PRISONERS. EXCHANGE OF. 



directed by him to bring to your notice a few of those 

 best authenticated. 



Newspapers received from the United States an- 

 nounce 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 

 snperadds other horrors to the indiscriminate slaugh- 

 ter 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 state- 

 ments 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 Presi- 

 dent 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 al- 

 leged facts are true, and are sanctioned by the Govern- 

 ment of the United States. In such an event, on that 

 Government will rest the responsibility of the retribu- 

 tion or retaliatory measures which shall be adopted to 

 put an end to the merciless atrocities which now char- 

 acterizs 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 fol- 

 lowing brief note, with which, for the time, 

 all correspondence on the subject between the 

 parties ended: 



HEADQCARTEBS OF THE AEMT, WASHINGTON, ) 

 Aug. 9, lS6i \ 

 Gen. R. E. Lee, Commanding, dec. : 



GENERAL : Your two communications of the 2d in- 

 stant, with enclosure, are received. As these papers 

 are couched in language insulting to the Government 

 of the United States, I most respectfully decline to re- 

 ceive them. They are returned herewith. 



Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



H. W. HALLECK, 

 General-in-Chief U. S. Army. 



The Confederates, however, not receiving 

 what they considered a satisfactory answer to 

 the allegations contained in the last quoted let- 

 ter of Gen. Lee, of August 2, proceeded to is- 

 sue two vindictive orders in the nature of re- 

 taliatory measures against officers of the United 

 States army. The first, dated August 20, 

 threatened retaliation for the lives of peace- 

 able 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 con- 

 duct of its officers meets its sanction, and has thus left 

 to thjs Government no other means of repressing said 



PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHIT.CII. 717 



crimes and outrages than bv the adoption of such 

 measures of retaliation as shafl serve to j 

 repetition : 



Ordered that Maj.-Gen. Hunter and Brit: 

 Phelps be no longer held and treated as publi 

 mies of the Confederate States, but as outlaws; and 

 thai 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 re- 

 garded as a prisoner of war, but held in close confine- 

 ment 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. An- 

 drew Allsman, a loyal citizen of Palmyra, in 

 the northeastern part of the State, and a non- 

 combatant, 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 un- 

 harmed to his family by the 18th of October, 

 ten of the captured guerillas would be sum- 

 marily 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 Confeder- 

 ate capital in due season, and produced the 

 following order from President Davis : 



EXECUTIVE OFFICE, RICHMOND, S~or. 17, 15C2. 

 Lieut.- Gen. T. J. Holmes, Commanding Trans-Missis- 

 sippi Department : 



GENERAL : Enclosed you will find a slip from the 

 Memphis " Daily Appeal " of the 3d instant, contain- 

 ing 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 armv. 



"You will communicate by flag of truce with the "Fed- 

 eral officer commanding that department, and ascertain 

 if the facts are as stated. If they be so, you will de- 

 mand the immediate surrender of Gen. McNeil to the 

 Confederate authorities, and, if this demand is not 

 complied with, you will inform said commanding offi- 

 cer 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 IComford 

 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 fow religious denom- 

 inations of the United States which maintained 



