GENERAL OWEN'S OFFICIAL REPORT. HEADQUARTERS THIRD BRIGADE, THIRD DIVISION, I have the honor to report that on Saturday, the sixth instant, at seven o'clock, I marched my command in the direction of Morton's Ford, in accordance with orders received about three hours previous to that time. I arrived at the headquarters of the cavalry reserve within half a mile of the ford, at ten o'clock A.M., and halted. At thirty-five minutes past ten, I received orders to cross the river, which I succeeded in doing, and pushed the enemy back about half a mile; and then, under orders not to press the enemy too hard, but to skirmish with him, if he appeared so disposed, I halted my advance, and made my disposition to hold the favorable ground which I had taken. Colonel Bull, were handled by their commanders I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient Lieutenant JOHN S. SULLIVAN, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. Doc. 105. THE NEGROES IN MISSOURI. AN ORDER BY GENERAL ROSECRANS. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI, In a short time, the enemy began to concenST. LOUIS, Tuesday, March 1, 1864. trate troops in my immediate front, and to adI. MISSOURI, for the coming year, needs all the vance a stronger line of skirmishers. I commu- slave and other labor she has within her own nicated this fact to corps headquarters, through border. Humanity, as well as justice, forbids the signal officer, and asked for reenforcements. sending away to other States our helpless slaves. At ten minutes past three P.M., Colonels Carroll Moreover, bad men have been engaged in stealand Powers reported to me, by order of General ing and carrying negroes out of the State, and Hayes, and I massed their brigades (First and selling even those who were free. The exportaSecond, of the Third division) under cover from tion of negroes from Missouri is therefore prothe enemy's fire, and in a position whence they hibited. Nevertheless, the interests of the servcould be readily deployed to the right or left, as ice demand that all able-bodied slaves, fit for circumstances might require. The enemy kept military duty in this department, be received to up a vigorous fire of small-arms during the day, fill up the quotas of the various districts requirand, at intervals, a heavy artillery fire from a ed by the draft. Every one is therefore interestbattery in position on his left. Fresh troops ed in having them promptly enlisted. were arriving continuously, and in great haste. At twenty minutes past five P.M., the enemy opened with a heavy fire from his batteries, and shortly afterward advanced and attacked vigorously our right and right centre; but it was futile, as, under the personal supervision of the General commanding the division, the enemy was met and repulsed at all points. At fifty minutes past seven P.M., I was ordered to hold myself ready to recross the river, which I did at half-past eleven. All the troops behaved well. I am satisfied with the Third brigade. It will do its duty, and never disgrace the Second corps. The passage of the river, under the enemy's fire, I consider as worthy of special notice, and I specially mention the good conduct and gallant bearing of my Adjutant-General, Captain Robert S. Seabury, who was the first to cross the river at the head of the three hundred picked skirmishers, and to drive the enemy back from the riflepits, capturing twenty-seven men and two officers. My loss was two officers wounded, and three men killed and thirty-three wounded, which is remarkably light under the circumstances; and I believe that the enemy suffered much more severely. II. All officers acting under orders of the Provost-Marshal General, and all commanders of troops in this department, will see that this order is obeyed within their respective districts or commands, and will promptly arrest all who attempt to violate it, and send them to their district headquarters for trial and punishment for violation of military orders. III. Officers enlisting slaves will be careful to take none unfit for service; but when they take a slave recruit, the master must receive the descriptive list specified in paragraph fifth, General Orders, No. 135, of November fourth, 1863, from these headquarters, evidencing this claim on the Government; and the result is thenceforth under the charge of the United States, and if found unfit for service on a final examination, is entitled to a discharge and his freedom. By command of Major-General ROSECRANS. 0. D. GREENE, Assistant Adjutant-General. Doc. 106. TREATMENT OF UNION PRISONERS. REPORT OF COLONEL STREIGHT. The Thirty-ninth New-York volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes; the One Hundred and Eleventh New-York Volunteers, Colonel Luck; Hon. F. W. Kellogg, House Committee on Mili the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth New-York volunteers, Colonel Crandell; and the One Hun tary Affairs: DEAR SIR: Agreeably to your request, I have dred and Twenty-sixth New-York volunteers, the honor to report the following facts in rela tion to the treatment of our officers and men by the rebel authorities. It is impossible for me to give you an account of all the acts of barbarity, inhumanity, and bad faith I have witnessed during my captivity, but I will endeavor to mention such instances as will give you as correct an idea of the true condition of our men as possible. money, after expressly agreeing to deliver it, is an act of perfidy that beggars description. I have repeatedly called the attention of the rebel authorities to the terms of my surrender, and demanded that its provisions be complied with; but General Winder, commandant of the prisoners, took from me the stipulations signed by General Forrest, which he still retains, and