Description:

ETHAN ALLEN HITCHCOCK
(1798 – 1870) Union major general who served as Commissioner for the Exchange of War Prisoners and Commissary General of Prisoners. Fine content and association war-date A.L.S., 3pp. 4to., [Washington, D.C.], Feb. 1863, a retained copy entirely in Hitchcock's hand of a Nov. 9, 1863 letter to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Hitchcock pushes back against Stanton's insistence that Confederate prisoners be subjected to the same harsh conditions faced by captured Union soldiers in Confederate custody, in part: ‘… I directed Gen. [Sullivan A.] Meredith, Agent of Exchange at Fort Monroe, to – ‘represent to [Confederate agent of exchange] Mr. [Robert] Ould, Agent from Richmond, the suffering condition of our people in Richmond prisons, according to universal testimony, as beyond all parallel in the history of war;' and I added, ‘It moves the indignation of our people at home against the authorities in Richmond who countenance or permit it…With respect to that part of your instructions requiring me to subject rebel prisoners in our hands to treatment similar to that which our men receive in rebel prisons, I would respectfully represent, that, if the treatment of our people in Richmond prisons is such as rumor reports, it would result in an uprising of the prisoners against their guards at camps Morton and Chase, and most likely at other places, where the means of security are very slender. Human nature would not endure such treatment under an ordinary system of guards, and the prisoners ought either to be put under lock and key (as in penitentiaries) or on Islands under the control of fortified batteries…' He signs ‘E. A. Hitchcock' at the conclusion in black ink, adding his rank ‘Maj. Gen. Vol.' and ‘Comm. For Exch.' Hitchcock signs again with rank on the verso, giving the date of this later copy of the letter and indicating that it was transmitted to the ‘National Committee, Maryland State Fair'. A note in Hitchcock's hand is tabbed to the final page of the letter, giving important context: ‘At the time this letter was written, the rebels had about thirteen thousand federal prisoners of war in the Rich[mond] Prisons and at Belle Island, in the James River. We had about forty five thousand rebels in our hands. This very excess made the difficulty of a general retaliation very great; - we had no sufficient places of security for the prisoners.' The two leaves of the letter have separated, and it shows original mailing folds, otherwise in very good to fine condition overall. Sold with a period frontispiece engraving of Hitchcock, with his facsimile signature beneath the image.

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November 14, 2025 10:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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