Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 03.djvu/88

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78
Southern Historical Society Papers.

[Unofficial.]

Charleston, S. C., July 1, 1864.

General—The journals of this morning inform us for the first time, that five General officers of the Confederate service have arrived at Hilton Head, with a view to their being subjected to the same treatment that we are receiving here.

We think it but just to ask for these officers every kindness and courtesy that you can extend to them, in acknowledgment of the fact that we at this time are as pleasantly and comfortably situated as is possible for prisoners of war, receiving from the Confederate authorities every privilege that we could desire or expect; nor are we unnecessarily exposed to fire.

Respectfully, General, your obedient servants,
(Signed)
R. W. Wessels,
Brigadier-General U. S. Volunteers,
(Signed)
T. Seymour,
Brigadier-General U. S. Volunteers,
(Signed)
E. P. Scammon,
Brigadier-General,
(Signed)
C. A. Heckman,
Brigadier-General Volunteers,


(Signed)
Alexander Shaler,
Brigadier-General U. S. Volunteers,
Prisoners of War.



To Major-General J. G. Foster,
Commanding Department of the South, Hilton Head, S. C.


Charleston, S. C., July 1, 1864.

Brigadier-General L. Thomas,
Adjutant-General United States Army, Washington, D.C.:

General—We desire respectfully to represent through you to our authorities, our firm belief that a prompt exchange of the prisoners of war in the hands of the Southern Confederacy, if exchanges are to be made, is called for by every consideration of humanity. There are many thousands confined at Southern points of the Confederacy, in a climate to which they are unaccustomed, deprived of much of the food, clothing and shelter they have habitually received, and it is not surprising that from these and other