Secretary of War E.M. Stanton orders appointment of Union commissioners to visit Southern prisons

The new Secretary of War, with his first official act, ordered the appointment of two commissioners who were to visit Richmond and other places where Union prisoners were held "to take what measures as may be needful, to provide for the wantsand contribute to the comfort of such prisoners at the expense of the United States..."  Methodist bishop Edward Ames and former senator Hamilton Fish were appointed the following week.  This order was not not well received in the Confederacy and was termed "impudent" in the Southern press. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Frank Moore, ed., The Rebellion Record: A Diary of American Events, with Documents, Narratives, Illustrative Incidents, Poetry, Etc. (New York: G.P.Putnam, 1862), IV: 15. 
    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Type
    Lawmaking/Litigating
    How to Cite This Page: "Secretary of War E.M. Stanton orders appointment of Union commissioners to visit Southern prisons," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/38677.