JO. H. Miller to M. F. Berry, August 9, 1864
Maj. M. F. BERRY, Enrolling Officer, 6th Conscription Dist., Enterprise, Miss.:
Magsor: I have the honor to submit the following statement in regard to R. L. Boone, whose application for exemption I forwarded to your headquarters yesterday, with the statement that the applicant would be sent forward: Yesterday evening I had Boone notified that he must report at this office this morning prepared to go to Enterprise, and gave my guard instructions to arrest him if he failed to comply. (This was before I received your telegram of yesterday.) During the night or this morning Boone started to the enemy’s lines, or Vicksburg, with sixteen bales of cotton. When my guard arrested him he produced a permit from General Wirt Adams, granted under authority of Secretary of War, to carry to and exchange with the enemy some thirty bales of cotton for bagging rope and stationery, and also produced permission to pass all guards and pickets unmolested. My guards, thinking they were obliged to obey this order from General Adams, allowed Boone to pass, and I presume that he has gone on to Big Black or Vicksburg.
This will show why Boone has not been sent to Enterprise.
Very respectfully, yours,
Enrolling Officer, Hinds County.
JULY 28, 1864.
I learned this evening from reliable sources that Captain Martin,
and is at this time allowing cotton to be carried into the enemy's lines.
Furthermore, I learned that Captain Martin himself had been transporting cotton across Black lines for the purpose of trading with the
enemy.