Saturday, August 20, 2016

Brigadier-General Benjamin F. Butler to Mr. Hammond, April 23, 1861

Headquarters Third Brigade, Second Division, M.V.M., ANNAPOLIS, April 23, 1861

To Mr. Hammond

SIR: I have your favor of this date in answer to mine of the same. Lieut. Col. Hinks reports to me that in obedience to my order he has taken possession of all the movable R. R. property that he can find belonging to your Co., a duplicate list of which he has signed & delivered to the person in charge thereof, so that the rights of the Company will be entirely guarded. I will answer your inquiries with the same explicitness that you did mine. My authority is the Order of the Government. My justification the necessity for transportation. Your reparation the pledge of the faith of the Government. I beg leave to call your attention to the fact that the United States mail is not the only valuable property that the Government desires to be carried over your Road.

Respectfully,
B. F. BUTLER, Brig. Genl.

SOURCE: Jessie Ames Marshall, Editor, Private and Official Correspondence of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler During the Period of the Civil War, Volume 1: April 1860 – June 1862, p. 27

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