, and
hang them when caught.

"'From a private, who was one of the guard that brought the batch
of prisoners through, we learn that Colonel Shaw was shot dead by
a negro soldier from the other side of the river, which he was
spanning with a pontoon bridge. The negro was watched, followed,
taken, and hanged after the action at Thomasville. It is stated
that when our troops entered Thomasville, a number of the enemy
took shelter in the houses and fired upon them. The Yankees were
ordered to surrender, but refused, whereupon our men set fire to
the houses, and their occupants got, bodily, a taste in this
world of the flames eternal.'

"The Government of the United States has wisely seen fit to
enlist many thousand colored citizens to aid in putting down the
rebellion, and has placed them on the same footing in all
respects as her white troops.

* * * * *

"Believing that this atrocity has been perpetrated without your
knowledge, and that you will take prompt steps to disavow this
violation of the usages of war, and to bring the offenders to
justice, I shall refrain from executing a rebel soldier until I
learn your action in the premises.

"I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"JOHN J. PECK,
"_Major-General_."

REPLY OF GENERAL PICKETT.

"HEADQUARTERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF NORTH }
"CAROLINA, PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA, February 16, 1864. }

"Major-General JOHN J. PECK, U. S. A., _Commanding at Newbern_:

"GENERAL: Your communication of the eleventh of February is
received. I have the honor to state in reply, that the paragraph
from a newspaper inclosed therein, is not only without foundation
in fact, but so ridiculous that I should scarcely have supposed
it worthy of consideration; but I would respectfully inform you
that had I caught _any negro_, who had killed either officer,
soldier, or citizen of the Confederate States, I should have
caused him to be immediately executed.

"To your threat expressed in the following extract from your
communication, namely: 'Believing that this atrocity has been
perpetrated without your knowledge, and that you will take prom