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My information on guards and prisoners getting the same rations comes from my memory. I remember reading it and I remember it getting thrown in my face by other folks who defend Andersonville. I don't believe it, but it is part of the Rebel defense of the place so I mentioned it in my previous post. They (the Rebels) say its not their fault that the Union prisoners starved.
However, knowing you good folks want facts I went on to the internet and after a short search found this link.
Just scroll down to the heading that reads "Rations to Guards and Prisoners the same"
This page contains the writings of a Rebel guard at the prison. Of course he blames everything on the US Government but he makes my point that the Rebels claimed the rations were the same. I wonder how many guards starved or had rickitts. (sp?) If they were getting the same food as the prisoners they should have suffered the same from lack of vegitables and such. I also wonder how many guards looked like live corpses?
I've seen some folks assert the guards had the same rations as the prisoners, but the guards could also go to town and surrounding farms to buy more food to eat. Andersonville had a sutler inside the prison who could sell food to the prisoners, but what happened when the prisoners ran out of money?
I don't think Andersonville's death rate was intentional. I chalk it up to human error. For example, in one case the confederates drove a herd of cattle to the prison to serve as food for the prisoners. But they foolishly butchered all the cattle at once, and the meat spoiled in the sun before it could be distributed to all the prisoners.
Did the guards have the same rations as the prisoners? Possibly. The sticker is quantity. While the prisoner may have been given a few ounces of meal and fatback, the guards may have been given several more ounces of the same. And, as Cash pointed out, the guards were free to head out and forage for a turnip or carrot or potato.
No prison camp was a holiday for the POW. Overcrowded, unprepared, and administered by rejects. Our latter-day Confederates needn't feel threatened by the near-universal condemnation of Andersonville. It was simply a particularly egregious example of what every POW, north and south, could expect when dropping the musket.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
To come right down to it I don't think there was an organized plan to kill Union prisoners at Andersonville but I believe a lack of resources coupled with apathy on the part of the Rebels caused much of the problem.
Problem is that you just have way too many people in an area that isn't (and still isn't by the way) very populated. They do have a train coming into town.
You can tell by the mere fact that a 'parole' system existed that housing large numbers of POWs in this manner was still a relatively new experience. Even today, we had a situation in New Orleans where a large number of people were taking refuge in the Superdome....and it naturally causes problems.
Hindsight being 20/20 Confederates probably would've been better off parcelling out smaller numbers of POWs over various communities to reduce the impact on any one.
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Has anyone mention Grant's part in the Andersonville shame. He ended the parole system between the union and confederate forces.
Andersonville open just as the Overland campaign began and as Grant ended the parole system.
Has anyone mention the greatest terror in the camp were groups of fellow union soldiers taking advantage of and terrorizing other union soldiers. In the end, the union soldier being terrorized went to Wirz and with his help restored order in the camp.
Wirz always tried to do what was right for the union prisoners. The conferacy did not have the resouces to avoid the shame of Andersonvilli.
You've accepted some misinformation 5fish. Grant didn't eliminate the parole/exchange commission. Can't say he didn't oppose eliminating it or didn't have a role in its demise, but it wasn't his decision.
And yes, the hardest part of camp was the strong preying on the weak. Do you really think that was unique to Andersonville? That sort of thing happened in camps on both sides and is quite evident in today's penitentiaries.
The Union did not wrong Wirz. The populace exacted from him what it has always exacted from whatever scapegoat is nominated to be the receptacle of some years of accumulated anger. Had it not been for Wirz, the attention may well have been on Lee. Or Davis. Somebody had to pay. Wirz got the short straw.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Stanton ended the parole system in 1863. There were two sticking points: Treatment of black soldiers and rebels putting men back into the fight who had not yet been properly exchanged.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY
Washington, D.. C., June 30, 1863.
Colonel LUDLOW, Fort Monroe:
The Secretary of War directs that officers captured by General Dix be not exchanged till further orders. It is reported that rebel officers in the West have disregarded the cartel.
H. W. HALLECK,
General-in. Chief.
(Copy to Colonel Hoffman, Commissary-General of Prisoners.)
[OR Series II Vol VI, p. 63]
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HEADQUARTERS,
Fort Monroe, July 1, 1863.