refuses to be governed by its provisions. My officers, together with something near one thousand other United States officers, are confined in a large warehouse building, with an average space of about twenty-five square feet to each man. This includes all room for washing, cookno bunks, chairs, or seats of any kind furnished them, consequently they both sit and sleep on the floor. The windows of the building were entirely open until about the middle of December last, when pieces of canvas were furnished for the purpose of closing them to keep the cold out; but, as this would leave us in the dark, we were compelled to leave a portion of them open and endure the cold. On the third day of May last, near Rome, Georgia, my command having become so reduced by hard fighting and marching, during the seven days previous, that it was evident to me that we (about one thousand five hundred officers and men) would fall into the hands of the enemy, and, after holding a council of war with my regi-ing, eating, sleeping, and exercising. They have mental commanders, it was decided to capitulate, and thus secure the best terms possible for the command as a condition of surrender. In accordance with this decision I met the rebel commander, General Forrest, under a flag of truce, when a stipulation was entered into between him and myself, whereby it was agreed that my command should surrender as prisoners of war, on the following conditions, to wit: 1. Each regiment should be permitted to retain its colors. 2. The officers were to retain their side-arms. 3. Both officers and men were to retain their haversacks, knapsacks, and blankets; and all private property of every description was to be respected and retained by the owner. The above terms were in a measure respected while we remained with General Forrest; but no sooner were we turned over to the rebel authorities than a system of robbing commenced, which soon relieved us of every thing valuable in our possession. The blankets, haversacks, and knapsacks were taken from my men at Atlanta. They were also robbed of nearly all their money, and most of them lost their overcoats at the abovenamed place. Here, too, the colors and sidearms were taken from us. My men were turned into an inclosure without shelter of any kind, destitute of blankets and overcoats, as I have before stated, and kept under guard for four days, during which time a most disagreeable cold storm prevailed; after which they were sent forward to Richmond and soon exchanged. My officers were sent to Richmond after a stay of about ten days in Atlanta. On our arrival at the rebel capital, we were all searched separately, and all moneys found in our possession were taken from us. For a few days thereafter we were allowed to draw small sums of our money for the purpose of purchasing food. But this privilege was soon denied us. I then asked and obtained permission from the rebel authorities for the officers to send home for money, clothing, and provisions. The clothing and provisions were generally delivered to the parties ordering them, providing the package or box containing them was not broken open and rifled of its contents before it reached its destination, which was frequently the case; but in no case within my knowledge has the money been delivered to the owner. The retention of this Many of the officers were entirely destitute of blankets until our Government sent a quantity to us in the fore part of the winter. The supply of blankets is now exhausted, and officers who have been captured during the last six weeks have none furnished them. The rations furnished both officers and men by the rebels consist of about one pound of corn bread, made from unbolted meal, and one fourth of a pound of poor fresh meat per day. The meat has been issued to the prisoners but about half the time since the first of December last. In addition to the rations of bread and meat, as above stated, the prisoners draw about two quarts of rice to one hundred men. There is a sufficient quantity of salt furnished, and a very small quantity of vinegar. I will here remark that in a few instances, say six or eight times at most, a small quantity of sweet potatoes has been issued instead of the rations of meat. The above is the sum total of the rations issued to our officers and men now prisoners of war. The condition of our unfortunate enlisted men, now in the hands of the enemy, is much worse than that of the officers. From early in May last, when I arrived in Richmond, to about the first of December, all the enlisted men were taken to what is called Belle Island, and turned into an inclosure, like so many cattle in a slaugh ter-pen. Very few of them had tents, or shelter of any kind, and the few tents furnished were so poor and leaky as to render them but little better than none. All the prisoners are taken to Libby when they first arrive in Richmond, for the purpose of counting them and enrolling their names; consequently I had a fair chance to see their condition when they arrived. Fully one half of the prisoners taken since May last were robbed by their captors of their shoes, and nearly all were robbed of their overcoats, blankets, and haver and kept there for forty-eight hours, without any thing to eat or drink during the time. He was not allowed any blankets nor his overcoat. The weather was very damp and cold, and he, at that time, was suffering from a most severe wound in the hip. sacks. At least one third of them had been com- volunteers, was thrown into one of these cells pelled to trade their pants and blouses for mere rags that would scarcely hide their nakedness. Very many of them were entirely bareheaded, and not a few, as late as the middle of December, were brought in who had nothing on but a pair of old ragged