The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1866-10-11
EXCHANGEOF PRISONERS.
Gen. Butler at Hamilton publ

ToM EWING that he was responsible for
the sufferings Of our prisoners at Ander-
sonville, by his refusal to exchange pris
oners with the rebels unless they recog-
nized our colored troops as regular
soldiers.
Gen BUTLER has so long been silent
under the charge that it has been widely
received as a truthful accusation, and
his defense has hitherto been founded on
the inherent rightfulness of the policy
which it has been assumed he adopted.
But this interesting revelation upsets
both the charge and the defense.
ssGen Butler then said that while he
never answered anonymous newspaper at
tacks, and never did do SO, he felt it his
duty here at Hamilton terefute slander
which had been circulated from this plat
form few days ago by gentleman of
standing in advocating the election of the
Democratic candidate : 40 sss
He has chosen to say that 1 am re-
sponsible for the starvation of our pris-
oners at Bell Isle and fAndersonville. by
refusing to exchange soldiers because
the rebels did not recognize the negroes
in our service as regular soldiers. ~ (
Idon't propose to cri;icise any ybody or
to say who was right or who was wrong,
but I propose to state the exact facts
because it has been widely charged
against me that in order to rescue the
negro soldiess, preferred that 80, 900
Of our men should starve rather than
agree that the negro should not be ex-
changed. @f s.fd
Whatever 1 might have thought it best
to have done, / am only here to day to
say that did not do it. The duties of
Commissioner of Exchange where put in
my hands. l made an arrangement to
have an exchange effected-man for man,
officer for officer. / communicated my
plan to Gen. Streight, of Indiana, who is
here to- day, and who had then just es-
capped from Libby. I told him how
proposed to get our negro soldiers out of
rebel hands. <5sar
We had $4,000 or thereabout Of their
prisoners They had $4,000 of ours, or
thereabout. I don't give the exact num-
bers, as I quote from memory: but these
are the approximate ny yhbers. 9iEo .5E :
/ proposed to go d and exchange
with the rebels, man for man, officer for
officer. until got 1000 of our men, and
then would still have had 10000 of
theirs left in my han,ls.F And then l
proposed to twist these $4,000 until got
the negroes out of the }rebles. Zap
plause. Icmade this arrangement with
the Confederate Commissioner This
was on the 1st of last April, before we
commenced to move on that campaign Of
1864, from the Rapidan to the James,
around Richmond. At that time the
Lieutenant General visited my headquar-
ters, and told him what I,had done He
gaze me certain verbal directions What
they were I shall notlsay, because have
his instructions in writing. But sent
my proposition for exchange to the Gov
ernment of the United States. It was
referred to the Lieutenant General He
ordered me not to give'the Confederates
another man in exchange.
I telegraphed back to him in these
words:1 Esd sasavs.a.so@ ttanIsstti eaF
"Your order shall be obeyed, bat I
assume you do not mean to interfere with
the exchange of the sick and wounded?''
He replied: Take all the sick and
wounded you can get; but don't give them
another man. 'st il3iE2 f'ER9n r+
You can see that, even with sick and
wounded men, this system would soon
cause all exchanges to stop. ss' -''
It did stop It stopped right there, in
April, 1854, and was not resumed until
August, 1864, when Mr. Ould, the rebel
Commissioner, again wrote me: I'VE
will exchange man for man, officer for
officer and saying nothing about colord
troops. .s.--:.r..- r..
laid this dispatch before the Lieut.
enant General. His answer, in writing,
was, substantially: ''If you give the
rebels the sc, 900 men whom we hold, it
will insure the defeat of General Sher-
man and endanger our safety here around
Richmond. I wrote an argument. often
sively put, to the Confederate Commis-
sioners, so that they should stop all futher
offers of exchange. z
/ say nothing about the policy Of this
course; offer no criticism of it whatever;
say only that whether it be = good or =
bad policy, it was not mine, and that my
part in zitswas wholly m obedience to
orders from nyacommanding officer, the
Lieutenant General. aisv ssf d 2uus.
A bachelor in Pennsylvania has been
sued for breach of promise-damages
laid at 81, ,000- He. pleads that he, vas
ready to marry last winter, but the plain
tiff put him Off Since that time she has
been feshing up aufully, Weighing now