This morning I learned that the consuls had carried the day,
and were permitted to collect the tobacco alleged to be bought on
foreign account in separate warehouses, and to place the flags of their
respective nations over them. This was saving the property claimed by
foreigners whose governments refused to recognize us (these consuls are
accredited to the United States), and destroying that belonging to our own
citizens. I told the Provost Marshal that the act of Congress included all tobacco
and cotton, and he was required by law to see it all destroyed He,
however, acknowledged only martial law, and was, he said, acting under the
instructions of the Secretary of State. What has the Secretary of State to do
with martial law? Is there really no Secretary of War?
Near the door of the Provost Marshal's office, guarded by
bayoneted sentinels, there is a desk presided over by Sergeant Crow, who orders
transportation on the cars to such soldiers as are permitted to rejoin
their regiments. This Crow, a Marylander, keeps a little black-board hung up
and notes with chalk all the regiments that go down the Peninsula. To day, I
saw a man whom I suspected to be a Yankee spy, copy with his pencil the list of
regiments; and when I demanded his purpose, he seemed confused. This is the
kind of information Gen. McClellan can afford to pay for very liberally. I drew
the Provost Marshal's attention to this matter, and he ordered a discontinuance
of the practice.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 124
No comments:
Post a Comment