d been withdrawn by Samuel
Hunt, thus agreeing with the statement made by him in Miss. Doc. 58,
that they had been stolen from his desk while the committee were
examining the claim.
I found it very difficult to obtain the earlier documents. "Supply
exhausted" being the answer that has long been given, but all can be
looked up in the bound volumes.
When, at length, fairly started in my work I was disturbed by a rumor
that Miss Carroll's papers, formerly placed on file at the War
Department, were no longer to be found there. I set out as far as
possible to investigate. Provided with an excellent letter of
introduction to the Secretary of War I made my way, on March 6, 1891,
to the vast building of the War Department and sent in my letter with
a list of the documents I wanted to see. Miss Carroll's Military
papers, given in the Miss. Doc. 58, and a list of letters from the
same memorial by Wade, Scott, and Evans.
The permission being kindly accorded I was transferred to the Record
office and told that the file should be ready for me on the following
day.
Taking with me the Miss. Doc. 58, an unpublished manuscript of Miss
Carroll's, and specimens of the handwriting of Wade and Scott, I
punctually put in an appearance, was transferred to the office of the
Adjutant General, and Miss Carroll's file produced for my inspection.
I met with all possible courtesy and every facility for the
examination. I found two of the papers on my list in her now familiar
handwriting, and some others.
A letter to Secretary Stanton, of May 14, 1862, recommending the
occupation of Vicksburgh and referring to Pilot Scott, stating that
she had derived from him some of the important information which had
lead to her paper to the War Department on Nov. 30, 1861, which had
occasioned the change of campaign in the southwest and proved of such
incalculable benefit to the national cause.
A paper of May 15th, 1862, advising that Memphis and Vicksburgh should
be strongly occupied and the Yazoo river watched. Another letter to
Stanton concerning her pamphlets and proposing to write another one in
aid of Mr. Lincoln, unjustly assailed. There was a portion of a letter
written in great haste from St. Louis. There was an interesting letter
from Robert Lincoln when Secretary of War. A petition from a group of
ladies, asking for information concerning Miss Carroll's services and
several other documents, but most of the important papers on my list
we
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