that they may be dealt with in accordance with the laws of those States providing for the punishment of criminals engaged in inciting servile insurrection. On May 1st, the Congress, after mature deliberation, passed a series of resolutions in conformity with these views. The effect of the resolutions was to withhold from exchange, if captured, a certain class of soldiers of the United States army, who were not regarded by the enemy as prisoners of war. As no colored soldiers had up to this time fallen into their hands, notwithstanding a large number of colored persons employed as ambulance and wagon drivers, laborers, servants, and in other capacities, had been captured by them and never accounted for, no direct issue seemed to be raised, and it remained for future events to develop one. The cartel was in reality interrupted when the resolutions became the law of the Confederacy, but its operation was not practically stopped until several months afterwards, and then for reasons only partially connected with the position taken by the rebel authorities on this point. The cartel of July, 1862, had been so arranged that a correct return of prisoners could be kept by both sides, in order that a balance sheet might at any time be struck between them. For this purpose City Point and Vicksburg were selected as points of exchange. But under a liberal interpretation of the cartel it became the practice for the commanders of opposing armies to parole and exchange prisoners at will, without the formality of sending them to the rear for transportation to the points of exchange, or designating such points. In consequence of this course it became impossible to determine with accuracy the balances between the contending parties; and the United States Government, for the purpose, among other things, of making its generals conform strictly to the regulations of the cartel in the matter of paroles, issued, on May 22d, a code of instructions compiled by Dr. Francis Lieber, and known as general orders No. 100, in which it was provided that captures, to be valid, must be reduced to possession," and that when the Government did not approve of a parole, the officer or man paroled must return to captivity. This was sent to Robert Ould, Confederate agent of exchange at City Point, on May 22d, accompanied by a note from Col. Ludlow, the Federal agent at Fortress Monroe, in which he stated that, together with the cartel, it would govern the U. S. army. He added: I would invite your special attention to article seven of the cartel, which provides that all prisoners of war shall be seat to places of delivery therein specified. The execution of this article will obviate much discussion and difficulty growing out of the mode, time, and place of giving paroles. No paroles or exchanges will be considered binding except those under the stipulations of said article, permitting commanders of two opposing armies to exchange or release or parole at other points mutually agreed on by said commanders. On July 3d, Gen. Lee received his final repulse at Gettysburg, and on the 4th he retreated tow ard the Potomac. A number of prisoners taken by him during the battles of the three previous unable to take these with him into Virginia days still remained upon his hands, and being he paroled and released them on the spot. Gen. Meade at once disavowed these paroles as having been made in violation of a liberal interpretation of the cartel, which required prisonfrom either of the points of exchange, to be so ers, when exchanged or paroled at a distance exchanged or paroled at a point mutually agreed mies. In the present case nothing of the kind upon by the commanders of the opposing arhad been attempted, and the enemy, by showing his inability to remove his prisoners, failed to prove that he had reduced them to actual possession. Hence the Federal Government not only held these paroles to be invalidated, but ordered the officers and men to return to duty. The rebels complained bitterly of this proceeding, maintaining that the Federal Government had undertaken to supplement the cartel by its general orders, by which the basis of exchanges had been affected without previous agreement. the unconditional surrender of Vicksburg and The battle of Gettysburg was followed by Port Hudson, by which the number of prisoners falling into the Federal hands was enormously increased. In both instances the commanders of the opposing armies, acting under the authority of the cartel, mutually agreed upon a place for the delivery of the prisoners on parole. The Port Hudson prisoners were accordingly sent to Mobile. Mr. Ould nevertheless undertook to release these men from their obligations, ostensibly because they were not exchanged at City Point or Vicksburg, the two places specially mentioned in the cartel (although that instrument provided for other arrangements, which in this instance were literally fulfilled), but really as a retaliatory measure to offset the disavowal of the Gettysburg paroles, and also, there is good reason to believe, for the purpose of filling up the depleted ranks of the rebel army. Other prisoners, to the