pants and a shirt, being bareheaded, barefooted, and without a blouse, overcoat, or blanket. On the night of the nineteenth of December I received a communication, purporting to come I have seen hundreds of our men taken to the from one in authority, stating that for one hunhospitals thus clad, and in a dying condition. I dred dollars in greenbacks, and two silver have frequently visited the hospital, and have watches, myself and friend would be permitted conversed with large numbers of dying men, to pass the guard. Some days previous to this, brought there from the Island, who assured me one of my officers succeeded in making his esthat they had been compelled to lie out in the cape in this way, and although I was not withopen air, without any medical attendance, though out apprehension that it was a trap, nevertheless for several days they had been unable to walk. I resolved to try the experiment. Accordingly, Though destitute of any thing like quarters, and Captain B. C. G. Reed, of the Third Ohio, and nearly naked during the cold, stormy, and chilly myself, went to the designated place at the apfall season, the first and chief complaint of all I pointed hour, where we were assured it was all saw and talked with was on account of an in- right. We complied with the terms and passed sufficiency of food. I will here remark that in out, but no sooner were we outside the guard no instance have the rebel authorities furnished lines, than Lieutenant La Touche, the Adjutant clothing or blankets to our men. During the of the prison, and seven men, sprang out from a winter large numbers of our men were frozen. I concealed place and commenced firing upon us heard one of the rebel surgeons in charge say before halting us. that there were over twenty of our men who would have to suffer amputation from the effects of the frost. This was before the coldest weather had commenced. Some time in the fore part of December a portion of our men were removed from the Island to some large buildings, where they were more comfortably quartered, but there has been no time since May last but what more or less men have been kept on the Island, in the open air, and without blankets or overcoats. It is a common thing for the rebels to keep our men for several days without food. This was particularly the case with a portion of the Gettysburgh prioners. Some went as long as six days without food, and were compelled to march during the time. The officers captured at Chickamauga assure me that they and their men were robbed of every thing. Many of them lost their coats, hats, and boots as soon as captured, and then were nearly starved and frozen. I trust you will pardon me for the tedious length of this communication. If you will bear with me, I will only call your attention to a few of the outrages practised on our officers and men in the prison discipline. Under the building known as Libby Prison is a large cellar, in which they have several cells partitioned off. Several of them are without any light, but some have windows below the pavement. These cells are used for the purpose of confining securely such of the prisoners as the authorities may fear will attempt to escape, as well as such who may chance to offend some one of the many petty officials and prison attachés. Some of our unfortunate men are continually confined in these filthy holes on one pretext or another. It is the uniform practice to feed any and all persons sent to these cells on bread and water only. Lieutenant Reed, of the Third Ohio We were unarmed, and could do nothing but surrender. We were taken back to the prison, put in irons, and thrown into one of these filthy holes called cells, where we were kept for three weeks on bread and water. The weather was very cold during the time, and we nearly perished. There was a large amount of filth in the cell which I could not induce them to remove, nor could I get them to permit me to remove it. I asked for paper, pen, and ink, to write to the rebel authorities. I also asked for a box to sit on, of which there was a large number in the cells. But every thing was denied me. At the time I was taken to the cell, there were six of our men confined in one of these cells for attempting to escape. They had been there for six days without blankets, and two of them were very sick. They were released at the end of seven days of their confinement. I might continue to enumerate instances of a similar character, but these will answer to give you an idea of what is daily taking place. I cannot describe to you the loathsome filthiness of these cells. They are infested with an innumerable number of rats and mice, and they have no mark of having been cleaned since they were built. It is needless for me to say that no man can survive a long confinement in a place of this kind; and although I am acquainted with several persons who have been confined there, I do not know one who can now be called a well man. As I have before remarked, it is impossible for me to enumerate in this communication but a few of the many acts of barbarity which have come under my notice, though I have endeavored to give you a sample of such as will enable you to form a correct conclusion relative to the treatment our unfortunate men are receiving at the hands of the inhuman people with whom we are now at war. They seem lost to every principle of humanity, and it is my candid opinion that their brutality to our prisoners is only measured by their fears. I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient servant, A. D. STREIGHT, Colonel Fifty-first Indiana Volunteers. Doc. 107. ADDRESS OF THE VIRGINIA ASSEMBLY. deep sorrow and cruel suffering. Its unavoidable calamities have been greatly augmented by the refusal of the enemy to respect the