Col. J. C. KELTON, Asst. Adjt. Gen., Headquarters Army:
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the telegram of the General-in-Chief directing that the officers captured by Major-General Dix be not exchanged.
No exchanges of Confederate officers have been made since the order of the 25th of May last forbidding paroling or exchanging such officers.
Brig. Gen. W. H. Fitzhugh Lee, wounded, is in hospital here on the certificate of the medical director that he required hospital treatment. General Lee has given his parole to confine himself to the hospital and make no attempt to escape. As soon as he can be moved he will be sent to Fort Delaware, as we have no place of confinement here. His retention settles all questions about hanging our officers.
In order to obviate all misunderstandings in regard to paroles I gave Mr. Ould on the 23d of May the notice, a copy of which is inclosed. Under its operation we shall derive great advantages, as every capture must be reduced to possession except in cases where commanders of opposing armies under the authority of article 7 of the cartel otherwise arrange.
It had been the practice, especially in Kentucky and Tennessee, of the Confederate forces to parole our captured officers and men where they were unable to bring them away, and thus preserve their own force unimpaired to make more captures. If this rule of reducing captures to possession be not fully understood I would respectfully suggest that it be announced in general orders.
May I ask what rebel officers in the West are reported as having disregarded the cartel, and under what circumstances?
Various other questions connected with exchanges have been subjects of correspondence between Mr. Ould and myself. I have endeavored to dispose of them to the best of my judgment and ability, and I have forborne to press them upon the already crowded attention of the General-in-Chief.
If he so desires I will forward copies. For the present exchanges of officers and citizens are not made. Those of enlisted men continue.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
WM. H. LUDLOW,
Lieutenant-Colonel and Agent for Exchange of Prisoners.
[OR Series II Vol VI, pp. 69-70]
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HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
Washington, July 2, 1863.
Col. WILLIAM H. LUDLOW,
Agent for Exchange of Prisoners, Fort Monroe:
COLONEL: Your dispatch of the 1st instant is received. It is stated that some of the officers and men of the colored regiments captured west of the Mississippi River have been hung by order of General Taylor, and that others (colored) have been sold into slavery under some pretended State authority. It is understood that General Grant has made a formal demand on General Taylor to know if these statements are true, and also that all such prisoners be treated in accordance with the stipulations of the cartel and the rules of civilized war. It is also stated that a portion of Colonel Streight's command captured have been refused the right of exchange under the cartel and are improperly retained by the enemy.
It is the duty of the United States to afford protection to all persons duly received into the military service, and if the enemy should violate the cartel and laws of war in the treatment of prisoners our Government will be reluctantly compelled to resort to retaliation. While we shall ask for nothing to which we are not entitled by well-established laws, we cannot permit a deliberate and systematic violation of the usages of civilized warfare to pass unpunished. However much we may wish to avoid any act by which the innocent may suffer for the crimes of the guilty, there are occasions where summary retaliation must be resorted to. I am fully aware that violations of law, both civil and military, will sometimes occur under any Government or organization, and complaints are not made where the proper authorities employ all legitimate means to rebuke and punish the offenders. It is hoped that the statements I have alluded to may be incorrect or mere exaggerations, as is not unusually the case on both sides, and that the matter may be properly and satisfactorily arranged.
In connection with this matter I inclose herewith a copy of a report of General Rosecrans upon General Bragg's letter in regard to his stripping Coburn's brigade of their blankets, clothing, &c. You will please again call Mr. Ould's attention to General Bragg's conduct as admitted by himself. Instead of depriving prisoners of war of their clothing we have issued to them large quantities of blankets to make them comfortable and have generally exchanged them in better condition than when captured. The enemy, on the contrary, has frequently treated our troops with great inhumanity and sent them back in a condition utterly disgraceful to the captors. It is hoped that this matter will be properly investigated and the abuse corrected.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
H. W. HALLECK,
General-in. Chief.
[OR Series II, Vol VI, p. 73]
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WAR DEPARTMENT,
Washington, July 8, 1863.
Col. WILLIAM HOFFMAN,
Commissary. General of Prisoners, Washington, D. C.:
COLONEL: The Secretary of War instructs me to say that until further orders no Confederate prisoners of war will be sent from Fort Delaware to City Point.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
ED. R. S. CANBY,
Brigadier-General.
