WASHINGTON, D.C., October 30,
1864.
Brig. Gen. M. R. PATRICK,
Provost-Marshal-General, City
Point:
Various reports have reached this Department that you are
co-operating with the election agents sent to the army by Governor Seymour, to
the extent of showing them favors and furnishing them with facilities not
warranted by the passes granted them by this Department and not accorded by you
to the agents of the Union party. In view of these reports I am instructed by
the Secretary of War to notify you that he expects from you careful and exact
impartiality toward the representatives of the two parties; and also that, as
the agents of Governor Seymour here and in Baltimore have been detected in the
perpetration of gross frauds and forgeries for the purpose of causing the votes
of soldiers to be counted in favor of Democratic candidates, when these
soldiers intended to vote against such candidates, he expects you to exercise
vigilance for the detection of all such crimes within your jurisdiction; and
should it finally appear that such wrongs have been consummated, when due
watchfulness on your part might have prevented them, you will be held
responsible for the same.
C. A. DANA,
Assistant Secretary
of War.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
42, Part 3 (Serial No. 89), p. 435-6
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