laws of civilized warfare, and by their fiendish attempt to wrest submission from us by visiting the most unrelenting barbarities upon women and children, the aged and the helpless. Unbridled license has been given to their cupidity; untold millions of property have been wantonly destroyed by their malice, or swelled the coffers of the pampered villains, who, unwhipt of justice, have been Soldiers of Virginia in the Armies of the Confed-openly rewarded and promoted for their crimes. erate States: Ir is now nearly three years since you left your homes and firesides at the call of your State to repel the invasion of her soil. Before taking up arms, every effort to obtain the peaceful enjoyment of your rights under the Constitution had been exhausted, your appeals for justice spurned with contempt, and a war to subjugate our sister States of the South commenced by Abraham Lincoln. By this lawless proceeding, the Federal Administration threw off the mask it had hitherto worn. In such a contest, Virginia could not remain an indifferent spectator. Bound by every tie of blood, sympathy, common interests, and common wrongs, to the States against which this hostile preparation was set on foot, she withdrew at once from an association which no longer respected a written Constitution, and resolved to receive on her own bosom the threatened shock of invasion. She invoked you to rally to defend your homes, your altars, and your honor; and this appeal was not made in vain. Promptly and generously you responded to the call of duty. Most faithfully have you performed it. In your long and arduous service, you have shrunk from no toil, no danger, and no sacrifice. During your absence in the field, your wives and little ones may have suffered want; your homes been ravaged and the fruits of industry destroyed by a ruthless and barbarous enemy. But in spite of every temptation, you have never looked back. Your eye has always been fixed on the foe and your ear waiting for the summons to battle. Amid the toil of the march, the weary watch, the labor, the hunger, the cold, the privations of the camp, you have never complained, but have always rendered a cheerful obedience to the State which honors and cherishes you with a mother's love. You have been present in most of the important battles of the war, and in all your valor has been conspicuous. It has made you the theme of praise by your heroic companions from other States, and by the whole civilized world. Many of your comrades have fallen in battle, or from disease contracted in service, and been transferred from the roll of life to that of immortality. There are many more whose mutilated forms attest their honorable devotion to their country. In your prolonged absence from home, your sacrifice of personal interests and of all the enjoyments of life has, indeed, been great. The war forced upon us by the malice of a people whom we have not injured, has entailed upon us all Aged and unoffending men have been dragged from their beds to dreary prisons and solitary labor. Refined and virtuous women have been brutally insulted, and, manacled by rude, unfeeling soldiery, have been led captive from their homes as hostages for negroes. Farms have been desolated, dwellings have been laid in ashes, unprotected women and helpless children have been turned out from their homes without bread or shelter. The tombs of the gallant dead have been robbed and desecrated by fiends, who have ruthlessly invaded the sanctity of the grave and outraged the sensibilities of the living. Under the hypocritical guise of liberating from slavery a population happier and more virtuous than themselves, they have sought to subject us to a yoke more galling than they have essayed to remove. Within a few days past an expedition has been projected, and an abortive effort made to carry into execution, with minute instructions emanating (as we have reason to believe) from the Government at Washington, to sack and fire the city of Richmond, and in the darkness of the night to consign its inhabitants, without a moment's warning, to flames and to death. For this purpose, a special "burning party" was or ganized, provided with implements of destruction, and orders to carry into execution the fell design. Among its blazing ruins, the released prisoners from Belle Isle and the Libby were to unite with the bands of Dahlgren and Kilpatrick in dealing out death and slaughter upon unof fending and peaceful citizens, and inflicting outrage upon pure and unprotected women more horrible than death. The heart sickens at the contemplation of the enormities that would have been committed had the nefarious scheme succeeded. No prayer for mercy would have been heard, no scream for help would have been heeded. Fire, rapine, slaughter, and lust would have held undisputed dominion in this fair city. We forbear to enlarge, but make this recital that you may know more clearly the character of our foe, and that he may be held up to the odium and execration of mankind. In shameless disregard of all the rules of civilized warfare, your chief magistrate and his cabinet were, by special directions, to be denied the rights of prisoners of war, and killed in cold blood. Every species of public and private property was to be destroyed, and the entire country within their reach laid waste. Stimulated and encouraged by the precepts and example of their leaders, this band of robbers and murderers entered to employ their power to take away our property. Their present malice springs chiefly from baffled cupidity. But for this master passion of their nature, an honorable and speedy peace would be easy. The war has fully developed all the purposes, and you now know the fate that awaits you in the event of subjugation. Your liberties will utterly