Summary:
Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon writes John Baldwin at Staunton in
January, 1863, concerning the death of a prisoner in Richmond.
Hon. JOHN B. BALDWIN, Staunton, Va.
Richmond,
January 5, 1863.
SIR:
I have the honor to inclose to you a copy of the report of S. S. Baxter, esq., who was charged with the investigation anew of the case of Samuel Simmons. It appears from this report and the accompanying certificates that Simmons was received at the C. S. Military Prison in this city on the evening of the 7th of September last, was transferred to the hospital on the 12th and died there on the 18th or 19th of the same month. The seeming loss of all trace of this unfortunate man while in the custody of the military authorities presented a case sufficiently startling to arouse the anxious attention of the Department. The illness of Mr. Simmons unhappily occurring so speedily after he was brought to Richmond issuing in his death in the brief space of six days doubtless prevented his case being the subject of examination while fresh in the memory of those in whose custody he had been placed. Changes in the officers at the prisons, the large number of prisoners of war as well as others in confinement there and the clerical error in the name as explained by Mr. Baxter account for the difficulty which has existed in tracing him. While sparing no effort to guard the interests of the Confederacy in the life struggle in which we are engaged it is my earnest desire and purpose that the personal rights of the citizen shall be as jealously observed as in time of peace so far as is consistent with the safety of the State.
Respectfully, yours,
JAMES A. SEDDON,
Secretary of War.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 2, Volume 5, Serial No. 118, Pages 804-805, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
