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American privateers, she never treated those who fell into her hands in any other manner than as prisoners-of-war. These arguments and precedents had their weight with the jury, and helped to save the accused from the verdict of guilty."

Meanwhile, pending the trial of the officers and crew of the Savannah, the Confederate government threw out the menace of retaliation, which, after the first battle of Manassas, it was in a position to carry out. It decided, if one drop of Southern blood was shed by Northern courts for defending the Confederate States on the seas, it was to be paid for, with interest, in Charleston. Self-protection and the enforcement of the laws of nations and of humanity alike required, in this instance at least, full and ample retaliation.

As soon as President Davis received intelligence that the crew of the Savannah had been placed in irons and were to be tried for piracy, he sent Col. Richard Taylor, of his staff, as a special messenger to Mr. Lincoln, with a communication, under date of July 6th, 1861, in which he said:

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'Having learned that the schooner Savannah, a private armed vessel in the service, and sailing under a commission issued by authority of the Confederate States of America, had been captured by one of the vessels forming the blockading squadron off Charleston harbor, I directed a proposition to be made to the officer commanding the squadron, for an exchange of the officers and crew of the Savannah for prisoners-of-war held by this government, according to number and rank. To this proposition, made on the 19th ultimo, Capt. Mercer, the officer in command of the blockading squadron, made answer on the same day that 'the prisoners (referred to) are not on board of any of the vessels under my command.'

"It now appears, by statements made, without contradiction, in newspapers published in New York, that the prisoners above mentioned were conveyed to that city, and have been treated not as prisoners-of-war, but as criminals; that they have been put in irons, confined in jail, brought before the courts of justice on charges of piracy and treason; and it is even rumored that they have been actually convicted of the offenses charged, for no other reason than that they bore arms in defence of the rights of this government, and under the authority of its commission.

"I could not, without grave discourtesy, have made the newspaper statements above referred to the subject of this communication, if the threat of treating as pirates the citizens of this Confederacy, armed for its service on the high seas, had not been contained in your proclamation of the 19th of April last; that proclamation, however, seems to afford a sufficient justification for considering these published statements as not devoid of probability.

"It is the desire of this government to so conduct the war now existing as to mitigate its horrors as far as may be possible; and, with this intent, the treatment of the prisoners captured by its forces have been marked by the greatest humanity and leniency consistent with public obligation. Some have been permitted to return home on parole, others to remain at large, under similar conditions, within this Confederacy, and all have been furnished with rations for their subsistence, such as are allowed to our own troops. It is only since the news has been received of the treatment of the prisoners taken on the Savannah, that I have been compelled to withdraw these indulgences, and to hold the prisoners taken by us in strict confinement..

"A just regard to humanity and to the honor of this government now requires me to state explicitly, that, painful as will be the necessity,

this government will deal out to the prisoners held by it the same treatment and the same fate as shall be experienced by those captured on the Savannah; and if driven to the terrible necessity of retaliation, by your execution of any of the officers or crew of the Savannah, that retaliation will be extended so far as shall be requisite to secure the abandonment of a practice unknown to the warfare of civilized man, and so barbarous as to disgrace the nation which shall be guilty of inaugurating it.

"With this view, and because it may not have reached you, I now renew the proposition made to the commander of the blockading squadron, to exchange for the prisoners taken on the Savannah an equal number of those held by us, according to rank."

Col. Taylor was permitted to go to Washington, but was refused an audience with Mr. Lincoln, and was obliged to content himself with a verbal reply from Gen. Scott that. the communication had been delivered to him, and that he would reply in writing as soon as possible.

No answer ever came, however, and the Confederate authorities were compelled to select by lot, from among the Federal prisoner in their hands, a number to whom they proposed to mete out the same fate which might await the crew of the Savannah.' But fortunately Mr. Lincoln was induced, from some cause, to recede from his position-albeit he never deigned an answer of any sort to Mr. Davis' letter-and the horrors of retaliation were thus averted. Perhaps the Federal government was influenced in this matter by what occurred in the British House of Lords, on the 16th of May, soon after Mr. Lincoln's proclamation, declaring the Confederate privateers pirates, reached that country. On this subject the Earl of Derby said:

"He apprehended that if one thing was clearer than another, it was that privateering was not piracy, and that no law could make that piracy, as regarded the subjects of one nation, which was not piracy by the law of nations. Consequently the United States must not be allowed to entertain this doctrine, and to call upon Her Majesty's government not to interfere. He knew it was said that the United States treated the Confederate States of the South as mere rebels, and that as rebels these expeditions were liable to all the penalties of high treason. That was not the doctrine of this country, because we have declared that they are entitled to all the rights of belligerents, The Northern States could not claim the rights of belligerents for themselves, and, on the other hand, deal with other parties not as belligerents, but as rebels.”