perish. Your State organization will be blotted out. All your property of every description will be confiscated; for all of us have participated in the revolution. Your lands will be divided out among the banditti from the North and from Europe, who have invaded our State. A free negro population will be established in your midst, who will be your social equals and military governors. Negro guards will, at their pleasure, give you passes and safe conducts, or arrest you, to be tried and punished by negro commandants and magistrates. And to these, yourselves, your wives and children will be me private houses, broke open ladies' wardrobes, destroyed of their rich contents what they could not appropriate, carried off jewels and plate, consigned to the flames stores of provisions, burnt mills and other houses, desolated some of the fairest homes of the State, and left whole families without food. Thanks to the gallantry of a citizen soldiery, they were routed and repulsed in the midst of this carnival of crime, which must outrage the sensibilities of the civilized world. Many of them, with awakened consciousness of their deserts, now contemplate their doom within the walls of a prison from which they hoped to release their companions. An avenging God suddenly summoned their atrocious leader from the scenes of his wickedness to the bar of judgment, and on his slain body were found his atrocious instructions, stained with his own blood. The name of Dahlgren will be handed down to history as a fit associate in infamy with Butler and a host of lesser criminals, who have disgraced hu-nial laborers and slaves, except those of you manity and shocked the moral sense of the world. whom the malice of your enemies shall reserve But in these very atrocities, you will discern the for the dungeon or the gallows. Such is the motive, if any were needed, for continued service doom denounced for the people of the South by and fresh sacrifices. Virginia takes no step back- the wicked race now warring upon us. But we ward. Every consideration of honor, interest, know it can never be executed. An army of duty, and safety demand that we shall go for- veterans have resolved that their country shall ward in the grand struggle for human rights and not be enslaved; and while their purpose stands, human liberty, so bravely begun, and so man- the enemy's designs will continue to be baffled. fully maintained. After all that we have suffered Among you there is one spirit-that of eager and and endured, subjugation or submission to this resolute determination. The temper of the army cruel foe would reduce us to a degree of degrada- | has reached the people at home and inspired them tion and misery which has no parallel in the his- with a fresh courage and a more assured confitory of civilization. The sacrifices of blood and dence. Everywhere we see multiplied evidences treasure that we have expended-the memories of energy and enthusiasm. In all the States we of the noble martyrs who have freely given their find the resolution to endure every extremity lives for the achievement of our independence, rather than submit, and with this spirit our peoforbid that we should needlessly throw away ple are invincible. The armies are filling up their what has been already won, in the vain hope of ranks, and the legislation of Congress has added obtaining peace or security. Nothing but wretch- still further to their numbers and efficiency. edness and untold misery await us if we stop Those citizens who remain at home to carry on short of the unconditional acknowledgment of the industrial pursuits essential to the support our independence. This your valor will surely of the army, will see to it that you shall not command. Men of Virginia! you are soldiers of want for food while you are exposing your lives a renowned commonwealth, whose fame you have to protect their property and homes from rapine. illustrated and borne aloft on every battle-field. The defence of the country has become its busiWe need not unfold to you the muniments of ness, and every citizen is required to contribute your right to self-government. We are assured to it in his proper sphere. The General Assemthat you fully comprehend the necessity of a suc-bly of the commonwealth has taken steps to aid cessful assertion of that right, and that you will those families of her soldiers who may be in want, never lay down your arms until you have se- and it will not fail to do all in its power to procured it. Born to an inheritance of freedom, vide for and cherish them. They have authorized you cannot hesitate to choose between slavery and directed the purchase or impressment of unor death. Submission to an enemy who has ex- limited supplies for their maintenance; approprihausted every infamy is not endurable even in ated one million dollars for the relief of such as thought; but were we base enough to desire are within the lines of the enemy, and half a mil peace upon any terms less than the unqualified lion as a hospital fund for the sick and wounded. recognition of our independence, self-interest alone | An organized agency, the State distributes the would teach us the folly of relying upon the forbearance of a nation who have shown in every step of the war that their faith is perfidy, and that their only policy is rapine, plunder, and oppression. The whole history of our former asso-ish the army. ciation with the Northern States admonishes us On the other hand, your enemies are appalled that in a common government they will never fail by the magnitude of the task before them. The voluntary contributions of patriotic citizens. Individually and collectively, in county, city, and State organizations, the people with one accord are determined to feed, clothe, sustain, and cher |