it to prevent our crossing. I crossed three companies on the sleepers, who followed the line of retreat for near two miles. They found the road strewn with abandoned booty, stolen from the houses they had burned-among other-articles a very fine piano.

Three of the enemy's dead were found on the field, and some thirty stand of small-arms were picked up. The enemy were undoubtedly, from information subsequently obtained, more than double our strength, and were provided with artillery and cavalry, but they were evidently not inclined to make a standing fight, their main object being to secure the negroes taken from the plantations along the river, some hundreds of whom they had captured. In passing by the negro quarters, on three of the burning plantations, we were shocked by the sight of the charred remains of human beings, who

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