584 



PRISONERS. 



PRIVATEERING. 



and expect in return a corresponding number of your 

 wounded prisoners. My own feelings would prompt 

 me to waive again the unimportant affectation of de- 

 clining to recognize these States as belligerents, in the 

 interests of humanity, but my Government requires all 

 prisoners to be placed at the disposal of the Secretary 

 of War. L. POLK, Major-General C. S. A. 



Major "Webster reported to General Grant as 

 follows : 



ENGINEER OFFICE, CAMP CAIRO, ILL., Nov. 9, 1861. 



GENERAL : I have the honor to report the result of 

 the expedition sent undet a flag of truce to Columbus 

 yesterday.* 



On our arrival in the vicinity of the place, a steamer 

 carrying Captain Blake, assistant adjutant-general 

 of General Polk, met us. I delivered to him your 

 letter, and offered him, unconditionally, the sick and 

 wounded whom I had in charge. He informed me 

 that orders had been recently received by General 

 Polk respecting the exchange of prisoners, and de- 

 clined accepting those proffered until he could re- 

 ceive further instructions. He then left, saying that 

 we had permission to bury our dead on the field of 

 battle. 



I placed a working party under command of Lieu- 

 tenant Hart, of the Twenty-third Illinois Regiment, 

 and sent them to the field, where they were employed, 

 for the remainder of the day, in caring for the wound- 

 ed, some of whom were found yet there, and in bury- 

 ing the dead. 



It was near sunset when Captain Blake again came 

 on board our boat, and handed in the communication 

 from General Polk, which I gave you last night on my 

 return. He informed me that a despatch had been 

 sent to their Secretary of War, in regard to the ex- 

 change of prisoners, but that they had received no reply. 



During the interval between the two visits of Cap- 

 tain Blake, several parties of the enemy visited our 

 boat ; General Cheatham among them. He informed 

 me that he had directed four of our wounded to be 

 brought to us, and asked if I would give four of theirs 

 in exchange. I told them that I would give him four 

 or any other number that he would accept uncondi- 

 tionally, but that I had no authority to negotiate an 

 exchange, and that as to the four of ours which he 

 sent on board, I would await the decision of General 

 Polk. 



Several more of our wounded had also been given 

 into the care of our party in the field by Major Mason, 

 quartermaster of Columbus. 



These facts I mentioned to Captain Blake, and told 

 him that those three put in our charge awaited his 

 orders, as I wished to avoid any appearance even of 

 doing any thing not in strict accordance with our obli- 

 gations under the flag of truce. He replied that he did 

 not wish to interfere with any arrangements made by 

 others ; and I thought, under this state of the case, it 

 would be putting an unnecessarily fine point on the 

 matter to decline to take back the wounded men so 

 politely offered by General Cheatham and Major Ma- 

 son. It is due to the latter gentleman, particularly, to 

 say that his disposition to do every thing in his power 

 to aid us in our mission of humanity, was conspicuous 

 during our entire stay there, and certainly deserves 

 our warmest appreciation. 



At the second visit of Captain Blake to our boat, he 

 received the sick and wounded prisoners, whom I 

 again offered to him unconditionally, and they were 

 put on board his boat. 



The number of our wounded, as above stated from 

 General Cheatham and Major Mason, and brought up 

 by me, was thirteen. 



Enclosed herewith is a list of our men in the hands 

 of the enemy, given me by Captain Blake, which he 

 thought to be nearly complete. 



The number reported buried by them on the field 

 yesterday was sixty-eight. 



Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

 J. D. WEBSTER, Major and Chief Engineer. 



To Brig.-Gen. U. S. GRANT, Com. Div. 



On the 1st of November, General Fremont 

 made a treaty with General Price, of Missouri, 

 among the provisions of which was one for the 

 exchange of prisoners. Certain parties named 

 "are authorized, whenever applied to for the 

 purpose, to negotiate for the exchange of any 

 and all persons who may hereafter be taken 

 prisoners of war and released on parole ; such 

 exchanges to be made upon the plan heretofore 

 approved and acted upon, to wit: "grade for 

 grade, or two officers of lower grade as an 

 equivalent in rank for one of a higher grade, 

 as shall be thought just and equitable." This 

 was signed by both parties. General Hunter, 

 having succeeded General Fremont on the 7th 

 of November, repudiated this treaty. 



At the close of the year three commissioners 

 were appointed by the Federal Government to 

 proceed to the Confederate States and examine 

 the condition of the Union prisoners there* 

 They were refused admission within the Con- 

 federate territory, and thus the fate of prisoners 

 was left to the discretion of each commander, 

 who exchanged them at his will. But, while 

 such were the terms on which exchanges were 

 effected for those taken as prisoners on either 

 side upon land, only an informal regulation 

 had been established respecting the persons 

 detained on a charge of piracy, because found 

 waging war against Federal commerce on the 

 high seas, and in retaliation for whose treat- 

 ment the Confederate authorities imprisoned 

 in the common jail a corresponding number 

 of United States officers. (See CONFEDERATE 

 STATES, page 151.) 



PRIVATEERING. The question of employ- 

 ing privateers in time of war, has of late as- 

 sumed a very important character, not only in 

 consequence of the action of the nations of 

 Europe in respect to it at the Paris Con- 

 gress of 1856, but more immediately through 

 the events of the present war. Captured pri- 

 vateers have been tried before American courts 

 of law, and condemned as pirates. The con- 

 demnation was not on the general principles 

 of privateering between acknowledged belliger- 

 ents, but because the privateers bore commis- 

 sions of a government not acknowledged. Tho 

 fact, that they held the same position as Paul 

 Jones, and other of our privateers in the Revo- 

 lution, did not save them. 



The war, conducted by the Allies against Rus- 

 sia, brought with it very important modifica- 

 tions of the old maritime law. Among those 

 was the agreement between France and Eng- 

 land, that both nations would waive their 

 rights to confiscate enemy's goods, found on 

 board neutral vessels. Also neutral goods, not 

 contraband of war, found in enemies' vessels. 

 This was practically a triumph for the old Amer- 

 ican principle of " free goods make free ships." 

 On the return of peace in 1856, it was agreed 

 to, in the Declaration of Paris, by Austria, 

 France, Great Britain, Sardinia, Prussia, Russia, 

 and Turkey, and by them also privateering was 

 abolished. (See BLOCKADE, also DIPLOMATIC 



