U. S. GRANT,
Lieutenant-General.
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
Lieut. Gen. U. S. GRANT
June 5, 1864.
Commanding U. S. Armies:
GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of this date proposing that hereafter, except in time of action, either
party be at liberty to remove the dead and wounded from between the lines.
I fear that such an arrangement will lead to misunderstanding and difficulty.
I propose, therefore, instead, that when either party desires to remove
their dead or wounded, a flag of truce be sent, as is customary. It will
always afford me pleasure to comply with such a request as far as circumstances
will permit.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. E. LEE,
General.
COLD HARBOR VA
June 6,1864.
General R. E. LEE,
Commanding Army of Northern Virginia:
Your communication of yesterday’s date is received. I will send
immediately, as you propose, to collect the dead and wounded between the
lines of the two armies, and will also instruct that you be allowed to
do the same. I propose that the time for doing this be between the hours
of 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. today. I will direct all parties going out to bear
a white flag, and not to attempt to go beyond where we have dead or wounded,
and not beyond or on ground occupied by your troops.
U. S. GRANT,
Lieutenant General
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
Lieut. Gen. U. S. GRANT
June 6, 1864.
Commanding U. S. Army:
GENRAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter,
on this date and regret to find that I did not make myself un-derstood
in my communication of yesterday. I intended to say that I could not consent
to the burial of the dead and the removal of the wounded between the armies
in the way you propose, but that when either party desire such permission
it shall be asked for by flag of truce in the usual way.
Until I receive a proposition from you on the subject to which
I can accede with propriety, I have directed any parties you may send under
white flags as mentioned in your letter to be turned back.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. E. LEE,
General.
COLD HARBOR, VA.
June 6, 1864.
General R. E. LEE,
Commanding Army of Northern Virginia:
The knowledge that wounded men are now suffering from want of
attention,
between the two armies, compels me to ask a suspension of hostilities for
sufficient time to collect them in, say two hours. Permit me to say that
the hours you may fix upon for this will be agreeable to me, and the same
privilege will be extended to such parties as you may wish to send out
on the same duty, without further application.
U. S. GRANT,
Lieutenant-General.
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA
June, 6. 1864.
Lieut. Gen. U. S. GRANT,
Commanding U.S. Armies:
GENERAL: I regret that your letter of this date asking a suspension
of hostilities to enable you to remove your wounded from between the two
armies was received at so late an hour as to make it impossible to give
the necessary directions so as to enable you to effect your purpose by
daylight.
In order that the suffering of the wounded may not be further protracted,
I have ordered that any parties you may send out for the purpose between
the hours of 8 and 10 p.m. to-day shall not be molested, and will avail
myself of the privilege extended to those from this army to collect any
of its wounded that may remain upon the field.
I will direct our skirmishers to be drawn close to our lines between
the hours indicated, with the understanding that at the expiration of the
time they be allowed to resume their positions without molestation, and
that during the interval all military movements be suspended.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. E. LEE,
General.
COLD HARBOR, VA.
June 7, 1864-10.30 a. m.
General R. E. LEE,
Commanding Army of Northern Virginia:
I regret that your note of 7 p.m. yesterday should have been received
at the nearest corps headquarters to where it was delivered after the hour
that had been given for the removal of the dead and wounded had expired.
10.45 p.m. was the hour at which it was received at corps headquarters,
and between 11 and 12 it reached my headquarters. As a consequence, it
was not understood by the troops of this army that there was a cessation
of hostilities for the purpose of collecting the dead and wounded and none were collected.
Two officers and six men of the Eighth and Twenty-fifth North Carolina
Regiments, who were out in search of the bodies of officers of their respective
regiments, were captured and brought into our lines owing to this want
of understanding. I regret this, but will state that as soon as I learned
the fact I directed that they should not be held as prisoners, but must
be returned to their commands. These officers and men having been carelessly
brought through our lines to the rear, I have not determined whether they
will be sent back the way they came or whether they will be sent by some
other route.
Regretting that all my efforts for alleviating the sufferings of
wounded men left upon the battle-field have been rendered nugatory,
I remain &c.,
U. S. GRANT,
Lieutenant-General.
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA
June 7, 1864--2p.m.
Lieut. Gen. U. S. GRANT,
Commanding U.S. Armies:
GENERAL: Your note of 10:30 a.m. to-day has just been received. I
regret
that in my letter to you of 7 p. m. yesterday should have been too late
in reaching you to effect the removal of the wounded.
I am willing, if you desire it, to devote the hours between 6 and 8 this afternoon to accomplish that object upon the same terms and conditions as set forth in my letter of 7 p. m. yesterday. If this will answer your purpose, and you will send parties from your lines at the hour designated with white flags I will direct that they be recognized and be permitted to collect the dead and wounded.
I will also notify the officers on my
lines that they will be permitted to collect any of our men that may be
on the field. I request you will notify me as soon as practicable if this
arrangement is agreeable to you. Lieutenant McAllister, Corporal Martin,
and two privates of the Eighth North Carolina Regiment, and Lieutenant
Hartman, Corporal T. Kinlow, and Privates Bass and Grey were sent last
night, between the hours of 8 and 10 p.m., for the purpose of recovering
the body of Colonel Murchison, and as they have not returned, I presume
they are the men mentioned in your letter. I request that they be returned
to our lines.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. E. LEE,
General.
COLD HARBOR, VA.
June, 7, 1864-5.30 p. m.
General R. E. LEE,
Commanding Army of Northern Virginia:
Your note of this date just received. It will be impossible for me
to communicate the fact of the truce by the hour named by you (6 p. m.),
but I will avail myself of your offer at the earliest possible moment,
which I hope will not be much after that hour. The officers and men taken
last evening are the same mentioned in your note and will be returned.
U. S. GRANT,
Lieutenant-General.