[Third indorsement.]

Approved and respectfully referred to Secretary of War.

JNO H. WINDER,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

[Fourth indorsement.]

Brigadier-General Winder's recommendation concurred in.

By order of the Secretary of War:

J. A. CAMPBELL.

ABINGDON, VA., April 29, 1863.

Brigadier General H. MARSHALL,

First Brigade, Army of East Tennessee.

GENERAL: We, the undersigned regularly enlisted soldiers of your brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Johnson's battalion Kentucky Mounted Rifles, having been taken prisoners of war by the forces of the United States and having been returned to our command, desire to make a statement of the inhuman treatment to which we and other Confederate soldiers are subjected when by the fortune of war we are thrown into the hands of the forces of the United States Government and ask that, if it is possible, some action may be taken by our Government to secure for prisoners of war humane treatment and if possible the treatment universally recognized by civilized nations engaged in war. We were captured, our horses and equipments were taken as they had a right; but they did not stop at this, but they by order of the provost-marshal of Lexington, Ky. (a Captain Hurlbut), robbed us of our clothing, blankets and money, even our pocket combs and knives. Some of us were put into a filthy negro jail, unhealthy and loathsome upon account of the vermin. Some of us were placed in iron cells and closely confined. Our food at Lexington and Louisville was unwholesome in character and even if it had been of a good quality totally insufficient for the use of the men. Captain Gray, commanding Company L, Tenth [Kentucky] Regiment Federal Cavalry, having captured three of the undersigned placed us in the county jail of Fleming County and kept us there for two days and tree nights without making the least arrangement for our food or necessities. When we were taken the weather was very cold and disagreeable. They now have in close confinement handcuffed Henry Greenway, a private in Captain Pete Everett's company, First Battalion Kentucky Mounted Rifles, C. S. Army. They decline to exchange him as a prisoner of war and we understood from Greenway that he was to be shot and he desired that his case should be presented to you. On account of the inhuman neglect of those in charge of the U. S. prisoners at Louisville and at Lexington, Ky., and those having charge of the transportation of our men from the different points at which they are confined to the Confederate lines many a soldier fails to reach his command. They often are left to die on the road and to our own knowledge men died from neglect belonging to the party to which we belonged in coming from Louisville, Ky., to City Point. While at Louisville, Ky., were under the charge of negroes who gave us our food in such quantity as suited them and gave us the privilege of coming under shelter as they pleased.

JOS. HIBLER.

JOHN CRAIG.

JACOB JOHNSON.

THOMAS B. FISHBACK.

JOHN M. FISHBACK.

JAMES L. SHIELDS.