Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part II
Mr. Seward to Lord Lyons.
My Lord: Recurring to the parts of your notes of the 17th of July last,* and of the 31st of October, which relate to the alleged cruel treatment of the master, mate, and engineer of the British steamer Victor, at Fort Taylor, Key-West, I have the honor to enclose, in reply, a copy of a communication of the 16th instant from the War Department on the subject.
I have the honor to be, with high consideration, your lordship’s obedient servant
Right Hon. Lord Lyons, &c., &c., Sc.
General Canby to Mr. Seward.
Sir: The Secretary-of War instructs me to transmit to you the accompanying copy of the report made to this department regarding the complaints preferred by the master, mate, and engineer of the British steamer Victor, of cruel treatment in Fort Taylor, Key West, to which attention was invited in your letter of the 4th of November last, enclosing a copy of a note from Lord Lyons of the 31st of the month previous, on this subject.
I have the honor to be your obedient servant,
The Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
General Woodbury to General Stone.
General: I have received the copy of a communication from Lord Lyons to Mr. Seward, dated October 31, 1863, with your indorsement requiring from me a report.
On the 9th of July last, Mr. Butterfield, her Britannic Majesty’s vice-consul, laid before me a complaint made by several officers of the captured steamer Victor.
I caused an investigation to be made, and here give the copy of a letter from Colonel Good, dated July 9, 1863, and of my remarks appended thereto.
Colonel Good to Captain Bowers.
“Fort Taylor, Key West, Florida, “July 9, 1863.
“Captain: I have the honor to submit the following statement in reference to the confinement, in this fort, of John T. Pearce, G. W. Ardill, and Lumbrey Kennedy, captain, mate, and first engineer of the steam-tug Victor.
[Page 502]“They were, received on the 9th of June, 1863; with instructions to have them confined and allowed no communication with any person until after they had been examined before the prize commissioners.
“They were taken in charge and offered the choice of the only two vacant rooms in the fort, where they could be held in accordance with the orders. The room they selected is situated on the second floor, in the barracks buildings, directly over the sally-port, and adjoining the officers’ quarters; it compares equally in size with the majority of the latter. The door is air-tight; but they have omitted to state that there are two windows of two and a half feet square in it, which admit a free circulation of air. With regard to time allowed them to take their meals, they were at all times allowed as much time as desired by them. They at all times had the privilege of communicating with the commanding officer, the officer of the day, and were allowed, and did have, communication with the British vice-consul, Mr. Butterfield. The mate complained of being unwell, and was immediately removed to other quarters, where medical treatment was afforded him. The fort at the time contained a number of prisoners, and strict surveillance, at least, was deemed necessary. No complaint from them reached the commanding officer of the fort, nor is he aware of any inconvenience suffered by them further than confinement. They were of course treated as prisoners, it having been so ordered, and received as such, but had every courtesy consistent extended them.
Regretting that their confinement here should have given any cause for complaint, I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
“T. H. GOOD,” Colonel 47th Pa., Commanding Fort Taylor.
“Captain Bowers”, Assistant Adjutant General.
“To the above statement of Colonel Good I wish to add a few remarks: “The prisoners confined in Fort Taylor have always been treated with kindness. This is the first complaint I have ever heard of. The individuals who now complain were free to appeal at any time to the British consul, to Colonel Good, or to the undersigned. On such an appeal all just cause for complaint would have been removed immediately. They made no complaint, and they discover, apparently, a disposition to exaggerate their sufferings to make out a case. The ‘dungeon,’ so called, is on the second story of the barracks, over the sally-port, adjacent to occupied officers’ quarters. The two holes protected by strong bars, are windows two and a half feet square each, with five vertical wooden grates, which reduce the clear space in each to two feet six inches by two feet one inch. And these windows are so low that any man of ordinary height can reach their sills from the floor. On the upper side of the arch the room is three feet higher than the affidavits make it. The room has the height and width of the adjacent officers’ quarters. Both of the windows communicate with the open halls; one of them is at the head of an open stairway. The room has no stench whatever.
“D. P. WOODBURY, Brigadier General.
“Headquarters District of Key West and Tortugas, “Key West, Florida, July 10, 1863.”
I will here add that the persons in question were placed in Fort Taylor at the request of Admiral Bailey, who also desired that no communication should be permitted between them and other prisoners.
They were confined three days, being released as soon as the case of the Victor came up before the court. The admiral did not desire them to be confined for punishment, but to prevent collusion between the witnesses who were [Page 503] about to be called before the court. They were not treated, “as prisoners of war,” still less “as felons;” and if they were not comfortable, they could have made themselves so at any moment by appealing to Colonel Good, to the British vice-consul, or to myself.
In this connexion I take the liberty of giving an extract from a letter of Mr. Butterfield, her Britannic Majesty’s vice-consul, addressed to me July 11,1863, when he was about to leave this place for a time and intrusted the business of his office to Mr. Joseph B. Brown :
“I would therefore request that you will be good enough to extend to him the same attention in reference to any representations he may have to make to you in regard to British subjects, or British interests, as you have universally bestowed on the same when made by me.”
I return herewith the copy of Lord Lyons’s letter to Mr. Seward.
Respectfully,
Brigadier General Charles P. Stone, Chief of Staff, New Orleans, Louisiana.
- 38th Congress, 1st Session, House Ex. Doe. No. 1, page 660.↩