provide accommodations for others elsewhere in the department. Will arms for the regiments at Camp Douglas be sent from Washington? Please answer immediately.

By order of Major-General Wright:

N. H. MCLEAN,

Assistant Adjutant-General and Chief of Staff.

CINCINNATI, January 24, 1863.

Major N. H. MCLEAN,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Department of the Ohio.

SIR: Please have my case settled as soon as possible. I am of the opinion that nothing short of an understanding between Secretary Stanton or General Halleck with the rebel Secretary will insure my safety either in the Army or out of it. I know them too well.

Respectfully, yours,

M. P. GADDIS,

Chaplain Second Regiment Ohio Volunteers.

[Indorsement.]

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE OHIO,
Cincinnati, Ohio, January 27, 1863.

Respectfully referred to Colonel W. Hoffman, commissary-general of prisoners, for reference if necessary to the Secretary of War.

On the first statement presented by Chaplain Gaddis I was confident the decision of Brigadier-General Boyle was the proper one and therefore approved it. The papers subsequently submitted by the chaplain cast some doubt on the correctness of that decision, particularly the statement that the rebels refused to parole him as a chaplain, such proceeding being in violation of the cartel, and required as the condition of letting the cotton remain on board for the use and comfort of the sick and wounded that he should pledge himself not as chaplain but as an individual in care of the wounded to destroy the cotton or deliver himself up. While I remain of the opinion still that the rebels cannot under any understanding had between the parties hold Chaplain Gaddis, I am not conversant enough with the understanding existing with the so-called Confederate authorities to be positive and therefore refer the case for decision.

Instructions have been given to hold the cotton till the matter shall be finally decided.

H. G. WRIGHT,

Major-General, Commanding.

CINCINNATI, January 24, 1863.

Major N. H. MCLEAN,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Department of the Ohio.

SIR: After more mature reflection in regard to my present position toward the so-called Confederate States I am convinced that the "orders" issued to me by Brigadier-General Boyle and subsequently indorsed by Major-General Wright are wrong and do me unintentional injustice, and place me in a position not at all desirable to one who values his veracity and honor at any time, much less in a case like the

14 R R-SERIES II, VOL V