number of several thousands, were for similar reasons subsequently absolved from their paroles. The proceedings above related involved no slight amount of acrimonious correspondence, extending over a considerable period, but cannot be said to have permanently interrupted the system of exchanges then in operation. in which colored troops had fallen into the Previous to July no engagement had occurred hands of the enemy. But the capture of a number of the 54th Massachusetts (colored) regiment, at the assault on Fort Wagner in Charleston harbor, showed that the enemy were determined to carry out literally the provisions of the resolutions of May 1st. To protect this class of retaliatory order was issued by the President: soldiers from these harsh measures, the following EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, July 30th. tion to its citizens of whatever class, color, or condi It is the duty of every Government to give protec tion, and especially to those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service. The law of nations and the usages and customs of war, as carried on by civilized powers, permit no distinction as to color in the treatment of prisoners of war as public enemies. To sell or enslave any captured person, on account of his color, and for no offence against the laws of war, is a relapse into barbarism and a crime against the civilization of the age. The Government of the United States will give the same protection to all its soldiers, and if the enemy shall sell or enslave any one because of his color, the offence shall be punished by retaliation upon the enemy's prisoners in our hands. It is therefore ordered that for every soldier of the United States killed in violation of the laws of war, a rebel soldier shall be executed, and for every one enslaved by the enemy or sold into slavery, a rebel soldier shall be placed at hard labor on the public works, and continue at such labor until the other shall be released and receive the treatment due to a prisoner of war. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By order of the Secretary of War. Of the fate of the negroes captured at Fort Wagner no certain intelligence reached the Federal Government for several weeks, the rebels maintaining a strict silence on the subject; but Secretary Stanton, ascertaining soon after that three colored men captured on board the gunboat Isaac Smith in the Stono River, had been placed in close confinement, ordered three rebel prisoners of South Carolina to be held as hostages for them, and directed this fact to be communicated to the Confederate Government. During the whole year not a single instance occurred of a negro soldier, or a commissioned officer of a negro regiment, being exchanged, or recognized as a prisoner of war. On the other hand, no instance came to light of the execution by the Confederate authorities of the death penalty upon prisoners of this class. A suspension of exchanges and a long correspondence now ensued. The report of the Commissary-General of Prisoners, accompanying the Secretary of War's annual report of Dec., 1863, showed that the number of Confederate officers and men captared by the Federals since the beginning of the war, is: 1 lieutenant-general, 5 major-generals, 25 brigadier-generals, 186 colonels, 146 lieutenant-colonels, 244 majors, 2,497 captains, 5,811 lieutenants, 16,563 non-commissioned officers, 121,156 privates, and 5,800 citizens. Of these, the Federals had on hand at the date of the report, 29,229 officers and men, among whom were 1 major-general and 7 brigadiers. There had been 121,937 Confederates exchanged, against 110,866 Federal soldiers returned. The exchanges of officers on both sides were computed at their exchangeable value in privates. Of the treatment of Federal prisoners by the rebel authorities, the accounts of exchanged surgeons, officers, and men, generally concurred in describing it as bad. Many had even denounced it as unnecessarily cruel. The enemy, in palliation of these complaints, alleged that the Union prisoners were placed on an equality, as respects rations and clothing, with their own soldiers, and that they did not receive the comforts which might be reasonably expected, simply because it was not in the power of the Confederate authorities to give them. This, in the opinion of several exchanged surgeons, who were in the habit of making daily visits to the prison hospitals in Richmond, would not account for the dreadful mortality in those buildings, averaging, at certain periods, upward of fifty persons a day. Toward the close of 1863, the Federal Government was permitted to send supplies of food and clothing to these prisoners; but charges of misappropriation of them having been made, the permission was, in December, revoked. A somewhat remarkable episode of this period was the plot set on foot by the rebel authorities to liberate 2,500 of their officers confined on Johnson's Island, in Lake Erie, and in connection with this act to burn or destroy Buffalo and other lake cities. The expedition intended for this purpose was to rendezvous in Canada, surprise the Federal garrison on