[OR Series II Vol VI p. 93]
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WAR DEPARTMENT,
July 11, 1863.
Major-General SCHENCK:
The Secretary of War has directed that unless specially authorized no Confederate prisoner of war be released on taking the oath of allegiance.
W. HOFFMAN,
Commissary- General of Prisoners.
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BALTIMORE, July 11, 1863.
Brig. Gen. W. W. MORRIS, Fort McHenry:
The Secretary of War has directed that unless specially authorized no rebel prisoner of war be released on taking the oath of allegiance. But I am not yet instructed who is to give this special authority.
ROBT. C. SCHENCK,
Major-General, Commanding.
[OR Series II Vol VI, p. 103]
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HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,
Fort Monroe, July 15, 1863.
Hon. ROBERT OULD,
Agent for Exchange of Prisoners:
SIR: In the letter of July 8 of the Hon. Alexander H. Stephens to Hon. Jefferson Davis, giving a report of his mission, appears the following statement:
The reasons assigned for the refusal by the United States Secretary of War, to wit, that "the customary agents and channels are considered adequate for all needful military communication and conferences," to one acquainted with the facts, seems not only unsatisfactory, but very singular and unaccountable; for it is certainly known to him that these very agents to whom he evidently alludes, heretofore agreed upon in a former conference in reference to the exchange of prisoners (one of the subjects embraced in your letter to me), are now and have been for some time distinctly at issue on several important points. The existing cartel, owing to these disagreements, is virtually suspended so far as the exchange of officers on either side is concerned.
As in this statement Mr. Stephens appears to be unacquainted with the facts, may I ask you will inform him that exchanges of prisoners of war and the settlement of the intricate and troublesome questions connected therewith were being proceeded with successfully by us until the issue of the proclamation of the Hon. Jefferson Davis on the 23d of December last, which, in gross violation of the cartel, reserved for execution certain of our captured officers and men.
Will you also please inform Mr. Stephens that in your and my anxious desire to alleviate the horrors of war, the proclamation after a little delay was ignored and exchanges of officers were resumed
That the exchanges were again interrupted in May last by the operation of an act of the Confederate Congress, which was another gross violation of the cartel and the laws and usages of war, and which consigned to execution and other punishments certain of our captured officers and men. Will you please furnish Mr. Stephens with a copy of my communication to you and protest of 14th of June last on this subject, and also inform him that under that act of Confederate Congress your authorities now retain in close confinement large numbers of our officers, though their release has been demanded and equivalents in your officers tendered, which equivalents have been sent back to Fort Monroe from City Point?
Please also inform him that I have again and again invited your authorities to a return to the cartel in exchange of officers, and that such invitation has not been responded to.
I cannot but believe that with a statement of these plain facts so well known to you and to me, Mr. Stephens will readily see that your authorities are alone at fault, and that he will in the humane spirit with which he entered on his mission earnestly recommend the ignoring or repeal of the act of your Congress, which is such a clear violation of the cartel, and a fruitful--I may say only--source of the practical difficulties now surrounding the exchange of officers.
I have indulged the hope that the magnanimous treatment of your officers captured at Vicksburg, and their release upon parole, would have prompted the immediate release on parole of all our officers held by you.
That hope I have not abandoned.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
WM. II. LUDLOW,
Lieutenant-Colonel and Agent for Exchange of Prisoners.
[OR Series II Vol VI, pp. 120-121]
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GENERAL ORDERS No. 252.
WAR DEPT., ADJT. GENERAL'S OFFICE,
Washington, July 31, 1863.
The following order of the President is published for the information and government of all concerned:
EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, July 30, 1863.
It is the duty of every Government to give protection to its citizens, of whatsoever class, color, or condition, 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 offense 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 offense shall be punished by retaliation upon the enemy's prisoners in our possession.
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 continued 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:
E. D. TOWNSEND,
Assistant Adjutant-General.
[OR Series II Vol VI p. 163]
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HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
Washington, September11, 1863.
Major-General BURNSIDE, Cumberland Gap:
Parole no prisoners. It is reported that the enemy is forcing into the ranks those paroled by General Grant without exchange.
H. W. HALLECK,
General-in-Chief.
