GRANT, Lieutenant General to William H. Seward, March 19, 1865

General Grant to Mr. Seward

Sir: With this I have the honor of forwarding to you specimens of fuzes captured at Fort Fisher, North Carolina, together with the certificate of Lieutenant Colonel O. E. Babcock, aide-de-camp on my staff, that they were so captured, and the statement of Colonel Tal. P. Shaffner that the same were manufactured at the Woolwich arsenal, England, an arsenal owned and run by the British government.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Colonel Shaffner to General Grant

Dear Sir: In answer to your inquiry of this date I make the following statement:

The sample of fuzes you have caused to be submitted to me, marked A, B, and C indorsed by Colonel Babcock, are known to me as the Abel fuze,” and manufactured by Professor Abel, and sold by the official vendor of the war department of the British government.

Professor Abel is an officer of her Majesty’s government in Woolwich arsensal, and he ex ercises sole authority as to the manufacture and sale of the above named fuses. The mysteries for packing the composition of the fuzes are solely the property of the British government.

In January last I desired to purchase one hundred fuzes of the above composition from the official vendor in London, to be especially made for the United States government; but Professor Abel would not allow them to be made for our government. At the same time, and for some weeks anterior, large quantities of fuzes had been and were being made for the confederate government’s agents by authority and knowledge of Professor Abel.

In order to prevent the further sale of the said fuzes to the confederate agents, I offered to negotiate the sale of the mysteries for making the composition to the United States government, by consent of the British government to be obtained, contemplating the payment of a sum not less than three hundred pounds sterling, conditional that the rebel States should not have the mysteries or further supplies. This proposition Professor Abel declined.

I know how to make the composition, and did at the time of making the above offer, but my object was to prevent further supplies to the rebel agents. For some years anterior I had been using a superior composition, and had, before the above date, offered the mysteries freo to our government.

Before concluding I desire to express the belief that his lordship Earl de Grey and Ripon, the honorable secretary of state for war, would not allow the continuance in office of any one guilty of so flagrantly violating her Majesty’s proclamation of neutrality, and I am quite sure his lordship will not hesitate to administer such an order as will atone for the breach of faith to our government and the prostitution of her Majesty’s arsenal at Woolwich.

It is within my power to substantiate the statements herein made.

Very respectfully, your most humble and obedient servant,

Lieutenant Colonel Babcock to General Grant

I hereby certify that the accompanying fuzes were captured in Fort Fisher, at the mouth of Cape Fear river, North Carolina, a work held by the so called confederate forces, and captured by the Union forces under Major General A. H. Terry, United States army, and Rear-Admiral D. D. Porter, United States navy, January, 1865.

These fuzes were used in the vast number of subterranean and submarine mines at that place. I understand that these fuzes are used extensively throughout the so-called southern confederacy.

Accompanying this are samples of the fuzes, marked A, B, and C, with my name at tached.