was revoked by the Judge-Advocate, and I was dismissed. I venture to assert that this was the first case where it ever happened, even in countries more unhappy than our own, that a witness who had been duly summoned for the defence was dismissed by the prosecution.
In my letter to Colonel Wood, the chief complaint that I made against "S." was that he published only a part of my letter to General Winder and ignored the remainder, which was a full explanation of what he did publish. The matter of dates to which I referred was merely incidental. Now, "S." in his reply has a good deal to say about the matter of dates, without pretending to excuse himself for garbling the body of the letter. Whether he has any excuse I know not, but I certainly do know that he has offered none. When I charge him with suppressing a material part of my letter, a part which gave full explanation, it will not do for "S." to ignore such charge, and launch out into explanations, satisfactory or unsatisfactory, about a mere change of dates.
In his last communication, "S." seeks to answer what I had declared in my letter to Colonel Wood, to wit: That the Federal authorities were responsible for the suffering of Federal prisoners. I referred to a certain statement of mine published in August, 1868, in the Saint Louis Times and National Intelligencer. I herewith send a copy of that statement, and beg, in the interest of the truth of history, that you will republish it. I ask it, not in the interest of hate, nor to revive sectional controversy, nor to inflame the now subsiding passions of war. Least of all do I desire to put any stigma upon the people of the North, for the sin was that of individuals, and they few in number. I think, if a due investigation were made, it would be found that the number of sinners would not exceed a half dozen. I substantially proposed in my statement to prove my case by Federal testimony. The witnesses are alive now, and the proofs at hand, if the archives have not been mutilated or destroyed. The due investigation of such matter, if prosecuted with judicial fairness, instead of increasing any feeling of hate between the North and South, would tend to allay it. It would conclusively show that the sections were not to be blamed; that the people on both sides were not justly amenable to any reproach; that honor, integrity and Christian civilization in the main reigned North and South; that maltreatment of the defenceless and suffering was loathed alike by Federal and Confederate people; that the story of their participation in or countenance of such wrongs is a shameless libel, and that our civil war although necessarily harsh and brutal in its general aspect, was illustrated on both sides by high and shining examples of moderation, kindness, good faith, generosity and knightly courtesy. I do not believe that an investigation which would develop these facts would tend to fan into a flame the old passions of the war. So far from that, I believe it would serve to make us respect each other the more. It is true that the national wrath might fall upon a few persons who really are