[OR Series II Vol VI pp. 279-280]
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WASHINGTON, September 19, 1863.
Major-General GRANT, Vicksburg:
GENERAL: I inclose herewith what purports to be an exchange of the rebel prisoners taken at Vicksburg. No such exchange has been made. The act of Commissioner Ould is entirely ex parte and in violation of the cartel. Our commissioner has protested against this act of bad faith and deception on the part of the rebel authorities.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
H. W. HALLECK,
General. in. Chief.
[OR Series II Vol VI p. 303]
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WASHINGTON, September 26, 1863.
General S. A. MEREDITH,
Commissioner for the Exchange of Prisoners:
SIR: The proposition submitted as from Mr. Ould, in your letter of the 22d instant, "that all officers and men on both sides be released, unless there be actual charges against them," &c., is not accepted. The effort to make a distinction between officers serving with different species of troops can receive no countenance whatever. The existing cartel is sufficient to meet all the demands of the laws of war.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
E. A. HITCHCOCK,
Major-General of Volunteers, &c.
[OR Series II Vol VI p. 322]
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HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
Washington, October 26, 1863.
Major-General BANKS, New Orleans:
GENERAL: Your dispatches of October 16 and 17 are received.
In regard to our prisoners of war held by the enemy, I submit the following brief explanation of the difficulties in effecting any exchanges on account of the utter disregard of the cartel by the rebel authorities.
The enemy commenced the violation of this solemn agreement by refusing to deliver and exchange certain classes of officers and men, and as soon as they had in their possession a large number of their own, paroled by General Grant at Vicksburg and yourself at Port Hudson, they entirely ceased delivering ours as required by the cartel, but placed them in close confinement. They then proceeded to declare all of their own paroled prisoners "duly exchanged" without any equivalents delivered to us. In this way they have been able to return to duty in the field a much larger number of men than if they had made regular exchanges. This was a most shameless violation of the cartel and the general laws of war.
To now exchange the rebel prisoners in our hands for ours in the possession of the rebels would be to admit the legal exchange of the rebel prisoners already returned to duty.
Generals Hitchcock and Meredith have been doing their best to arrange this difficulty and to renew the system of exchanges established by the cartel, but it is almost useless to expect any justice or honesty from a rebel, who is described by Shakespeare "upon whom do swarm the multiplying villainies of nature."
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
H. W. HALLECK,
General-in-Chief.
[OR Series II Vol VI p. 419]
"OFFICE COMMISSIONER FOR EXCHANGE, Fort Monroe, Va., October 29, 1863.
Hon. ROBERT OULD, Agent for Exchange:
SIR: I am in receipt of your communication of the 20th instant, the tenor of which induces me to make some explanatory statements of facts with which it would seem you need to be reminded. The system of exchanges of prisoners of war determined in the existing cartel was first interrupted by the declared purpose of the Confederate Government to make certain distinctions in the treatment of a particular class of troops, officers and men, in violation of the provisions of the cartel. This seems to have been the first step toward the irregularities which have culminated in your unequivocal declaration, reported by me to my Government on the 18th instant, that "(you) will proceed to declare exchanges whenever (you) conscientiously feel that (you) have the right to do so for the purpose of putting men into the field." There can be no objection to your acting conscientiously in any given case so long as your conscience is enlightened and guided by those laws of war which require obedience between belligerents to solemn agreements entered into by authorized commissioners, acting in the name of their respective superiors. But if you mean by the expression your "conscientious sense of right" to substitute this sense of right for the requirements of an existing cartel, I can by no means concede to you that right; and if you do not mean this, I cannot understand what you mean by so vague and general a declaration. Judging by your recent proceedings it seems that you have declared exchanged all Confederate officers and soldiers on parole within what you claim as your lines up to a very recent date without having any proper right to do so, either under the cartel or under the laws of war. The history of this matter, as I understand it, is briefly this: While my predecessor on duty at this place was here in discharge of the duties now committed to me you at one time made a declaration of exchange, embracing no great number of prisoners of war, not in accordance with the requirements of the cartel, and you invited Colonel Ludlow, my predecessor, to make a corresponding declaration of equivalents. Such a declaration was made by Colonel Ludlow doubtless without anticipating the magnitude of the evil which appears now as the result of that departure from the cartel first inaugurated by yourself. Subsequently to my coming on duty