Today in History:

815 Series I Volume LI-II Serial 108 - Supplements Part II

Page 815 Chapter LXIII. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. - CONFEDERATE.

[Inclosure.]


HEADQUARTERS,
Warm Springs, January 6, 1864.

The Secretary of War sends me word that the order of General R. E. Lee, in relation to forage, &c., near the railroads and in Rockbridge County, does not apply to my command, as I am not in the department of General Lee, nor in his command. Therefore the horses of my command may be foraged in Rockbridge County. The receipts of my quartermasters for the 10th are good, and the surplus grain, &c., can be impressed if necessary.

WM. L. JACKSON,

Colonel, Commanding Brigade.

[33.]

GREENSBOROUGH, N. C., February 2, 1864.

Honorable JAMES A. SEDDON:

DEAR SIR: You have no doubt been apprised ere this of the Union meeting held in this town. I made it a point to be present, but do not deem it necessary to give you any account of the proceedings. The whole affair was an outrage upon the feelings of our loyal people, of whom the conduct would have been decided but for the fact that the meeting was headed by some of our most prominent citizens, all lawyers of good professional standing. I heard from them many grounds of complaint, none of which I need mention, save such as relate to your Department. They did not enlarge on any point so much as the prison feature of your administration-particularly that at Salisbury. They complain much of the state of things in Richmond; call it an outrage on our rights to be governed by foreigners from Maryland; state that our people are insulted and cursed by General Winder, who is regarded here as a depraved, corrupt, and drunken man, who has received bribes on more than one occasion to allow men from this and the adjoining county of Alamance to carry liquor into Richmond-a fact of which they declare themselves ready at any time to produce withnesses from among the parties who sold the liquor. These factionists complain that our people are hunted about the city by spies-low rowdies from Baltimore-under the control of General Winder and one Griswold; that it is not safe for them to walk the streets on legitimate business, for while doing so some of our people have been arrested by these detectives and carried before Winder and subjected to the most insulting treatment and profanely abused. Of these facts you will be made acquainted on the oath of some of our best citizens. It is needless for me to detail particulars. The meeting, though harmless, greatly outraged the feelings of our best citizens. The truth must be already known to you that disaffection has always existed to some extent in this part of the State, and I regret to say it is now largely on the increase. We are, I fear, on the verge of a state of things that the mind recoils from depicting. There are loyal people here, and many of them, and yet even these must acknowledge the force and justice of the complaints urged by disloyal men among us. I am sure, sir, it is in your power to silence these complaints by ordering aright the Department of Richmond. Abolish the detective feature, dispense with the passport system, and let every citizen who travels be required to exhibit a certificate from his county clerk, properly authenticated; make such regulations as you think proper for soldiers traveling; cause the arrest


Page 815 Chapter LXIII. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. - CONFEDERATE.