as to strongly
urge measures which he thought would conduce, if not to the release, at
least to a mitigation of the rigorous treatment of his officers and men
in prison. He repeatedly brought the subject to the notice of the
Confederate authorities, but perfect indifference was manifested
regarding it. The officials found nothing in their soft berths at
Richmond which could enable them to realize the discomforts of a prison,
and the chances of their own captivity appeared so remote that they
really could not sympathize with those who had the ill-luck to be
captured. Just before leaving Richmond, General Morgan addressed a
letter to President Davis, dated the 24th of March, in which he declared
that, while imperatively summoned by a sense of duty to place himself at
the head of the remnant of his old division, which was still in the
field, he desired to earnestly press the claims of those who were
captive to the best offices of their Government. No men, he said, better
deserved than his own "the proud title of Confederate soldiers," and
none had a better right to expect that every effort would be made by
their countrymen in their behalf. He stated that in his entire service,
"not one act of cruelty was ever committed by men of my command, but
prisoners of war met with uniform good treatment at our hands." In
response to all this, Commissioner Ould made a public protest against
the treatment of the officers confined in the penitentiaries, and was
assured that their condition was good enough and would not be bettered.

General Morgan was naturally desirous of having all of the men of his
old command assigned him, but in this he was grievously disappointed.
Breckinridge's regiment, the Ninth Kentucky, was positively refused him;
nor was he permitted to have Dortch's battalion, although it was
composed of men from more than one regiment of his old division, the
bulk of which was in prison. Kirkpatrick's battalion petitioned to be
assigned to him, immediately that the news of his arrival within the
Confederate lines was known. General Morgan was, in this respect, the
victim of an utterly absurd policy regarding organization and
discipline, which was prevalent about this time among the military sages
at Richmond. Some other equally insane idea having just gone out of
date, this one was seized on with all the enthusiasm with which
theorists adopt fancies costing them nothing but the exercise of a crazy
imagination. It is hard t