CHAP.XII.] CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.- UNION.

will receive such a sentence at the hands of any jury impaneled to try them.

I have been here at this station for three months, half the time in command of the post, and I have had a good opportunity of learning the feeling pervading this country. It is hostile to the Confederate Government. They will take the oath of allegiance with no intention to observe it. They are the followers and slaves of Johnson and Maynard, and never intend to be otherwise. When arrested they suddenly become very submissive, and declare they are for peace and not supporters of the Lincoln Government, but yet the claim to be Union men. At one time, whilst our forces wee at Knoxville, they gave it out that great changes were taking place in East Tennessee, and the people were becoming and loyal. At the withdrawal of the army from here to the Gap, and the first intimation that the Lincoln army was likely to penetrate the State, they were in arms, and scarcely a man, with only a few honorable exceptions, but what was ready to join them and make war upon us.

The prisoners we have tell us that they had every assurance that the army was already in the State, and would join them in a very few days; that the property of Southern men was to be confiscated and divided amongst those who would take up arms for Lincoln.

I have to request, at least, that the prisoners I have taken be held, if not as traitors, as prisoners of war. To release them is ruinous; to convict them before a court at this time next to an impossibility; but if they are kept in prison for six months it will have a good effect. The bridge burners and spies ought to be tried at once, and I respectfully request that instructions be forwarded at as early a day as practicable, as it needs prompt action to dispose of these cases.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. B. WOOD, Colonel, Commanding Post.

HonorableJ. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of War.

CORRESPONDENCE, ORDERS, AND RETURNS RELATING SPECIALLY TO OPERATIONS IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE FROM JULY 1 TO NOVEMBER 19, 1861.

UNION CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, D. C., July 1, 1861.

Lieutenant WILLIAM NELSON, U. S. N., Cincinnati, Ohio:

SIR: Your services having been placed at the disposal of the War Department for the performance of a special duty, the Secretary of War directs me to communicate to you the following instructions: It being the fixed purpose of the General Government to maintain the Constitution and execute the laws of the Union and to protect all loyal citizens in their constitutional rights, the Secretary directs that you muster into the service of the United States five regiments of infantry and one regiment of cavalry in East Tennessee, and one regiment of infantry in West Tennessee, to receive pay when called into active service by this Department. You will designate the regimental and company officers, having due respect for the preferences of the regiments