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W. Hoffman letter November 9, 1863

Office Commissary-General of Prisoners,
Washington, D. C, November 9, 1863.
Brig. Gen. S. A. Meredith,
Commissioner for Exchange of Prisoners, Fort Monroe, Va.:
General: In reply to the several letters of Mr. Ould, referred by you on the 3d instant, I have the honor to give you the following information :
My reply to Mr. Ould's inquiry relative to Major-General Trimble was intended to be very explicit and full, and to conceal nothing. I stated he was in U. S. hospital, Newton University, Baltimore, and that covered the whole case. I expected it to be understood that his treatment was the same as that of any other patient in the hospital, giving due consideration to his rank, and I did not think it necessary to say how he was not treated; but that Mr. Ould may have no doubt on the subject, I beg you will inform him that General Trimble has been at all times treated with all the consideration due to his rank and his position as a prisoner of war. He is now at Johnson's Island, where he receives the same treatment as other general officers in confinement at that place. If General Trimble had received but a small part of the Generals Prince, Graham, and others while they were prisoners of war at Richmond, Mr. Ould would have abundant cause for his complaint.
Mr. Ould inquires for Alfred Stanly, who he states is said to be in the common jail at Washington, N. C., and I reply that I have no record of Alfred Stanly or any other prisoner at Washington, N. C. Mr. Ould supposes it is known whether Mr. Stanly is in confinement or not, the place of confinement being a matter of little consequence; but he is quite mistaken in this, because he does not seem to know, nor do I know, whether Mr. Stanly is a prisoner or not. After a careful examination of the records his name cannot be found, and yet it is possible he may be in some one of the prisons. It is no trifling labor to search the rolls of the past two years to find the name of a prisoner when nothing is given to guide one in the search. If Mr. Ould will give me some of the particulars of when and where he was arrested, and by whom, I will be very glad to have another examination made, and if he is not found it will not be for want of proper effort.
I have received no report of the capture of Acting Master David Nichols and seventeen enlisted men, taken off the Mississippi Passes in a U. S. vessel which they had captured. As soon as I can get the necessary information, I will answer Mr. Ould's inquiries on this point. Lieut. Col. W. J. Green was captured at Smithsburg July 4, 1863, not 1862, and he has therefore not been exchanged. Capt. J. W. Johnson, now at Johnson's Island, was first reported to this office from Saint Louis on the 11th of September, which was subsequent to the time when all exchanged officers and men at Saint Louis were ordered to be forwarded to City Point. His exchange is covered by General Orders, No. 10, current series, and he will be discharged immediately. Lieut. H. B. Garnett was ordered from Johnson's Island to City Point on the 23d of July last, but through some misunderstanding he and others with him were sent back from Fortress Monroe to Fort McHenry. On the 12th of August lie was again ordered to City Point, and if he is now at Fort Norfolk he should be sent forward immediately. I think, how ever, it will be found that he is not there, and that the error is in his name having been placed on the list of officers still in our hands.
Particular pains have heretofore been taken to insure that all exchanged prisoners of war should be promptly forwarded for delivery, the orders specifying that rangers, guerrillas, &c, were to be included, and whenever there has been any failure it has grown out of some misunderstanding of orders, which has been rectified as soon as discovered. Mr. Ould speaks of many officers who are still held by us, and of many hundreds of men who have been declared exchanged now in confinement, especially at Saint Louis, and at some future time he proposes to furnish the names of such as have been reported to him. It would have better served the interest of those in whose behalf he speaks, and have been much more satisfactory to me, if he had furnished some of the names, or some other reliable proof, before he ventured to make a statement for which I believe there is no real foundation. There are probably now in our hands Confederate officers and men who have not yet been reported to this office, but the rolls will be sent in, and at the end of this mouth I propose to furnish you with a list of all officers held by us not heretofore reported. This is in fulfillment of the proposition I made some time ago to exchange such lists with Mr. Ould from time to time, and I have no doubt he will be glad to reciprocate the courtesy. I shall also have prepared a list of the deaths in our hospitals up to the 1st of December, as far as reports are received, which will be forwarded to you in the hope of receiving a similar one in return from Mr. Ould.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
W. HOFFMAN,
Colonel Third Infantry and Commissary- General of Prisoners.

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Source of Information

55th Congress 3d Session House of Representatives Document No. 312
The War of the Rebellion: A compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.
Published under the direction of the Hon. Russell A. Alger, Secretary of War,
By Brig. Gen. Fred C. Ainsworth, Chief of the record and pension office, war department, and Mr. Joseph W. Kirkley.
Series II – Volume VI.
Washington: Government printing office.
1899