Johnson's Island, liberate the prisoners, convey them to Canada in vessels provided for that purpose, and forward them by Halifax to Nassau or Bermuda; the greater part of the funds being specially devoted to paying their passage to one of these points. These facts coming to the knowledge of the American consul-general in Montreal, he at once laid them before the governor-general of Canada. The Canadian authorities gave the subject immediate attention, and by November 11th enough had been discovered of the plans of the rebels to authorize the governor-general to inform Lord Lyons, the British minister at Washington, by telegraph, of the existence of the plot. Lord Lyons at once communicated his despatch to the United States Government, and at midnight of the 11th a despatch was sent by Secretary Stanton to the mayors of Detroit, Buffalo, and other Western cities. The prompt movement of troops to the scene of danger, and the precautions taken by the local authorities in the lake cities, had the effect of averting the threatened catastrophe, and in a few days tranquillity was restored. اهد 32 CHAPTER XXXVIII. Position of the Armies at the beginning of 1864-Gen. Sherman's march to Meridian-Opposing movements of the Enemy Gen. Gilmore's movements in Florida-Battle of Olustee-Campaign of Gen. Banks on the Red River-Battles-Cooperation of Gen. Steele-Its Results-Capture of Fort Pillow and slaughter of the Garrison-Unsuccessful Operations in North Carolina. Ar the commencement of the year, 1864, the Army of the Potomac, under Gen. Meade, was near Culpepper Court House, in Virginia, with the army under Gen. Lee in front and south of him. The Confederate Gen. Early had been ordered to command the forces in the Shenandoah valley, with his headquarters at Staunton. The Federal forces held Winchester, Martinsburg, and Harper's Ferry, and occupied the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in Western Virginia. Gen. Burnside was still at Knoxville, in East Tennessee, with a line of communication into Kentucky. Eastward of him was Gen. Longstreet, with a division of the Confederate army. The army of Gen. Grant was in front of Chattanooga, in the southeast corner of Tennessee, and a force of the enemy before him at Dalton, under Gen. Bragg. The following address to his soldiers had been issued by Gen. Grant, near the close of 1863: HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE CHATTANOOGA, TENN., December 10, 1863. The General commanding takes this opportunity of returning his sincere thanks and congratulations to the brave Armies of the Cumberland, the Ohio, the Tennessee, and their comrades from the Potomac, for the recent splendid and decisive successes achieved over the enemy. In a short time you have recovered from him the control of the Tennessee River, from Bridgeport to Knoxville. You dislodged him from his great stronghold upon Lookout Mountain, drove him from Chattanooga valley, wrested from his determined grasp the possession of Missionary Ridge, repelled with heavy loss to him his repeated assaults upon Knoxville, forcing him to raise the siege there, driving him at all points, utterly routed and discomfited, beyond the limits of the State. By your noble heroism and determined courage, you have effectually defeated the plans of the enemy for regaining possession of the States of Kentucky and Tennessee. You have secured positions from which no rebellious power can drive or dislodge you. For all this the General commanding thanks you collectively and individually. The loyal people of the United States thank and bless you. Their hopes and prayers for your success against this unholy rebellion are with you daily. Their faith in you will not be in vain. Their hopes will not be blasted. Their prayers to Almighty God will be answered. You will yet go to other fields of strife; and with the invincible bravery and unflinching loyalty to justice and right which have characterized you in the past, you will prove that no enemy can withstand you, and that no defences, however formidable, can check your onward march. By order of Major-General U. S. GRANT. T. S. BOWERS, Ass't Adj.-Gen. The line of communication of Gen. Grant extended to Nashville by the railroad, through Stevenson and Murfreesboro'. Florence and Corinth were also held by a Federal force until the earlier portion of the year, when the former was occupied by the enemy. Military posts consisting of fortifications and heavy guns, with negro troops, were established on the Mississippi River at Cairo, Columbus, New Madrid, Fort Pillow, Memphis, Helena, Goodrich's Landing, Vicksburg, Natchez, Port Hudson, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Forts Jackson and St. Philip. There were also forces at other points adjacent to these. A large force was under the command of Gen. Banks, in New Orleans, with detachments at Brashear City, and at Brownsville, on the Rio Grande. Gen. Steele occupied Little Rock, Arkansas, with a considerable force, and Gen. Rosecrans, in command of the department, had a small body of troops in Missouri. The military positions on the coast of North Carolina and South