O.R.--SERIES II--VOLUME V [S# 118]

CONFEDERATE CORRESPONDENCE, ORDERS, ETC., RELATING TO PRISONERS OF WAR AND STATE FROM DECEMBER 1, 1862, TO JUNE 10, 1863.--#1

CASTLE THUNDER, December 1, 1862.

Hon. JAMES A. SEDDON, Richmond, Va.

SIR: I am a private in the First Battalion Connecticut Cavalry. On the 7th of October last I was with my battalion encamped near Centerville. Pickets at night patrolled within two miles and a half of Gainesville. Twice a day a patrol was sent to Thoroughfare Gap to reconnoiter. On the 7th of October in the afternoon I was sent there. I was returning and when near Haymarket I was surprised by a party of the Twelfth Virginia Cavalry and taken prisoner. When taken I was within the Federal lines and as near as I can judge forty miles--at least that was the distance I had to travel before I reached the Confederate lines. I have been held since the 12th of October in this prison. Am I not a prisoner of war? And if so why should I not be exchanged? Does my case not come under the cartel? I am here without friends or money. True I am a poor private and that must be the reason I am overlooked. I am confined with all classes of criminals. I respectfully solicit an inquiry into my case.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

CHAS. H. MARSH,
First Battalion Connecticut Cavalry.

[First indorsement.]

General WINDER:

I would suggest the propriety of inquiring into this case. The writer is evidently of some intelligence and tells a plausible tale. He may be really a mere prisoner of war entitled to exchange.

J. A. SEDDON,
Secretary of War.

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[Second indorsement.]

HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF HENRICO, December 20, 1862.

Respectfully referred to the Secretary of War with the inclosed letter(*) of the prisoner. He was charged with being a spy and his statement in that letter tended to confirm the suspicion.

JNO. H. WINDER,
Brigadier-General.

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