Headquarters Department of Annapolis, April 30th, 1861
To Lieut. Gen’l. WINFIELD Scott, General in Chief
U.S. Army,
WASHINGTON, D.C.
GENERAL: Col. Corcoran, of the Sixty ninth N. Y. Regiment,
sent to me under arrest a man calling himself Edward Grandval, whose voluntary
examination was taken by me in writing, read over to and signed by him. The
evidence upon which he has been arrested has been fully seen and weighed, and
from it I find that it is substantially proved that the prisoner lately came to
Baltimore from the Capital of the Confederate States; that he went into
correspondence with one Beach, the Editor of the Baltimore Sun Newspaper,
a known enemy of the Union, and known by the prisoner to be such at the time he
entered his service, whatever that service was; that he made a written proposal
to Mr. Beach to place himself at or as near as possible to Annapolis, there to
gather what information he could of the movements and numbers of the troops, to
forward the same to Beach by private hand; that on Friday evening he entered
upon that duty, and was engaged about it until yesterday morning when he was
arrested.
There was found upon him this engagement which he endeavored
to destroy, and also portions of a letter which he said had been written by one
Alexander in order to procure him his engagement. All but the latter part and
the signature was destroyed. There was evidence that he was lurking around Col.
Corcoran's Quarters, endeavoring to obtain information of the men as to the
forces of his command, that he attempted to tamper with the men, telling them
of the forces of the secessionists and that they were ready to receive them as
their brothers if they would come over to them. He had examined the private
quarters of Col. Corcoran for papers, had taken there a Revolver. His statement
in his examination was transparently improbable, and made no impression upon
the mind either of his truthfulness or propriety of conduct. From the evidence
I have no doubt that he was sent as a Spy upon our movements, and it is for the
Commanding General to direct what course shall be pursued. My own opinion is
that the utmost severity is needed towards such a person.
Under the guise of bearer of dispatches and reporters of
newspapers we are overrun by the meanest and most despicable kind of Spies, who
add impudence and brazen effrontery to traitorous and lying reports with which
to injure us. I had forgotten to mention that one part of his engagement was
that he was to receive a pass from Gen’l. Trimble. I await orders from
Headquarters.
Very respectfully,
Yr. Obdt. Servt.
BENJ. F. BUTLER
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. 59-60
