Читать книгу Between the Lines - Henry Bascom Smith - Страница 11
ОглавлениеInvestigator's education—I branded E. W. Andrews, adjutant general to General Morris, a traitor to the colors.
In our prison were confined prisoners of all classes, Confederate officers, spies, blockade-runners, pirates, civil and political prisoners. Our office was the reception room where these persons interviewed their "sympathizers," much of such interviewing taking place in my presence. Their mail passed through our hands, what better place could there have been to develop an "investigator?"
War Department,
Washington, Feb. 27, 1864.
General Morris, commanding at Fort McHenry, will allow Mr. W. G. Woodside to see Thomas I. Hall and —— Baylor, Rebel prisoners confined there. General Morris will be present at the interview.
By order of the Secretary of War.
(Signed) C. A. Dana,
Asst. Secy. of War.
This was endorsed:
To the Provost Marshal:
You will allow Mr. W. G. Woodside, the bearer of this, to see the prisoners mentioned within, Hall and Baylor. Lieut. Smith will be present at the interview.
(Signed) P. A. Porter,
Col. 8th N. Y. V. Arty.,
Commanding-Brigade.
Fort McHenry,
Feb'y 28, 1864.
Baltimore, Feb'y 15, 1864.
Sir.—Will you be kind enough to deliver the joined letter to Jules Klotz, a French subject, detained at Fort McHenry. He wrote to me to direct my letters to yourself.
I should be very obliged to you to let me know the reasons why he has been arrested and his true situation towards the American government.
Very respectfully yours,
(Signed) A. Sauvan,
French Vice Consul.
To Mr. Smith,
Lieutenant, Fort McHenry.
You will see by these documents that my survey of prisoners and their letters was always by authority and not merely to gratify my own curiosity.
The Adjutant General is the confidential reliance of a commanding officer. General Morris was advanced in years and depended implicitly on his Adjutant General, Captain E. W. Andrews. I branded Andrews a traitor to the colors. It was a serious position for a subaltern to assume, but I had the evidence to substantiate the charge. In searching the house of one Terrence R. Quinn, a noted blockade-runner, then a prisoner in Fort McHenry, I found evidence that Andrews was a partner in his crimes. And I found that my predecessor, the former Assistant Provost Marshal, was also incriminated; then it became easier for me to understand how so many prisoners had been allowed to escape (as many as sixty-five in one night). Later on I will have two more references to Andrews, which will explain what became of him.
Andrews was a man of brains. He started in life, I believe, as a minister of the gospel, then turned to law. By his suavity and impudence, he gained control of General Morris. The post was important because it carried so great a number of prisoners. Andrews had his son made Provost Marshal, and the escapes of prisoners by one means or another, were made so easily that the scandal of it had appeared in many Southern newspapers. When I finally imprisoned Andrews on General Sheridan's order, in his half intoxicated condition he admitted his Confederate sympathies.
