Exchange of prisons.
The following are the conditions age upon by Gen. John. Dix on the part of the States, and Gen. H. Hill on the part of the federate States, for general exchange of prisons of war:
Ha Landing, on James river, July 22, 1862,
the undersigned having been commission by the authorities they respectively represent take arrangements for a General exchange of prisoners of war have agreed to the following articles.
Ar 1st. It is hereby agreed and stopped that the prisoners of war held by either party clouding those taken on private armed vests know privateers, shall be discharged upon con and terms following:
prisoners to be exchanged man for man and officer; privateers to be placed upon the food; of officers and men of the Navy.
Mr and officers of lower grades may be exchanged for officers of a higher grade, and men and officers of different services may be exchanged according to the following scale of equivalents:
General commanding in chief, or an Admiral, still be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or forty-six privates or common seamen.
flag officer or Major General shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or for forty privates or common seamen.
Commodore carrying a broad pennant, or a Brigadier General, shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or for twenty privates or common seamen.
a Captain in the Navy, or a Colonel, shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or for fifteen privates or common seamen.
a Lieutenant Colonel, or a Commander in the Navy, shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or ten privates or common seamen.
a Lieutenant Commander, or a Major, shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or for eight privates or common seamen.
a Lieutenant or a Master in the Navy or a Captain the army or Marines shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or for six privates or common seamen.
Mister's Mates in the Navy or Lieutenants and Ensigns in the army shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or for four privates or command seamen.
Midshipmen, Warrant officers in the Navy, Masters of merchant vessels, and Commanders of privateers, shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or for three privates of common seamen. Second Captains, Lieutenants, or Mates of merchant vessels or privateers, and all petty officers in the Navy and all non-commissioned officers in the army or Marines shall be severally exchanged for persons of equal rank, or for two privates or common seamen; and private soldiers or common seamen shall be exchanged for each other, man for man.
Art 2d. Local, State, civil, and militia rank held by persons not in actual military service, will not be recognized, the basis of exchange being the grade actually held in the naval and military service of the respective parties.
Art 3d. If citizens held by either party on charges of disloyalty, or any alleged civil offence, are exchanged, it shall only be for citizens, captured
suiters, teamsters, and all civilians in the actual service of either party to be exchanged for persons in similar position.
Art. 4th, all prisoners of war to be discharged on parole in ten days after their capture, and the prisoners now held and those hereafter taken, to be transported to the points mutually agreed upon, at the expense of the capturing party. The surplus prisoners not exchanged shall not be permitted to take up arms again, nor to serve as military police or constabulary force in any fort, garrison, or, field work, held by either of the respective parties, nor as guards of prisons, depots, or stores, nor to discharge any duty usually performed by soldiers, until exchanged under the provisions of this cartel. The exchange is not to be considered complete until the officer or soldier exchanged for has been actually restored to the lines to which he belongs.
Art 5th. Each party, upon the discharge of prisoners of the other party, is authorized to discharge an equal number of their own officers or men from parole, furnishing at the same time to the other party a list of their prisoners discharged, and of their own officers and men relieved from parole; thus enabling each party to relieve from parole such of their own officers and men as the party may choose. The lists thus mutually furnished will keep both parties advised of the true condition of the exchange of prisoners.
Art. 6th the stipulations and provisions above mentioned to be of balding obligation during the continuance of the war, it matters not which party may have the surplus of prisoners, the great principles involved being:
- 1st, An equitable exchange of prisoners, man for man, officer for officer, or officers of higher grade exchanged for officers of lower grade, or for privates according to the scale of equivalents.
- 2d. That privates and officers, and men of different services, may be exchanged according to the same rule of equivalents.
- 3d. That all prisoners, of whatever arm of service, are to be exchanged or paroled in ten days from the time of their capture, if it be practicable to transfer them to their own lines in that time; if not, as soon thereafter as practicable.
- 4th. That no officer, soldier, or employee in the service of either party, is to be considered as exchanged and absolved from his parole until his equivalent has actually reached the lines of his friends.
- 5th. That the parole forbids the performance of field, garrison, police, or guard, or constabulary duty.
(Signed>D. H. Hill,Maj. -Gen. C. S. A.
Supplementary articles.
Art. 7th. All prisoners of war now held on either side, and all prisoners hereafter taken, shall be sent, with all reasonable dispatch, to A. H. Aiken's, below Dutch Gap, on the James river, in Virginia, or to Vicksburg, on the Mississippi river, in the State of Mississippi, and there exchanged, or paroled until such exchange can be effected, notice being previously given by each party of the number of prisoners it will send, and the time when they will be delivered at those points respectively; and, in case the vicissitudes of war shall change the military relations of the places designated in this article to the contending parties, so as to render the same inconvenient for the delivery and exchange of prisoners, other places, bearing, as nearly as may be, the present local relations of said places to the lines of said parties, shall be, by mutual agreement, substituted. But nothing in this article contained shall prevent the commander of two opposing armies from exchanging prisoners or releasing them on parole at other points mutually agreed on by said commanders.Art. 8th. For the purpose of carrying into effect the foregoing articles of agreement, each party will appoint two agents, to be called agents for the exchange of prisoners of war, whose duty it shall be to communicate with each other by correspondence and otherwise, to prepare the list of prisoners, to attend to the delivery of the prisoners at the places agreed on, and to carry out promptly, effectually, and in good faith, all the details and provisions of the said articles of agreement.
Art. 9th. And in case any misunderstanding shall arise in regard to any clause or stipulation in the foregoing articles, it is mutually agreed that such misunderstanding shall not interrupt the release of prisoners on parole, as herein provided, but shall be made the subject of friendly explanations, in order that the object of this agreement may neither be defeated nor postponed.
(Signed,)John. A. Dix, Maj. Gen.
(Signed,) D. H. Hill, Maj. Gen. C. S. A.