1 The following correspondence discloses the names of the prisoners the Confederates had selected to await the fate of the Savannah privateersmen, etc.:

"C. S. A. WAR DEPARTMENT, RICHMOND, Nov. 9, 1861. "SIR-You are hereby instructed to choose by lot from among the prisoners-of-war of highest rank one who is to be confined in a cell appropriated to convicted felons, and who is to be treated in all respects as if such convict, and to be held for execution in the same manner as may be adopted by the enemy for the execution of the prisoner -of-war Smith, recently condemned to death in Philadelphia. You will also select thirteen other prisoners-of-war, the highest in rank of those captured by our forces, to be confined in the cells reserved for prisoners accused of infamous crimes, and will treat them

as such so long as the enemy shall continue so
to treat the like number of prisoners-of-war
captured by them at sea, and now held for trial
in New York as pirates. As these measures are
intended to repress the infamous attempt now
made by the enemy to commit judicial murder
on prisoners-of-war, you will execute them
strictly, as the mode best calculated to prevent
the commission of so heinous a crime.
Your obedient servant.

"J. P. BENJAMIN,
"Acting Secretary of War.
"To Brig. Gen. JOHN WINDER, Richmond, Va."

"HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF HENRICO,

"RICHMOND, Va. Nov. 11, 1861. j "Hon. J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of War: "SIR-In obedience to instructions contained in your letter of the 9th inst., one prisoner-of

Lord Brougham said that "it was clear that privateering was not piracy by the law of nations."

Lord Kingsdown took the same view. "What was to be the operation of the Presidential proclamation upon this subject was a matter for the consideration of the United States." But he expressed the opinion that the enforcement of the doctrine of that proclamation "would be an act of barbarity which would produce an outcry throughout the civilized world."

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Up to this time there had been no formal cartel for the exchange of prisoners, and the policy of the Washington government seemed to be that they would not treat with rebels in any way which would acknowledge them as "belligerents." But many prisoners, on both sides, were released on parole, and a proposition made in the Confederate Congress to return the Federal prisoners taken at First Manassas, without any formality whatever, would doubtless have prevailed but for the difficulty in reference to the crew of the Savannah.

The pressure upon the Federal government by friends of the prisoners became so great that they were finally induced to enter into a cartel for the exchange of prisoners on the very basis that the Confederates had offered in the beginning. The Confederate Gen. Howell Cobb and the Federal Gen. Wool entered into this arrangement on the 14th of February, 1862the only unadjusted point being that Gen. Wool was unwilling that each party should agree to pay the expenses of transporting their prisoners to the frontier, and this he promised to refer to his government.

At a second interview, the 1st March, Gen. Wool informed Gen. Cobb that his government would not consent to pay these expenses, and thereupon Gen. Cobb promptly receded from his demand, and agreed to the terms proposed by the other side. But Gen. Wool, who had said at the beginning of the negotiation, "I am alone clothed with full power for the purpose of arranging for the exchange of prisoners," was now

war of the highest rank in our possession was
chosen by lot, to be held for execution in the
same manner as may be adopted by the enemy
for the execution of Smith, recently condemned
to death in Philadelphia. The names of the six
colonels were placed in a can. The first name
drawn was that of Col. Corcoran, Sixty-ninth
Regiment, N. Y. S. M., who is the hostage chosen
to answer for Smith. In choosing the thirteen
from the highest rank to be held to answer for
a like number of prisoners-of-war captured by
the enemy at sea, there being only ten field
officers, it was necessary to draw by lot three
captains. The first names drawn were Capts.
J. B. Ricketts, H. McQuade and J. W. Rock-
wood. The list of thirteen will therefore stand:
Cols. Lee, Cogswell, Wilcox, Woodruff and Wood;
Lieut. Cols. Bowman and Neff; Majors Potter,
Revere and Vodges; Capts Ricketts, McQuade
and Rockwood.

"Respectfully, your odedient servant,
"JOHN H. WINDER,
"Brigadier General'

"HEADQUARTERS DepartmENT OF HENRICO, "RICHMOND, Va., Nov. 12, 1861. "Hon. J. P. BENJAMIN,

"Secretary of War, Richmond, Va.: "SIR-In obedience to your instructions, all the wounded officers have been exempted as hostages to await the result of the trial of prisoners captured by the enemy at sea. I have therefore made selections by lot of Capts. H. Bowman and T. Keffer to replace Capts. Ricketts and McQuade, wounded.

"The list of thirteen will now stand: Cols. Lee, Cogswell, Wilcox, Woodruff and Wood; Lieut. Cols, Bowman and Neff: Majors Potter, Revere and Vogdes; Capts. Rockwood, Bowman and Keffer.

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under the necessity of stating that "his government had changed his instructions." And thus the negotiations were abruptly broken off, and the matter left where it was before. The vacillating conduct of the Federal government was of easy explanation, and in perfect accord with their double dealing throughout the war. After these negotiations had begun, the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson had given the United States a considerable preponderance in the number of prisoners held by them, and they at once reverted to their original purpose of not treating with "rebels" on equal terms.