here the events of the war threw upon your hands a large body of paroled officers and men, over 30,000 captured by General Grant at Vicksburg, and not long afterward some 6,000 or more captured by General Banks at Port Hudson. Suddenly and without any proper conference or understanding with me, and but a few days prior to the important events at Chickamauga, as if for the express purpose of increasing the force of General Bragg against General Rosecrans, you gave me notice that on the next day after the date of that notice you would declare exchanged a large portion of the troops which had been captured by General Grant. When your declaration was made it covered an indeterminate number of troops, designated by commands, brigades, divisions, and corps, no definite number of either officers or men being designated. Up to that time you had delivered at City Point a certain number of prisoners of war for which you had receipts, by which you must have known the number you might claim the right to discharge from their parole. You did not think proper to limit yourself to this number, nor in any proper manner did you refer to it, but made your declaration of exchange in such indefinite terms as made it next to certain that you did not intend to be governed by the cartel. On referring to the data furnished by the reports of General Grant and now in the hands of the Commissary-General of Prisoners at Washington, it was ascertained that you had discharged from parole by your declaration a very considerable number of your men, over and above any claim you might pretend to, founded on receipts for prisoners of war delivered from the South according to the cartel. Without referring to fractions it appeared from the best data in our hands that you had discharged three for two, or one-third more than you were entitled to. You suggested that I should make a corresponding declaration of exchange, when, as I suppose you must have known, you had not delivered to me, nor had you valid paroles of our men sufficient to cover, the number declared exchanged by yourself; and when I proceeded to make the declaration extending to those men you had delivered and stated to you my objections to your proceedings, you insisted that you had valid paroles for more than the number that you had declared exchanged, though you failed to produce those paroles or to give any account or history of them; and you then proceeded to make a further declaration of exchange, ignoring the cartel altogether, basing your action upon no data communicated to me, the whole proceeding resting, as I suppose you will say, upon your sense of right, as if you were the only party having a right to an opinion on the subject; acting evidently in anticipation of the formal declaration referred to at the commencement of this communication "that you will proceed to make declarations of exchange for the purpose of putting troops into the field whenever you think proper;" and having now exhausted by a declaration of exchange the paroled prisoners in your hands you propose to me the delivery of prisoners of war in our hands for whom you have no equivalents, or comparatively but very few, in order, as it were, that you may obtain possession of many thousands more men of your own, delivered or on parole, for the purpose of declaring them also exchanged and putting them into the field, not in conformity with the existing cartel nor in accordance with the usages of war, but whenever in your individual judgment you may think it proper to do so. I have only to add that an easy inference from this statement is the answer I have to make to your proposal of the 20th instant, which is not accepted.
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
S. A. MEREDITH, Brigadier-General and Commissioner of Exchange.
[OR Ser. II, Vol 6, pp.441-442]
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WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington City, December 5, 1863.
Mr. PRESIDENT:
A general summary of the military operations of the past year is furnished by the report of the General-in-Chief, herewith submitted. In the operations that have been alluded to, prisoners of war to the number of about 13,000 have fallen into the hands of the enemy and are now held by them. From the commencement of the rebellion until the War Department came into my charge there was no cartel or formal exchange of prisoners; but at an early period afterward a just and reasonable cartel was made between Major-General Dix and the rebel General Hill, which, until recently, was faithfully acted upon by both parties. Exchanges under that cartel are now stopped, mainly for the following reasons: First. At Vicksburg over 30,000 rebel prisoners fell into our hands, and over 5,000 more at Port Hudson. These prisoners were paroled and suffered to return to their homes until exchanged pursuant to the terms of the cartel. But the rebel agent, in violation of the cartel, declared the Vicksburg prisoners exchanged; and, without being exchanged, the Port Hudson prisoners he, without just cause, and in open violation of the cartel, declared released from their parole. These prisoners were returned to their ranks, and a portion of them were found fighting at Chattanooga and again captured. For this breach of faith, unexampled in civilized warfare, the only apology or excuse was that an equal number of prisoners had been captured by the enemy. But, on calling for specifications in regard to these alleged prisoners, it