546 Series II Volume IV- Serial 117 - Prisoners of War
Page 546 | PRISONERS OF WAR AND STATE, ETC. |
them to any kind of order or discipline until they are paid, and I feel it my duty to so inform you.
DAVID TOD,
Governor of Ohio.
COLUMBUS, OHIO, September 22, 1862.
General L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General:
Paroled prisoners at Camp Chase are clamorous and mutinous for pay. No funds here to settle with them. They cannot be controlled until paid. I beg the Secretary of War to order Major Sherman to this duty immediately.
LEW. WALLANCE,
Major-General.
[Indorsement.]
PAYMASTER-GENERAL'S OFFICE, September 23, 1862.
Respectfully returned to the Adjutant-General. It has been impossible for the Treasury to furnish funds to meet the heavy payments recently required for advance pay, &c. Major Sherman, the paymaster at Columbia, is out of funds. He requires no order to make these payments if the money can be obtained. The parole prisoners who were at Camp Chase on 30th of June were paid to that date, so that only two months' pay can be due, except to those who may have been sent to the camp since that time. There are large numbers of regiments now in the field fighting who have four months' or more pay due them and who are unpaid owing to the inability of obtaining funds. This department will make every exertion to have money forwarded to Major McClure, the senator paymaster, to make these and other payments, but does not think that a threat of a mutiny should be considered either by the commanding officer of the post or this department a good reason for paying these men before those more deserving and having larger arrears due. Major McClure has been telegraphed to have these men paid as soon as funds are furnished.
CARY H. FRY,
Assistant Paymaster-General.
ANNAPOLIS, September 22, 1862.
Honorable E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War:
I am satisfied that the exchanged prisoners, about 5,000 in number, should be sent to Washington by water, and accordingly I make the first shipment to-day, say 800 men, by the steamer Mary Washington. To make a shipment each day another steamer will be necessary. Two steamers will be preferable and I desire they may be sent here. Some of the men are very destitute of clothing. These will be retained to make the last shipment, as supplies of clothing are expected here. The troops from Harper's Ferry have arrived and arrangements are being made as rapidly as possible for their movement west. This movement is very distasteful to them and many complaints are made that it is a violation of their parole. This view is taken by numbers in the hope of being permitted to return to their homes, which should not be permitted. When the surrender was made at Harper's Ferry the rebels very industriously circulated among the men that the parole was intended for them to go their homes and that their going to
Page 546 | PRISONERS OF WAR AND STATE, ETC. |