716 



PRISONERS, EXCHANGE OF. 



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, <EC., 



JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



To Gen. R. E. LEE, Commanding. 



The substance of this letter -was communi- 

 cated 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-GESBEAL'S OFFICE, ) 

 RICHMOND, August 1, 1862. f 



First. The following orders are published for the in- 

 formation 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 Govern- 

 ment within the States of Virginia, South Carolina, 

 Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tex- 

 as ana 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 conve- 

 nient 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, is- 

 sued 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 com- 

 mands. Such as are willing to take the oath of 

 allegiance to the United States, and shall furnish suffi- 

 cient 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 con- 

 ducted 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 consid- 

 ered spies and subjected to the extreme rigor of mili- 

 tary law. If any person, having taken the oath of al- 

 legiance 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, Ma- 

 jor 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 hos- 

 tages, and to suffer death in the event of any of the 

 soldiers of said Steinwehr being shot by bushwhack- 

 ers, bv which term are meant the citizens of this Con- 

 federacy 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 inno- 

 cent 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 un- 

 willing 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 whicn seeks their aid in the perpetration of such 

 infamous barbarities. 



Seventh. Therefore it is ordered that Major-General 

 Pope, Brigadier-General Steinwebr, and all commis- 

 sioned officers serving under their respective com- 

 mands, 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 Stein- 

 wehr, or of any commissioned officers serving under 

 them, the captive so taken shall be held in close con- 

 finement, 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 in- 

 habitant of this Confederacy, by virtue or under the 

 pretext of any of the orders hereinbefore recited, 

 whether with or without trial, whether under the pre- 

 tence 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 im- 

 mediately 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 ad- 

 dressed the following communication on a dif- 

 ferent subject, but one involving similar prin- 

 ciples, to Gen. Halleck : 



HEADQUARTERS OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES, WEAR 1 

 RICHMOND, VA., Aug. 2, 1862. f 



To the General Commanding Army of the United Statet, 

 Washington : 



GENERAL : On the 29th of June last I was instruct- 

 ed by the Secretary of War to inquire of Maj.-Gen. 

 McClellan as to the truth of alleged murders com- 

 mitted 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 in- 

 quiries 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 