was found that a considerable number represented as prisoners were not soldiers, but were non-combatants--citizens of towns and villages, farmers, travelers, and others in civil life, not captured in battle, but taken at their homes, on their farms, or on the highway, by John Morgan and other rebel raiders, who put them under a sham parole. To balance these men against rebel soldiers taken on the field would be relieving the enemy from the pressure of war and enable him to protract the contest to indefinite duration. Second. When the Government commenced organizing colored troops the rebel leader, Davis, by solemn and official proclamation, announced that the colored troops and their white officers, if captured, would not be recognized as prisoners of war, but would be given up for punishment by the State authorities. These proceedings of the rebel authorities were met by the earnest remonstrance and protest of this Government, without effect. The offers by our commissioner to exchange man for man and officer for officer, or to receive and provide for our own soldiers, under the solemn guarantee that they should not go into the field until duly exchanged, were rejected. In the meantime well-authenticated statements show that our troops held as prisoners of war were deprived of shelter, clothing, and food, and some have perished from exposure and famine. This savage barbarity could only have been practiced in the hope that this Government would be compelled, by sympathy for the suffering endured by our troops, to yield to the proposition of exchanging all the prisoners of war on both sides, paroling the excess not actually exchanged; the effect of which operation would be to enable the rebels to put into the field a new army 40,000 strong, forcing the paroled prisoners into the ranks without exchange, as was done with those paroled at Vicksburg and Port Hudson, and also to leave in the hands of the rebels the colored soldiers and officers, who are not regarded by them as prisoners of war, and therefore not entitled to the benefit of the proposed exchange. The facts and correspondence relating to this subject are detailed in the accompanying report of Major-General Hitchcock, commissioner of exchanges. As the matter now stands, we have over 40,000 prisoners of war, ready at any moment to be exchanged, man for man and officer for officer, to the number held by the rebels. These number about 13,000, who are now supplied with food and raiment by this Government and by our benevolent and charitable associations and individuals. Two prisoners, Captains Sawyer and Flinn, held by the rebels, are sentenced to death, by way of a pretended retaliation for two prisoners tried and shot as spies by command of Major-General Burnside. Two rebel officers have been designated and are held as hostages for them. The rebel prisoners of war in our possession have heretofore been treated with the utmost humanity and tenderness consistent with security. They have had good quarters, full rations, clothing when needed, and the same hospital treatment received by our own soldiers. Indulgence of friendly visits and supplies was formerly permitted, but they have been cut off since the barbarity practiced against our prisoners became known to the Government. If it should become necessary for the protection of our men, strict retaliation will be resorted to. But while the rebel authorities suffer this Government to feed and clothe our troops held as prisoners we shall be content to continue to their prisoners in our hands the humane treatment they have uniformly enjoyed.
Respectfully submitted.
EDWIN M. STANTON,Secretary of War.
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA, Fortress Monroe, August 25, 1863.
Maj. Gen. E. A. HITCHCOCK, Commissioner for Exchange of Prisoners, Washington City, D.C.:
GENERAL:
I have just returned from a meeting with the rebel agent of exchange at City Point, and I have the honor to report to you that, in reply to his letter to me, dated August 5, 1863, wherein he claims "that the prisoners captured and paroled by the rebel forces in Maryland and elsewhere prior to the 3d of July should either be regarded as legally paroled or returned as prisoners of war," I made the following proposition, as directed in the letter of the General-in-Chief to you of August 12, 1863: CITY POINT; VA, August 24, 1863. I propose, on behalf of the Government of the United States, that all paroles given by officers and men between the 23d day of May, 1863, and the 3d day of July 1863, not in conformity with the stipulations of the cartel, shall be regarded as null and void, a declaration to this effect to be published to both armies. S. A. MEREDITH, Brigadier-General and Commissioner for Exchange. This was declined, and the following was offered by Mr. Ould: CITY POINT, VA., August 24, 1863. I propose that all paroles on both sides heretofore given shall be determined by the general orders issued by the War Department of the United States, to wit, No. 49, No. 100, and No. 207 of this year, according to their respective dates, and in conformity with paragraph 131 of General Orders, No. 100, so long as said paragraph was in force. If this proposition is not acceptable I propose that the practice heretofore adopted respecting paroles and exchanges be continued. In other words, I propose that the whole question of paroles be determined by the general orders of the United States, according to their dates, or that it be decided by former