Carolina remained unchanged. The number of troops in the field at the commencement of the year can be only indefinitely estimated. Between October, 1863, and May, 1864, seven hundred thousand new troops took the field, as stated by Senator Wilson in Congress. A portion of these supplied the place of the three years' men whose term of service expired in 1864. A large majority of the latter, however, reënlisted. The number of Confederate troops in the field known as veterans, in the beginning of the year, was as follows: That portion of the Southern army which constituted the force under Gen. Lee (counting in Gen. Longstreet, who commanded a portion of his army), numbered ninety thousand troops. This is also counting in the troops which were in the vicinity of Abingdon, Lynchburg, and other portions of Southwestern Virginia and East Tennessee, formerly under Gen. Samuel Jones, who was detached from Gen. Lee's army late in September, 1863, to operate against Gen. Burnside, and afterwards under the command of Gen. Breckinridge. At Richmond and at Petersburg there were, not counting in citizens and home guards, about three thousand men. Between Petersburg and Weldon there were one thousand men. Along the railroad, between Weldon and Wilmington, there were at least six thousand men. The forces under Gen. Pickett numbered eight thousand men. Imboden and Moseby together had four thousand men-all guerrillas. This swelled the army in Eastern Virginia and North Carolina to one hundred and twelve thousand strong. The second great army in the Confederacy was that under Gen. Johnston, a large portion of which was cavalry. The army known as the Army of the Tennessee was composed of two corps, each having six divisions of infantry, amounting to thirty-six thousand men. There were also several divisions of cavalry, numbering at least eighteen thousand men, making an aggregate of fifty-four thousand. This included the four divisions sent to reenforce Gen. Polk, and the two divisions sent to Mobile, and the entire cavalry under Wheeler, Wharton, and John Morgan. Gen. Johnston also had command of all the Confederate forces in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, except those at Savannah, Mobile, and under Forrest, who had an independent (roving) commission. Before the arrival of Gen. Sherman at Meridian, Gen. Polk had eighteen thousand troops, only two thousand of which were vet erans. The forces in South Carolina and at Savannah, under Gen. Beauregard, and in Florida, under Gen. McCown, numbered ten thousand. This only included the veterans, or old soldiers, as the armies in these three localities above mentioned a little later numbered twenty-five thousand men. The next regular armies of the Confederacy were the Trans-Mississippi forces, scattered in different portions of Arkansas and Texas, and all under the command of Lieut.-Gen. Kirby Smith, the army in Arkansas under Gen. Holmes, and the army in Texas under Gen. Magruder; the old soldiers of which numbered twelve thousand men. The forces at Mobile, under Gens. Maury and Claiborne, numbered about eight thousand. The forces under Gen. Forrest, and under Chalmers, Lee, and Richardson, amounted to six thousand, which included all the veterans in the rebel service. To this may be added, however, in the same line, twelve thousand soldiers engaged in important prison guard, and in the hospitals and quartermasters' and commissary departments. There were also about two thousand men engaged in the guerrilla warfare on the banks of the Mississippi. No other guerrilla bands of importance existed in Gen. Grant's department. There was not a single squad in Kentucky, East and Middle Tennessee, Northern Alabama, or Northern Georgia. There were still several guerrilla organizations in West Tennessee and Northern Mississippi. The people themselves had rid the country. The total of these veterans was two hundred and twenty-four thousand; to these were added, at the beginning of the year, one hundred and twenty thousand conscripts, making the number in the service three hundred and fortyfour thousand. The earliest operations of importance, in 1864, consisted of a movement under Gen. Sherman from Vicksburg, Mississippi, to Meridian, Alabama; another under Gen. Smith, from Memphis, Tennessee, to cooperate with Gen. Sherman; another under Gen. Grant's orders, from Chattanooga, Tennessee, upon Dalton, Georgia, and another under Gen. Schofield, who relieved Gen. Burnside, upon the forces under Gen. Longstreet, in East Tennessee. Upon the return of Gen. Sherman from East Tennessee to Chattanooga, his command was stationed at Scottsboro', Alabama, and thence along the Memphis and Chattanooga Railroad, to Huntsville. Near the end of January, Gen. Sherman went to Memphis and Vicksburg, to command an expedition. Corinth was abandoned, and the Memphis Railroad eastward of Lagrange to Huntsville, and a large body of troops sent down the Mississippi to Vicksburg. The following letter was addressed by Gen. Sherman, at this time, to his adjutant-general, relative to the course to be pursued by subordinate commanders of military districts to the inhabitants: HEADQUARTERS DEP'T OF THE TENNESSEE, Major R. M. Sawyer, Ass't Adj.