WAR DEPARTMENT,
Washington,
September 20, 1861.
GENERAL: Your communications of the 17th* and 18th are
received. In regard to the letters sent or received by flags of truce, I would
suggest that for the present they be examined by volunteer officers whom you
might detail for that purpose. I would much prefer that this examination should
be made under the direction of the Post-Office Department, and will endeavor to
effect some arrangement that will relieve you from this labor.
I am also informed by the Adjutant-General that he has
already sent you two aides-de-camp. Ordnance officers are much needed, and for
this reason I cannot consent to the appointment of Lieutenant Harris as your
aide, unless it is absolutely necessary that you should have his services in
that capacity. I send herewith the appointment of William P. Jones as an aide,
in accordance with your recommendation. Captain Whipple has been assigned to
you as assistant adjutant-general.
The state prisoners now in your custody should be sent at
once to Fort Lafayette, New York Harbor. You will, as early as practicable,
send to General McClellan at this place all negro men capable of performing
labor, accompanied by their families. They can be usefully employed on the
military works in this vicinity.
Very respectfully,
your obedient servant,
SIMON
CAMERON,
Secretary of War.
____________________
* Not Found.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
4 (Serial No. 4), p. 615
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