Joseph Holt & Isaac Toucey to James Glynn et al, January 29, 1861

WASHINGTON, January 29, 1861.

To JAMES GLYNN, commanding the Macedonian; Capt. W. S. WALKER, commanding the Brooklyn, and other naval officers in command; and Lieut. ADAM J. SLEMMER, First Regiment Artillery, U. S. Army, commanding Fort Pickens, Pensacola, Fla.:

In consequence of the assurances received from Mr. Mallory in a telegram of yesterday to Messrs. Slidell, Hunter, and Bigler, with a request it should be laid before the President, that Fort Pickens would not be assaulted, and an offer of such an assurance to the same effect from Colonel Chase, for the purpose of avoiding a hostile collision, upon receiving satisfactory assurances from Mr. Mallory and Colonel Chase that Fort Pickens will not be attacked, you are instructed not to land the company on board the Brooklyn unless said fort shall be attacked or preparations shall be made for its attack. The provisions necessary for the supply of the fort you will land. The Brooklyn and other vessels of war on the station will remain, and you will exercise the utmost vigilance and be prepared at a moment's warning to land the company at Fort Pickens, and you and they will instantly repel an attack on the fort. The President yesterday sent a special message to Congress commending the Virginia resolutions of compromise. The commissioners of different States are to meet here on Monday, the 4th February, and it is important that during their session a collision of arms should be avoided, unless an attack should be made or there should be preparation for such an attack. In either event the Brooklyn and the other vessels will act promptly.

Your right, and that of the other officers in command at Pensacola, freely to communicate with the Government by special messenger, and its right in the same manner to communicate with yourself and them, will remain intact as the basis on which the present instruction is given.

 J. HOLT,

Secretary of War.

ISAAC TOUCEY,

Secretary of the Navy.

SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 1 (Serial No. 1), p. 355-6; Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861, p. 401-2

Brigadier-General William F. Bartlett to Harriet Plummer Bartlett, September 11, 1864

Libby Prison Hospital, September 11, 1864.

Dear Mother, — I write this to send by some officer who goes by this flag of truce boat. I don't know whether any of my letters have reached you or not. I have sent three or four. I was sent to Richmond from Danville, August 26, to be exchanged, and was to have been sent north by first boat. The boat came September 1. I was carried down with the other officers in the ambulance, got on board the boat, and then an order came for me to go ashore again and back to prison. Commissioner Ould said I could not go because the (rebel) General Walker, for whom I was to be exchanged, had not been sent up. So back to prison I came. It was a bitter disappointment, as you can imagine. I could not even send you messages by the officers who went, or to Major Mulford, our Agent of Exchange, to send General Walker by the next boat. I hardly dare hope I shall get off on this boat. I suppose it will depend on Walker's being sent up. I got your letter of August 3 on the 30th, the only letter I have had. I have been very sick, but am better. Arthur is up stairs; he is very well indeed. I was surprised to find him here. I hope my horses and all my things are safely at home long before this. They should have been sent at once. Dr. White promised to attend to it.

I am comparatively comfortable in this hospital. The suffering among the prisoners here and farther south is too horrible to speak of. It is a disgrace to our government that they do not make a general exchange. The rebel government is ready and willing to do it, on almost any terms. I hope I shall get away before long. I am improving in health, and so am not so anxious as I was when so low with dysentery. Give my love to all. It Is useless for me to write, except by some officer going North, or else I should often (if I could get the paper). Hoping you are all well, I remain ever,

Your affectionate son,

W. F. B.

Let Uncle Edwin and A. P. know that you have heard from me, if you get this. Let Arthur's father and mother know that he is in splendid health and spirits. I got permission for him to come down and see me the other day, when I expected to go away. Gave him a good breakfast, and all the money, etc., that I had left. I am going to have him come down again to-day.

Much love to all,

W.

I wish you would give Mr. Cotting twenty dollars, as a present, for me. He has been very kind to me while I have been here.

W. F. B.

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 136-7

Diary of Brigadier-General William F. Bartlett: Thursday, September 1, 1864

Off at last. I gave Arthur all that I had, money, etc., gave him a good breakfast with me, took note for J. D., borrowed $20 of Captain Fox, Thirty-fourth Massachusetts, gave Arthur $10, Sedgwick $10, Arthur my watch-chain. He is very well. Twenty other officers go. Go down to boat in ambulances of boards. An order comes from Colonel Ould. I cannot go. It is a bitter, bitter blow after getting so far. I must go back to prison. Ould says General Walker was not sent up. There is some other reason, I think. This is a sad disappointment. My heart sinks at coming back here. I must wait patiently and believe He doeth all things for the best. Poor mother, if she only knew!

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 133-4