-Gen. Army of the DEAR SAWYER: In my former letter I have answered all your questions, save one, and that relates to the treatment of inhabitants known or suspected to be hostile, or "secesh." This is in truth the most difficult business of our army as it advances and occupies the Southern country. It is almost impossible to lay down rules, and I invariably leave this whole subject to the local commanders, but am willing to give them the benefit of my acquired knowledge and experince. In Europe, whence we derive our principles of war, as developed by their histories, wars are between kings or rulers, through hired armies, and not between peoples. The war which prevails in our land is essentially a war of races. The Southern people entered into a species of separate interests, history, and prejudices. clear compact of Government, but still maintained a These latter became stronger and stronger, till they have led to a war which has developed the fruits of the bitterest kind. We of the North are, beyond all question, right in our lawful cause, but we are not bound to ignore the fact that the people of the South have prejudices which form part of their nature, and which they cannot throw off without an effort of reason, or the slower process of natural change. Now, the question arises, should we treat as absolute enemies all in the South who differ from us in opinion or prejudice, kill or banish them; or should we give them time to think, and gradually change their conduct so as to conform to the new order of things, which is slowly and gradually creeping into their country? ity, we are compelled to use force, because all reason and argument cease when arms are resorted to. When men take arms to resist our rightful author When provisions, forage, horses, mules, wagons, etc., are used by our enemy, it is clearly our duty and right to take them, because otherwise they might be used against us. In like manner, all houses left vacant by an inimical people are clearly our right, or such as are needed as storehouses, hospitals, and quarters. But a question arises as to dwellings used by women, children, and non-combatants. So long as non-combatants remain in their houses and keep to their accustomed business, their opinions and prejudices can in nowise influence the war, and therefore should not be noticed. But if any one comes out into the public streets and creates disorder, he or she should be punished, restrained, or banished, either to the rear or front, as the officer in command adjudges. If the people, or any of them, keep up a correspondence with parties in hostility, they are spies, and can be punished with death or minor punishment. These are well-established principles of war, and the people of the South having appealed to war, are barred from appealing to our Constitution, which they have practically and publicly defied. They have appealed to war, and must abide its rules and laws. The United States, us a belligerent party claiming right in the soil as the ultimate sovereign, have a right to change the population, and it may be and is, both politic and just, we should do so in certain districts. When the inhabitants persist too long in hostility, it may be both politic and right we should banish them and appropriate their lands to a more loyal and useful population. No man will deny that the United States would be benefited by dispossessing a single prejudiced, hard-headed, and disloyal planter, and substituting in his place a dozen or more patient, industrious, good families, even if they be of foreign birth. I think it does good to present this view of the case to many Southern gentlemen, who grew rich and wealthy, not by virtue alone of their industry and skill, but by reason of the protection and impetus to prosperity given by our hitherto moderate and magnanimous Government. It is all idle nonsense for these Southern planters to say that they made the South, that they own it, and that they can do as they please-even to break up our Government, and to shut up the natural avenues of trade, intercourse, and commerce. We know, and they know, if they are intelligent beings, that, as compared with the whole world, they are but as five millions are to one thousand millions -that they did not create the land-that their only title to its use and usufruct is the deed of the United States; and if they appeal to war, they hold their all by a very insecure tenure. For my part I believe that this war is the result of false political doctrine, for which we are all as a people responsible, viz.: that any and every people have a right to self-government; and I would give all a chance to reflect, and when in error to recant. I know slave owners finding themselves in possession of a species of property in opposition to the growing sentiment of the whole civilized world, conceived their property in danger, and foolishly appealed to war; and by skilful political handling involved with themselves the whole South on the doctrines of error and prejudice. I believe that some of the rich and slaveholding are