WOLCOTT, Assistant Secretary of War to William H. Seward, June 28, 1862

Mr. Wolcott to Mr. Seward.

Sir: The Secretary of War directs me to say that he has had the honor to receive your letter of the 14th instant, enclosing copy of a note addressed by Lord Lyons to the State Department, under date of the 12th instant, touching the cases of British subjects, prisoners of war in this country, who, when captured by the United States forces, were serving against their will in the ranks of the rebels, and asking that such cases may be “ inquired into fairly and dealt with leniently,” and to submit to you the following reply :

The department has no information upon this subject other than that gathered from the note of Lord Lyons; and as that fails to mention the name of any British subject supposed to have been captured while serving against his will in the ranks of the rebels, it is manifestly out of the power of the department now to take any action in the premises.

It may be well, however, to acquaint Lord Lyons with the fact that applications for release and parole, on precisely this ground, are almost daily made to the department by citizens of the United States captured from the insurgent ranks and held as prisoners of war; but the department has uniformly declined to inquire into these cases, or to deal with them otherwise than with cases in which no such ground was urged.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,