Henry R. Jackson to George B. McClellan, July 17, 1861
July 17, 1861.
July 17, 1861. Maj. Gen. GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN, Commanding U. 8S. Forces :
Sir: It affords me pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 15th instant, and to respond, as I do most cordially, to the expressions of humane feeling by which it is characterized. I shall this morning dispatch ten wagons for the transportation of such of the prisoners referred to as may accept their release upon the terms required by the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army. The officer in charge of them will be instructed to proceed to the, western base of the Cheat Mountain range, and to await the released prisoners there. Should he chance to require the use of any of the camp equipage which may
accompany the wagons transporting them to that point, it will be returned to your order as scrupulously as the tender of it was courteously made. The friends of the sick and wounded who may be too feeble to come with these trains will rest altogether tranquil in the assurances which you have given respecting the treatment of the latter. Permit me to add that your well-known. character as a man had rendered even those assurances a matter of Supererogation.
Lieutenant Bruce and Dr. Garnett (the latter a relative and aide-decamp of the late and much lamented General Garnett) will bear to you this communication, and will make the necessary arrangements for the removal of the remains of that gallant officer to his home. That his relatives and many friends will most sensibly appreciate your kind acts and words respecting him cannot be a subject of surmise.
I regret to say that there are peculiar reasons which have constrained me to place hk. I. Lipford, the bearer of your letter, under arrest. By representing himself to be a lieutenant, when he was simply a private in the Forty-fourth Regiment Virginia Volunteers, he was guilty of a gross imposition, exhibited his utter unworthiness of any confidence whatsoever, and I could not place this letter in his charge with any sense of security that it would reach you. In detaining him from you for the present, I need hardly assure you that he will not be allowed to violate the parole he has undertaken to give. He will be held in strict custody.
with great respect, your very obedient servant,
Brigadier-General, C. S. Army, Commanding.
[Inclosure No. 3.J