prejudiced to an extent that nothing but death and ruin will extinguish, but hope that as the poorer and industrial classes of the South realize their relative weakness, and their dependence upon the fruits of the earth and good will of their fellow-men, they will not only discover the error of their ways, and repent of their hasty action, but bless those who persistently maintained a Constitutional Government, strong enough to sustain itself, protect its citizens, and promise peaceful homes to millions yet unborn." In this belief, whilst I assert for our Government the highest military prerogatives, I am willing to bear in patience that political nonsense of slave rights, State rights, freedom of conscience, freedom of press, and such other trash as have deluded the Southern people into war, anarchy, bloodshed, and the foulest crimes that have disgraced any time or any people. I would advise the commanding officers at Huntsville, and such other towns as are occupied by our troops, to assemble the inhabitants and explain to them these plain, self-evident propositions, and tell them that it is for them now to say, whether they and their children shall inherit the beautiful land, which, by the accident of nature, has fallen to their share. The Government of the United States has in North Alabama any and all rights which they choose to enforce in war, to take their lives, their homes, their lands, their every thing, because they cannot deny that war does exist there, and war is simply power unrestrained by constitution or compact. If they want eternal war, well and good-we will accept the issue and dispossess them, and put our friends in possession. I know thousands and millions of good people who, at simple notice, would come to North Alabama and accept the elegant houses and plantations now there. If the people of Huntsville think different, let them persist in war three years longer, and then they will not be consulted. Three years ago, by a little reflection and patience they could have had a hundred years of peace and prosperity, but they preferred war; very well, last year they could have saved their slaves, but now it is too lateall the powers of earth cannot restore to them their slaves any more than their dead grandfathers. Next year their lands will be taken, for in war we can take them, and rightfully, too, and in another year they may beg in vain for their lives. A people who will persevere in war beyond a certain limit, ought to know the consequences. Many, many people, with less pertinacity than the South, have been wiped out of national existence. My own belief is, that even now the non-slaveholding classes of the South are alienating from their as sociates in war. Already I hear crimination. Those who have property left, should take warning in time. Since I have come down here, I have seen many Southern planters who now hire their negroes, and acknowledge that they knew not the earthquake they were to make by appealing to secession. They thought that the politicians had prepared the way, and that they could part in peace. They now see that we are bound together as one nation, by indissoluble ties, and that any interest or any people that set themselves up in antagonism to the nation, must perish. While I would not remit one jot or tittle of our nation's rights, in peace or war, I do make allow ances for past political errors and false prejudices. Our national Congress and Supreme Courts are the proper arenas in which to discuss conflicting opin ions and not the battle-field. You may not hear from me again, and if you think it will do any good, call some of the people together, and explain these my views. You may even read to them this letter, and let them use it, so as to prepare them for my coming. To those who submit to the rightful law and authority, all gentleness and forbearance, but to the petulant and persistent secessionists, why, death is mercy, and the quicker he or she is disposed of, the better. Satan, and the rebellious saints of heaven, were allowed a continuance of existence in hell, merely to swell their just punishment. To such as would rebel against a Government so mild and just as ours was in peace, a punishment equal would not be unjust. We are progressing well in this quarter. Though I have not changed my opinion that we may soon assume the existence of our National Government, yet years will pass before ruffianism, murder, and robbery will cease to afflict this region of our country. Truly your friend, (Signed) W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General Commanding. The advance of Gen. Sherman's movement, consisting of the 17th corps, under Gen. McPherson, left Vicksburg on February 3d, in light marching order, with rations for some days. The enemy were encountered after crossing the Big Black River, during the day, and some skirmishing ensued. The encampment was made that night on the west side of Baker's Creek, the enemy appearing in line of battle on the opposite side. The Confederate force consisted of about two thousand cavalry under Gen. Whitworth, who was in command from Jackson westward. At Canton there was |