WAR DEPARTMENT, C. S. A.,

Richmond, Va., February 12, 1864.

His Excellency JEFFERSON DAVIS, President, &c.:

SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith the charges and specifications against Major H. C. Guerin, commissary of subsistence, together with the accompanying papers,* as called for by a resolution of the Senate of the 24th of December, 1863.

It was brought to the attention of the War Department on the 17th of January, 1863, by the Comissary-General of Subsistence, that Major H. C. Guerin, chief of commissary of the State of South Carolina, had been placed in arrest by General Beauregard. A telegram was sent, inquiring as to the cause of arrest and the facts of the case, on the 18th. The reply stated the charges to be disobedience to orders, disrespect to superior officers, and general incompetency.

On the 19th, General Beauregard was telegraphed to send a copy of the charges as soon as possible. A response was made on the 20th that the charges would be forwarded, and the right to bring Major Guerin to trial before the military court of this Department was asserted.

On the 19th, General Beauregard was telegraphed to send a copy of the charges as soon as possible. A response was made on the 20th that the charges would be forwarded, and the right to bring Major Guerin to trial before the military court of this Department was asserted.

On the 30th of January, the copy of the charges not having been received, General beauregard was telegraphed to release Major Guerin from arrest, to allow him to resume the duties to which he had been assigned by the Commissary-General, to report freely to the head of his bureau, and to send charges to the Adjutant-General for further action. It will be seen that more than sufficient time had elapsed within which to forward the charges against Major Guerin, who had been arrested on the 14th of January.

On the 4th of February, the charges and specifications were forwarded by General Beauregard, with a long communication, in which he states them to be, "so fads as prepared."

Matters, I must add, are developing that I expect will furnish additional charges of neglect of duty.

The charges are "disrespect to this superior officers," disobedience to orders," and "neglect of duty." That of "general incompetency," named in his telegram, seems to have abandoned. The various causes of complaint urged by General Beauregard in his communications are deemed to be without just reason.

Whatever may be the competency of a general commanding a department to arrest and bring to trial an officer of the general staff, serving with his command, there can by no possible doubt of the right of the President or of the Secretary of War, who is his representative, to call for the charges, and to interpose if in his judgment the public interests require such action on his part.

Upon an examination of the charges and specifications, it was considered that the charge of "disrespect to his superior officer" could not be sustained. The indorsement of Major Guerin, which was the foundation of the charge, was not esteemed, under the circumstances and the injurious aspersions to which they responded, to be disrespectful or improper. The alleged "disobedience to orders" consisted in corresponding directly with the chief of his bureau, instead of thorough the department headquarters, as he had been ordered. The regulations provide distinctly that the correspondence between the officers of the general staff and the heads of their bureau shall be direct, and not thorough the usual military channels. This regulation is not subject to alteration by a general commanding. The order was in violation of the regulations,

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*Not found.

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