practice. Re. OULD, Agent of Exchange. In reply to my demand for the release of Colonel Streight and his command I was informed that they were in Richmond held as other prisoners of war, and will be exchanged when exchanges of officers are resumed. In relation to Doctor Rucker, Mr. Ould referred me to his letter of August 16, which I have the honor to forward herewith. To my demand "that all officers commanding negro troops, and negro troops themselves, should be treated as other prisoners of war, and be exchanged as such," Mr. Ould declined acceding, remarking that they (the rebels) would "die in the last ditch" before giving up the right to send slaves back to slavery as property recaptured, but that they were willing to make exceptions in the case of free blacks. He could not exactly tell me how his authorities intended to distinguish between the two (free and slave), but presumed that evidence as to the fact of freedom would be taken into consideration. As their laws put slave and free upon the same footing no comment is necessary. An informal proposition was made to the following effect: "To exchange officer for officer of the same grade, except such as are in command of negro troops;" which was declined. Mr. Ould expresses a willingness to release all chaplains, provided that one Septimus Cameron, who, he stated, had been in prison for a year, should be released, or indicted for any offense he may have committed. On my inquiring about and urging the release of the members of the Sanitary Commission, I was informed that they would be set free on making a statement in writing that they had at any time been of assistance to rebel soldiers. General Neal Dow has been handed over to the Governor of Alabama. Lieutenant-Colonel Powell is in Libby Prison, Richmond. I have notified the rebel authorities in relation to the two above-named officers, as directed in yours of the 18th ultimo [instant]. The rebel authorities wish to continue exchanging non-commissioned officers and privates as usual, returning as many as we send. I have given you, I believe, the substance of all that took place, according to your suggestion. I avoided much discussion. No agreement as to exchanges was arrived at.
I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
S. A. MEREDITH, Brigadier-General and Commissioner for Exchange.
[OR Ser II Vol 6 pp.225-226]
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WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, November 17, 1863.
Major-General BUTLER, Fort Monroe:
The whole subject of exchange of prisoners is under direction of Major-General Hitchcock, to whom, as commissioner of exchange, that branch of the service has been committed. He will be glad to have any idea or suggestion you may be pleased to furnish, but there should be no interference without his assent. It is known that the rebels will exchange man for man and officer for officer, except blacks and officers in command of black troops. These they absolutely refuse to exchange. This is the point on which the whole matter hinges. Exchanging man for man and officer for officer, with the exception the rebels make, is a substantial abandonment of the colored troops and their officers to their fate, and would be a shameful dishonor to the Government bound to protect them. When they agree to exchange all alike there will be no difficulty.
EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.
[OR Ser II Vol 6 p. 528]
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HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES,
In the Field, Culpeper Court-House, April 17, 1864.
Maj. Gen. B. F. BUTLER, Comdg. Dept. of Virginia and N. Carolina,
Fortress Monroe, Va.:
GENERAL:
Your report of negotiations with Mr. Ould, C. S. agent, touching the exchange of prisoners, has been referred to me by the Secretary of War with directions to furnish you such instructions on the subject as I may deem proper. After a careful examination of your report the only points on which I deem instructions necessary are: First. Touching the validity of the paroles of the prisoners captured at Vicksburg and Port Hudson. Second. The status of colored prisoners. As to the first, no arrangement for the exchange of prisoners will be acceded to that does not fully recognize the validity of these paroles and provide for the release to us of a sufficient number of prisoners now held by the Confederate authorities to cancel any balance that may be in our favor by virtue of these paroles. Until there is released to us a sufficient number of officers and men as were captured and paroled at Vicksburg and Port Hudson not another Confederate prisoner of war will be paroled or exchanged. As to the second, no distinction whatever will be made in the exchange between white and colored prisoners; the only question being, were they at the time of their capture in the military service of the United States. If they were the same terms as to treatment while prisoners and conditions of release and exchange must be exacted and had in the case of colored soldiers as of white soldiers. Non-acquiescence by the Confederate authorities in both or either of these propositions will be regarded as a refusal on their part to agree to the further exchange of prisoners, and will be so treated by us.
I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
U.S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.
[OR Ser II, Vol 7, pp. 62-63]
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