But Jackson's Valley campaign, the Seven Days' Battles around Richmond, and other Confederate successes again reversed the "balance of power," and brought the Federal government to terms, to which the Confederate authorities were always willing. Accordingly negotiations were again entered into by Gen. D. H. Hill on the part of the Confederacy, and Gen. John A. Dix on the part of the United States, and the result was, on July 22d, 1862, the adoption of a cartel of exchange.

The rigid observance of this cartel would have prevented all the horrors of prison life North and South, and have averted the great mortality in Southern prisons, and the greater mortality in Northern prisons, if it had been faithfully carried out by the Federal authorities.

In the meantime, on the 2d of February, 1862, Hon. Alfred Ely, member of Congress from New York, captured at the first battle of Manassas, had an interview with Mr. Lincoln and Secretary Seward, when it was determined to place the privateersmen in confinement at New York and Philadelphia upon the same footing as other prisoners-of-war. On the 3d, the following prisoners confined in the Tombs were transferred to Fort Lafayette in obedience to orders received from Washington, and were subsequently exchanged:

FROM THE Savannah.-T. Hamilton Baker, John Harleston, Henry Howard, Handy Ornan, Wm. Clark, Alex. C. Coyle, C. S. Passailaigue, Joseph Cuig De Carmo, Patrick Daly, John Murphy, Martin Galvin. FROM THE Dixie.-George Gladden, Charles Forrester, J. P. M. Catro, John Journell, John H Marshall. FROM THE Sumter.-Henry Spence, John Davis, A. D. Hodgier, John O'Brien, Wm. May, Peter Thompson, John Donnelly, James Milner, Eugenie Ruhl. FROM THE CONFEDERATE MAN-OF-WAR Florida.-John Williams, Patrick McCarthy, James Reilly, Archibald Wilson.

The brig Jefferson Davis, formerly the slaver Echo, built in Baltimore in 1854, and condemned in Charleston, was fitted up in the latter city as a privateer, and on the 28th of June, 1861, started out upon a privateering expedition. The Davis was 230 tons register and rated 14. She was full-rigged and carried four waist guns, two eighteen-pounders, and two twelve-pounders, and one long eighteen-pounder of old English

make amidships. Her officers were Capt. Louis M. Coxetter, Lieuts. Postell and Stewart, Surgeon Babcock, Capt. of Marines, Mr. Sanfrau, four prize-masters, and a crew of 70 men.

Soon after leaving Charleston, the Jefferson Davis reaped a rich harvest in capturing Federal vessels, with an estimated value of $225,000. On the 6th of July, the brig John Welsh, bound from Trinidad to Falmouth, Eng., with a cargo of sugar, was captured off Hatteras. Capt. J. C. Fifield, of the John Welsh, says:

"After the work of transferring the stores had been completed, Capt. Coxsetter mustered all hands aft and said to them: Boys, if you molest the crew of that brig or their things to the value of a rope-yarn, I will punish you to the utmost of my power. Do you understand? Now go forward. Turning to his officers, he said: 'Gentlemen, I desire that you do everything in your power to make the stay of these gentlemen as agreeable as possible.' He then invited me to dine with him in his cabin, while my mate was taken into the officers' mess.'

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A prize crew in charge of Prize-master Stephens was then put in charge of the captured vessel, and she was ordered to put in the nearest Southern port. On the same day the schooner Enchantress, from Boston, bound to St. Jago, was captured off Montauk. She was placed in charge of Wm. Smith, formerly a Savannah pilot, as prize-master, and ordered South. On Sunday, the 7th of July, about 150 miles from Sandy Hook, the Jefferson Davis captured the schooner S. J. Waring, of Brookhaven, L. I., with a valuable cargo, bound to Montevideo. Montague Amiel, a Charleston pilot, was put in charge as prize-master, with a man named Stevens as mate, and Malcolm Siding as second mate, and two men. The Davis left William Tillman, a colored cook, two seamen, and Bryce Mackinnon, a passenger, on board. Late in the afternoon the schooner was headed South. The remaining crew and the passenger were in hopes of a recapture by some U. S. vessel, and made themselves agreeable and sociable to the privateersmen, and in consequence they suspected nothing until the night of the 16th of July, when fifty miles to the southward of Charleston.

Seeing no prospect of their hopes being realized, and the prize-captain and first mate being asleep in their berths, and the second mate at the wheel, the others dozing or asleep, the preconcerted plan was carried into effect by the steward, William Tillman (colored), killing the three with a hatchet, and throwing the bodies overboard. One of the remaining men was tied up that night, and both were released in the morning on promise to help work the vessel, and were treated accordingly.

After retaking the vessel, the charge of her devolved on the steward. Neither he nor the others understood navigation, but having once got hold of the land he brought her safely up to the pilot ground, when Charles E. Warner, of

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