The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1868-09-02
The Exchange Of Prisoners.

The Exchange Of Prisoners, -,
The s:aRnsxed statement5,ofrTRoRERn
QuLps Esq, the; Confederate Agent OF
Exchange, contains some startling rsge9
lations, not generally known ever in the
South, + shows that Gen: Grant Vt is re e.
sponsible for all the horrors Of Anderson
vile, and .that he ordered no exchanges
to be made. AS q mattersef. history, it
is w,ll worthy perusal: aar' : .'ess
RIoHMoNp, Y Ya.ssAugust 1. 1S6S.
To the Editors Of the National nEezllgsnesr;
GENTLEMEN: have recently, seen So
many nisrepresentationssof thes action! Of
the late ,Confederate authorities, in. rela-
Ton to prisoners, that I feel it due. ,to. the.
trath7ofliinstsoc::yys and peculiarly incgmb bent
on me as their agentof exchanges 10 bring
to the attention Of the country the facts
set forth i'm this paper: ]. The cartel OF
exchange bears date July %, 1862. Its
chief purpose was to secure the delivery
of all prisoners of war. To that end. the
fourth. article provided that all prisoners
of war should, be discharged on parole in
ten days after their. capture. From the
date Of off the cartel until the Summer of.
1868 the Confederate authorities had the
excess of: prisoners. During that inter-
val deliveries were made as fast as the
Pederai Government furnished tfanspor-
tatiSon.F Indeed; upon more than one oc-
casion Isurged theF Federal 'authoritiesto
send increased means of transportation.
1T never been alleged that the'Con.
tedefate authorities failed or neglected to-
1nakeapronnpts deliveries of prisoners who
were not held under the charges, when
they had the excess. On the other hand,
during the same time tho cartel was
Openly and 7latolioIsly ysFfofated by the
Federal, ,autkorities. Officers and men
we're: lecptsin confinement, sometimes im
irons. .op-doon,edsto cells, without charge
or trial.,, Many officers were keptsin con-
sinement even after the NOTICES published
by the Federal authorities had declared
them exchanged. - =
In the Sammer of 1863 the Federal au--
tborities insisted upon limitingexchanges
TO spch as were held in confinement on
either side. This l resisted. as, being in
violation of the cartel. Such a construc
tion not only kept in. confinement the ex-
cess on either side, butignored all paroles
which were held by the Confederate Coy.
ernment, These. were very many. being
the paroles Of officers. aud men ;who had
Been released on capture. The Federal
Government at that time held few or no
paroles. They hadial or nearly an been
surrendered, the Confederate authorities
giving prisoners as equivalent for them.
irhus.it will be seen that as long as the
Confederate Government had the excess
Of prisoners, matters went on smoothly
enough, but as soon as the posture Of at:
fairs ,ia,tha tyrespect zMasehangcd ;. The car
fel cpnl9 no longer he observed Sosas
Mng SIS. Che Federal Government hcld the
sareles, of Confederate oticcrs,and men.
sficy were respected and made the basis
of an. exchange. bnt when eqQlyyablsuts
were obtained for them. and no more were
in la land, ties, paroles Which were held by
the Confederate authorities could not pc
recognized. In, consequence OF the; posi-
ZION tnns;assumed BY the Federal Gov:
eri4niGaf,5 the requirement. Of; tkei'calsel
fiat, NIL nprisoners should; be delivered
witlsin ten days was practically tatuiitied.
The; deliveries which were afterward
made were the results of .speriaeagrces
mcnts. .a;,-e
..Ehc Confederate authorities adhered to
their position until the lOthsof august,
1861, when, moved by the sufferings OF
the men in the prisons Of each bg glitgseeren1t,
iiiteeV determined to :abaite their Just de-
faaifd aAccofdingly, On sfast,namcdd
day,p addressed the following icommnni-
tmtion6 TO Brigadier General J6KnAE. :dnI-
ford Chen Major, Assistant Agentof'Ex-
change: es''eT 1~at:.,' ia7
RICHMOND, asugusts16, ,c1S64.
.inajor John e. MuHord, Assistant Ageet
of Eycbonoe. 1aSI =; III
SIR: You have, several times proposed
to mo to exchange the prisoners frespec-
lively held by the two belligerents-otfi-
cor; for officer. and man for man. The
same offer has also been made by other