shall regard the said General Fitch, if captured, not as a prisoner of war, but place him in confinement as a felon until the further order of the President.

By order:

S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector-General.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF TEXAS,
San Antonio, August 20, 1862.

Honorable HORACE CONE, Recorder, &c., Houston, Tex.

SIR: In reply to your communication of the 13th of August in regard to authority of the military commission at Houston I am directed by the general commanding to say that the commission was organized for the purpose of trying all cases of sedition and traitorous persons against whom charges are preferred, without regard to time or place of committing the offense.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JESSE W. SPARKS,

Aide-de-Camp.

GENERAL ORDERS,
WAR DEPARTMENT,
ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL'S OFFICE, Numbers 60.
Richmond, August 21, 1862.

I. Whereas, Major-General Hunter, recently in command of the enemy's forces on the coast of South Carolina, and Brigadier-General Phelps, a military commander of the enemy in the State of Louisiana, have organized and armed negro slaves for military service against their masters, citizens of this Confederacy; and whereas, the Government of the United States has refused to answer an inquiry whether said conduct of its officers meets its sanction and has thus left to this Government no other means of repressing said crimes and outrages than the adoption of such measures of retaliation as shall serve to prevent their repetition:

Ordered, That Major-General Hunter and Brigadier-General Phelps be no longer held and treated as public enemies of the Confederate States, but as outlaws, and that in the event of the capture of either of them, or that of any other commissioned officer employed in drilling, organizing or instructing slaves with a view to their armed service in this war, he shall not be regarded as a prisoner of war but held in close confinement for execution as a felon at such time and place as the President shall order.

By order:

S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector General.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT Numbers 2, Numbers 159.
Chattanooga, Tenn., August 21, 1862.

* * * * *

VI. Paragraph V, Special Orders, Numbers 155,* current series, from these headquarters, is revoked and the several duties therein assigned

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*See p. 853.

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